Merry Merry

The Christmas season is upon us. Threads Along the Peace, the PCSW newsletter, is about to be mailed sometime in the second week of December. Look for your copy and please contact the editor if it is not received in a reasonable time. Have you paid your membership dues for this year? A few complementary copies are available upon request. 1358@telus.net

A snippet of news from the newsletter is the topic for our Spring gathering in Fort St. John. Theo Moorman technique will be taught by Cheryl Peebles. This technique is a weave structure that allows the weaver to create a design with weft threads that float on top of the cloth and are tied down with thin warp threads that are almost invisible, yet producing a strong cloth. It allows for a great range of creativity of organic free form design and is faster than tapestry. This technique is good for placemats, bags, clothing, wall hangings, and liturgical weaving. No worries if you have done this before. Each study of a topic deepens your understanding and widens you creativity. We look forward to this opportunity to learn more about the Theo Moorman technique.  This picture shows fabric using this technique.

So what can be made in three weeks' time, a last minute gift that is creative and fun to make and reflects your talents as a spinner and weaver? Can you make something from a 50 gram ball of homespun? This is the challenge that some of us have taken on this season. Funky irregularly shaped scarves such as the hitchhiker scarf (See Ravelry for pattern), neck warmers, small purses, gift bags, Christmas ornaments, fingerless mitts, hats, headbands, hot mats, sachets or cosy bags filled with rice, heated or cooled for achy muscles. These are a few suggestions. Besides, a 50 gram ball or skein of your own hand spun, in itself makes a great gift that would be appreciated by another crafty friend.

The woven fabric from workshops that was woven at home to finish off the warp can be made into interesting bags. The edges can be butted together and sewn with an embroidery stitch on the sewing machine, which produces a very strong seam. Even samples that are less than perfect can become attractive serviceable bags. Add handles and they are ready to go as a lunch bag, shoe bag or purse. Somehow people who are not weavers do not see the mistakes. Not sure how that works but that seems to be the case. Some bags made from samples:

Have a merry time over the holiday season. And Happy New Year.

 

Winter Weaving

The calendar does not yet indicate that it is winter, but the transition is happening, happily for those of us who love to spin and weave on those cold winter days and nights.

The Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' Poppy Challenge display is now located in the foyer of the Royal Canadian Legion in Fort St. John. Members of the PCSW made poppies –felted, knit, hand drawn, woven, crocheted, to commemorate Canadian soldiers fallen in the war in Afghanistan and generally to commemorate all victims of war. The display was shown in Grand Prairie in November 2012 and displayed as part of the Art Walk in June 2013 at Peace Gallery North in Fort St. John. It is a very impressive display.

The calendar also indicates that it is time to prepare articles for the December edition of Threads Along the Peace, the Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' newsletter. The newsletter is now delivered by Canada Post to members in the spring and late summer, about a month before the spring and fall conference and in early December. The last date for submission for the December edition is November 23. Area Reps are encouraged to do a report to keep us updated on activities of your Guilds. Members are encouraged to submit articles and pictures. Is it too much of a challenge for each member to write one article per year for the newsletter? Probably the biggest stress for the newsletter editor is not having enough articles. We all have lots to talk about at our gatherings and never quite tell all of our stories about our current projects so let's carry on the communication through the newsletter.

Winter weaving projects are always at the back of our minds as we harvest our gardens and process the garden produce for winter consumption. Well, all of that outside work is done! Now we can have some fun doing what we love. Maybe the best part of spinning and weaving is the planning of the project! Planning the preparation and spinning of the yarn, planning the colour combinations and the appropriate pattern, the width and length and sett. And what to do with the bag of yarn that was purchased about 15 years ago, or was it 20 years ago? It is time to bring it to light and weave it into something fabulous. 
 
It is always fun to make hand spun or woven items for Christmas presents. There is still time to begin. Doing a little every day produces great results, prevents blocks that can create great gaps of time as one fusses and worries over the difficulty. If one works on a project every day, the block is taken care of quickly and no time is lost. And it is always time to start that sweet project at the back of your mind, the project just for you.

The pictures are the Poppy Challenge display and some of projects made by our members and brought to the Fall Conference for Show and Tell. The tapestry was started at the tapestry workshop at Bear Lake with Madeleine Darling-Tung, by Britney, reported to be her first and last tapestry. We hope not, it is so well done! The felted window pane, wool and silk scarf, was made by Lorena at a workshop at Olds College. Beautifully made. Both items are lovely work that is an inspiration to us all.

 

The plan is to update the blog at the beginning of each month.  Until next time, happy spinning and winter weaving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprang Forward, Fall's Back

The Peace Country Spinners and Weavers Fall Conference held at the Fine Arts Centre in Fairview AB, in the fourth week of September 2013, was a great success. We held the annual meeting and elected a new slate of officers and began the planning for workshops for next year.

Sprang was the topic of this workshop which is a technique of interlinking, interlacing and intertwining. It makes a fabric that is stretchy one way but not stretchy the other. It can be used to make scarves, shawls, socks, leggings, hats, tunics, sweaters and bags, etc. Lace and intricate patterns are the end result of learning this technique. This is an ancient technique of making fabric which was essentially lost to the world with the Industrial Revolution.

The instructor was Carol James with her daughter Claire assisting, from Winnipeg. Carol is an excellent teacher. Her videos on line are excellent too. See Sashweaver on YouTube. Carol is trying to revive the use of the Sprang technique. She has learned how to do it from observing existing pieces of work found in museums. Her book Sprang Unsprung shows the techniques and pictures of the historic pieces.

We made cell phone bags and learned how to warp the loom and attempted to make hats. Some people made hats, some of the hats turned into small bags. We also learned how to make and weave on a circular warp and we learned the very basics of making lace. 

The PCSW hopes to hold an Intermediate Sprang Workshop in the spring of 2015. The challenge is to become proficient enough in using our newly acquired Sprang techniques to be able to attend the intermediate workshop. We will learn the techniques of making lace and more intricate patterns.
This workshop was challenging in that we were learning a completely new technique. We heard stories of our history which connected us all to the past, which somehow enriches the experience. Some of us imagined hearing whispers of our ancestors over our shoulders, encouraging us to help to revive this technique. We worked hard. Imagine 18 women in one room working silently for noticeable lengths of time. And we all, at least once during the weekend, said to our neighbours, "Don't talk to me," as we struggled to remember exactly where we were in the row. It became the joke of the conference. "Don't talk to me!" We are all excited to learn how to perfect this newly acquired skill.
 
Check out your local weavers' guild in the Peace Region if you are interested in learning Sprang. The North Peace Spinners and Weavers are holding a workshop on learning about Sprang at their regular monthly meeting on October 12 in Fort St. John at Artspost, 10320 94^th Ave from 10:00-4:00. This includes a short business meeting. For more information on attending the workshop please contact us at 1358@telus.net.