Next Meeting February 18, 2012
10 AM – 4 PM (more or less)
Email goes to: spinner@serendipityspinners.org
January Nutshell
by Ginger and Sue with photography by Frank
We had a fine day of meeting and making batts for our booth at Stitches. Images follow. If you missed the fun in January, you will still have a chance to play in February. More batts will be made at the February meeting. Please bring your drum carders. Neither Sue nor Frank will be at the February meeting.
Old Business
Stitches signup! February 23-26. Ginger is running the signups this year. If you miss meetings, you can email gingeredighoffer@yahoo.com. There are still plenty of openings. Remember, working a shift gets you into the the market *FREE* on any day.
New Business
Sue found this class through the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Carson charges $100 an hour plus expenses. Since he lives in San Francisco, the expenses will be minimal. He’s willing to work with us if we want something different than his standard class.
Ergonomics at Your Spinning Wheel – Ergonomics for Spinners (3-hour class) by Carson Demers
Time seems suspended when you’re at your spinning wheel. Hours melt away but stress and strain can be accumulating in your body. Spinning shouldn’t hurt! In this class you’ll learn what ergonomic risk factors are and where they exist in spinning at a wheel. Most importantly you’ll learn what to do to minimize them and early warning signs that could prevent an injury. Safer strategies for seating, balancing your spinning work, and of course, stretches will all be taught.
This is not a “how to spin” class. Students must be able to spin a singles.
Materials: spinning wheel and fiber of student’s choice to spin during class. Students are asked to bring a bath size towel.
Aviva has the spreadsheet she made with the contact information of guild members. She will email it to the attendees at the January meeting. The presidents will print off copies and bring them to meetings.
delivering the treasurer’s report
Treasurer’s report: $821.36 in the bank. Dues ($15) are due in January. When you submit your money, please attach a note as to what classes, workshops or other ideas you have as to what we should do with our treasury this year. If you miss Lotus at a meeting, you can send a check to her at P.O. Box 5, Mount Hamilton, CA 95140.
Announcement: CNCH (held next May in Oakland) has opened up registration for its classes. All of Judith McKenzie’s and some others are already filled. From what your intrepid newsletter editor has learned, Ms. McKenzie’s classes were filled within minutes of registration opening.
Programs: Carol asked if we could coordinate with Blacksheep and see if we can piggyback on their programs. Sharolene attends other guilds and could be the liaison for us.
Basket: Sue received email from a gentleman who wanted to give away a basket of his late wife’s tools. Since he only lived a couple of miles away, he brought it to the meeting for us.
Show ‘n Tell
Frank: has been using his drop spindle to spin the black Lincoln (and Nancy) got from Don and Willow. He’s been spinning as fat as he can bear to. He’s hand carding and spinning a 2-ply.
tools of the process
Frank’s balls of 2-ply Lincoln
Sue: was just so terribly cold for a few days so she sewed a polar fleece balaclava. She brought tatting to do at the meeting but forgot to bring glasses so she could SEE what she was tatting. Therefore, no tatting was done.
tatting
polar fleece balaclava
teasing teal
Carol: has mostly been knitting. She brought a lovely, fine 2-ply that is about 900 yards of gorgeous, snow white yarn. It’s about 5,000 yards per pound. She was teasing some teal.
close up and personal with Carol's yarn
Nancy D.: brought a baggie of thimbles. She got some solar dyed wool during the Holiday party. She’s working to prepare it. One of her young relatives is a cheerleader for the 49ers. We don’t normally have girlie pictures in our newsletter. This is the exception. The photo on the upper left is the girl without all the cheerleader make-up. She’s working on a purse made from strips of cotton from an old dress.
purse
Lotus: is working on another potato chip sock. She chose the ceramic beads from the basket.
our bead, er bean counter
potato chip sock
Aviva: knitted a bunch of hats from old yarn and wore the red one to the meeting. She’s knitting a brown vest. She bought some cochineal dyed merino at a Mendocino sheep event. She has 8oz. but realized after she swatched that she needs 20oz. so she’s spinning more. It’s very gratifying to spin a fatter yarn and go through lots and lots of fiber.
cochineal dyed merino
Sharolene: took a two part class on making jackets. She brought a sweater for S & T and a colorful scarf. She’s spinning a green wool/silk blend.
scarf
Ginger: brought the wrong thing to spin. She has a cat at home that is “helpful” and pulls plastic bags out. Her knitting calculator app is in the marketplace. Her weaving calculator and measuring apps are in the works. Her website is at www.http://canitag.com.
the “new” laptop
the new app
Time to go batty:
See how much fun we had?
And that’s February in a Nutshell.
If you have news or pictures of interest to the group please send it to spinner@serendipityspinners.org