Still at the Winslow Center: 7:30 PM
Our first formal meeting for the "year" will feature "Dump Your Stash Day" and a "Fiber Exchange".
Dump Your Stash
You still have a week left to go through your collections of yarn, fiber, equipment, etc., and decide on what you no longer need. Bring it all to this meeting for a sale/swap - which ever you want to do.
Fiber Exchange
Pick out 4 oz. of a fiber that is already in your stash that you haven't gotten to and will never get to. Conceal it in a paper bag and at the meeting you will exchange that fiber for someone else's which just might spark your creativity. You'll then have a few months to spin [or felt] it up, blend it with another fiber or two, or whatever you come up with. There are no rules except to finish by the January 2011 meeting where we will have a big show & tell. This is a blind exchange - you don't know what you get till you open the bag.
Olympia the lamb here is delighted to be wearing a beautiful lei made of knitted & felted flowers. Maybe you could make something equally as lovely with your fiber exchange pick!
FIBER STUDIES
We will continue with fiber studies for this year also. Think about a fiber that you would like to learn more about and sign up for any of the coming months.
PERSONAL SHARING
A new event for us that we are going to try. It would be fun if one or two people sign up for each meeting to bring 5 or 6 items that they have made in the past that the rest of us have never seen, or have forgotten about. They will then share them with the group and talk a little about their past experiences and experiments in the fiber arts. This would be just a short 15 minute or so, informal talk. Again, sign-ups will be at the August meeting.
SPINNING AT THE WINERY went extremely well again this year. A big thank you to Retzlaff Winery, Will & Kate and everyone else who came and helped with set-up and take down. Even a "simple" event such as this takes lots of volunteers to make it successful.
The weather was gorgeous, the vendors' goods were varied and really great, lunch was delicious and the drawing was fun as ever. Another big thank-you to all the vendors and Treadles members who contributed. It was terrific stuff as evidenced by the number of tickets that were bought.
New this year were great aprons with our Spinning at the Winery logo. There are still a few left, as well as t-shirts which will all be at the meeting in case you need another one.
DYE DAY was actually FELTING DAY this year in Carol Causey's back yard. A good activity involving water for what was a very hot day. Mindy and Wendy led the day in teaching us how to make a felted bowl, a felted vase or a felted purse. Thanks to you two for all the hard work.
ROGERS RANCH right here in Pleasant Hill had their usual summer craft days for the kids. We again brought over the spinning sticks that we have along with a couple of warped up looms. The kids always have a great two hours with us and us with them. They spun and wove and did their thing. Yet another thank-you to those from Treadles who came and helped out with this.
NAVAJO PLYING
Or as some say it should be called "chain plying". If you need a brush up or just want to see how its done, check out this great little video on YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmlwtojLXI8
VOGUE KNITTING
The "Early Fall" 2010 issue of this magazine has a couple of interesting tidbits you can look up on the Net.
"Hats Equal Hope" The Kenyan aid organization FLYING KITES cares for disadvantaged, homeless, orphaned and abused children. In developing areas such as the Aberdare Mountain of Kenya, where hypothermia is an indiscriminate killer, mothers of the country's very youngest are in dire need of knitted caps. Visit flyingkitesglobal.org or contact info@flyingkitesglobal.org for more info. Mail infant-sized caps to : Flying Kites, 604 Thames St. , Newport, RI 02840
"Bernat Cares" is an interactive resource linking stitchers with charities. According to the Craft Yarn Council of America, a full 48% of all knitters reported stitching a charity project in 2009. Once you register on the Bernat website, you have access to an extensive database of philanthropic organizations looking for knitted and crocheted items. Charities can even be accessed by zip codes if you are interested in local needy groups.
Beyond connecting knitters with charities and charities with knitters, the site also carries a library of free charity-project patterns, lists of tips about how to maximize your charity knitting and even a spot for you to posts pictures of your finished items. Go to BernatCares.com to register.