April 17, 2010

Thirteenth Annual Spinning at the Winery

June 5, 2010, 10am to 4pm

Retzlaff Winery
1356 S. Livermore Ave, Livermore
$5 entry per person
[on the left, just past City Hall & the Police Station]

From Will and Kate's humble idea for a day of spinning and "picnicing" thirteen years ago, to today's wonderful, day-long extravaganza, our event has really grown.

For any new members, this is a day of fun with lots of other fiber people from around the Bay Area. Everyone is invited to bring their wheel or knitting, and a pot-luck dish to share for a delicious big lunch. The weather can be warm or cool, be prepared for either. There are big pepperwood trees and lots of lawn space to spread out with your group. Chairs are available, but you can bring a favorite fold-up chair if you like. Paper plates, silverware and napkins are supplied by the guild.

One of the most looked-forward-to doings of the day are the drawings held at about 2 pm. Every vendor, along with our own members, are encouraged to donate a nice item for the drawings. Quite a few wonderful things have been donated in the past. We will also have T-Shirts for sale again with our "Spinning at the Winery" logo.

The vendors for this year are:

Nebo Rock Ranch - Janet Heppler
Shetland fleece grown by Beverly Flemming
Jacob fleece grown by Robin Lynde
Cashmere from Barbara Fiorica's goats
Cormo fleece from Sue Reuser
Black Diamond Alpacas - Donna Daychuk
RenCon Ranch with Shetland fleece
Shaggy Bear Farms - Wendy Hansen
Dreamy Goat Design Studio - Mary Finley
Carolina Homespun [lots of spinning related goodies]
Morro Fleece Works [a carding mill]
Vintage Buttons - Annabell Yurutuen
San Francisco Fibers - Lou Grantham

There will be a list of jobs that need to be done throughout the day passed around at the next two meetings. Plan on participating in some way to help with the work.

I've written an article about our event for the new CNCHnet which is to be published on May 1. Check out this new media space for articles regarding the fiber arts of Northern California. It will be a part of the CNCH web site, accessible in a link at the upper right side of this blog. The theme of the first issue will be "Looking Forward to Summer".

The CNCHnet journal hopes to be a tool for all the Guilds under the CNCH umbrella to publicize their special events, honor members who have worked diligently to make sure that interest and expertise in the fiber arts has not died, to share fiber projects and passions with stories and/or photos, and to also publicize gallery shows or special fiber events that would be of interest to all of us. The next publishing date after May is August 1, 2010. Any Guild member is encouraged to submit fiber related articles.



NEXT MEETING:
April 28, 2010 at 7:30 pm

The program is scheduled to be Rose Morgan talking about Lincoln sheep and their fleece, and Mary Bishop talking about Pygora goats and fleece.



Some wooly Linclolns posing pretty. How do they see the camera?














A grand-prize winning Pygora.





IN OTHER NEWS: The city of Pleasant Hill has plans for doing some building and have let us know that the Winslow center will not be available for us to use as of March 2011. We should all be looking for anther site for our meetings, preferably somewhat accessible and centered to our membership.

Linda V.H. has mentioned that the Senior care facility in Clayton offers their large multi-use room for free to outside groups. The meetings just have to be open to any resident who may have an interest in sitting in on the programs. Clayton is a bit far for some of our members, but there are other centers around the area. Maybe one of them also offers free meeting space. If there is one near you that you think would be a good location, check and see and report to the group.