Buellwood Weaver and Fiber Guild, Hancock, Michigan

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Hello weavers! I have had a head cold which has dampened my productivity immensely. I am looking forward to getting back to it.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Guild Meeting: Our next meeting is July 21, 2025, at 1:00 pm EST. During the summer months, our meetings are on Mondays.

Emberlight Project: The Guild project is up. I took the walk today and was excited to see our fabulous entry. Be sure to go and see it during July. Don't forget to vote for your favorite. No pressure.

Retreats and Conferences:

BUELLWOOD RETREAT: This retreat will be September 19 to 21, 2025 at the Marsin Center in the Hancock/Houghton Michigan area. We will have classes and camaraderie! It's a great time in a beautiful setting.

MICHIGAN LEAGUE OF HANDWEAVERS: The next conference will be in June of 2026. The conference will be in Marquette Michigan. This is a great opportunity to go to the conference when it is close (relatively).

MUSINGS AND GROUP QUESTION:

I wanted to report back on some previous musings. Several months ago I spoke about craft versus art and received some musings back. One reader spoke about negative influences in her life. This caused her to not see her artistic side. But she is focusing on slowing experimenting with making artistic decisions and enjoying the end result.

Another wrote: "I am happy being a crafter...maybe we just need to uplift that label." She spoke of having been an artist but preferring nowadays not to have to be that complex.

Last month I asked: What have you tried this year that was outside your comfort zone? Have you incorporated the technique into your artistic practice?

Mary wrote the following:

In March I warped my loom with beautiful Harrisville Shetland wool for a Swedish Hucklace shawl.
I love weaving with Harrisville Shetland as it fulls beautifully and drapes. I found weaving 2 yards of Hucklace is very slow.
In order to maintain 10 picks per inch, I had to beat very consistent and softly. I did use a temple to maintain the consistent width for all two yards. I am now twisting the fringe with the help of a Lacis fringe twister suggested by Melissa Matson. I know once it is fulled it will be lovely but beating so gently is difficult.

PICTURES FROM JUNE MEETING:

Sean shared a Baltic pick-up design sheet that he made. He also shared his pattern holder from COCO knits. He then shared his inkle weaving with 10/2 and 5/2 cotton thread.

Nate shared his shibori dying, dying making guitar images and a magazine article on a denim jean weaver.

Sue Ellen brought rugs she made from socks. She also shared rugs she got from Guatemala made from t-shirts and hooked.

No picture available for sock rug.

Melissa Mattson shared her woven fabric made into a pillow. She also shared tencel scares and 13 towels made on an 8 shaft loom.

Mary Brownell brought a treasure trove of her products. She brough Gee Bend inspired towels from a pattern in Handwoven. She brought fleece she bought during her trip to Scotland. She shared a sweater she made out of Norwegian wool using the Brioche stitch. She let us know that Handwovern has the ability to print out a pattern plan if you need it.

Denise brought her woven table runner resembling birch trees using an inlay technique. She also brought a Ryijyu she had recently completed.

Karen Mallum brought the sheep inkle band she has finished that she started in last year's retreat. She brought a bali bag that she bought in Bali on her recent diving trip. Karen shared socks she made on her sock machine and knitted shawls made in irish linen and wool she had from the 70's!