Katie's Core Spinning Workshop in our new home.

Our first event in our new home in Betws yn Rhos was a great success, with a good turnout and several visitors from other Guilds.
Thanks to Jenni and Gill for the photographs:  no captions required!

AC

Masterclass with Ann Campbell, Sunday Nov. 8th.

Another well chosen "workshop" on Sunday: Ann Campbell shared her extensive knowledge with us in a Masterclass. 
Ann is one of North Wales' most experienced textile artists, specialising in handspinning and dyeing.  She started our day by explaining and demonstrating the technique of long-draw spinning, which was completely new to some of us:  thanks to Ann's expert help we were all able to produce a lovely lofty yarn in double quick time. (Our newest member "got" the technique in a trice, and was whizzing away as to the manner born within minutes!)

General busy-ness.  Note the long draw spinning!

Thereafter Ann gave us all individual tuition on any topic we asked, from the preparation of wool and cotton to the plying and finishing of hanks of spun yarn.  She also showed the whole group new ways of blending fibre using blending boards - simply made by fixing a large piece of carding cloth onto a bread board.  While not suited to the preparation of large quantities of fibre, a blending board has the great advantage of taking up far less space than a drum carder, and it costs a fraction of the price.  We rummaged happily in Ann's boxes of gorgeous hand dyed fibres and were soon able to produce attractive multicoloured punis  for spinning at our leisure, using the techniques of art yarn spinning Ann demonstrated on her own wheel.  She brought some beautiful examples of her own spinning and knitting to enthuse us, and we have resolved to use up all our bits and pieces of yarn and fibre, and Make Something.

Before...

....and after the Abergele Guild had been at the boxes.

Purple tops and hand knitted foot covers (with apologies for the unflattering viewpoint).

More busy-ness.

All in all, this was a wonderful day with a warm and positive atmosphere inside the hall, contrasting with the bleak weather outside.  To crown everything, we were treated to a wonderful soup-and-bread lunch by Val, our catering suprema. Other members chipped in with some bits and pieces, including delicious cake, and the result was a real feast.
So, many thanks to Ann for her generous and expert tuition and to Bryn and Val for the organisation.

Silk Spinning with Sue Hiley Harris

We had an amazing day yesterday with Sue Hiley Harris, weaver-sculptor extraordinaire and an excellent teacher. ( http://www.suehileyharris.co.uk )Patiently and clearly she explained the entire process of silk yarn manufacture from silkworm to the finished product.  Now we all understand the differences between reeled, thrown and spun silk, and know why tussah silk is coloured (it's the oak leaves the caterpillars feed on, rather than the white mulberry leaves eaten by Bombyx caterpillars) and understand why noil silk is full of bits (the last shed skin of the caterpillar).
Sue showed us how to spin silk fibre in all its' variety - and she even examined our spinning wheels, and advised on how to optimise their performance for fine spinning.  Although there were no real beginners in the group, I think we all valued the chance to get back to basics and revisit the mechanics of "double drive", "Scotch tension", bobbin or flyer brakes.
And then spinning the silk itself!  Sue taught us how to produce a smooth yarn, analagous to the worsted woolen yarn, slub yarns, and the wonderful noil yarn spun by the long draw technique.  She also taught us how to use carders properly, and produce beautiful silk rolags.  A world of spinning in one day.
Our very grateful thanks to Sue for a wonderful day - we learnt such a lot and are determined to practise until we get it right and can produce perfectly spun silk yarn.

Bombyx mori cocoons

Poised for the long draw.....

Beautiful rolags!

Even the rubbishy bits look great!

We were also very pleased to welcome members of the Cheshire and North Cheshire Guilds, and hope to see them again in the future.

Fancy Spinning Workshop with Alison Daykin

Very many thanks to Alison, who travelled all the way from South Derbyshire to teach us how to spin a great range of fancy yarns.  We were blessed with fine weather, and the countryside was looking particularly picturesque.  We had a good turnout, and were pleased to welcome visitors from several other guilds (and intrigued to see what a variety of spinning wheels they brought!).
Alison proved to be a warm and generous teacher, with infinite patience.  She taught us to spin slub yarn; spiral, knarl and knot yarn; bouclé, tuft, nep and wrapped yarn.  She also demonstrated the making of coloured, mixed rovings using a hackle - a fearsome row of spikes usually employed in the production of flax.  And if that wasn't enough, she also brought a delicious & tempting selection of dyed fibres, and copies of her book "Creative Spinning" (co-authored with Jane Deane) http://spinningandweaving.weebly.com/creative-spinning.html
We were well supplied with tea, coffee and cake, and had a most enjoyable and productive day.  Thank you very much to Bryn for all her hard work in organising the Workshop.

Fancy yarn spinning workshop

On Saturday 15 May 2010 we are running

 a workshop led by Alison Daykin, a published

creative yarn spinner. The event will run from
10.0 am - 4.0 pm at Llanfair Talhaiarn
Community Hall. Members of other spinning
guilds are cordially invited to join us (£12.0
per head for the day).
email:  abergelewsd at googlemail.com

Alison Daykin's website