East Grinstead Spinners

Carol provided small lengths of dyed prepared tops, which were languishing at the bottom of her stash, challenging those members who wanted to take part, to use it in whatever way they chose and share the finished results.... We were all excited about the vibrant colours in the top - purple, green and orange - as can be seen in the images below it was a challenge to keep those colours Kate felted a little sample book Kate says: Of the 3 colours in the tops, my instinct was to work with the orange first.  But NO!  Of course, without scissors it was not possible to separate the colours, as all the staples were painted across in stripes. Then, "what to do" with such a small portion of fleece top?  I decided to make little textile- samples on a thick felted backing (some of which was Nuno felting made at a previous Guild workshop).  The samples include: a woven front, felted balls, a tassle, a crocheted disc and chain, blanket stitch, and a needle-felted spiral. ...

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...

Our group was again very busy working on items for The Queen Mother's Clothing Guild, which is long established and supports many different charities who apply to it for various items.   In 2022 we produced a total of 139 items: 12 Blankets 30 Hats 15 scarves 8 pairs of gloves 5 pairs of socks 13 child jumpers 24 child cardigans 2 baby sets 28 neonatal items 1 quilt 1 twiddle muff

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.