January 11, 2012

Next Meeting: Jan. 26, 2012, 7 PM

NOTE: The Library has a conflict with our usual Wednesday night, so this month's meeting is Thursday evening, Jan. 26.


Program:  Bente Petersen speaking on Ergonomics
Bente is the owner of Piedmont Yarn & Apparel. Her talk will focus on what we can do to help reduce pain from repetitive motion like spinning and knitting. Bente's background is Chinese Medicine, massage and acupuncture. Any repetitive motion can cause problems and since most of us just have one way or one range of motion to our spinning, this should be a very helpful talk to hear.


Coming up:
February 29 [yes, its Leap Year] Stephanie Gausted "Here Comes the Judge" 
Stephanie will come and share her thoughts on how a judge sees your work. Stephanie has done lots of that over her career in the fiber arts and will be a good thing to hear to get your work ready for the upcoming Conference. We want to see some exquisite hand-spun pieces in there!


March 29  All About Spindles  [Tentative so far]
Come share your spindles and spindling techniques. Whatever type of spindle you have, whether it is a traditional top or bottom whorl, or an exotic Russian, Tibetan, Turkish or whatever, please bring it and share what you know.


Photos from this year at Lambtown
Sultana and Laura participated in the spinning contests while Carolyn took photos and Marianne cheered them on! 
Laura having fun, but concentrating hard
Spinning "blindfolded" Try THAT sometime




























Sultana drop spindling blind! And doing better than most did without their blindfolds.
Other interesting things going on:
February 17, At the Diablo Weavers Guild meeting:
Cameron Taylor-Brown,  
"Color in Cloth:  The Weaves You Want and Why"
Guests are welcome at the Friday morning meeting at Thurman Casey Library in Walnut Creek. Meeting begins at 10 am. Cameron's presentation will be from 11 to 12:30 More info for Diablo thru the link on the right side of this blog.


"My artwork reflects a passion to shape order out of chaos - to start with bits of thread and create something complex and satisfying where nothing existed before. As I weave, I embrace and celebrate the ancient heritage and language of woven cloth. The rhythms and interplay of pattern, color and texture fascinate me, and the tactile quality of the actual fiber is extremely satisfying. I thrive on the challenges and opportunities presented to me as I move forward to explore new and interesting possibilities."

Cameron's artwork is widely exhibited and has been published in American Craft, Fiberarts, Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot and the Fiberarts Design Books Four, Five, Six and Seven . She travels Southern California and Arizona as the regional representative for several top yarn companies, including Rowan, Filatura de Crosa and Manos del Uruguay. An experienced teacher and facilitator, she conducts workshops throughout the country exploring design, color, creativity and the collaborative process.