Melissa Weaver Dunning
“Norman Kennedy’s Ethnic Spinning Slides”
Master weaver and spinner Norman Kennedy kept an old fashioned scrapbook from the time he was a teenager (born 1933), collecting images of spinners and weavers from around the world. Melissa began her study with him at the Marshfield School of Weaving in Vermont in 1980.
TREADLES TO THREADS GUILD
November
17, 2021 Minutes of the meeting
6:00 p.m. by Zoom
President Vickie M. opened our meeting which is being recorded to the cloud. We met a week earlier than usual due to the upcoming holiday.
Our speaker this evening is Tineke Jacobsen, one of our own guild’s treasured members. Tineke is from the Netherlands, now living here locally. She is a licensed physical therapist who became intrigued with the fiber arts while in Baja Mexico. Our dear Joan contacted her about the Treadles to Threads guild.
She travels back often. On a trip back to see her Mother in early 2020, Tineke became aware of Grazend Populair, loosely translated as Grazing and Popular, a not-for-profit small business, founded by Judith and Wil Prins. Their focus is to restore a natural ecosystem using the Drentse Heideschaap (Drente Heath Sheep). The business has given classes in all things shepherding including dog training since 2010. Tineke was given permission to show a video provided by the Prins showing their set up. They are the only owners who with their dogs and the help of a few workers, some of who have cognitive disabilities, give classes , sell products and have farm tours for all ages. We saw the lovely dark coated lambs which grow up turning white, a group felting project complete with singing, and scenes of the lovely dunes area where the sheep are of great value. The sheep are horned, with the rams being double curved. The fleece has a fine short undercoat, long, softly curled locks and kemp. The entire hide is often used in fashion, with the undercoat felting the locks in place as the locks don’t felt.. Artists known to use this wool in their work are Veronica Pock, who has a blog from the UK (www.veronicapock.com), and Anne Flam (www.stikanne.nl). Anne also uses Spelsau, Icelandic and other rare breeds.
The Drentse Heideschaap dates back to 4000 B.C., the oldest sheep breed in Western Europe. They were vital to Dutch agriculture until commercial fertilizers were introduced. They are now used on the dunes to keep them free of invasive species like Japanese knot week, willow and American rose. The dunes help filter water into the water table for pumping out for drinking. They provide one fifth of the drinking water for the Netherlands. Starting in 1874, water has been taken from the Rhine River and pumped into the dunes as a pre-filter to get out seeds, etc., and then the sand dunes further filter the water for drinking. The sheep clean out the invasive species, leaving the heather to stabilize the dunes. Along with goats, they bring the dunes back to their natural state, to continue providing clean drinking water for all eleven provinces of the Netherlands.
Judith Prin sent two and one half pounds of washed and carded wool from her Drentse Heideschaap to Tineke . It will be divided into touch samples and available for pickup from Pam’s front porch for those who want to experience the fleece.
Tineke finished this great presentation of her first person experience at 6:45 pm with Q and A.
President Vickie began the business meeting.
Treasurer Pam has asked for dues to be mailed.
Vickie will pick up the Snuggles and Red scarf project items from Wendy and Pam’s collection boxes on December 1. She will do the mailing to the home offices. Another philanthropic donation was decided on tonight. Heifer International will receive $120 for a sheep to donate to a family. The family must then pay it forward with the proceeds from the sheep’s benefits to the family, including offspring. At the holiday party, there will be an opportunity to add to the donation to add another $120 for another sheep. Donations may be mailed to Pam if you are not attending.
Our Holiday Party will be Sunday, December 19, from 1-3 p.m. at the home of Tineke J. Please consult your roster for her address. Hot adult beverages will be Glogg and buttered rum. Other beverages will be available. Please bring cookies to share. Tongs will be used. If you want other nourishment, please bring your own snacks. We will have our traditional sheep ornament exchange for those who wish to participate. These can be purchased, handcrafted or both.
CNCH: We are trying to sort out our participation in the 2022 conference. The sudden death of Joan A., has left some questions unanswered. Joan had volunteered T2T for on-site registration. Another group will do the pre-conference computer part. Joan had committee chairs write up detailed descriptions of the job when she was Conference Chair, so Eugenia should have access to these. Reba, Carol G. And Carol C. already committee chairs. We need ways of organizing the information from the computer people into ways to get registered people into their classes quickly and register walk-ins at the same time. The biggest chore is to have bodies behind the registration desk from Friday evening until Sunday morning. The desk must be covered 45-60 minutes ahead of class start. Carols G and C are arranging class angels and other volunteer opportunities. Dawn J. has had previous experience as liason and will consider this job. She is signed up for a 3 day class and will only be available on site late Thursday to work the desk. Members volunteering to help as of this evening are: Carolyn, Tineke, Natalie and Linda B. Vickie will be driving if car pooling can be arranged.
Will and Kate reported Spinning at the Winery is on for Memorial Day weekend, May 28, 2021.
The changes include an increase in the admission fee to $10 per person paid to the winery. The massive pot luck is cancelled per Covid protocol. Bring your own lunch. Seven vendors have signed up. Advertising the event will be a problem, as we can’t have a huge numbers show up but need our long time guests to come and support vendors and our RAFFLE. Members, work on your donations as this is our main fund-raising effort to support our treasury for speakers and workshops, samples, dye days, etc. Please volunteer to work parking, raffle set up and ticket sales. Set up and cleanup are especially needed. More later on this.
Upcoming programs: January meeting is a Saturday, January 29, at 10:00 a.m. Melissa Weaver Dunning will be showing slides from Norman Kennedy’s scrapbooks. He also sings.
Show and Tell had many beautiful things. Vilija had a great sheep had made from the Yarn Barn of Kansas’ anniversary hat pattern, KKYB 2568. Rosemary had her Swatches are for Sissies bag. Dawn combed and spun this month’s fiber worsted fashion. Linda V.H. has been quilting. Jennifer B. Has been doing natural dying.
We all signed off with lots of Happy Thanksgiving wishes.
Linda B.
A nice group gathered at the home of Tineke J to celebrate the holiday season. The Glogg and hot buttered rum were a hit, as were the many kinds of cookies! The sheep ornament exchange was such fun. So much variety. Here's one for your enjoyment. Please send in a picture of yours and I will add it to this post!
Time to start preparing for our Spinning at the Winery event on May 28, 2022. More about this at the meeting and in future posts!