East Grinstead Spinners

 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.

Madeline co-ordinated our donations to QMCG again for 2021 and we are busy working towards our 2022 contribution. Our total in 2021 was an amazing 265 items! Which comprised:- 54 hats ranging in size from neonatal to adult and 23 scarves 39 assorted blankets 4 pairs of bed socks, 3 pairs of gloves and 67 girls dresses 6 patchwork quilts 30 child's and baby cardigans, 19 child's jumpers and 1 adult jumper 2 pairs babies bootees 16 Octopus (requested by neonatal units) 1 twiddle muff These are some of the last items to be collected in and from Dorothy this hat and sleeveless jumper   From Wendy this baby layette   and blanket of Granny squares   Carla bought a bag of mixed yarns from the charity shop and made these lap blankets  and this bag contains just some of the many blankets Pat has crocheted  

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