Buellwood Weaver and Fiber Guild January Meeting

SCARVES: Make them and wear them in Style.



The Buellwood Weavers met Monday January 16th at Gloia Dei Church in Hancock. Our topic was to be knit edges but two of the presenters were not able to attend – So instead we shared some beautiful scarves and Myla showed us how to wear a variety of scarves that were presented. We learned a few new and beautiful ways to display our hand woven; hand knit, and dyed or painted scarves. We also got some pointers on how to wear some larger scarves that we brought along.

Check out the beautiful scarf collection we had to touch and admire.


















Eve brought the guild table top loom warped and ready to weave with a beautiful bright green warp. She had instructions for weaving a variety of sample pattern weaves for any of the guild members who wanted to take the loom home for a couple of weeks of weaving. Barbara a newer member of our guild took the loom to be the first to try out the weaves. Would you like to be next? Contact Eve or come to our next meeting on February 17 to join the fun and pick up the loom.




We had our usual show and tell. Jean Lind brought her knit to felt purse she has been working
using a new (to me) method to knit with two colors caring the yarn along one color in each hand. This was very helpful to me as I am knitting a pair of socks with a 2 color pattern.





Eve had her blue vest finished and almost ready to wear. She needs to add a button or two and a button loop. Beautiful vest Eve, It would have been a beautiful addition to the Northern wefts Fashion show. Maybe she can enter it in the Prairie Winds 2013 fashion show.










Jeanne brought along a huge ball of her hand spun yarn which she was inspired to spin again by her class with Amy Tyler spinning techniques from Amy’s Northern Wefts conference workshop in June. New for Jeanne was creating a textured yarn when she plyed her beautiful handspun.









Lynn brought along some beautiful hand dyed scarves that she has been making to sell in her Gallery in Calumet. Ed Gray’s Gallery on Fifth Street in Calumet.




I finished my hand towels for the towel exchange with the Michigan Guild from below the bridge and of course two for a birthday gift for my new daughter in law. Colors to match her kitchen ware. I also experimented with knitting and felting some slipper clogs with some of my left over sale yarn.




I have a book recommendation for weavers. Eve told me about the book ‘Thrums’ written by Faith Shaw Nunneley . I had never heard of her but she is either from Michigan or Minnesota or maybe she has lived in both places. I think it was a fun and interesting book to read. Pretty easy and entertaining reading and I wish I had read long ago before I purchased all my weaving equipment. Because she lays it on the line letting you know what you need and what you can do without for your weaving studio. Thanks Eve for that recommendation. There are a few chapters on dying yarn also that is very informative. But the best part is her sense of humor.

Future Guild meetings:
In February I believe Audrey will do a spinning demo on “Spinning with Silk” then Phyllis will address Name draft weaving in March. Please attend the meetings as we are planning some interesting workshops in the near future.

Future Guild workshops in the U.P:

Weave, Cut and Sew Workshop May 21-23 at Finlandia Fiber Room Mary Sue Fenner will have her trunk show presentation and sewing workshop:
Fiber Arts Jacket:
Basic Jacket Sewing Class for all fiber artists. Students would
bring their fabric: commercial, felted, handwoven, dyed,
embellished, etc. I would take them through the basic skills to
make it into a jacket. We would start with needles, thread,
fitting their pattern, basic seam options, darts, and finishing
techniques to make a one-of-a-kind beautiful jacket.

A Beginner weaving workshop in Early September in Houghton. Exact date and location TBA.

Some of us are going to Door County WI for a Collapse weave workshop with Anne Fields in September 2012. There is still room in the class.

We are also planning some other guild activities. Maybe a road trip, other workshops with instructors. Maybe a paper weaving workshop with a teacher from Europe if we have some interest. So come and have some input into what our guild will be doing in 2012.

Buellwood Weavers and Fiber Guild meeting -September

September 17, 2011
Our Guild meet Monday at Gloria Dei Church in Hancock Michigan and elected new officers from the members present. Jean Lind has agreed to fill Jessica's position as MLH representative and Vise Chair. Eve Lindsey will remain our Chair for this year and she is doing a fine job of arranging topics for our meetings and projects for our Guild to get involved with. If you have ideas for projects or topics please mention them at the next meeting in November. We still need topics for the April and May 2012 meeting. Check out this blog for our schedule and other important Guild information at the top of this page.

We had a number of members show their samples from Conference workshops.
Jessica shared a number of hand painted warps she did in a 2 day workshop with Su Butler 'Warp Painting'. They are bright and beautiful. Jessica also took Anita Mayer's - Doubleweave Tapestry Pillow - pre conference workshop she promises to share her finished pillow when it is off the loom.

Jean Lind brought samples from her pre conference workshop with Sheila O'Hara 'Multiple Warp Weaving - 8 Shafts' She is still working on the scarf but cut off some samples to show us what she was working on.














In the this picture you can see the difference in color on the front side
and back side of the woven scarf.

Melissa Mattson brought in her sample from Robyn Spady's 'Extreme warp Make Over' pre conference workshop. She claims to have learned a great deal from this workshop, the sample was beautiful with 17 various woven structures all on the same warp tie up. A very good workshop for beginning
weavers to learn the many fabrics that can be woven from one warp on a 4 harness loom.Sorry Melissa it was hard to get a picture that you did not move.

Audrey Chamberlain shared her samples of Silk Spinning a workshop she took with Heather Winslow. Audrey is an accomplished spinner but needed help spinning silk. She enjoyed the workshop and has many samples of spin silk to add to her sample folder. She enjoyed learning about the many silk spinning materials she was introduced to and now has a greater understanding of all the possibilities of spinning silk.

Jeanne Medlyn took a pre conference workshop with Amy Tyler on 'Spin Knit Nexus' and learned the meaning of Nexus (convergence) as well as making a very complete note book of spinning samples. She is happy to have renewed her excitement about spinning. I am sorry but in all the excitement I did not get a picture of Jeanne and her samples. Oops!!!

I took Kati Reeder Meeks pre conference workshop on 'Checks, Plaids and Tartans'. I learned a lot about using the trapeze method of warping my loom for a better tensioned warp as well as many other tips for weaving with fine yarn. It was well worth the time despite the many interruptions I had due to conference responsibilities. I did not get too much done during the conference but the class was nice enough to share their samples with me. I am weaving away at home now that my life has slowed down and Have 65 inches of tartan weave done on my loom.
A nice scarf and a number of samples for my work book to keep for future reference.

Guild Projects for 2012 Eve shared some Guild Project ideas for the 2011 - 2012 year and we are going to hand paint a small warp for Bookmarks at the November meeting. So check your email or call Eve for warp instructions if you are interested.

We are also planning a fiber exchange at the Christmas get together. Here is how it works we bring 4 -6 oz of fiber in a brown bag then choose a bag that is not ours. We will use this fiber to make a gift for those who supply fiber, the finished item will be given at our June meeting. If you are interested in participating in this exchange. Join us for the November 21st meeting to find out more about how this fiber gift exchange will work.

We are also considering the possibility of a one or two day workshop in May or June of 2012. We plan to hire a teacher for a beginning weaving workshop. If you have any ideas or input for this workshop please join us at Gloria Dei Church in Hancock on the third Monday of each month at noon as we are planing it at our next few meetings.