Broom Making Class

This last week I went up to Grand Marais, MN to take a class on broom corn broom making at North House Folk School. It was the fibers weekend, all the classes had something to do with fiber. I don't really travel much for pleasure and when I do it is usually in the company of a family member or I am going to see a family member. This time I went by myself and I didn't know anyone where I was headed, but do you know the great thing about fiber artists and crafters? They tend to be some of the nicest and most helpful people you can possibly get to know.

I spent my nights at the Art House B and B just a block from North House with three fiber enthusiasts and one tag-a-long husband who happens to make cedar strip canoes. I got to know one of the other guests pretty well since she was also a student, except she was taking a spinning series. The other fiber guests were a husband and wife who were teaching spinning and knitting, respectively. Each morning we gathered for breakfast and conversation and each evening everyone pulled out their knitting projects and gathered for conversation, except me. I went to converse, but I don't knit and I didn't bring any other fiber projects to work on while we talked. I have a hard time following conversation and crocheting at the same time.

My class was two days long and we made a whisk broom and a kitchen broom. I am very proud of both, although I had a much easier time making the whisk broom. My kitchen broom fell apart three times before I asked Dennis, the instructor, for help. I'm stubborn, if I want to try to produce brooms and sell them I need to be capable of making them on my own. I wanted to see if I could do it on my own, fix my own mistakes. Of course, I had never made a broom before so I didn't really know what I was doing wrong and asking for help was probably the smarter option.

I really enjoyed the finishing process, sewing the bristles into place and weaving the handles. I've always been more detail oriented and the fine work appeals to me. Plus I like sewing and weaving baskets was always fun when I had the opportunity to do so and these two steps were very reminiscent of those processes.

I ended up bringing home the scraps from my brooms and I have enough fiber left to make two more whisk brooms, or a whisk and a small broom. My mom is already hinting that she would like a pair of brooms. I guess I'll have to get on that.

I want to grow my own broom corn, which as I found out is not actually related to corn, it is a member of the sorghum family. Then I can harvest handles from my property... Um, eventually harvest handles from my property since I still live with my parents and I will currently have to harvest from their property.

I really do hope to become more comfortable and confident in my broom making. Even if I only sell one or two a year, it is just one more thing that I can do when I need something new to take my mind off frustrations in other areas of my craft interests. Plus I always feel the need to learn new things. Maybe next time I go to North House I'll learn to build a boat or make my own long bow. Just because I want to learn something new again and those sound interesting. But until that time I have other things to keep me busy.

When I got home from my trip I felt the need to do some spinning and turned some spun wool into yarn and I now have two small skeins of blue yarn that I will have to turn into something for myself. I may have to learn to love knitting. Or I can keep spinning yarn and let someone else handle the knitting. I think spinning is more fun anyway.