East Grinstead Spinners

In August we attended the Association Summer School, this year held at Writtle Agricultural College, just outside Chelmsford. Even though the gardens were full of weeds due to Covid neglect, we could appreciate the thoughtfully planned and often exotic plantings, and cosy nooks. We both  took the tapestry weaving course with Alastair Duncan.  There were 15 in the group of mixed abilities including beginners.  The course was aimed at translating sound to a design. Most of Monday was spent viewing examples of Alastair's tapestries working with sound and listening to sounds he had recorded together with pieces of music.  Firstly he asked us to write down on paper the thoughts that came into our heads while listening, and then to think of how we could translate that into a piece of tapestry.  We then warped up our frames.  At the end of the day a few decided this wasn’t for them, so they did their own thing with help and advice from Alastair. It was interesting to see how each person i

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

Many of the group met up in Jane's garden, on one of the best weather days in August, for cake, catch up and crafting. We were able so see Jane's finished Shetland Wedding Shawl IRL 'With Covid safety protocols in place, thanks to the hard work of our outside events coordinator, we were back in the hall for our first inside meeting on 1st September. This included the annual Show and Tell. Some items had already been shared on-line, but in addition to all the items donated for the QMCG there was... Shelia's knitted cardigan using her hand spun yarn Madeline wove this hounds tooth fabric, she has not yet decided on it's final use Linda took part in an on-line tutorial to knit this shawl, and also made a pair of mittens to match Maggie had been using up her stash crocheting lots of useful boxes and bags and also made this, oh so soft, shawl form Alpaca yarn (check out the tassels) Wendy incorporated a metallic thread whilst spinning the yarn for this waistcoat and adde

At our picnic last month Nicola, Madeline and Inge spoke about ways of dealing with raw fleece. We found that we had worked very differently with our recent fleeces, and we thought it might be interesting to compare these ways in a blog post. There can be many reasons for choosing a particular way of preparing a fleece for spinning. Some reasons for scouring (washing) the fleece that came up were: the quantity of fleece that needs to be prepared within a particular time frame, the space available for washing (a whole fleece as described by Nicola, or small parts of a fleece as described by Madeline and Inge), the quality of the fleece and how clean it is, and the personal preference for one or other way of working. We may also have a particular way of spinning in mind which can guide us in the final steps before spinning. Madeline I have been asked by Inge to describe how I sort a fleece. I did tell her I didn't think anyone would do it like I do, but after a lot of arm twisting I

Our group had a picnic on the forest in the first week of July, we were all so excited at meeting up again that none of us remembered to take photos. But we all enjoyed ourselves. On Saturday 10th July, Laura and Linda ventured over to Withyham to represent us at our first outside event since the start of the pandemic.      Withyham Village Fete is an annual joyful event where local people and businesses come together to celebrate summer with Maypole dancing, a dog show, races for the children, a band, stalls, raffles, etc., which makes it a fun day for all who attend. We put on a display of spinning and weaving.   We also had a display of items made by members of the group, and information about our Guild. The organizers provided a gazebo so we were protected from the rain, which came down in stair rods!, so a lovely day was had by all. Hopefully, we will be able to attend next year and the sun will shine.

  Elizabeth has finished weaving this scarf, using hand spun dyed tops Edda and Stephanie did some more experimenting with  1% acid dyes in percentages   These samples are Yellow, Blue and Red mixtures   and these are Yellow, Magenta and Turquoise mixtures Inge  acquired some Gotland fleece a couple of years ago. The best of it having been sent to the mill, she was able to extract short, very slippery, but usable, locks. For ease of  spinning she blended these with Blue Faced Leicester Now spun and plied it awaits a project Whilst she was working this a beautiful grey moth  settled on the window near by.

Jane has knitted this lovely cushion cover   Cushion Front and back East Grinstead was yarn bombed to mark Dementia Awareness week  these are some of the Forget me Knots members contributed One of the members knitted and felted this bag from yarn scraps. Whilst she was not impressed with it, others were and it was snapped up and given a loving home After Linda's Zoom weaving tutorial Carol T made this textured hanger  incorporating some driftwood she had collected several years ago Inge has been busy braiding on her Marudai  This is the Sasanami braid created   She has also been having fun with Fingerloop braiding. Here are some examples Jane shared this woven scarf incorporating floating wefts at our recent virtual Show and Tell    It has finally been possible for our small spinning bubbles to meet up again in members' gardens   Carla's Needle Felted Swallows Hanger