“The Sheep Farm” by Nancy Ellison

Nancy Ellison’s  weaving has a soft surface and the natural brown, black, and gray shades of the xxx sheep on her southern Minnesota farm.  “The Sheep Farm” was woven on three harnesses with a krokbragd threading.  It was woven with handspun yarn on a Louet David loom with a sinking shed which Nancy prefers for weaving krokbragd. The wooly sheep emerge with unspun fleece tied with traditional rya knots.  The piece received honorable mention at the Vesterheim National Folk Art exhibit in 2012.

“Side by Side,” a band with sheep images, was woven with Ashford Tepako wool yarn.  For a band of this type, Nancy sometimes uses a Schacht inkle loom and other times a Glimakra band loom. She wove it as a krokbragd turned draft by adding a set of string heddles to get a third shed.

It’s a wonder that Nancy has time to weave and spin, with the responsibility of her farm and animals – sheep, ducks, chickens, goats, and a remarkable goose who looks like he is wearing a cap.

She teaches spinning and weaving classes in an old barn on the farm.  The studio area has heavy timber walls, a magical space for a spinner or weaver, as you examine the new and antique looms and wheels lining the perimeter.  (And surprise! There are two long-haired rabbits tucked in a cage, too.)  The whitewashed round silo has been transformed into a gallery. Nancy is a dealer for a variety of spinning wheels and looms. You can – and should – visit “The Ellison Sheep Farm” open by appointment.

Nancy is a former home economics teacher, and studied weaving during the summer of 1968. She has been a member of the Scandinavian Weavers Study group for many years.

(More on a visit to Nancy’s farm here.)