Busy, busy, busy

We were delighted to accept an invitation from our friends in the Clwyd Guild to join them at the Bala Country Fair last weekend.  The weather was glorious, actually perhaps a bit too glorious, and there were lots of visitors to the Fair.  Bala is a popular spot for holidays, and people had travelled from as far away as the south of England.  The locals were also out in force, and there was lots for everyone to see and to do.

The food tent! with handy loo to the left.

Outside, a little demonstration table and some outdoor spinning about to take place..

and inside: happy clutter and lots of spinning.

Then, yesterday evening was our regular Monday spinning session in Abergele.  We were supposed to be having a "show and tell" on the theme of Make Do and Mend, but most of us forgot.  Thanks to Jenni for bringing in some lovely crochet and pegloom work, and to Val and Yvonne who were able to improvise with things they had brought anyway - two felted wool bags (in use) and some thrifty knitting and crochet. 
Next weekend we are at Woodfest, near Caerwys. 
Busy, busy, busy.

Val displaying her bag, made from one of her husband's old jumpers.

indoor spinning.

Fibre blending workshop with Katie Weston

Sunday, June 8th.
Today we had an excellent session with Katie Weston, of "Hilltop Cloud", learning how to use a drum carder to produce vibrantly coloured batts of fibre.  We were pleased to welcome several of our friends from other guilds, some of whom were coming to see Katie for a second time - which shows how good she is!
Katie gave up teaching sciences at a secondary school a few years ago to set up her highly successful company, and now trades worldwide and travels the UK with her wares.  She has recently had to buy a large van to carry her stuff (as well as taking over a static caravan at the family home). 
She started our day by giving us a visual tour of her home-cum-office-cum-workshop, and showing how she uses the surrounding countryside as a source of inspiration for the colour she puts into her work.  She then gave a clear and concise demonstration of how to choose and blend coloured fibres, stressing the importance of making small samples with hand-carder and drop-spindle before progressing to larger scale production using a drum carder.
Then we were let loose on Katie's stash of dyed merino, silk, novelty fibres, and naturally-coloured Shetland and Blue-faced Leicester tops.  Using a favourite photograph as a starting point, we selected our colours to harmonise and contrast, with 50% of natural fleece to meld the whole together, not forgetting a bit of sparkle or silk to add lustre to the finished yarn.  We learned quickly that what you see at the beginning is not what you get at the end:  after three passes through the drum carder, dividing and redividing the batts, we were all surprised and delighted to have produced gorgeous and unique coloured batts for spinning. 

After the first pass:  lurid pink seems to dominate, but....

....after a couple more passes through the drum carder, a pink-purple heather mixture appears.

 Very many thanks to Katie for such an inspiring workshop, for her patience and good humour, and thanks to all our visitors for joining us.

 http://www.hilltopcloud.co.uk/  Katie's website, and a photo of Charles Rennie Mackintosh too!
http://www.worldofwool.co.uk  (for commercially dyed fibre in a wide range of shades)

AC.

Troell nyddu newydd Haf!

(Or - Haf's new spinning wheel - I hope. I'm pleased to correct it if it's wrong.)
It's easy, once you've been spinning for some years, to forget how tricky things can be when you take up the craft for the first time.  After solving the first problem - how do I find someone to teach me to spin? - and the second problem - how do I actually do the spinning? - there are the problems of finding the kit.
Take the spinning wheel itself:  buy a second-hand one, and take the risk that it may be worn out or even broken?  or save up for a brand new one, which could take some time?  Our newest members have solved this problem in a variety of ways, renovating old wheels, buying second-hand from a reliable source (the Abergele Guild!) or selling some unwanted items to raise money for a brand new wheel.

Buying a new wheel is a bit nerve-wracking, but very exciting.  After getting the bits out of the box and oiling the wood, you are then faced with the fiddling business of putting them together in the right order.  Armed with a diagram, a selection of simple tools and a trusty helper, you are in for an afternoon of jigsaw puzzlery before ending up with the finished product:  a brand new, fully working shiny spinning wheel.
Here are some action shots of Hilary assembling Haf's new spinning wheel.

To begin at the beginning:  a table-top full of bits.

..hmmm...

Nearly there.

And the finished item, ready for many years of faithful service.

Happy spinning!

AC

May meeting - Sunday

Sunday, spinning all day.
A very good turnout again for our now-regular Sunday day out in LlanfairTH.  The new heaters are working a treat, although still tending to trip the fuses;  this is not a major problem now the fuses really do trip rather than melt.  Anyway, we were nice and warm all day and it was great to see a room full of wheels at work. One or two technical problems were solved, and a lot of yarn was produced.

I'm using a computer in Abergele Library to upload these photographs, and for some reason they're jumping about and the captions are re-arranging themselves.  I hope you can make out what's what.  It's not helped by the fact that I can't remember which images belong to which spinner.

Glorious, glorious colours.  Hilltop Cloud fibre, I think.

Add caption

A very enviable handful of dyed silk, also from Hilltop Cloud (I think)

Carding Falklands' fleece

- and this is the silk, spun up to a fine lustrous yarn.

More nice spinning - it's a while since the meeting, and I've forgotten which photos are of whom:  I think this is Jenni's Shetland.

.. and Pauline's worthy efforts with a donated fleece.  She usually knits dog blankets with it!

I do remember that this is going to be one of a pair of felt mittens, made by piecing half-felts and interesting bits and pieces.

The obligatory Photograph  of Cakes- what's left of them.

See you all in Abergele at the end of the month.

A.C.

Another blog to follow

http://www.curioushandmade.com
I have just discovered this blog (via FaceBook), and have added it to our blogs-to-watch bar at the right of this page. There are lots of intriguing web links on the curioushandmade page, and photographs of some spectacular patchwork, knitted shawls and other stuff.
AC.

Friendship Day, 2014.

Last Sunday dawned bright and fair, if a little chilly, and we were very pleased to welcome so many members and visitors to Llanfair T.H. for our Friendship Day.  It was lovely to see so many people, although at one point we did wonder whether we could squeeze everybody into the Community Centre.   We managed it, although some of us had to exchange spinning wheels for drop spindles.  No room for the Great Wheel, unfortunately.  As the heating still hasn't been fixed some people were a bit cold (apologies for this), but despite this there was a really good atmosphere in the hall.
The traditional "bring something to share" lunch was a raging success, with so much food we couldn't use it all.  Our thanks to everybody who contributed, and please don't take it personally if your offerings weren't eaten.  Thanks also to the relay of washers-up!
We had three great trade stands:  Mam a Mi (Annie and Kath) with their brightly dyed fibres; Fiery Felts (Helen Melvin) selling all manner of wonderful natural dyes and sundries; and Glenys of Snowdonia Wools with her top-end commercial yarns and high class knitting tackle.  Thanks to all of them and also to Ann Campbell, who brought a selection of dyed luxury fibres to tempt us, and thanks to everyone who brought stuff for the "stash stall". Some nice raffle prizes completed the range of goodies available.
Hilary Whatmough kindly gave us a talk entitled "Waste not, want not" detailing her passion for patchwork from recycled fabrics. She also gave us insights into her life and work, and had plenty of her stitched pieces for sale to help research into macular degeneration.
Unexpected extras included Helen's demonstration of her printing inks - such glorious colours - and a chance to watch SAORI weaving on a very swish portable loom.
With all this going on, and the chatting and catching up with friends from different Guilds, it's surprising that anyone got any spinning done. However, many bobbins were filled, and - as far as I could see - everyone left smiling after a most enjoyable day.
Very many thanks to everyone for coming, and especial thanks to Bryn, our Programme Secretary, for all her hard work in organising such a successful day.
Photographs to follow, I hope.
A.C.