Threads Along the Peace - April

Happy Birthday, Peace Country Spinners and Weavers.  Happy 30^th Birthday!  Our group was founded in Beaverlodge Alberta in 1984.

The Threads Along the Peace Newsletter has been mailed recently.  It is an excellent read.  A few extra copies are available for any newcomers. Just ask. 1358@telus.net

How are your Sprang projects coming along?  The newsletter has pictures of two of Loretta’s beautiful projects.  Very inspiring.  Please remember to bring your Sprang projects to the meeting in April.

April 12-13 is the Theo Moorman workshop in Fort St. John BC instructed by Cheryl.  Hope you have sent in your registration to Marion, the treasurer, so Cheryl can send you a warp. The venue is in the same building as Cheryl Peebles Studio, 10244 99^th Ave. Fort St. John.

A Chinese gift exchange is taking place to celebrate our 30^th year!  Please bring along a Mug Bag and Mug for exchange.  Construction of this bag must fall within the mandate of PCSW – made from a specially woven piece of fabric, a left over piece of material, hand woven,  felted, handspun- knitted or crocheted.  Put nice mug in special bag in a brown bag for the exchange.  Don’t be daunted by this.  Do the best you can within the limited time frame.  It is more important and fun to participate than not. The exchange will start the day on Saturday, so everyone will have their own mug for the weekend.

The General Meeting of the Peace Country Spinners and Weaver will take place at 9:30 on April 13.  Hope interested people will attend even if not attending the workshop.  We need lots of input from as many members as possible for making plans for future events.  The meeting is being held at the same location as the workshop, 10244 99^th Ave. Fort St. John.  Come and see how far the workshop weaving has progressed.

 

The Handspun and Hand woven Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste of the spinning and weaving studio and remember what peace there may be in spinning and weaving in silence.  As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons in your guild.  Speak your truth quietly and clearly at guild meetings.  Listen to others in your guild, the beginners and the experienced; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive arguments in your guild meetings, they are vexations to the President (presiding over the meeting.)  If you compare yourself with other spinners and weavers, you may become vain and bitter and quit the craft; for always there will be greater and lesser spinners and weavers than yourself.  Enjoy your spinning and weaving achievements as well as your plans for future projects.  Keep interested in your spinning and weaving career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time management.  Exercise caution in your spinning and weaving business affairs; for the world is full of moth eaten fleece.  But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high twist counts and everywhere life is full of yarn sales.  Be yourself.  Especially do not feign complements about your latest project.  Neither be cynical about purchasing another spinning wheel; for in the face of not owning one spinning wheel, many wheels are as perennial as grass.  Take kindly the counsel of elder guild members, gracefully surrendering the odd ball of yarn for the door prize table.  Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune of broken warp threads.  But do not distress yourself with imaginings that your current project is a monstrosity.  Many fears of project failures are born of fatigue and isolation from the guild.  Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself, not spinning or weaving for excessive durations. You are a child of the woven universe, no less than the tapestry woven trees and Ecuadorian woven stars; you have a right to spin and weave.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the front warp beam is unfolding as it should.  Therefore be at peace with your spouse, for he/she is a patron of the Arts, and whatever your labours and aspirations regarding spinning and weaving, in the noisy confusion of your studio and your guild studio, keep peace with yourself and your spouse.  With all the sham, drudgery and broken dreams of big box stores, it is still a beautiful spinning and weaving world.  Be careful with that new warp.  Strive to be happy doing the housework.

                                              found in the two ton stash of an ancient spinner and weaver.

 

 

 

 

                                                          

Threads Along the Peace: Time Marches On

Time is marching on and the Theo Moorman workshop is  April 12,13 in Fort St. John.  Please send your registration to the Treasurer, Marion W. as soon as possible, so Cheryl can send a warp in good time.  For more information 1358@telus.net

The Peace Country Spinners and Weavers  and the North Peace Spinners and Weavers are now on Facebook.  Please like us both.

Another wacky winter nature dye project was dyeing with past due frozen green tomatoes.  Another easy project, just adding a dollop of vinegar and leaving it all on the woodstove all day and all night.  Some mashing of tomatoes but no straining. It came out a slightly greenish beige.  Quite happy with the beiges.  Any other winter nature dye projects happening out there?

Recently found some nature dyed skeins that I had deemed ugly and with the rug hooking workshop all of a sudden found these skeins useful. They were used for a neutral background and the variegations in the dyeing add interest to the wall hanging.  One was dyed with marigold and the other was dyed with walnut, both of the last dips of the dye pot producing light variegated colours.  I have a complete change of heart.  There are no ugly colours, one just needs to find the right project where the colour fits.  These yarns could easily have been used in the background of a woven rug. The mauves were dyed with black lichen.

I had decided to weave projects using my oldest yarns in my stash.  I made two baby blankets and a bath mat out of Handicrafter cotton in pink, white and green.  My January project was to tie on to this project as you see in the picture.  Some of you will remember the "Dyeing in the Rain" summer weavers' retreat in July in Fort St. John where I started the major part of the dyeing for this project.  I used Procion dye that is a cold water type dye using water hot from the tap, which made dyeing in the rain possible, well, at a picnic table with a canopy cover.  But it was pouring rain most of the time.

I started with balls of odd colours of cotton.  Some were variegated, a few were white.  None of them matched colour wise.  I hate to use that word again, but it was an ugly mixture of yarns.  I separated the colour groups and dyed them appropriately and I was amazed at how the overdyeing transformed them into a lovely mix.  Yes, they are bright and it will be a bright baby blanket.  Perfect for winter weaving.

This is a log cabin pattern using thick and thin in the weft.  I plied the thin yarn, which is slightly thinner than the Handicrafter cotton, using 2/8, 4/8 and crochet cottons left over from a couple of generations of crochet projects.  Then I threw them into dye pots.  It is very satisfying to use odd balls of yarn that have been stored for decades.  Each lot of colours is slightly different in texture but there are enough variations with variegated yarns and differences in dye lots of colour that I think these difference make the blanket more interesting.  The crochet cotton makes this yarn stiffer and more harsh than the thick cotton, but this does not significantly effect the softness of the blanket.

The dyeing and rinsing took a lot of work and water.  I think one either spends the money on buying yarn exactly the right colour or puts in the time and resources to dye.  It is another form of recycling to use odds and ends.  It depends upon what one considers fun, challenging and satisfying.

And I keep learning.  I had trouble with the skeins becoming great snarls of yarn (I think there is a technical name for this!?) and now I know to use figure 8 ties at various places on the skein, thanks to my knowledgeable friend, Marjo.

The project is still on the loom, about half finished. 

Please come to the Spring meeting of the Peace Country Spinners & Weavers in Fort St. John on April 12 even if you cannot take the workshop.  Beginners and new members are welcome.  There are usually lots of show and tell items for viewing that are very inspiring.  My colourful baby blankets will be there for sure.

Threads Along The Peace Blog February 2014

Two dye pots of dull dud dead dye.

 - disappointing, dreadful. 

A dire day.

 

 

Canadian Tapestry Network Newsletter – Autumn, 2013 Page 17

See www.facebook.com/canadiantapestrynetwork

 

Community Threads tapestries wove the Community together.

 

By Line Dufour

 

Weaving is an appropriate metaphor for community engagement and activity. Both weaving and community can be described as a means of producing a coherent united whole or collaboration through the combining and interlacement of various elements. Words and text can inspire and elevate our noblest and philanthropic feelings about community and what it is, but real engagement comes in the physicality of doing, in materiality, in actions, interactions, processes and events shared by an assortment of individuals and groups.

 

In January of 2011, The Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners, in Alliston, Ontario Canada, asked me to help them design 12 handwoven tapestries, 15" x 60", composed of four images - each, depicting the history and culture of New Tecumseth and the surrounding areas and a grant from the Ontario Arts Council made it possible for me to work with the guild to this end. The initiative entitled Community Threads, depicted the many faces of South Simcoe: historical sites such as the Museum on the Boyne, leisure activities such as music, golf and hockey, and the beautiful natural and pastoral scenery of woodland and field of the area. One tapestry panel features only the Banting Homestead, another, the Gibson Centre. A third is woven entirely from handspun fibres by spinners in the Guild. Once the designs were created, there were many hours of preparation before we could even start weaving. Guild members solicited the general public to weave on the tapestries, including the staff of both the South Simcoe Arts Council and the Gibson Centre for Community Arts and Culture, where the project took place. All during the project I’ve been blogging about what has been happening, noting the people involved, my own observations, insights and surprises as well as posting lots of pictures of the projects denouement: http://www.tapestryline.blogspot.ca/.

On October 27 2013, the exhibit opened at the Gibson Centre. Nine of the 12 panels were completed and three were nearing completion, which were/are also on exhibit. The purpose of this – the Community Threads project was not just about designing and weaving the tapestries. This alone does not make one an artist or craftsperson. Another aspect that participants learned about was what an artist/craftsperson needs to do to promote and market their work and as guild members discovered, it takes a lot of effort and time. The participants in this project were very successful in engaging the community and the media and the opening reception evidenced their labours in that regard. Four different media sources came out to put the opening, the tapestries and their creators in the spotlight. One of them was the local CTV news which aired that same evening. The Mayor, Mike MacEachern, also showed up for the reception and tweeted about the tapestries and opening. Through funding received by the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners, Sandi Nemenyi designed an accompanying brochure featuring the tapestries and explaining each one, as well as listing the projects participants. Many people need to be thanked for their contributions to making the Community Threads tapestries a source of civic pride, which has increased the esteem and profile of the guild members. CTN Newsletter – Autumn, 2013 Page 18

The outcomes, apart from the physical aspect of creating tapestries, has been much greater than I thought possible: i) it re-invigorated the guild and its activities; ii) it generated an influx of about two dozen new members for the guild; iii) it aroused a lot of interest, appreciation and respect for tapestry in the community; iv) it created a lot of local media attention; v) it brought other organizations to liaise with the guild such as the local historical society and the arts council, and vi) I’ve discovered that I love working with weavers and guilds on a project like this, one in which each person brings their talents and gifts to the table, and plays a part in creating an amazing project, and work of art.

 

Weavers of the community tapestry project displaying their work

Many people need to be thanked for their contributions to making the Community Threads tapestries a source of civic pride, which has increased the esteem and profile of the guild members. Betty Cerar, the president of the Nottawasaga Weavers and Spinners said:

"The tapestry project represents the meaning of "community" not only in the pictorial sense, but in the deeper sense. A community is created by people whose lives and stories are woven together on the warp of their shared experiences, with their individual contributions acting as the weft of our social fabric..... We are grateful to all of the people named in this story, and many who are not specifically named, for their time, skill, encouragement and support. Of course, all of the members of the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners Guild helped to create this project in countless ways, from translating their artistic concept of the Nottawasaga area into pictures and then into tapestries, finishing and mounting them, donating yarn, lending looms, writing descriptions, advertising the exhibit, setting up the display, and even providing the refreshments that are available today."

 

This article is important to repost as it articulates the building of community that is a significant result of an active guild.  Those of us who have been members of a guild for many years (decades) have realized that we are not just a group of people learning the craft.  We have become friends and almost family.  We support each other in difficult times.  We talk about our problems, help each other with problems, craft related or not, laugh a lot, prepare and eat wonderful food together, celebrate our shared cultural holidays, family celebrations and the seasons together and create our own  traditions.  We have also learned a lot about spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting, rug hooking etc. We reach out to the community, adding colour and texture to the community with public demonstrations and workshops. 
 And our regional group, the Peace Country Spinners & Weavers has added the richness to our lives of more workshops with instructors from further afield, and lets us build relationships with those in other communities in Northwestern Alberta and Northeastern British Columbia. This creates further bonds of community in the entire Peace Country.  Being a member of the local guild and a member of the Peace Country Spinners & Weavers has been a rich social and cultural experience.

You are welcome to join us and experience for yourself this building of community.


Please remember:

 the Sprang Challenge.  Two pieces completed for Show & Tell at the Theo Moorman workshop April 12, 13 in Fort St. John with Cheryl Peebles instructing.


to sign up for the Theo Moorman Workshop.  Send cheque to treasurer. Members: $100. Warp: $10. Book: $25. Non members: $120.  Please check with  1358@telus.net for more info.


Happy Spinning and Weaving.  Happy Winter!