Wool spinner shares joy of craft

With a shock of pink-dyed wool in one hand and a drop spindle in the other, Judy Gunn smiles warmly at her audience. She's apparently unfazed by the facts that she just sang "Pop Goes the Weasel" almost entirely solo and that she's not wearing any shoes.

It's typical for spinsters to kick off their shoes, Gunn explained. It allows them to feel the treadle better when they're working a spinning wheel.

The Centerville resident has become a regular guest at libraries, schools and community centers — sharing the history of spinning through stories and songs while demonstrating spinning with a drop spindle and wheel.

It started out as a neighborhood thing — people asked to come over and see the sheep and then they wanted to hear about spinning, said Gunn who currently owns 17 sheep, all of which are named.

In addition to spinning, Gunn first cleans combs and dyes the wool she's sheared from her sheep.

"The more I learned about spinning, the more history I learned, the more I tried to include in my presentations," Gunn said.

She sells her yarn along with designer yarn and spinning supplies from her shop, Judy's Novelty Wool, 1035 N. Main Street in Centerville. Gunn also teaches a spinning class from her shop and keeps her sheep out back.

That's why she's often able to bring a lamb with her. This night is no exception. Children crowd around the playpen where the lamb nestles in baby blankets.

Throughout her presentations, Gunn involves her audience, passing around samples of animal hair — anything from dog to alpaca — and letting her audience guess what it is.

Gunn is heavily involved in the spinning world — which is surprisingly big. More than one hundred spinsters belong to Salt Lake Valley's Wasatch Woolpack spinning guild, and Utah is home to nine or more guilds.

But Gunn hasn't always used spinning jargon as naturally as she does now. The self-described "beach bunny" from Southern California had no idea what to expect 17 years ago when her husband bought three bum lambs to keep the grass down behind their Centerville home.

"The next thing I knew my sheep were having babies and they were being sheared," Gunn said. "They were going to throw out the wool but I said, 'No way.' "

With no knowledge of how to use the wool and no ready excuse to save it, Gunn began attending a wool spinning class at the community center.

"I was hooked — hook, line and sinker," she said.