up-to-date now?

I'm sorry for the gap in posting - I just haven't got around to it (if anyone has a round tuit, perhaps they could show me how to make one).
Also, I haven't been taking photographs:  we had a great time at Woodfest Wales at the end of July, lots of interest in our stand and so on, but I was too busy on the Saturday to take any pictures.  I did manage this one just before I went home:

Abergele Guild at Woodfest Wales.  It wasn't anything like this miserable during the day,

Last Sunday we met in Betws yn Rhos to spin and weave - on opposing sides of the room. The spinners commented on the lack of chat from the weavers.  Well, we were concentrating.  Hard.

Weaving in the red corner....

...and in the blue corner: spinning!

Jenny's little loom proved a bit of a challenge to warp for the first time:

but after a team effort, she got going and produced her first piece of weaving (and it was enviably even).

Note the smile!

Jenni and Edith were steaming ahead too, but my four shaft table loom took a bit more time.  (Update, Tuesday:  I am still denting the reed, and am about half way across.  It's linen at 12 ends per inch, so I think I'm excused the slow pace?)

Warp, with matching mug.

Look: in the background, Edith has already got her heddle threaded and is tying the warp on the front beam.  Nothing much happening in the foreground.

A good time was had by all - mostly.  We ought to admit to a certain amount of sighing and silent swearing and re-doing from the weavers, but everyone came away in an optimistic frame of mind.  I think.
Especial thanks are due to Paul for the outstanding Victoria sponge.  It was a real prize-winner, despite the alleged mix-up about the ingredients (I can't believe there was no baking powder in it).

Another month almost finished..

..and another evening meeting in Abergele.  Fortunately the roadworks finished today, and access to Capel Mynydd Seion is now unimpeded.  As usual our members had brought a varied selection of fibres for spinning, and we all managed to spin a yarn (or two).
And thanks once more to Val for the cake!

Busy hands no. 1:  Helen and her own natural-dyed fine fibres.

Busy hands 2.: June knitting basket stitch.

Bryn spinning Shetland fleece for her Certificate of Achievement.  The fine, fluffy short staple is quite a challenge.

Hilary spinning a luscious green mix from Hilltop Cloud fibres.

Activity on one side of the room

and on the other side, too.

See you all at our Friendship Day next month.
AC

Our Winter Tour: Part 1

Our thanks to Bryn for volunteering to host the first day of our Winter "Tour", if that's the right word for it.  As it can be cold and miserable in North Wales in the winter months, two members of the Committee have kindly invited us into their homes for our Sunday meetings.  On February 8th. a goodly number of us journeyed to Bryn's house and had a lovely day spinning and chatting.  After a bitterly cold, foggy and icy start to the day the weather turned sunny and clear, apart from a persisting black haze over the hills in the distance. Bryn generously made two delicious kinds of soup, and other members brought cake. Despite the temptations of the latter we all managed to fill bobbins - many of them using the gorgeous colours we produced with Katie Weston last month.

AC

Sunday Spinning, May 12th

A small but select gathering on yet another cold, wet Sunday.  Lots of spinning and chat, and lovely cake (thanks to Jenni & June)

Jenni & Bryn getting some work done

Jenni plying yarn from her own sheep on an Ashford "Joy" wheel

Bryn's plying on an Ashford traditional wheel. (Bird's eye view - stray toes removed with the clone brush)

Krithia spinning Shetland fleece, also on a Traditional Ashford wheel

Superwash marino for a baby's shawl on Alison's "Traveller" wheel

A portion of gorgeous red silk on Betty's beautiful wheel. (I think it might be a Timbertops???)

Our next treat is a visit to Jenni's flock of pedigree sheep, and then we meet again in a month's time for more spinning, weaving and cake.
AC

Friendship Day, Sunday April 14th 2013

Our Friendship Day was held in the Memorial Hall in LlanfairTH., on a day of gales and driving rain.  The weather really has been terrible this year!  Despite the storms most of our members managed to attend, and we had a number of visitors as well.  Tea and cake were available in huge quantities, so some of us saved our lunches till later.  We all managed to do a fair bit of spinning, and with a good variety of yarns on the bobbins our visitors had a good opportunity to see what we do with our time.

Fibres from "Mam a mi" (with my apologies for the glare off the polythene bags - I think the sun might have come out briefly!)

Thanks once again to Kath of "Mam a mi" for bringing her wonderfully dyed fibres for us to treat ourselves.

Heritage spinning wheels with Val and David Bryant

Thank you very much indeed to the Bryants who gave us a fascinating illustrated talk on the history of spinning wheels last Saturday.  David Bryant makes furniture & spinning wheels, and restores vintage/antique wheels; he and Val are experts in the field having spent many years researching the subject in depth.  Val worked for many years at Styal Mill (Cheshire) and family holidays were spent quartering the country in search of historic spinning wheels.  Eventually, with the aid of a Pasold research grant, she was able to give up the day job and she and David now have a substantial database of information about wheels in the UK.  These range from humble cottage wheels to exquisitely made "boudoir" wheels for ladies (who probably didn't do much actual spinning, but liked to show off their handiwork and spinning wheels to envious friends). 
Val and David are now sought after by museums for advice about restoration and display, and have worked with the Jane Austen House (and also, see here ), the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Collection.
In addition to many excellent "slides" (or whatever the digital equivalent is) they brought two beautiful antique flax spinning wheels, and Val (who has been spinning since she was very young) demonstrated both her skills and those of David, who restored the wheels to full working order. 
One of our members brought in her own antique wheel, which has been duly measured and added to the database!

(photographs to follow)

Wednesday evening, 11th. April.

Ready and waiting...

Although the evening sky was very black to the west, it didn't rain.

Hard at work

Back to our Spring and Summer timetable, and the evenings are definitely much lighter!  We had a quiet meeting on Wednesday, spinning, sorting fleece and knitting. We are looking forward to our "extra" meeting this Saturday, when the Bryants are coming to talk about historic spinning wheels.
AC

Sunday, January 8th., 2012

Another successful Sunday meeting, with a good attendance (on a drop-in basis!).  Jenni had a successful Woolsack event, stuffing cushions for the Olympic athletes (see our Woolsack page link here)

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Success from the jaws of Disaster - Woodfest 2011

We have had a really successful Woodfest, despite the terrible weather.
JM and Alison put the tent up on Friday, arranged the display and went home with the satisfaction of a job well done.  Jenny and Pauline arrived on Saturday morning to find.....no tent.  The northwesterly gales overnight had funnelled straight onto the Woodfest site, and 20-odd tents had been blown down despite the best efforts of the organisers and exhibitors.  Our flimsy gazebo was reduced to a tangle of twisted struts and torn fabric, even with the heroic efforts of our next-door neighbours, who were up most of the night rescuing stuff from the field.  They kindly looked after our display items, and kept them from harm.  The following night saw further wind damage, but didn't appear to put off the punters who flocked into the site for three days.

Thanks to the sterling work of Jenny & Tom, and Pauline and Fred, the Abergele Guild was accommodated in the Woodcraft marquee, where we were pleased to make lots of new friends among the local woodturners and carvers.  They were interested to see working spinning wheels and drop spindles, and we were grateful to be out of the wind and rain, and to have so many visitors of all ages.  I don't think we've ever had so much interest in our stand.  It truly is an ill wind which blows nobody any good.
Of course, we never have enough time to spend on the field itself (probably just as well, as you can also spend some serious money on gorgeous stuff if you're not careful).  There was more wood related stuff than you can possibly imagine; wildlife information & displays; basket making; brilliant local food and cider; mountain biking, chain-sawing, pole climbing; and the usual amazing variety of people and their dogs.  Yvonne and Betty even managed a really good deal on some Romney fleece from the SheepShow man.
So thank you to all involved - Guild members and families, our jewellery neighbours, the Owl people, the Woodcarvers & Turners, and the show organisers.  Here's to next year.

AC

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.

Friendship Day, October 2010

Our Friendship Day drew nearly 50 people to Llanfair Talhaiarn, to spin, weave, chat and browse the stalls. Nearby Guilds, Clwyd, Lleyn, Chester, Cheshire (Frodsham), were represented. There were also 14 wheels.

Local sellers, Trefriw Woollen Mill and Fiery Felts, offered craft tools, books, hand dyed wool and dyes. Anvil pottery drew its usual adherents and more. Helen gave a demonstration of solar dyed fabric with an iron solution. So easy, apparently!

Val's bric-à-brac stall for charity did well, as did the books and craft materials table.

Thank you to all our visitors. It was pleasant to meet up with old friends and new. Thanks too to all members who took part. You worked your socks off.

posted on behalf of Bryn.

Beginning Spinning

 A few minutes instruction....

...and away we go!

We have all been pleased, over the last few months, to welcome new spinners to our group.  It's amazing how quickly people pick up the technique when they're keen and interested.  And we're always intrigued to see new designs of spinning wheel.
Yesterday there was a lot of chat about suppliers of spinning materials, so I have added links to a few of the UK-based companies at the side of the blog.
AC

An ordinary Wednesday afternoon

- a slightly confusing image of spinning wheels (actually an excuse for me to try out Picasa collage maker, as recommended yesterday by Kath).

There is a huge variety of wheels around, from top-of-the-range foldaway portable wheels to dead ordinary, shove-them-in-the-boot-of-the-car-on-top-of-the-old-feed-sacks wheels. Not to mention the lovingly home made wheels, constructed by keen woodworkers. So here is a selection of our wheels, plus hands and feet at work spinning (and knitting).

(anything to fill the space on the blog......)AC