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The Latest Spin

Hello and welcome to the Serendipity Spinners website! We hold our meetings the 3rd Saturday of every month at Emma Prusch Farm Park in San Jose. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 20, 2023.

We gather just before 11:00am under the trees by the play ground. You are welcome to bring your wheel or any other project to work on. Be sure to also bring a chair and perhaps lunch. In the event that it rains on our meeting day, we’ll meet on Zoom.

You can also keep in contact via our Facebook group, which is for Serendipity guild members only. Stay well everyone!

Serendipity now has a Facebook page for guild members! …https://www.facebook.com/groups/468629607223039/

Meeting Notes – April 2023

There was a very small group this month. So we spent the time mostly just chatting and didn’t really have a formal meeting. We discussed Jim and Barbara’s fiber stash and equipment. The plan is to have a trip there on April 29th to sort out what he has and take what we can off his hands. We will evaluate the wheels, looms, etc. and let him know if there is any real value.

Our show and tell consisted of Laura showing us some woven samples for a blanket she’s going to make for her son.

New member Michelle brought a friend, some alpaca, and a drop spindle to learn how to spin. Laura jumped right in!

Upcoming events:

  • Fiber Frolic, Saturday, May 27, 10-4, Soul Food Farm, 6046 Pleasants Valley Rd., Vacaville, CA 95688. This is the new venue for what used to be Spinning at the Winery. Contact: T2TFiberFrolic@gmail.com, Follow @fiberfrolicfestival
  • Antique Autos in the Park, Saturday, September 9, San Jose History Park. RSVP to Allan Greenberg (allangreenb01@gmail.com)
  • Lambtown, October 7/8, Dixon Fairgrounds, www.lambtown.org

Meeting Notes – March 2023

We had our meeting on Zoom this month due to the unstable weather. It was nice to see familiar out-of-town faces!

Upcoming events:

April 15: Shearing Day at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills. They are looking for more volunteers to do a spinning or weaving demo.

May 27: Fiber Frolic at Soul Food Farm in Vacaville. This is the new “Spinning at the Winery”. There will be vendors.

The Treasurer gave her report. We currently have 13 paid members.

Show And Tell:

Cookie shared a crochet bowl she’s making to display pretty rolags.

Patti had a beautiful quilt she had recently finished up on her wall. She also had a pattern for a crochet Barbie dress.

Lotus made a 3 play hand spun barret for her daughter.

Nancy showed us a striped sock she had just finished using yarn from Fillory.

Kelly shared her naturally dyed cheesecloth.

Laura has been busy doing samples for a woven blanket.

Beverly showed a hand spun skein of blue plied with black silk noil

Joan shared some mitts she made for gardening.

Sharolene shared a double weave blanket made from naturally dyed handspun.

Carol has been busy spinning for a blanket.

Meeting Notes – February 2023

It was a big group this month that gathered under the trees at Emma Prusch. The meeting started by collecting annual dues and the Treasurer gave her report.

Upcoming events:

3/2 – 3/5/23 Stitches West in Sacramento

3/18/23 sheep shearing at Ardenwood Farm in Fremont. We have not been invited as a guild to demo there but I’m sure if someone contacted the park they would welcome us.

4/15/23 sheep shearing at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills. We have been invited back again this year to do spinning/weaving demos. It is great fun!

Aviva told the group about visiting Jim & Barbara Hooper’s farm. Barbara used to be a Serendipity member and used to have a flock and fiber business. Sadly, Barbara now has dementia and Jim reached out to us to see if we could use any of their equipment or mounds of fiber. The group talked about a field trip. Aviva will send out an email about this.

Show and Tell began with Kelly sharing an embroidered pouch that she had made from a class with Julie Booth.

Nancy told us that she celebrated her 91st birthday last week! And she’s been busy spinning st. bernard fur for a friend.

Laura showed off gorgeous handspun woven blankets.

Sharolene shared some very warm and soft hand mitts.

Carol has been busy spinning for blankets.

Sage showed off an amazing woven blanket she had finished. She and Aviva are thinking about entering as a spinner/maker in the Monterey County Fair this year.

Heather proudly wore a hand designed knitted sharks sweater. Wow!

Rachel was spinning bfl and shared a capelet knit from sock yarn.

Meeting Notes – November 2022

Laura graciously offered her patio for our annual holiday potluck and optional gift exchange next month. Thanks Laura!

Aviva brought up the thought of perhaps having Clemes and Clemes come do a fiber prep class for us sometime next year. What fun!

Stitches West is coming up the end of February in Sacramento.

Show and Tell began and Sharolene was spinning beautiful silk and also brought lots of freebies!

Rachel shared her first knit sweater.

Laura was knitting a gorgeous mosaic shawl.

Patti was here from Washington with her family. She is recruiting for Bethlehem again which will be 12/8-12/11. Visit https://www.scfbc.org/bethlehem/ for more info.

Joan showed us a fun knitted lemon hat kit.

Mary was busy spinning fiber she previously got from Kelly.

Melanie was crocheting a vest from hand spun merino.

Sage was feverishly working on her “Damnit Kelly” basket!

Kelly was working on a crochet cake tissue box cover.

Meeting Notes – August 2022

Ten of us gathered under the trees at the park for this month’s meeting. Nancy gave the Treasurer report. There are currently 16 paid members.

Upcoming Fiber Events: 9/4 is the Monterey Wool Auction, 9/10 is a spinning demo at the Sunnyvale Museum, 9/17 is a spinning demo at Antique Autos in History Park, 10/1 is a spinning demo at the Fall Festival at Martial Cottle Park, 10/1-10/2 is Lambtown in person

Show and Tell:

Cookie showed us a small skein she spun from her own hair! Also a beautiful shawl made from handspun.

Laura shared some woven treasures from a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sarah showed off her first plied skein in 8 years!

Nancy shared some slippers made from yarn she got from Laura.

Meeting Notes – June 2022

It was a small group this month. The meeting began with Aviva sharing 2 upcoming spinning demo events;

September 10th, new member Kerstin who is part of the Waldorf School of the Peninsula is looking for someone to demo for their students from 10am-4pm at the Sunnyvale Community Center.

October 1st Martial Cottle Park is having their Fall Festival. However that is the same weekend as Lambtown.

Show and Tell:

Maurisa brought a new wheel with hopes of figuring out how to put it together and get it working. It was an older Clemes and Clemes.

Amy was trying out her short forward draw with some corriedale top.

Ange, who just got back from a fab trip to Indonesia, was spinning paper and showed off 2 primitive spindles she bought there.

Aviva was busy knitting a shawl.

Ginger has been busy knitting socks and organizing.

Kelly was spinning merino to use as warp for a natural dye scarf.

New member Sara joined the group.

Meeting Notes – May 2022

It was a warm day and a large group for this months’ meeting. We had 5 new members come, most of whom were new to spinning.

We talked about the upcoming fiber events: The Monterey Wool Auction & Show is Memorial Day weekend, and Lambtown (finally in person!) is October 1 & 2.

The Treasurer gave her report and said that the guild currently has 13 paid members.

For show and tell Anita was knitting a cowl with yarn from A Verb For Keeping Warm.

Laura brought some freebies and her walking wheel and was spinning cotton.

Kirsten, a new member, is a handwork teacher and is interested in getting better at the drop spindle.

Heather, who joined during the pandemic and this was her first in-person meeting, brought her eel wheel.

Carol also brought some destash has been spinning “found” fleece in her garage.

Juliette, a new member, was spinning on her eel wheel.

Ginger was spinning fiber from Stitches 2019.

Kelly was spinning merino to use as warp for a scarf and also shared her recently eco-printed velvet and silk.

Deb showed off some beautiful wensleydale locks and also brought some to give away.

Amy, a new member and new spinner, brought her gorgeous antique wheel to spin on.

Nancy was accompanied by her daughter, Kathy. She showed off some pink and purple yarn she had gotten from Laura and also a pair of felted slippers that came out way too big. But they were pretty!

Meeting Notes – January 2022

It was a pleasant day with 7 of us attending this month’s meeting. Those in attendance paid their annual dues and the Treasurer gave her report.

Carol suggested that we could perhaps change our gathering location within Emma Prusch a little farther away from the playground. It makes for a lot of noise so we can’t hear each other and also eager children will run right up to us which used to be fine, but not so much anymore.

Carol announced that Meridian Jacobs will be having their shearing day January 29th, however it is not open to the public this time.

Show and Tell:

Cookie was busy spinning baby doll fleece she got from Kelly. It cleaned up lovely! She also shared some gorgeous sari silk that she has been spindle spinning.

Laura was carding and spinning fleece from Bev Flemming in Cotati.

Ange shared her amazing hand spun tissue paper/sewing pattern that she incorporated into a weaving.

Sharolene was knitting a sweater from her hand spun dyed by Pan’s Garden in beautiful blues and purples.

Nancy was busy knitting baby toys for her new upcoming grandchildren.

Meeting Notes – November 2021

It was a chilly day under the trees. We welcomed new member Debi! The Treasurer gave her report. The group discussed a new web hosting company. Ginger recommended In Motion. She will do more research and get back with everyone on costs. Laura offered her home for a possible holiday gathering in December.

For show and tell Laura passed around some hand spun that she dyed with primaries and black.

Ange shared fun yarn she made out of tissue paper that was plied with silk. She had taken a Judith MacKenzie class.

Cookie brought out her fabulous painted loom and stand. She also passed around a basket she made where she crocheted around roving.

Debi showed us some of her beginning hand spun. Great for a beginner!

Carol was spinning “antique” fleece from the 90’s.

Ginger shared her new off the needles socks in fun colors

Nancy passed around cute stocking ornaments knitted from her hand spun.

Kelly shared a cowl knitted out of yarn dyed with coreopsis and marigolds.