East Grinstead Spinners

The Japanese art of Boro is 'on trend', We had fun playing with this decorative art at one of our 2023 workshops Repairing a rip Disguising a hole                              Covering a stain Making a feature of the mend Extending the life of a sock Choosing the yarn          Using any odds and ends you have to hand. Perfect up-cycling solutions   

Many people had brought their spindles - some of us had experience, others were learning. Good fun was had by all. Top whorl spindle Madeline presented the workshop with a few tips and tricks, which were much appreciated. She also showed us a couple of possibilities of setting up for plying - to easily remove the singles cob from the spindle, it was suggested that a quill of card was wrapped around the spindle shaft. Shoe boxes and knitting needles come in very handy A very advanced lazy kate Many different types of spindle were in use - mainly suspended spindles, which included a couple of Turkish spindles. Towards the end Laura demonstrated supported spindling. A display of spindles. The displayed spindles are as follows: A takli spindle for short fibre spinning - a very fast supported spindle, which needs to be supported in a container which doesn't get damaged by the sharp metal shaft. 3 further supported spindles, the middle one being a Russian type spindle, these are all made

Each year we have a dyeing/craft day in August. In 2022 we prepared this in a workshop of Stitched Shibori. Some examples Small samples of stitched shibori The way the above samples were stitched A Japanese mat   The Stitching From the workshop     Some previous stitched shibori work Laura was inspired to  work further with the Shibori technique:

A Workshop in Modular Knitting As shown below this method can produce very beautiful results, with various colours used for the moduls. Samples shown: A cardigan with beads added in each modul A waistcoat A few images from the demonstration Moduls are knitted and set up for adding a next modular row This is also called domino knitting and the modules may be attached in several ways A participants finished sample

 A Demonstration of Steeking Linda shared what she had learned when making her cardigan. Steeking is where a piece of knitted fabric is secured and cut for shaping or as here cutting up the front to make a cardigan. A demonstration of the process A finished cardigan. This was worked in the round and cut up in the front to make a cardigan.

We haven't managed to post for quite a while, so this post is to catch up with images from a few of the workshops we did last year. A Workshop on Kumihimo First some examples shown Necklaces made with beaded kumihimo Kumihimo used as a base for Dorset buttons and a pendant. More beaded kumihimo necklaces Some of the works in progrress The set-up for the pattern The worked beaded cord comes through the middle hole.

Carla gave a wonderful workshop where we needle felted a fox. Our efforts all progressed through several incarnations. Various animals tended to appear through the different stages, but we got there in the end, although we mostly needed to finish our work at home. Our foxes at the end of the workshop - notice the brooch fox on the left A ball of wool shaped by needle felting, with added nose Beginning of the next layer - foxy coloured This is how it is first attached Attaching the reddish also to the body And they all need ears Nearly there Inge's baby fox finished at home