SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. — It takes a certain amount of strength, rhythm, skill, and focus to accomplish what these ladies are up to inside the walk-in art center in Schuylkill Haven.
These are The Baaahd Girls flicking spinning, and weaving is their specialty.
"We each have spent the last six months learning how to do all of it with the idea that when the time comes, we can put people wherever we need them," said Lorraine Felker, Baaahd Girl.
For a competition where these women, for the first time, will work together to go from raw fleece to woven shawl in two and a half hours.
"We want to get it done on time. We're worried about winning prizes and placing when we get to years two and three, but right now, we just want to learn how to do it and get it all done within The two and a half hours that we've got you," explained Felker.
Prior to competition, these ladies will have readied a loom and dyed their fabrics using natural materials.
Practices like these are to get technique and speed down each step of the way.
"And the first step is what's called the fiber prep, or flicking it. And Mary is taking the fibers that they have these ends that are kind of numbly and hard to work with, so she's taking them, and she's flicking it, and basically, that's a type of brushing it to open it up and get all the knots and all The debris out, so then it's ready to spin," said Felker.
"Without a good flicker, you're done. The flicker flicks it open, almost looks, I say it looks like troll hair. It's nice and fluffy. Those troll dolls, when it looks like nice, fluffy troll hair, then you can spin it," said Margie Wright, Baaahd Girl.
"Taking the little bits of fluff, and they're turning it into a very thin string that's called a single ply," said Lorraine.
This all has to be done in a 10 by 10 foot space, too.
"So I get their bobbins that look like this. I put it on my bobbin as a double. I then put it on the Weaver's bobbin," said Margie.
"Twisting them together so it makes it into a nice, thick yarn," added Lorraine.
That is then passed onto the weaver in charge of the last step of the shawl.
"The finished shawl has to be 22 inches wide and at least 78 inches long. The Fringe has to be at least five inches long," said Lorraine.
As long as those parameters are met within 2.5 hours, the item will be judged on quality and theme.
"It's so much fun, and for me doing this, I feel a connection to the past as a former history teacher, and I actually get chills sometimes when I sit to spin. It's that connection with the past; that's why I love it. I feel the history in my hands," said Margie.
You can see The Baaahd Girls compete in person later this month at the Bloomsburg Fair.
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