Whorled News
The Newsletter of the Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers
March 2007
Carson Sierra Spinners & Weavers
2120 Ives Ave
Reno NV 89503
Web Site: http://www.scs.unr.edu/~ashannon/csswSharon Campbell, Editor
(775) 846-9095 (cell)
(775) 969-3121 (long distance)
institches@hughes.netOfficers:
President: Heidi Erickson (775) 322-4790
VP: Kathleen Sensenig (775) 359-3764
Secretary: Connie Vann (775) 775-827-4218
Treasurer: Doris Woloszyn, (530) 993-4296Whorled News is a bimonthly, published six times a year on odd months.
March 10th and April 14 Guild Meetings will be held in the multi-purpose room of the South Valleys Library. Driving directions: Exit onto Mt Rose Hwy from Hwy 395 and proceed west to the first stop light, which is Wedge Parkway. Turn right and continue about a mile. Turn right on Whites Creek Ln. The library is bright yellow and quite visible.
The March meeting is a brown bag lunch, April is potluck. Meetings begin at 11:00, but come early to visit. A fiber preparation and multicolor blending techniques video rented from the Handweavers Guild of America will follow the March meeting. Due to the length of the video, we still begin viewing it at 12:30 so that we can be done by 2:00.
Dues are due now, and this is the last month that members who have paid to have their copy of Whorled News mailed to them will receive a mailed copy under their 2006 paid dues. Please supply your email address when you pay your dues this year so the membership list can be updated.
January Meeting Minutes:
The January Guild meeting was held at South Valleys Library. Those in attendance included: Mariann LaMorte, Doris Woloswyn, Vivian Olson, Sue Gottsacker, Judy Wells, Nancy Pryor, Carolyn Thompson, Eileen Jacobs, Nancy Grundy, Claudia Knous, Marilyn Clarke, Eileen Hickey, Evelyn Belli, Lynda Engeseth, Ken Fabian, Melani Carr, Mim Bullard, Sharon Campbell, Vicki Johnson, Amy Shannon, Lauren and Kathleen Sensenig, Connie Vann, and Jennifer Dawes (guest). Introductions were made for all present.
There were no minutes taken for the previous (December) meeting at Nancy Grundy's house, but it was unanimous that we all had a great time at the annual Christmas party, and many thanks to Nancy Grundy for having us.
Treasurer's Report: Many Guild members paid their annual dues of $15.00 at the previous meeting. Reminder to all to pay dues to Doris Woloswyn. Doris reported a bank balance of $2,126.71. The CSSW Guild Insurance policy will be renewed as soon as Doris gets the bill.
Fair Report: Amy Shannon reported that the recent Fair Meeting scheduled for Wednesday night was cancelled. Therefore, nothing new on the Fair.
Learning Tree Report: Linda Lohan was attending a funeral, and was therefore not present. However, Sharon Campbell announced that she would be demonstrating spinning techniques for two-plying and Navajo-plying after the meeting.
Retreat Report: Eileen Jacobs reported that the next retreat is set for 9/7-9/2007.
Newsletter Report: The CSSW Newsletter, entitled "Whorled News", will be coming out bi-monthly. Next month, Sharon Campbell will provide some suggested topics for articles to be written by members of the Guild.
Name Tags Report: Nancy Pryor passed around an example of the name tags that all Guild Members will get at the next meeting. They are laminated, with a metal clip at the top. They can be clipped to one's clothing, or to a lanyard. Nancy asked the members to write down what additional information they want printed on their nametag (i.e., spinner, weaver, tatter, knitter, crocheter, dyer, felter, etc.). She plans to set up a table for name tags at the next meeting, and keep the tags organized for us.
Tweed Project Report: Sue Gottsacker brought in yarns spun for the project by Brenda and Wes Pound. She passed the skeins around so that members could see how the thread should look and feel.
Yahoo Group Report: Amy Shannon and Sharon Campbell brought information supporting their proposal for CSSW to become part of a group page to lighten web page management responsibilities that include "forwarding conversation" and "housekeeping" in future. Amy brought a copy of the Yahoo page and encouraged members to get on the website via (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSSW) to see how they like it.
Old Business:
Nancy Pryor will provide a list and schedule for spinning classes given by Stephanie and have them posted in the next Newsletter. Locations for holding a workshop were suggested.
Mim Bullard discussed "brainstorming developments" re: the Annual Fibre Project, to be displayed at the State Fair. Her idea was that those who sign up create their own project, complete with a written pattern on how the thread was spun for it, and any knitting, crocheting, or weaving instructions as to how the project was made. These patterns could be either exchanged or sold to raise money for the Guild. Also, if as many as 12 patterns were created, a fund-raising calendar could be made for sale to the public. At the very least, a picture album could be put together, displaying projects and patterns created by members of the Guild, and the newer members would have a referral source for duplicating such projects on their own. Sharon Campbell asked Mim to submit her idea for the next Newsletter created showcasing the projects with their patterns. Mim will create a signup sheet in the next month or two, and get everyone to sign up in plenty of time.
New Business: Claudia Knous announced that she will be teaching a 5-day Needle and Nuno (laminated) Felting Class at St. Mary's Art Center, in Virginia City, from May 9 thru 13, 2007. She passed around a flyer with all of her information.
Other Announcements: Nancy Pryor will apply to Interweave for their cash prize of $1,000 for our next Fair Project. CSSW can use the money, if they win it, to promote other Guild projects.
Show and Tell: Lauren (4 yrs. old) brought in a colorful, felted handbag that she learned how to make at Mim's Felting Workshop. Kathleen Senseneg passed around a wool hat that she finished, as well as pictures of some of her weavings. Carolyn Thompson showed a knitted sample of her homespun and asked questions of the members for how to improve on certain skills. Suggestions were made. Eileen Jacobs modeled a llama knitted jacket she had made and felted to size, illustrating the point that llama wool s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s.
Adjournment: A motion was made and seconded to adjourn for lunch.
Workshop: After lunch, Sharon Campbell demonstrated how to 2-ply and Navajo-ply wool for the members
February Meeting Minutes:
Welcome to the February meeting of the Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers. Introductions were made my members. The January minutes were not posted. Discussion as to whether or not to post them on the Yahoo Group website in the future.
Treasurer’s Report: Doris will be out of town for most of April and will therefore not be able to attend the April meeting. Balance: $2,068.71.
Committee Reports:
Fair Report: We now have a wool judge, Mike Clifford.
The Learning Tree: Linda has completed the 2007 Learning Tree Calendar.
Retreat: The dates for the September retreat are the 7th through the 9th at Davis Creek and has been paid for.
Newsletter: Sharon has not received any article written by our members in some time.
Name Tags: Thanks for Nancy for creating the name tags. She passed around an example of some braid that could be used in making lanyards.
Workshop with Stephanie: Linda has asked Stephanie about having one and has not heard back from her. Nancy Grundy’s house was discussed as a location for the workshop.
Yahoo Group: Twenty-seven new members have signed up so far. Members of the Yahoo Group must have paid their dues to CSSW.
Tweed Project: Several members reported working on it within their groups. There’s some question as to when the projects will be due.
Old Business:
Fiber Project: The project this year will be bags of the members’ own designs. The bags will displayed at the state fair and should involve doing something new – something the member has not tried before. Mim would like members to write patterns for their bags. Members voiced that they weren’t sure they knew how to write patterns and Marianne volunteered to teach a pattern writing workshop. She has written patterns for Lion Brand yarn in the past. The completion deadline is August 1st
State Fair: Kathleen asked why we don’t do a Sheep-to-Shawl as part of our fair show. Sharon suggested that we form an exploratory committee to see if we can find a harness loom to bring to the fair for the purpose of demonstrations. Kathleen offered to head up this committee.
New Business:
The South Valleys Library has been booked for meeting through May, though the March meeting will be in a different room.
A Spring Retreat at Rye Patch reservoir was discussed but there were multiple conflicts and no date was determined.
Demonstrations: Heart-to-Hand Waldorf School has asked if members of our guild would be willing to have a demonstration book at their event on May 5th, from 10:00-2:00 on the grass.
Amy would like the guild to demonstrate spinning at Earth Day in Idlewild Park on April 21st. She will look into the cost of booth space. Linda mentioned that she would like to see us also demonstrate spinning as part of the Artown event in July.
Announcements:
CNCH note and calendar; Spindles & Flyers Newsletter; “How to make art into a viable business” workshop; Oasis Conference; Crossing Boundaries; Stitches fiber event in February; The National Colored Wool Growers Conference has been moved to Black Sheep Gathering for 2007.Show and Tell:
Connie showed a small cashmere/silk bag crocheted in slip stitch; Marilyn showed some silk scarves, dyed with red carnations as yellow and purple irises. Mim showed a felted checkerboard sampler and a felted bag embellished with beads. Amy showed a handspun 50/50 mohair/wool lace shawl in variegated greens. Hannah showed a triangular lace shawl in Icelandic wool (three colors). Libby showed an inkle-loomed bans and a needle-felted parrot medallion.
Meeting Adjourned: A potluck lunch was after the meeting, followed by a workshop on color plying.
How to Dye with Tea Bags Anonymous
Heat the water, make it hot,
pop the teabags in the pot,
six or more, it's up to you,
put more in for stronger brew,
let it simmer, not too long,
till the colour's nice and strong,
remove the bags, put in the wool,
simmer till the colour's full
nice and easy, nice and quick,
light to dark brown, take your pick!
(and then rinse it)Submitted by Mim Bullard
The Learning Tree Linda Loken
The last learning workshop was a plying exercise about shade, tints and tone. It was an exercise and experiment more than a demonstration and gave everyone participating, either with their eyes or with their spinning wheels, a chance to see the effects of adding black, white or gray to a colored yarn while plying to see what effect that had on the colored yarn. It was very interesting to see.
This next learning workshop will take that even further. We will be viewing a video by Deb Menz called Fiber Preparation and Multicolor Blending Techniques. Bring your pen and paper because you will want to take notes. I haven't read her book Color in Spinning, but I have a feeling it covers much of what we will see in the video. I had a sneak peek of the video. First, I had to borrow the VCR from my EX since mine has long since died. That should have been my first hint as to how old I am getting, but on the same day earlier on, my son came over to help me with my computer and let me know that I couldn't do what I wanted to do because I was still using Windows 98. What's wrong with that I ask? Well Mom, there have been five new versions since then and it's basically outdated. Hmmm. Outdated. Well then I looked at the video and well, when you see it, you will see how different things were 10 years ago when Windows 98 made its debut! Makes me quite eager to go out and purchase a new computer. Okay I get it. It's old! More than half my son's age. I guess that would be old by his standards. Okay. I get it! Wow! I can remember saying that to my parents!
Anyway, please join us and be prepared to have your mind expanded with what Deb calls Design Options. When you see all her tricks you'll no doubt want to rush home and try them out. Bring your wheel so you can spin while you watch the video, but be prepared to drop it all and jot down notes when you get inspired. She has another, more recent book out called Color Works: A crafters guide to color. That covers many of the same concepts. Concepts that we can never hear too much of, for it takes many hours of study and practice to become fluent and be able to apply the standard principles and terminology to our work. Though many of us are gifted with natural color talent (Mim, for example), others among us need to have it repeatedly pounded in so that one day we might be able to converse in color or even translate!! See you there!!
The Learning Tree Calendar for 2007:
January 13th – Plying – basic 2 ply and Navajo plying.
February 10th – More Plying - with tones, tint and shade for effect
March 10th – Fiber preparation and multicolor blending techniques video borrowed from the Handweaver's Guild of America
April 14th – Natural Dyes – what is mordant, where do you get it, what dye stuff gives what color, how do you get dye stuff, how do you prepare dye stuff, and all that kind of stuff!
May 12th – Dye Day – bring your collection of stuff and lets get colorful!
June 9th – Boucle novelty yarns
July 14th - Drop Spindle Spinning – get caught spinning at Artown!!!
August 11th – Felting – We want more felting!!!
September 8th – Spinster's Retreat – no workshop
October 13th – Beginning Weaving video borrowed from the Handweaver's Guild of America
November 10th – Weaving workshop – at least 5 looms to weave on with different techniques and patterns – everyone gets to weave!
December 8th – Christmas Party – no workshop
Question: What skein were you the happiest with after you had spun it and how did you acquire the fiber?
Hermi Hiatt: Every handspun skein gives me happiness, but the ones that have a memento attached are probably the best. For instance, a skein called "Ingrid's Medley" was one of them. This skein was made from her luxury fiber samples she acquired from a SOAR class and I was the recipient of it after Ingrid passed on. So I carded it all together: cashmere, camel, silk, merino, alpaca, and other fibers that I cannot remember, plus additional merino to make a 2-ounce skein. After spinning a 2-ply yarn, I used it to knit a lace fichu that's delicate and not too warm even during the warm summer months in Las Vegas.
Laura A. Cunningham: Well, that's a toughy - I've been spinning since 1973, and there have been a lot of skeins between then and now! I could say that the one I was most proud of was the first one that hung together and wasn't "rope," or the last one of alpaca spun for a project while my son was sleeping (in 1977 - it was a 1/4" single, and the alpaca was horrible), or the one of hand-dyed silk rayon that I used in the "Raven" shawl that really looked like raven feathers. I think my most recent "favorite" is finally learning to spin romney (since I have several) so that it's soft and lofty and even elastic. I just finished a vest out of that yarn. I guess everytime I spin something neat, or meet my expectations for a yarn, I'm really proud that it came out as I planned, so I know it's an on-going process - lots of opportunities to learn and make more "best" skeins!
Sharon Campbell: I think the one that pleased me the most was from the fiber I was spinning at the Nevada County Fair last year. I always like to work from locks when I’m demonstrating, so when I was packing up to go, I grabbed a bag of multi-colored llama that I had purchased from Velta Mack a number of years ago. I was so taken by the four colors (or more) in the fleece that I didn’t take into consideration that it was unwashed. By the time Amy and I packed up to go home, the top of my pants, the front of my shirt, and my hands were filthy. I washed up the skein after I got home and knitted a sample. I absolutely loved it, but I won’t spin any more until I wash the rest of the locks.
Becky Pennington: I bought a romney fleece of eBay, washed it and decided the best way to process it, because of the beautiful consistant locks, was to flick card it. Normally I will get tired of working with one kind of wool if I have quite a bit of it and will skip from one to the next by the skein. Not with this stuff! It is so gorgeous, and has such a nice hand that I am still working on finishing the fleece 5 skeins later! So I have to say at this time (cause I have spun many I was happy with and have many yet to spin :) I am very happy with the way this romney spins up on my wheel. I checked the WPI, measuring it to a half inch, and it’s somewhere around 38 to 40 two-ply.
CLASSIFIED ADS: (A free service to our guild members. Ads run four months unless otherwise requested)
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Goats for Sale: I am selling my goats: 2 angora does – great mothers and 1 cashmere doe with wonderful down (not yet been bred) along with her twin brother (wethered) $50 apiece or the whole lot for $150 or OBO. Call 775-750-2430 or email me. Annabelle Younger 11/06
Lessons Wanted: My friend is looking for handspun, possibly knitting lessons. She lives in the Damonte Ranch area and is a beginning knitter, looking for some handspun yarn to spice up the simple (straight knitting at this point) stuff she is doing--mainly scarves for gifts. She might also be interested in a few knitting lessons or a casual group of knitters she could get together with. If anyone has some handspun for sale or might be interested in teaching a few lessons and/or knows of some beginning knitters she might get in touch with, please contact Lisa Jones at LGFJones@gbis.com.
Used and new books for sale: covering spinning, knitting, weaving and dyeing. Email Allison Judge at fiberist@sbcglobal.net
Carson Sierra Spinners & Weavers
Our guild was formed in 1976 in an effort to create a resource for practicing and aspiring fiber artists in and near Carson City, Nevada.
Our goal is to: Promote appreciation and knowledge of the fiber arts in our community through demonstrations, fairs, and other activities; provide a support network for fiber artists and enthusiasts in our area; Keep the fiber arts alive by encouraging others to take up spinning, weaving, knitting and other related arts; Support local and global fiber-related causes.
Meetings are normally held the 2nd Saturday of the month. Plan to arrive after 10 a.m.; meetings are called to order at 11 am, with lunch and socializing afterwards. Bring your spinning wheel, knitting or other handwork, and items for sharing. We welcome members and their guests at all levels of expertise.
Newsletter Submissions: must be received no later than the last Wednesday of the month for inclusion in the next newsletter. Submissions must be made in writing and sent by e-mail or snail mail by the deadline to Sharon Campbell, institches@hughes.net
Dues: Membership dues are $15.00 (without mailed copy of newsletter) or $20.00 per year if you select to receive the monthly newsletter via U.S. mail. Membership runs from January to December. Send dues to: Doris Woloszyn at P.O. Box 229 Chilcoot, CA 96105, and make checks payable to Carson Sierra Spinners & Weavers.
Please Send Guild Correspondence to:
Amy Shannon
2120 Ives Ave
Reno, NV 89503
ashannon@unr.edu