| McCracken is a spinning
and weaving expert. McCracken demonstrates the craft
of creating fabric from animal hair to students. One
of her specialties is drop spindle spinning, an early
technique for making yarn without a spinning wheel.
When she heard how the women of Bolivia used drop
spindles as they were fetching wood and water for
their families, McCracken asked for a basket filled
with wool and a drop spindle for Christmas in 1989.
She took lessons, bought her first spinning wheel
shortly thereafter and then moved on to weaving, and
followed with her first loom purchase. Owner of a
farm, she raises various types of goats, sheep and
other animals that provide the raw materials for her
work, paying particular attention to animals that
produce long, strong wool fibers. She uses her interest
in historic textiles and love of children’s literature
to demonstrate and instruct at Bradford County’s
home textile museum, at Muncy Historical Society’s
educational events, at Lycoming County’s Day Camp and at the Warrior Run-Fort
Freeland Heritage Days Festival.
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