Celebrating 180 Year at the Port Hope Fair

180 Years worth of Celebrating

The Port Hope Fair Celebrated it’s 180 anniversary in 2011. The Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers in conjunction with the Port Hope Knitting Guild did not miss the opportunity to help celebrate this festive festival.

The theme was 180....so whether the product was in grams, stitches, yards, oz, everyone pitched in to show what 180 would bring to the table...

Imaginations were in high gear as both guilds were very creative in showing what 180 can do.

Hand spun skeins of yarn, beautiful knitted and crochet garments, woven textiles, even 180 pairs of mittens.

The volunteers worked hard to prepare the display for the 180 Anniversary at the Port Hope Fair. Members of each guild spun, knitted, and had woven products to submit for the colourful presentation.

Members of both guilds were present at the fair to show the art of spinning, weaving and knitting. Demonstrations were on going for the full days at the fair.

Here is Karen using a drop spindle: Shirley is taking a break from weaving and spinning her heart out:

A nice photo when Spinning meets knitting...Nancy is making some new friends with Sharon and Pat (knitters):

It was a group effort to help celebrate the 180 Anniversary at the Port Hope Fair. Thank you to everyone who contributed...thank you to everyone for the creative side.


Nancy Hutchinson

Musical Wheels

Our last meeting for the season was held in June. What a blast is was, a great way to end the spinning season.

Show and tell was a creative part of the evening. This skein of yarn was mouth watering and definitely needed to be displayed. The colours, the textures...everything was just awesome.



Margaret was very excited about some dyed alpaca yarn....
Mara had some dog hair that she had spun up for the class she is teaching this summer. Margaret had a beautiful shawl she had created on her newly made tri loom. It was inspiring to see all the creativity in the room.
Yvonne began the Musical Wheel session. Each member was to talk about their wheel, why it was purchased, and what they liked about the wheel. We then went around the room to test drive all the different wheels. Some wheels spun fast, some wheels were good for making certain yarns, some wheels were made for easy traveling. One of the wheels that impressed some more experienced spinners was the antique wheel that Mara brought it. This wheel was made in Quebec in 1910. It was a very fast wheel, metal footman and tilt tension and double drive.

Yvonne is having her test driving session on the Quebec wheel.

Joy trying Margret's Lou a Victoria which she purchased second hand. This wheel's flyer is attached magnetically. Very small and compact.

Jane is taking a run on Joy's Luet. Good for beginners and has a lazy kate right on the wheel (no that is not Jane's nickname)

It was just so much fun to try all different types of wheels. My observation...it is just like getting used to a new car without the new car smell.



Mara our wonderful spinning guru, is teaching yet another interested visitor the art of spinning. Mara has an exquisite way of teaching others the art of spinning. Thank you ladies for a very fun night. See you all at our next meeting, better yet at a fun spin day. Enjoy your summer.


Nancy Hutchinson

"Huck Weaving"

Our May meeting brought back a former member and still good friend Lynda Sully, who introduced us to the technique of "huck weaving".

This is not really weaving and not really embroidery, but a combination of both - using a special fabric called "Monk cloth".

We always love to learn new fibre art techniques!

We were very happy to welcome 3 guests to the meeting, who we hope will become members and good friends.

Kim - her arm in a cast after surgery - bravely trying the new technique.


Shirley, Jane and Carole (a guest at the meeting)

Astrid, Yvonne and Joy concentrating on their "huck".

Nancy's Fibre Mania Day

On the 28th of May, a few of us gathered at Nancy's farm - "Spinning Wheel Alpacas" - to join her and about 600 visitors for her annual shearing day.

It was a cold, foggy morning, but we bravely sat under the canopy that Nancy and Garth had provided for us and showed the visitors that the art of spinning is alive and well.

By the afternoon, the fog had lifted and we were able to warm up a bit.

Mara, Nancy and Karen - jackets still on.

The guild members had carded, spun and washed the fleece of Nancy's late "Desi Alpaca", and Margaret was proceeding to knit a shawl from the co-operatively spun yarn.

Raffle tickets were sold for the shawl and this raised $70 for Nancy's charity - Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre in Oshawa.

Margaret with the spun yarn and the beginnings of the shawl

Spin and Fun Day

A few of us got together at Mara's on May 15th to work on guild projects.

We will be participating in Nancy's Fibre Mania day May 28th, so we are spinning a wonderful alpaca fleece ( from a wonderful and "late" alpaca named Desi ) for Margaret to make into a shawl that will be raffled off for charity.

Karen holding her Desi skeins and Margaret starting to plan the shawl that she will make from them.

Jane spinning Desi fleece

We were also working on swatches for the banner that Yvonne is creating for our guild display tables.


Jane spinning Desi and Joy knitting a swatch for the banner - yarn spun from the fleece of her own Rambouillet sheep.

Snippets of the fun time at The Gathering

It was a cold and rainy morning - but Karen was still smiling as she helped the vendors carry in their goodies.

Janice - bobbin in one hand, sandwich in the other.

That's what you call indecision.

Shoppers at Heidi's booth

Cindy's booth

Caught you Yvonne.

After the Gathering

Well - The Gathering last weekend was another success for us and the knitting guild (Northumberland Hooks and Needles).

Over 120 spinners, knitters, rug hookers and weavers turned out on a cool and rainy day. We shopped at the vendors booths, enjoyed the coffee and fantastic treats supplied by the members of the two guilds, sat spinning and/or knitting, lunched on Osland Farms' beef and lamb burgers and generally enjoyed the chance to pursue our favourite pursuits in the company of kindred spirits.

Pictures coming soon !!!!

Tri-loom weaving evening

Kim's hands working

We met on March 28th at the usual place, usual time.

Those of us from Cobourg had to do a little creative driving to get there, since our usual route (Hwy. 2) was still closed off because of the train that had derailed just east of Port Hope.

We discussed our participation in the Gathering and then our spa / spin day at Kerry's on the 10th of April.

Nancy invited us to participate at her "Fibre Mania" day (May 28th - shearing day at Spinning Wheel Alpacas). We will spin Nancy's alpaca and Margaret will knit the yarn into a shawl to be raffled off for charity.

Then Nancy passed around triangular looms, yarn and instructions for our weaving workshop.

Some of us had done it before, others not - but we all had a fun time trying to figure out how to make these little triangles on these little looms.

Yvonne and Vickie

Weaving in progress

The gang holding up the finished products.

Kind of look like a bunch of bikini bottoms, don't they?

February Meeting

We had a great turnout for our February meeting!

After the business part was discussed, including our preparations for "The Gathering" in April, we enjoyed seeing what people had been doing since we last met.

Jane, Yvonne and Karen had spun up some of the fleece samples for our guild study.

Joy had washed both baggies of her Black Welsh Mountain and one sample felt quite nice, while the other felt like a pot scrubber. We'll see what she can do with it spinning wise.

Karen showing her samples of Herdwick fleece. We all decided that it would be useful for only heavy, scratchy rugs - or a hat for someone you don't like very well.

Other show & tells included Margaret's mug cozy and tea cozy made from her "spinning wild" yarn. Joy showed us her very first knitting project - a hat. Yvonne had some beautiful Teeswater skeins, and Mara let everyone "touch & feel" her bags of qivuit and cashmere.

After all that, Yvonne led us in a crochet workshop. Some of us knew this technique, some were rediscovering it after some time, and some were holding the hook for the first time.

Yvonne made sure that those who knew how to crochet were sitting beside those that were learning.

Joy's fingers learning and Janice's fingers teaching.

Jane relearning and Nancy learning between Karen and Janice.

Nancy's eager concentration.

A New Year and New Spinning Ideas

"It was a dark and stormy night".......................................................

But 5 of us braved the weather and got together to hear about Margaret's experience of "Spinning Wild in PEI". She had a wonderful time learning to spin in the first place, then buying a wheel and then spinning all kinds of strange things. She shared her adventure with us by showing us how to make "yarn" from cassette and video tapes, plied with any old yarn/thread/cord.

Margaret showing the book that was used as inspiration for Wild Spinning

Margaret's cassette yarn

Cindy doing the cassette yarn thing

Cindy's yarn

New spinner Joy bravely concentrated and made a great cassette yarn.

We had a fun evening and now have to figure out what we are going to do with this "yarn". Maybe just hang it up as a conversation piece?