Creating String Art cards October 22, 2012

Our October meeting introduced us to a new fibre art - creating images for greeting cards using "string art".

In fact we used embroidery floss, but we did manage to create artful butterflies for our cards.

Jane Paice (a member of the Kawartha Handweavers and Spinners) travelled to our meeting from Lindsay to instruct us.

Jane kept a close eye on our progress and helped us to fix our "oopses". Here Karen is working hard and Margaret is getting advice from Jane.

Wendy, Lisa, Shirley and Kim are concentrating on their work.

The smile on Kim's face shows that she is enjoying this.

Karen insisted that she was slower than the rest of us because she had punched more holes in her butterly pattern than everyone else.

By the end of the evening, we all had beautiful string art butterfly cards to show.

Port Hope Fall Fair 2012

The Fair theme this year was "PUMPKIN"

so - together with the Northumberland Hooks and Needles Guild ,

we created a display of all things PUMPKIN or pumpkin-like or pumpkin related.

We had knitted, felted, yarn ball pumpkins, pumpkin mitts, pumpkin-coloured teddy clothes,

a felted pumpkin bag ......................

Pumpkin hats and scarves...................

Pumpkin-coloured placemats, socks, ...............

Pumpkin-coloured skeins of handspun yarn.

Knitters Michelle, Barb and Sharon doing their thing between our display tables.

Spinners Kim, Janice and Shirley and weaver Astrid attracting Fair visitors to our display.

June Pot-Luck lunch and Spin Day at Kim's

For our last official meeting of the season, Kim was the hostess for our day of spinning, socializing, programme planning for next season and feasting on the delicious pot luck lunch that everyone had contributed to. 

  We sat on Kim's patio and gazed at her Jacob sheep grazing, while planning our future programmes.

Many good suggestions were discussed and agreed upon.

We'll finalize and set a schedule at our first meeting in September.

Yvonne in the shade and Kim in the sun.

Enjoying the company and the spinning.

Our guild project this season was the exchange of 100 gms of fibre at the October  2011 meeting.

The recipient had to spin the fibre supplied by someone else and then make something from it. At this get-together, we gave back the finished 100 gm creations.

Kim opens the parcel containing the item made by Karen from Kim's alpaca.

Kim's dog Smudge had to be in on everything.

Kim's Alpaca and suede bag

Jane with the knitting bag made for her by Mara, who dyed, spun and knit the bag from white Corriedale fibre that Jane had supplied.

Karen with the fingerless mitts that Yvonne made for her to use while driving the school bus.

Wendy shows off the pouch that

Shirley made by dyeing fibre with KoolAid, spinning and then knitting it.

Joy was not able to come, but Karen shows off the hat that Jane spun and knit for her from Joy's stash of her own Rambouillet fleece.

Yvonne's unique bag, woven by Kim.

MISSING AND HOPEFULLY SOON TO BE ADDED:

Pictures of : Janice's Onion Bag, spun and crocheted by Wendy from fleece dyed with onion skins that Janice had supplied.

Just after the exchange, it started to sprinkle a bit from the skies, so we fled indoors to have a pot luck feast accompanied by Kim's homemade wine.

What a wonderful guild day !!!!! 

Felting Vessels

June 14th was a "fun day" at Shirley's.

The weather was beautiful and we went to work on Shirley's deck, surrounded by her beautiful gardens.

Joy taught us how to make little felted vessels, by wrapping fibre around plastic disks and wetting it with soap and water and then rubbing, rubbing, smoothing, rubbing some more - until it felted.

Some of us were more succesful than others at this.

 Kim and Cindy made 2 vases each, while Mara and Shirley managed to create floppy fish.

Wendy turned her attempt into little fringed pots.

 Joy helping Wendy

 Karen working her fibre

 Kim on her second vase

Shirley's not amused

Nancy's Open House at Spinning Wheel Alpacas

On May 26th, a number of us joined Nancy at her Open House / Shearing / Fibre Mania Day.

It was a great day for all, but a bit disappointing in that the turn-out of fibre enthusiasts was not as great as last year.

BUT - WE all had a good time !

 Margaret wove this fabulous shawl from the yarn the guild members had spun. The fleece was donated by "Tom Brown" - one of Nancy's wonderful alpacas.

The shawl will be raffled off in September with proceeds going to "Hearth Place" - a support group for cancer survivor/thrivers.

Interestingly - Tom was being sheared that day and the publice could see the shawl and Tom's fleece "in the raw" at the same time.

Yvonne spinning away! 

Nancy had put up a canopy for us. Here we are with our wheels and bits and pieces for sale.

Mara, Yvonne, Janice and Margaret. Erin was there as well and Karen and Nancy were in the barn looking after the shearing.

The pictures were taken by Cathy Booth-Smith - a fibre enthusiast and photographer who visited with us for a while

Another Great Gathering

A place where young and the experience can gather, at

The Gathering......

Can you picture a room full of women and men....all you can hear is the whirl of a spinning wheel, the clatter of knitting needles and a whole bunch of

laughter.

Yes, I said men.

Another year, another successful Gathering in Port Hope this past Saturday April 14th, 2012.
The line- up started early, the room filled quickly.

The vendors were happy to talk shop and show customers the latest and greatest of their products. Look at the creativity of some of these producers, some of these vendors. Can you imagine so much creativity in one room?

There were 22 vendors at this event, as we

squeezed in some more new booths.

Lots of door prizes that were donated by the vendors of The Gathering.

Lots of laughs, lots of colour, and a whole lotta love of fibre.

There was a 50/50 draw and the lucky winner went away with $98.00.

A beautiful blanket was knitted by the Northumberland Hooks and Needles Guild while Sharon Langley machine knit a beautiful shawl - both made from alpaca. The yarn had been donated by Iris Adamson. Tickets were $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. The lucky winners got to take their beautiful hand made products home with washing instructions.

Proceeds from the raffel where donated to Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre accepted by it's executive director Linda Janzen.

What a better place to be, where men and women Gather so they can be in their happy place...being creative.

The smiles on everyone's face tells how the day went...full of love, full of energy.

Mark your calendars for next year as

The Gathering

will take place

Saturday April 13th, 2013.

Same location, same great venue. Be well and see you next year.

The Gathering

The Gathering
Saturday April 14th 10am-3pm
Town Park Recreation Centre
62 McCaul Street
Port Hope, ON

Where spinners and knitters meet Admission is $5.00
Awesome Door Prizes
Imagine a sea of 100's of wheels whirling in one room
Imagine a room full of creative souls and the sounds of numerous knitting needles clicking away
One day only, come visit
The Gathering
Hosted by
Great Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers Guild
and
Northumberland Hooks and Needles Guild



There will be vendors selling the finest of yarn, rovings and supplies for your creative pleasure.


For information on workshops Contact Mara Lusis maralu@sympatico.ca
or Click Here for fill in the Mini Workshop Application
For information on vendors tables contact Nancy Hutchinson alpacas@xplornet.com

Vendors Include:

***Andjareena's Place-Mary Anne White www.andjareenas.com

***Ambleside Farm-Gillian Mullins

***Coloured Shetland Rovings-Karen Richens

***Cornerstone Fibres-Kim Parkinson www.crfibre.biz

selling:bamboo knitting needles, angora rabbit fibre, handspun yarn

***Creekside Exotics-Kim Bushby

***Dyeing for Colour-Pat Leclair www.dyeingforcolour.com

selling rovings from all kinds of fibre

***Fire and Fluff- Cheryl Powell www.fireandfluff.com

selling: ashland fibres, spinolution wheels, babes fiber garden wheels, yarns and custom blends

***Home Grown Yarns-Cindy Osland

Selling: wool rovings, yarn, wool products, and lamb and beef for sale

****Lanesend Farm and Fibre-Lynn Hasson www.lanesendfarmandfiber.info

selling mohair, wool rovings, knitted products, fudge, brittle, hemp handcreams, handspun yarns and dog hair items

***Rose Haven Farm-Linda Swaine www.rosehavenfarm.net

***Shepherds Hill-Grace Clare

Selling: raw fleece, dyed locks, sheep skins, rovings and sheepmilk soap.

***Spinning Wheel Alpaca Farm-Nancy Hutchinson www.1stopalpacafarm.com

Selling: everything alpaca products..."Once you go alpaca, you don't go backa"

***The Knitting Nimrod Collective-ilze Abolins www.knittingnimrodcollective.com

selling:quality yarns, kits, interchangeable needles, sets and accessories

***The Robin's Nest-Elaine Poot

selling: retail yarn, Sirdar, Manos, Debbie Bliss

***The Stoddart Family Farm-Silvia Stoddart www.stoddart.ca

selling:natual and handpainted yarns and rovings, raw and washed fleeces.

***Thistle Dew Farm- Wendy Pullan

***Victoria's Yarn-Brenda Sauve

***Wellington Fibres-Donna Hancock www.wellingtonfibres.on.ca

selling: mohair blends of rovings, yarn and wheels and square needles

More to be added shortly....
New for 2012
Mini Workshops-

HAVE BEEN CANCELLED DUE LACK OF PARTICIPANTS

Learn to Crochet – Instructor: Cheryll-Ann VanDyk

or

Thrummed Knitting using a continuous roving. – Instructor: Jeff O’Neill

Learn to Spin on a Drop Spindle – Instructor: Karen Richens

or

Needle Felt a Critter: Instructor: Wendy Lilly

$20.00 per mini workshop-CANCELLED
includes supplies
Pre-registration is required
To reserve a spot please send registration form and payment by March 30, 2012 to Mara Lusis.

It will an event you will not forget.