December 6, 2020

NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 6 PM, ONLINE + SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 ORNAMENT EXCHANGE


UPCOMING 2020/2021 MEETING DATES

Online meetings start at 6 p.m.  Zoom link is open around 5:30 p.m.  The link will be sent to guild members within a few days of the meeting.  If you don't receive the link, please contact Wendy L.

December 16:  Zoom Holiday Party & Mini Workshop.  You should have received an e-mail from Wendy L., but I've attached the document to the guild newsletter e-mail just in case. Kits are available and will be mailed, but you have to ask for one soon to receive it in time for the meeting!

December 19:  Distance Sheep Ornament Exchange, with our own shepherdess, Donna S., picking up and delivering sheep to their new pastures - if you live out of the area there is a snail mail option.  You should have received an e-mail from Wendy L., but I've attached the document to the guild newsletter e-mail just in case.

January 27:  Deb Robson

February:  Maggie Casey?

MEETING MINUTES (Linda B.)

TREADLES TO THREADS GUILD

ZOOM MEETING

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

President Wendy welcomed our speaker, Jillian Moreno. In keeping with our year’s theme, Jillian has a lovely book. “Yarn-i-tec-ture”. She is also working on a book on intuitive spinning and one on color spinning with fiber braids. She is working with “Ply” magazine to get other teachers to write books.

Her focus is to spin for knitting. She follows Five C’s in her spinning, Choice of fiber, Control of the quality of the yarn, Craft of spinning purposefully, Creativity of making the yarn you want, and the Continuum of looking back at your previous work and always learning something new.

Jillian then offered five tips to feel successful as a spinner of handspun for knitting.

1. Know your spinning self - know your spinning self now so you will know what to do to get to where you want to be.

2. Intention–know what you want to spin. A project? A new technique?

3. Learn to evaluate your yarn – use words that make sense to you and keep lots of detailed notes.

4. Make friends with your default yarn – your favorite fiber, draft, ply, gauge, WPI.

5. Explore new yarns – make them work for you. Keep notes and focus on one problem at a time.

Other ways to control your yarn are by choosing the sheep breed with the characteristics you want. Then, how did you receive the fiber- fleece, commercial fiber prep? Once the fiber is prepared, how will you choose the drafting method? Are you going to blend colors while drafting? This is where the yarn size comes into play.

Now comes the decision about plying. Are you going to ply? Will a cable be too much? The yarn doesn’t have to fall in an open loop, as long as there is no bias in the knitting. Once the fabric is created, how will you finish it? Will it only be blocked, or fulled all the way to felting?  Color is a continuum of manipulation from fiber prep to plying. Projects need consistency, so take and keep notes even if it is a sample of singles and the two ply on a tag saved in a ziploc bag. Most important, enjoy the journey. If you don’t think you will ever use the yarn, give it away. Jillian noted that some spin in the opposite direction to use for crochet, or spin loosely to soften drape. Crochet will magnify color changes as does chain plying. There are 13 signed up for Jillian’s workshop this weekend. 29 signed in to this Zoom meeting.

Wendy opened the meeting, noting she has been swamped at school with finals on Zoom and technical glitches.  She noted our traditional sheep ornament exchange will take a different form this year. She, Amy and Carolyn are working on a way to celebrate on December 16, Wednesday, at our Zoom meeting. They hope to find a project small enough to mail out so we can work together during the meeting.

CNCH liason Joan says there may be a venue for 2021; she will go to a meeting in 3 days to find out more. The 2022 Conference will be in July on the Cal Poly campus in SLO.

Our January meeting will feature Deb Robson on January 27, 2021.

There were eight lovely show and tell items displayed.

Linda B.

SHEEP ORNAMENT EXCHANGE


For those participating in the sheep ornament exchange pickup/delivery on December 19 or via snail mail, please email a photo of your new ornament to Wendy L. after you receive it - she will put them into a photo collage so we can all enjoy them.

Lisa W.

INTERESTING ARTICLES/LINKS




Scroll through the outfits, sheep and human, from the North America International Livestock Exhibition.


  

UPCOMING FIBER EVENTS & NEWSLETTERS


Handspinning News - Shiela Dixon's monthly blog, includes events

Mielke's Fiber Arts Newsletter - news for fiber artists

FiberEvents - a calendar of wool festivals, fiber festivals, knitting, crocheting & craft gatherings/events in the U.S. and the world

Clara Parkes' Knitter's Review - knitting and fiber events

Botanical Colors Feedback Friday - video archive and information on upcoming presentations.

ITEMS FOR SALE

Megan C. has processed fleeces for sale, including Shetland, BFL, Alpaca, Polworth, etc. Contact Megan directly for more information.

ONGOING FIBER-RELATED CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Contact the business to find out their current situation due to COVID-19.

Black Rock Ranch (Stinson Beach)

Crockett Fiber Arts Studio (Crockett)

Fibershed (various locations)

Fiber Circle Studio (Cotati)

Meridian Jacobs (Vacaville)

West County Fiber Arts (Sebastopol)

Windrush Farm (Petaluma
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