by Frankie (aka Barbara N.)
Oh boy... did this season creep up on me. Suddenly it was the end of November and I had to start thinking about this newsletter. This time I put out a call for submissions and was pleased to hear from some I had not previously heard from. I am sad to say that still some of the guilds have not included their reports but I shall continue to persevere in the hopes that eventually we will have a complete roster of reports to fill our pages. I can understand that it is an extremely busy time of the year, as most of us make many gifts for loved ones from mittens, to afghans, to hats and scarves and even sweaters. This year it’s been socks for me. I finally, after 30 years of knitting have learned to turn a heel and so I have been hard at knitting socks in time to send to relatives and friends alike.
I hope you will find on the pages of our newsletter something to interest you as I have tried to include all sorts of goodies for the Christmas season. In the busy rush of the next couple of weeks take time to enjoy your family and friends and always remember that this is the season of love, hope, joy and peace.... and best of all once the big day is over it is time for thinking about all the new projects for the upcoming year that you can fantasize about! I really hope this newsletter will help you on the road to all your fantasies. For now I will take a moment to wish you all a happy Christmas and success on all your projects in the coming year.
President's Report
by Marion W.
Hello and Merry Christmas to you all. I hope life has been kind to you all and may the holiday season be shared with friends and loved ones.
I would like to thank Norma, Loretta and Doreen for joining me as the new executive for the PCSW. We all want and need the PCSW to thrive, so I am grateful to all who volunteer their time and expertise in any way, to contribute to the growth of our club. Also a BIG thank you to the past executive for their work and time spent in office.
Life has been rather hectic for me the last few months. We are in the middle of building a new home, while having our present home up for sale. The new place is coming along nicely and should be completed around the end of January. Then the big move! I'm not even going to let my mind go there until after Christmas has passed. I have also been kept busy with my booth at the GP Farmers Market. The knitting needles have been flying and I eat, sleep and dream of mittens. I will need a long break after Christmas. I still meet weekly with the Lake Saskatoon Weavers, so get some weaving done there. I am presently putting on a warp for a Mohair blanket. I am trying to remember what we were taught at Jane Stafford's workshop about weaving with sticky yarns. Shannon has completed 3 Mohair blankets, so I was hoping to pick her brain if I needed help, but she will be away for a few weeks. I guess I am on my own with my blanket, but I know that patience is definitely needed. A few of us get together as well to have a spinning day when we can and keep our wheels in motion.
Our Fall 2011 workshop with Sandra Fearon on 'Shadow Weave' was very interesting. I have never used the shadow weave technique, so was pleased with the workshop and Sandra's wealth of knowledge on the subject.
We are looking forward to the Valleyview group hosting the Fall 2012 Dye workshop. We appreciate the new group volunteering so readily with this task. They are working on the plans for the workshop and we will be getting a report on this for the Spring newsletter.
We now need groups to volunteer for the Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 conferences. Keep in mind that most instructors need to be booked well in advance, usually 1-2 years. So get your thinking caps on and come prepared with some ideas on topics of interest for the workshops and be ready to volunteer to host them.
I will close for now and look forward to seeing everyone at the Spring 2012 conference being hosted by the Lake Saskatoon Weavers. Remember to bring your hand crafted Poppies, as well as any handmade Dolls. It would be great to see some handmade Dolls from other countries or information on the crafting of them. HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY!
REPORTS
Beaverlodge
(nothing at this time)
Fairview
by Doreen V.
Fort St. John (NPSW)
by Lauralee L.
This fall has been something of a mixed bag, what with weather and various local activities providing distractions.
.
The North Peace Fall Fair was, as usual, a lot of fun. Entries in the weaving classes looked really good, which was gratifying as we sponsored prize money for 3 classes and the Grand Aggregate. Several members also baked pies for the Arts Council's booth to support their fund-raising efforts. For the rest, quite a number of us spent a merry time, both days of the fair, spinning, weaving, visiting and sharing knowledge with fair-goers at our usual station in front of the log house.
Our show in the North Peace Gallery, titled "It's a Wrap", came together satisfactorily. Rene G. drafted a visiting sister and niece to help and supervised the setup. We hung 69 pieces (shawls, scarfs, socks and shoelaces) by 11 artists; the variety of fibers, colours and styles was impressive. 33 items were listed for sale; by the end of the show, 2/3 of them had sold. All in all, quite a successful effort.
The studio drop-in day has been changed to Tuesday mornings this year, Faye E. undertaking to make sure the door is open. Faye is currently working on a second shadow-weave scarf (the first was woven for a Christmas gift for her son) while Norma C. is preparing warp for a scarf she plans to base on the black and white pattern given in Jane Stafford's Plain Weave workshop. The green bag warp is still available and abundant! Laura Lee L. is working on that at the moment. The Fiber Academy Schedule was set out at the September meeting, and Frankie N. has posted it on the Guild blog (www.npswgetsable.blogspot.com). October's class was Drafting for Weaving, continued by Cheryl P. (also "continued" on December 10), November was Kumihimo, taught by Frankie N., but the rest of the schedule was postponed because the Arts Council's fundraiser, the Christmas Ornament Exchange, needed the space during most of November. Things should get back in gear by January. Similarly, the Intermediate Study Group's Shadow Weave project will be running into mid-December or later to work around Arts Council activities.
The Guild has received a grant which will cover most of our studio rent, and we have been working on projects we can sell to help raise some extra funds. We are also applying for a grant to fund a workshop sometime in the spring. Here's hoping! In the meantime, a 1-day Art Journalling workshop facilitated by Barb Daley is definitely in the works for January 28th. It will cost about $100 per person, half the fees due by December 17 to confirm registration, so that Barb Daley can contact each person in advance to personalize each project. A journal and art supplies will be included, so it's a pretty good deal.
Our December 17th meeting will be our annual Christmas get-together, once again generously hosted by Rene G. As usual, we expect to indulge in a lot of visiting, good conversation, show and tell, an overwhelming pot-luck lunch (we always bring enough for an army and a half), and a gift exchange which is always entertaining (it's a long-standing custom to try to guess who made what, which can be quite a challenge) as well as rewarding. The theme this year is "a handmade article", which translates into "anything goes" so we'll be expecting to see some nifty gifts and have a lot of laughs. And afterward, the really hardy among us can toddle off to the Community Choir concert the same evening for a double "Christmas fix". Should be fun.
Since writing this report the NPSW has had their Christmas gift exchange and you can view pictures here....
Hines Creek
(nothing at this time)
Hudson’s Hope
by Barbara N. (Frankie)
Hi folks and a Merry Christmas from all your friends in Hudson’s Hope. Our little group, for the last two years, was down to two people but this year I decided to actively seek some new members. (Don’t ask me where the energy for that came from.) Quite happily, I was able to lure two more members to our group. One lady, who has been a long time resident of HH finally caught the bug... and boy does she have it bad! Without a single lesson she showed up on my doorstep for our first meeting with her new wheel in hand and several metres of singles spun from roving she had purchased sight unseen. Then she proceeded to tell me about the 60” jack loom that she had purchased from a lady in Quebec which was winging it’s way to her. She couldn’t wait. We had a productive afternoon of talking shop and I found out what it is that she has in mind to learn. She wants to weave a jacket with her own hand spun she informed me... and with her very obvious tenacity, I’m sure she will succeed in that department. Since then she has received her loom and being a self starter, she is working away at threading her loom using nothing more than an instruction manual for help. I would head up to her house to help her but we haven’t been able to get that together.
The other new member spent a productive afternoon trying out a drop spindle after discovering that her wheel, which her husband made for her actually needs an orifice if it is going to work.... thus the drop spindle. She has several baggies of fibre to try out and get her started, and we will meet again in the new year when hopefully both new members will be well on their way to becoming spinners and weavers. I am also working on getting them to join our group in FSJ. Meanwhile Carol and I continue to meet on every second Tuesday for a day of spinning. Carol continues to work on socks in four or six plies but she has given me notice that she is ready to try spinning a woolen yarn for a gainsay.... we will give that a try in the new year I guess.
Meanwhile, I have been diligently working on my level 5 books right up until I finally had to put them away for the Christmas rush. I will be working on them again in the new year. Meanwhile I have been working on a ramie table cloth inspired by this one....
...which was originally going to be my 50 hour project for level 5 but will now become a wedding gift for my nephew who intends on getting married next year. I also, after thirty years of knitting, finally bit the bullet and learned how to turn a heel in a sock and so have been churning out sock after sock from home spun/hand spun yarn that has been accumulating over the years. the latest pair look like this....
And in addition to that I have a new addition to the family.... no I did not have a baby..... nor did I adopt! I recently purchased a 32” four harness floor loom and for a very good price (it’s just as good as a new baby though!) However, when I got it home the reed, I felt, was far too rusted for my expertise to clean up. So it is sitting in the shed until someone gives me a brilliant idea on what to do with it and I have ordered two lovely stainless steel reeds which I am anxiously waiting till Christmas morning to get my little paws on. I have to wait because my dear husband is giving one of them to me for Christmas and my father is giving me the other. “I can’t wait,” would be the understatement of the century. As a result of my new purchase, I will be participating (hopefully) in the NPSW fibre academy’s new project in the new year. We will be getting together to weave samples of shadow weave for a swap to make a blanket/afghan..... I’m very much looking forward to becoming a better weaver. In the meantime I have retired my 7’ tri-loom to the shed and I have purchased two new pin looms from Hazel Rose looms in the states.... I am looking forward to having the opportunity to weave on them both in the near future. I also have been taking odds and sods of wee baggies of fibre, (you know, all the little samples that we get from workshops) and have been churning out what I call Crazy Batts. I take all the bits of fibre and run them through my drum carder a few times and turn out lovely larger batts full of this and that. No measuring so there can be no duplication but I try to get 200 grams of fibre with 100 grams in each batt. They really are fun to make and what’s more is that they are fun to spin... and I have been spinning them...! I’m not sure what I will make in the end, but I’m thinking on it, and I’m sure I will come up with some magical idea no doubt.
And so, Christmas has been sneaking up on me and I’m sure I don’t know where the autumn went. Soon we will be gathering for the conference in the spring.... in the meantime I wish each and every one of you a blessed Christmas season with all good things for the new year. Happy spinning and weaving.
Sexsmith
by Mae Trelle
It is hard to believe that Christmas is almost upon us. So far the weatherman has been kind, but for how long.
We are all busy with various projects. Shannon has just completed her second afghan. Beautiful. She is off to Florida until after Christmas.
Marion is threading a mohair afghan in turquoise, maroon and gold. Interesting.
Joan just completed a tote bag with variegated synthetic fibre. The colours are pure fall, brown, gold in mixed shades. Very attractive.
Gudrun is working on place mats in mixed colours.
Mae is still working on the shawl. It is turning out beautiful, but very slow going. The shed on this new 8 heddle loom is very narrow and one tends to pick up. Having so many threads (949) adds to the problem.
Verna May is starting to thread place mats.
Nancy is working on hand towels.
We have been talking about the spring conference. Poppies, and dolls. Needless to say we are looking forward to seeing everyone. Always a joy to hear what everyone is doing.
May all the joys of Christmas and New Years be yours.
Valleyview
by Jody McLean
The Valleyview Group Says Hello to Everyone.
We normally shut down our meetings for the summer and then get back into our routine of meeting the first Saturday of each month in the fall. We had our first meeting in October, where we chose a committee to work on the dye workshop with Barb Robinson planned for next September.
We also laid out our plans for the winter coming up. We made plans for a Nuno felting day, a weaving day and a day for learning special techniques when working with dyed rovings. Some want to learn how to spin a cabled yarn and how to control spinning thick and thin and the list goes on. It looks like it’s going to be a busy and interesting winter!
This week we started on our list of things to learn with a Nuno Felting day. Jody McLean took a course with Sharon Costello year before last and was quite happy to pass on some of the techniques Sharon used. Most of us did samples so we can see how different fabrics interacted with the wool. Some worked really well and others, well….not so well. There is value in doing samples.
At our November meeting, we set out plans to do a Christmas exchange. We each made a simple, small gift and wrapped it. Each participant drew a number and we took turns picking our gift. The range of gifts was wonderful. Each of us came home with something homemade and precious.
As a group we are looking forward to a winter filled with fibre fun and new things to learn from each other.
Pot Pourri
by Barbara Nichols
I’m sure I won’t be able to even come close to the wonderful writing and musings of Joan but since she was unable to fill this slot at this time, I thought I would try my hand at writing a little something for this Christmas newsletter.
A while back I saw this great little cartoon on the Internet and had to give myself a mental shake as I realised that more and more technology and the old crafts that we practice are meeting, greeting and in some situations shaking hands while in others... not so much. Recently I was reading online, as I quite often do, about the history of textiles. I had come upon a really neat website that was a essay on the history of textiles. Here was a good example of when our ancient art comes into contact with modern technology. Evidently, human beings may have begun wearing clothing as far back as 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. How in the world do scientists figure out that we have been wearing textiles that far back, I thought. I mean it is not very likely that textiles from those times have survived. Textiles do tend to break down over time and usually there is not a lot left to analyze. Well, I discovered that it is thanks to the lowly louse that they are able to understand much about early human textile development. “Genetic analysis suggests that the human body louse, which lives in clothing, may have diverged from the head louse some 107,000 years ago, evidence that humans began wearing clothing at around this time.”
We also know that textiles were in use because the tools people used have survived. “The earliest definite examples of needles originate from the Solutrean culture, which existed in France from 19,000 BC to 15,000 BC. The earliest dyed fibers have been found in a cave the Republic of Georgia and date back to 36,000.” I find it hard to believe that dyed fibre can remain for so long a time but then I am not a scientist. The first actual textile, as opposed to skins sewn together, was probably felt, they think. What I found to be most interesting about this article was the fact that they were using modern technological developments for analysis of small fragments of clothing that survived in part due to perfect climatic conditions.
Last year, on Quirks and Quarks on CBC radio there was a program regarding the development of a computer printer. But this was not just any printer, this thing could print out any three dimensional object from turkey dinner to the dress you would wear for a new year’s eve party. It would take some kind of base material like a protein in very basic form and turn it into whatever you wanted. It seemed weird to me at the time. Very Star Trek-like. But then I went to Olds over the summer and learned about all the regenerated and manipulated fibres that are hitting the market. Bamboo and Soy Silk, there is even Silk Latte from milk proteins and I began to realize that maybe computers that generate textiles and turkeys is not so far fetched as one would think. Still there is something very appealing about sitting with some natural fibre in your hands and letting it slip between your fingers in order to make something wonderfully your own, don’t you think? Very traditional and simple.
So it is with interest that I look at the world of ancient textiles and techniques and see how it comes together with modern technology to give us a view of our ancient ancestors that we might not have otherwise had. I’m not sure we will ever get to the point where technology and textile production will be part of our individual lives in the sense of our cartoon or in the case of the computer printer, but I’m not sure I want it to.... I’m just happy to sit down with a spinning wheel in front of me or my loom in front of me and spin or weave away. That’s technology enough for now.
Spring Conference Information
All About Dolls
April 28th
Lake Saskatoon Hall
8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Days Events:
8:30 Registration and Coffee
9:00 Commence with Poppies Challenge (see information below)
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 Meeting
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Dolls Demo
3:00 Show and Tell
4:00 Final wrap up
Bring and Buy Table
If you have something to give away or something to sell, put a sticker on it and we will put it on the table (bring change).
Bring and Brag
What are you working on? Show off what you have done over the winter!
More information to follow in the spring newsletter.
FYI
SHADOW WEAVE
by Rene Giesbrecht
After the great workshop on shadow weave a group of us in Fort St John have decided to study the structure further. The following is a bit of what I have found during my research.
Shadow weave, a weave structure introduced in 1942 by Mary Miegs Atwater, has alternating dark and light warp and weft threads. During World War II, linen, specialty yarns and wool yarns were not available. Mary Miegs Atwater created shadow weave to feature cotton which was available at that time. Mary Miegs Atwater, the publisher and writer of the Shuttle-Craft Guild Bulletin, wrote, “Cottons appear to be the best bet for our work during the next few years. I am really glad of the necessity to turn to cotton. We have never used cotton very cleverly and now is a good time to improve our cotton techniques”. (Shuttle-Craft Guild Bulletin, Feb.1942)
When the two colours used is shadow weave have a high contrast, the pattern shows very clearly, but interesting effects can be achieved with less contrasting colours or other forms of contrast such as thick and thin, shiny and matte or smooth and textured. Using other forms of contrast would be an interesting study.
Shadow weave consists of two thread pattern blocks which can be threaded and treadled singly or multiple times. Because each block is basically plain weave, the blocks can be repeated many times without weakening the fabric structure. There are small floats where the blocks adjoin. These floats are only two threads which makes the resulting fabric an excellent choice for a wide variety of uses including upholstery, rugs, scarves, yardage, towels, etc. There are no threads to catch on and it is a firm, durable weave.
Shadow weave is usually a balanced weave meaning that the ends per inch equal the picks per inch. The cloth is completely reversible. There is no ‘right’ side, however the vertical stripes on one side become horizontal on the other side and dark floats on one side are light on the other.
Threading:
There are 2 ways to thread shadow weave. In the Atwater method the basic pattern is threaded on alternate threads and the ‘shadow’ threads are threaded on the opposite shaft.
Example – 8 harness pattern:
H G F E D C B A = Blocks
4,8 3,7 2,6 1,5 8,4 7,3 6,2 5,1
The first thread in each block is the pattern thread (block A=1, B=2, C=3 etc). The second thread in each block is the shadow (block A=5, B=6, C=7 etc).
The second or Powell method produces the same results in terms of the fabric but each block is threaded on adjacent shafts. The same blacks are still opposites but the same pattern looks like this:
H G F E D C B A = Blocks
7,8 5,6 3,4 1,2 8,7 6,5 4,3 2,1
Again, the first thread in each block is the pattern thread and the second thread is the shadow.
You will find that both methods are used today depending on the publication and sometimes even within the same publication.
Treadling:
There is a wide range of treadling possibilities on a shadow weave threading. Usually the treadling is ‘as drawn in’ but as long as the pairs of alternating opposite shed wefts are maintained any twill threadling will produce viable patterns.
It is my sincere hope that I haven’t confused you but given you a taste of what shadow weave is about. Hopefully this will spark an interest to inspire you to thread your loom and try out the fabulous structure. There are so many possibilities and this could be an interesting study for some time. Perhaps the results could be shared at a future conference.
References:
In the Shadows – Sandra Fearon
Weavers Magazine, Issue 16 1992
1000 Patterns in 4,6, and 8 shaft Shadow Weaves – Marion Powell
A Weaver’s Book of 8 Shaft Patterns – Carol Strickler
by Shannon N.
Having completed a few mohair blankets and
finishing them on the gentle cycle in my washing machine, I became curious as
to how much agitation and heat can mohair take before it felts.
My plan is to make a jacket, but I wanted the
material to be quite firm. My
curiosity expanded from agitation and heat to picks per inch, and using
different fibre.
Here are the results for the following:
Purple Mohair Weft - 6 ends per inch and 6 picks per inch
(unless stated)
1. Original off loom sample – not finished
Weft: Navy
Blue Mohair with mohair stripes
Size: 5
¼ inch x 10 ¾ inches
2. Finished – Different Agitation and
Temperature (Speed Wash on my machine)
Multiple
Stripes + Medium
Agitation + tap
H2O
Weft: Red,
Blue, Dark Grey and Light Grey are mohair
Yellow
and Purple are Shetland wool
Note-
The wool definitely pulled in (shrunk) more than the mohair
Finished:
Width
– shrunk
8% with mohair
shrunk
10% with wool
Length-
shrunk
10%
Red Grid
Effect + High
agitation + warm
H2O
Weft: Red
Mohair pick then Purple Mohair pick
Finished:
Width- 15% shrink
Length- 10%
shrink
Twill + High
agitation + Warm
temperature
Weft: White Mohair – 8 picks per inch
Finished:
Twill part width – 25% shrink
Length- unrecorded
3. Finished- Different picks per inch
High
Agitation +
Hot
Water + Speed
Wash
Weft:
Red Mohair with shot of white mohair
10
epi weft
20% shrink with red predominant color
8
epi weft
20% with red a little less predominant color
7
epi weft
25% with more even purple red mix (more red)
6
epi weft
25% with even purple and red
5
epi weft
26% with more even purple red mix (more purple)
Length 20%
shrink generally for all
Classifieds
From Cheryl Peebles Studio and Gallery
Hi All,
After a hiatus of almost a year I am happy to announce that I have my studio/shop up and running once again.
Last fall after 2yrs in a retail location I concluded that the overhead expenses were greater than my business could comfortably manage - so I closed it out - put remaining inventory in storage and settled in with a very over crowded home... (no basement). We own both sides of our duplex and many times friends & customers suggested using the rental side as my studio. Well after the tenants moved out in July we decided to do just that... among other things - we figured if I was paying rent somewhere it might as well be to us (since we still pay on a mortgage). With several reno projects - working full time & life in general - we slowly moved in the shelving, looms, inventory & all the handwoven, handspun, knitted items already produced & well, as of a week or 2 ago.... We are open for business... Officially Saturdays all day or by appointment any other time (remembering of course that I still have a full time job). It is a tight squeeze and I am working on slowly bringing in more inventory to freshen up the supply. But, well, I still have a pretty good assortment. From time to time I will send out an email letting everyone know of new additions to watch for.
As to yarns & equipment - I specialize in yarns, threads, accessories and equipment for spinning, weaving, felting & dyeing. Of course I do have still knitting supplies as well. I am happy to special order anything a customer may need if I don't have it on hand. My big focus here will be producing my own unique pieces in studio.
It's a happy day -
Contact Information
Cheryl Peebles Studio and Gallery
church_peebles@yahoo.com
ph 250 785-1680
