All Wales Meeting, Llanidloes 2015

Another minor miracle - like bring-a-platter buffets which turn out to have just the right
ingredients without there being a plan - Abergele's display had a good selection of yarns, colours
and techniques. Although I didn't, Jenni did have a plan and the flow of textiles across our space represented a mountain range. Compliments were received! So, thank you everyone who put their work in. Fewer members of the public this year but guilds were out in force. Displays included a little black dress, woven boxes, unusual fibres such as yak. Ours was the only one to go Roman and use LX for 60 years on our Challenge board.

B.T.

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.

Sunday in LlanfairTH

Working from left to right:  Yvonne's new wheel; Val spinning in a very smart knitted jumper;

Hilary busy making lace; Edith spinning a beautiful dark red yarn;

Kate and Bryn suitably dressed for the occasion.

First class work on the peg loom by Kate's 4 year old daughter (joined together by Aunty)

And finally:  The Cake Picture.  Bara brith on the left, and Val's delicious orange malt loaf on the right.

Our first meeting in LlanfairTH. for a while, having had to cancel at short notice in September.  Not a huge turnout, but those who managed to come had a good and productive day.  The weather is turning colder, after a late blossoming of summer weather - we look a bit spread out in these photographs, when perhaps we should have been huddling together for warmth.  The clocks will have gone back before our next meeting.

A nice day with books and wool.

A small group of us this Sunday, but some interesting pieces for our "show and tell":

Yvonne's Möbius loop scarf, made with yarn from Katie Weston's fibre blending session:

Jenni's peg looming - going to be a nice warm seat cover:

And Alison's locker-hooked seat covers:

Both sets of seat covers show excellent ways to use spare yarn or fabric; as peg looms produce a weft-faced yarn, they certainly get through the yarn!
Bryn was busy knitting pieces for a "free-form" jacket, but didn't take any photographs of them.
We had the usual tea, cake and chat - mostly about books, for a change.  Some of us read on-line, some prefer real books, and some read so much that we need both virtual and paper pages.

(By the way, does anyone know how to post photographs direct from Gmail or Google Drive to Blogger?  It seems illogical to have to download to a PC and then upload them again. There doesn't seem to be any way to get the various bits of Google to communicate?????)
AC

Another busy day.

Lots of busy-ness at our regular Monday evening meeting in Abergele. We were pleased to welcome a new member and a visitor, as well as a returning member - croeso i bawb!
Photographs of spinning wheels get a bit "same-y" after a while, so here are some shots of Jenni's peg loom weaving (made from a mixture of hand spun and commercial yarn).  Nice and thick and comfortable for a seat cushion.

See you in Llanfair in August!
AC

Apologies.

Well, I suppose it had to happen one day. 
My apologies to anyone who received an alert about a new Abergele blog post, and came to the page only to find nothing new.  I accidentally posted my own artist's blog update on this page.  I have now cut and pasted it onto my own page.  Sorry for any inconvenience.
(I could send you the link to my post if you want!)
A.C.