We had a quick business meeting this month called to order by Aviva. The meeting was limited to introducing ourselves to Royce, a newcomer, and doing show & tell.

Kelly was present, spinning wool.

Laura was spinning on her big support spindle. She showed us a green scarf that she’d woven on a borrowed Cricket loom. It was woven from a variety of yarns made from silk and/or cotton.

Laura’s scarf woven on Cricket loom

Aviva was knitting a shawl from mohair that she bought at last year’s Lambtown festival.

Aviva’s mohair shawl-in-progress.

Royce, a newcomer to our group, showed up after learning about us on our website and contacting Aviva to confirm where & when. Royce has been spinning for a few months now. She was spinning a merino/tussah silk blend on an Ashford wheel during the meeting. This was her first experience with silk. She started drafting the blend as usual but wasn’t happy with the result. She then learned about spinning from the fold and after finding that technique gave the effect she wanted, has been using it ever since. Royce is an experienced knitter. She’s been honing her spinning skills by studying sources such as Craftsy’s Foundations of Spinning. Royce showed us bags (many of them!) that she’d made.

Royce’s bags

Cookie has been spinning Cormo and California Red of late. Most recently, she’s been spinning a blend of those two wool breeds. She also showed us one ball that she’d spun from the longer wool separated out by combing California Red. That ball was close to white. And Cookie showed us a second ball spun from the leftover shorter fibers. The second ball was distinctly reddish. If it were a horse, I’d call it a roan.

Cookie brought a couple of containers she’d made using crochet and empty 2 liter plastic bottles. Cookie cut off the top of the plastic bottles and put little holes near their cut edges. She then crocheted a cylindrical section anchored in the holes. She crocheted the top of the cylinder so as to let her thread a drawstring through and added a handle. The handles were made using a crochet hook as a lucet. In one container, Cookie is keeping silk caps and a drop spindle made from a dowel and a 1 inch wooden toy wheel.

Cookie’s plastic bottle/crocheted containers

Ginger was still spinning her coarse gray Cotswold fleece. She would hand card a bit then spin it. She’s planning to weave that and some other coarse gray fleeces she has into fabric. She’s dreaming of sewing lined garments from the fabric — suits? coat? cape?

Sharon, the events coordinator at the park, dropped by and asked if any of us could come October 1 to the park’s Mountain Music Fest to demonstrate (details at http://PruschFarmPark.og). Ginger promised to send out an email to the guild with Sharon’s contact info. Unfortunately, some of us are already committed to the sheep to shawl contest Oct 1 at Lambtown. Lambtown also runs on Sunday so if any of you are in a position to demonstrate, please read your email and contact Sharon.