Spindrifters - A Spinner Guild for Whatcom, Skagit & Island Counties

Our February 2011 meeting

2011-05-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Gloria shares an heirloom blanket made by her mom.

This sampler blanket was knitted in squares and sewn together. One of the squares is a really cute cat, but I couldn't seem to get a picture of it.

Everyone had a great visit

Pretty colors - for Easter maybe?

This basket of loveliness was the raffle prize of the day. Remember to bring those dollars guys and gals.

Lovely little things for show and tell

THE CUTEST BABY SOCKS EVER!

Vikki's newest creation -

Christmas ornament project

Tina S. showed off a sweater that she had made a few years ago - a timeless creation.

December 2010

2011-04-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Anne Marie Fjeld won the raffle for the 2010 Sheep to Shawl shawl. Looks pretty nice on her doesn't it?

Some show and tell

Essie the wonder dog!

A pair of twinned mittens

There are more pictures to come - check back again soon!

September meeting - what 's on your bobbin?

2010-10-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Things were in full swing when I arrived Saturday morning to our guild meeting - Lots of happy voices, laughter and filtered sunshine streaming through into the big airy room at the church where we were meeting.

It's been a while since I took some "bobbin shots"

Keisha has been practicing her Navajo plying for this sock yarn.

The thing I like about taking bobbin shots is that there are all colors of the rainbow

This was from a bump of Kathy Green's Potluck Roving. It is so easy to spin and she has such nice colors.

Blue & green - ocean colors seemed to be the colors of the day -

But this brave soul was actually spinning some autumn colors

This is the roving that she was using.

You may remember this "pile" of yarn from our December 2009 meeting.

It was to be woven into cloth to make a coat.

And here is the beautiful finished product!

I'm sorry the color in this picture is so funky but I wanted you to see the style of the coat - It turned out so nicely.

And this yarn (called "Bubblegum") was destined for a fundraiser auction for a school.

Hmmm - Do you remember the old bumper sticker - something about having to have a bake sale to fund a war...

And that's all there is - two dead batteries do not a camera run - but this gives you an idea of what everyone is working on.

Our next meeting is Saturday October 9 at Nancy's Farm, 2030 E Smith Rd. Make sure you stop by!

NW Washington Fair Wool Show Review

2010-08-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Wool Show had another successful exhibit this year with a whopping 157 entries along with 30 volunteer spinners and weavers providing a nearly continuous demonstration of the fiber processes we love to share.

Ferndale resident Kitty Drew provided fair goers with five sessions of spinning stories and demonstration, each day sporting a different ethnic or period costume. I hope you saw her picture on the front page of the B"ham Herald Saturday morning.

Janice Hartwell gave a Thursday evening rug hooking demo. to fair attendees, and Nora Weisenhorn fascinated many with her 1920's sock making machine Saturday morning.
Blue ribbon winners among the WWG and Spindrifter members (to the best of my knowledge) include: Louise Bayma, Oksana Brown (3), Chris Conrad (2), Debra Carpenter, Richard Harvey, Meg Jobe, Melissa Johnson, Yvonne Madsen (3), Cecilia Morales, April Muegge, Chris Paul, Heather Seevers (3), Sheri Ward, and Nora Weisenhorn (2).

Chris Conrad won Best of Class honors for both a mohair fleece and a handspun skein. Best of Show went to Chris Paul for her fine handspun saddle blanket. Heather Seevers was awarded both Judges Choice and Best of Division for her two fanciful boas.

Debra Carpenter won Best of Class for a handspun, handknitted shrug. Best Design and Best of Class were awarded to Pat Walker, a resident of The Willows assisted living apartments, for her beautiful pictorial hooked rug. Thanks to Chris Conrad, several residents there entered their work this year.

Many thanks to our volunteer spinners: Kathy Green Donna Starr, John Munroe, Gabette Andres, Tina Swanson, Joan Dudley, Jenni Jimmerson, Ann Marie Fjeld, Tamerron Underwood, Tina Thomsen-Park, Yvonne Madsen,

Louise Bayma, Lynda Bylsma, Maryann Kelly, and Anna & Ella Robbins (teen spinners).....
and to our "administrative assistants" Margaret Magic, Oksana Brown, Chris Conrad, Gabette Andres, Sheri Ward. Joan Cunningham, and Kathy Hutchinson.

Many thanks to our volunteer weavers: Pat Fisher, Kathy Sano, Gina Saettone, Barbara Snow, Rosalie Nast (2 sessions), Maggie Weyers (2 sessions), and Sondra Rose......

Submitted by Marcia Ford, Wool Show Superintendent (Thank you Marcia - you provided the perfect narration to my pictures!)

Dye Day

2010-08-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Nancy Hanson for hosting Dye Day this year - more info will be posted when I receive it.

2010-07-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Bellingham Highland games. the first weekend in June. The first half of our "Sheep to Shawl"

Our intrepid leader Yvonne spent most of the day at the drum carder - organizing the lovely CVM fleece that she donated for spinning, and telling people what we were doing, and keeping us all in line.

Our little band of spinners was spinning singles that would later be randomly plied to come up with the warp for our latest Sheep to Shawl project.

It was great to see Oksana. She knitted the beautiful sweater that she is wearing!

This is the clan tartan from Yvonne's family. She wove it on her loom (from commercial yarn). Isn't it beautiful?

This is Lea's mom - she was having a great time watching the games and listening to the music.

We had a new spinner, Keisha, joining us that day. She was a lot of fun be with. I hope that she will be able to join us at a meeting sometime.

This little fellow just had to know how I was making string. He climbed right up into my lap to watch.

It was a great day, to sit in the early summer sun and spin to our hearts content.

Here is the fruit of our labors. Yvonne, Meg & I plied it up the next Thursday at the county spinner evening. Meg has wound the warp and the loom will be warped and the weft will be spun at the Skagit Highland Games On the 10 & 11th of July. Hope you can join us there!

Our Abundant Library

2010-05-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Our guild has a great library. These books are available for loan to members in good standing. If you are interested, leave a comment and I will have our "Librarian" get hold of you.

21 Yr. Handwoven Index Interweave Press
220 Aran Stitches&Patterns Harmony
4H spinning and Weaving book county Extension
8-harness table loom one
900 Stitch Patterns
A Medieval Arts Afternoon Twitchell, Linda SCA
Adventures in Stitches Mariska, Kara
Alternatives to the Figleaf Wittenberg, B.
Art of Weaving Regensteiner
Ashford Book of Dyeing Milner, Ann
At Knits End, Meditations for Women that Knit Too Much McPhee, S.Pearl
Australian Locker Hooking Rough, Joan
backpack with Sheep to Shawl equipment
Big Needle Knitting
Box of Natural Dyes from Denise Guren
Braids Owen, Roderick
British Sheep Breeds
Card Weaving Crockett, Candace (2)
Card Weaving or Tablet Weaving Groff, Russell
Clothing from Hands that Weave Mayer, Anita
Color in Spinning Menz, Deb
Combs,Combs,Combs McFarland, Susan
Compendium of Finishing Touches Harvey?
Complete Book of Drafting VanderHoog, M.
Complete How-to Book of Indian Craft Hunt, W. Ben
Craft of hand Weaving Plath
Crafty Containers Walpole, Lois
Creative Spinning Weaving and Dyeing Anderson, B
Designers Guide to Color 1&2 Stockton
Designs of Chinese Indigo Batik Lu Pu
Double Knits Mellor, Zoe
drum carder one
Dye and Discharge King, Sara
Dyers Companion Klos, Dagman
Dyers Garden Buchanan, Rita (2)
Dyes from Lichens&Plants McGrath
Dyes from Plants Robertson
Essentials of Yarn Design Ross, Mabel
Farmer Brown Shears his Sheep Sloat, Teri
Fashions from the Loom Beard, Betty
Felted Knits Galeskas, Bev
Finishing Touches for the Handweaver West, V.
Fleece in Your Hands Home, Beverly
Folk Vests Oberle, Cheryl
Footpower Loom Weaving Worst (2)
Gentle Dyes Bracks & Higgins
Gossamer Webs,History of Orenburg Lace Shawl Khmeleva, Galina
Great Knitting in Vogue Probert
Guy Knits Interweave
Hand Cards 1 pr.
Hand Knitting Techniques Threads
Hand Woolcombing&Spinning Teal, Peter
Handspinners Book Hochberg, Bette (2)
Handspinners Guide to Selling Simmons, P.
Handspinning Fannin (2)
Handspinning Cotton Lindner, O. & H.
Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools Robson, Deborah
Handsweavers Pattern Book Davidson, M.
Handweavers Book Thorpe, Heather
Handwovens Design Collection, Gifts, outerwear, Dishtoles, Not for Beginners only Interweave Press
Harmony Guide to Knitted Stitches Harmony
Hip to Crochet Swartz, Judith
History of HandKnitting
Instuctiro Para Tenir con Grana Cochinilla Duemes
Key to Weaving Black
Knit Baby Head & Toes
Knit Emporium Sharp, Jo
Knit Literature Roghaar&Wolf
Knitted Embellishents Epstein,Nicky
Knitters Companion Interweave
Knitters Almanac Zimmerman
Knitters Book of Finishing Techni Wiseman, Nancie
Knitting Sunset Mag
Knitting and Crocher Hands, Gurien
Knitting Emporium Sharp, Jo
Knitting for Your Home Epstein, N
Knitting Goddess
Knitting in Plain English Righetti, Maggie
Knitting in the Old Way Roberts, P. Gibson
Knitting Lessons Nargi
Knitting Plus Stanley Montse
Knitting Rules McPhee, S. Pearl
Knitting Sutra Lydon
Knitting Without Tears Zimmerman, E
Latvian Mittens
Learning to Weave Redding, Chandler Debbie (3)
Legacy of the Great Wheel Turner, Katy
Linen Handspinning&Weaving Baines, Patricia
Loomette King Pattern Weaves Loomette
Loomette Weaves Loomete Studioa
Loop-d-Loop Durham
Louet Wheel one
Magic of Spinning Charming, M.
Maine Wool Woolies Rush
Mary Thomas; Knitting Book Mary Thomas
Merino Stove, Margaret
Mexican Tapestry Weaving Hall, Joanne
Mostly Mittens, Patterns from Russian's Kome People
Mushrooms for Color
Natural Dyeing Thresh
Natural Dyes Fereday
Natural Dyes&Home Dyeing Adrosko, Rita J.
Natural Plant dyeing Botanical Gardens
Naughty Needles Lohr, Nikol
Navajo Hope Weaving Pendleton
Needleweaving Dendel, Esther
New Pathways for SockKnitters Bordhi, Cat
No Idle Hands, Social History of Knitting in America McDonald, Anne L.
North American Dyes Bliss
Nuvisauik,Place Where We Weave Finkenstein
On Loom Card Weaving Gray, Herbi
Opening a Door to 2-Harness Tech Francisco, Irene
Passion for Knitting Thomas&Rubinowiz
Pictoral Weaving from Viking Age
Poems of Color, Bohus Tradition Keele, Wendy
Rigid Heddle Weaving Davenport
Rowan Knits Rowan
Rugs Johnson, M>E>
Sally Melville Styles Melville
Shawls and Scarves Thomas, Nancy
Simple Weaving Chetwood, Hillary
Simply Socks,45 Trad.Turkish Patterns Zilboorg, Anna
SnowFlakes Libbrecht, Kenneth
Songs from the Loom,Navajo Roessel, Monty
Spin Off Index Interweave
Spindle spinning Delaney, Connie
Spinformation Ronin, Colonel James
Spinners Companion Irwin
Spinning Designer Yarns Varney, Diane
Spinning for Softness and Speed Simmons, P.
Spinning&Weaving at Upper Canadian Village Spencer, Audrey
Step by Step Weaving Znamierowski (2)
Stitchery Marein, S.
Stitchery Idea Book Rush
Story Rugs Gottlieb, Dale
Sunset Leather Craft Book Allen, Davis
Sweaters from the Seaton Collection Seaton
Swedish Weaving Nye, Thelma
Tablet Weaving Golden Press
Techniques of Rug Weaving Collingwood, Peter
Textiles of Ancient Peru D'Harcourt, Raoul
The Magic Loop Hauschka, Sara
The Volor Star Itten, Johannes
Thrums from Weavers Kitchens Seattle Weavers Guild
Traditional Knitting Interweave
Turning Wool into a Cottage Industry Simmons, P.
Twisted sisters Sock Workbook Vogel, Lynn
Twisted Sisters, Knit Sweater Vogel, Lynn
Vegetable Dyeing Lesch
Warping on a Shoestring Sanders, Nadine (2)
Weavers Book Tidball, Harriet
Weavers Companion Interweave Press
Weaving Sunset Mag. (2)
Weaving Arts of N.Am Indian Dockstader
Weaving on a Frame Loom Skoy
WeavingSpinning Dyeing Beg Manual Hower
What Sheep Is That? Warmar, Mike
Wool Away (shearing) Bowen, F.
Wool Combs 2 pair
Yoga Knitters local knitter
Your Hand Spinning Davenport, Elsie
Zen&Art of Knitting

How fun was it? ? ?

2010-03-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take you on my little walk around SPIN-IN 2010, so if you couldn't make it this year, you'd at least see how much fun we had.

The ladies from Sunset Fibers in Olympia brought many pretty things with them.

I am looking forward to spinning this pretty fiber. I have two baby jackets to make before next fall.

My D.H. was glad to be able to visit with the Greydown Alpaca folks. He wanted to show them the Shetland wool we had blended with a cria fleece he bought from them last year!

They had very nice samples of items that would work nicely with their Alpaca yarn.

The Spincycle ladies were there with all their beautiful yarns.

The commons at Fairhaven Middle School is a large airy room. We had two of the classes going on the stage and one on the floor directly in front.

Heather's boas were quite the hit.

There were LOTS of spinning circles going on.

Nancy from NW Handspun Yarn brought lots of goodies.

Lots of touching base with old friends

and visiting with new ones.

Wild Rose Farm from Whidbey Island had some beautiful fleeces available. Ah, the sweet smell of newly shorn fleece.

We had 14 vendors - you can see a list of them here

One of the spinning classes going on up on the stage.

There were lots of different fibers to see and feel.

Marsha Adams came with her colorful rovings

Keep going, there's lots more to see!

We welcomed The Bellwether - she had some beautiful spindles.

Chris Conrad had a fantastic display of her Kakishubu - persimmon dyes and yarns.

Last, but not least on my vendors tour was Marietta Shetlands, our farm booth with lots of beautiful Shetland Fleece - of course, I might be just a little biased about that, I suppose. Hi Honey, smile!

We had over 100 participants for this year's Spin-In. I think that everyone had a really great time -

They were practically dancing in the aisles!

We had a great team working on the spin-in - thanks especially to Mel , Deb H., Troy and Julie on the planning committee.

And thanks also to our great class leaders - Nicki, Denise, Mary Ann, Linda, Ellen, Deb S., Margaret, & Meg - The classes were a big hit!

See ya all next time!

SPIN-IN 2010

2010-03-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

Was a HUGE success, with over 100 in attendance! - keep an eye on this space for pictures of all the fun!

CLASSES TO BE OFFERED AT SPIN-IN 2010!

2010-03-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

There will be three stations offering the following classes:

Station 1
11:00 Basic Wheel Spinning - Nicki C
12:00 Basic Wheel Spinning - Denise M
1:00 Basic Wheel Spinning - Nicki C
2:00 Basic Wheel Spinning - Mary Ann K
3:00 Basic Wheel Spinning - Denise M

Station 2
11:00 Viking Knitting - Linda S
12:00 Viking Knitting - Linda S
1:00 Wool carding - Ellen J
2:00 Wool carding - Ellen J
3:00 (TBA)

Station 3
11:00 Support Spindles - Deb S
12:00 Drop Spindles - Margaret M
1:00 Support Spindles - Deb S
2:00 Wheel maintenance - Meg B
3:00 Drop Spindles - Margaret M

(Station 3 teachers and classes will be subject to teacher's work schedules)

We've added another vendor!

2010-03-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

Sunset Fibers has been added to our vendor list! They carry a variety of hand painted and kettle dyed roving and yarns. They also have a few natural fibers, alpaca and lama, from local farms. There are a few seasonal fibers as well such as yak/merino and camel/silk. You can see almost all of their products on their website HERE

HERE ARE OUR VENDORS FOR SPIN 2010!!!

2010-02-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

Alegre Alpacas presented by Nora Weisenhorn - Colored alpaca fleeces: black, brown, fawn - Alegre Alpaca's Web site

The Bellwether presented by Amelia Garripoli - spindles, fiber and more!Find out more at: The Bellwether's Web Site

BJS Fiber Creations presented by Barbara Seeler - BJ's specialty is Merino/Tencel 50/50. She loves to spin, knit and wear the socks she makes and was on a 15 year quest to find a fiber for socks that would and could not be worn out by wearing. When she found the 50/50 mixture she figured she should share it with others. Couple that with her love of color and chemistry background and retirement business was born. By the way, Barbara guarantees that the 50/50 mixture will NOT wear out. If it does (and no one has yet taken her up on this offer), she will replace the fiber for free.

She also sells hand-painted silk in a variety of forms, hankies, bells, roving, noil etc. In addition to the dyed fibers, she have an extensive inventory of alpaca, wool/silk blends, wool/mohair blends. Plant fibers include ramie, hemp, flax and cotton. As an aside, if you like to spin cotton, she has 5 different naturally colored cotton fibers, with and deseeded. (she grew the cotton in California).

Chris Condrad presenting Kakishibu dye, book, kakishibu dyed items (including yarn and silk scarves), mohair roving, weaver's roving (mohair felted around a jute core), raw mohair and washed mohair locks. The Kakishibu Web Site

Country Time Alpacas presented by Lesa Berdoy, Alpaca: washed fiber ready for carding, rovings, fiber for felting, and some alpaca yarn. Country Time Alpaca's Web Site

Graydown Alpaca Ranch presented by Steven & Karen Vanderwerff. Steve and Karen are returning vendors from the last Spin-In.

Marietta Shetlands from Bellingham – John Park & Tina Thomsen-Park - Shetland fleeces, processed Shetland fiber. We are sharing our booth with

WashingtonWooldotNet a Washington State co-op of fiber growers. There may be angora, dorset, etc… Web site: WashingtonWooldotNet

NW Handspun Yarns from Bellingham presenting Fiber, combs, drum carders, wheels, drop spindles, Schacht Cricket loom, Earthues dyes, Judith Mackenzie dyes and more! Web site: NW Handspun Yarns

RainShadow Farm presented by Marcia Adams. Beautiful naturally dyed, blended and carded Coopworth Rovings for spinning and weaving.

Rosebud - Stitchmarkers, cable needles, soaps, pendants presented by Rose Nerad

Heather Seevers: Yarn, boa's jewelry, drop spindles, buttons, shopping bags

Spincycle Yarns - for hand-dyed, hand-spun yarns and patterns. Find out more at Spincycleyarns.com

Wildrose Farm presented by Nanette Leaman. Providing raw Wensleydale and Border Leicester and crosses of the 2 and processed wool too. Find out more here

January 9 Meeting in Burlington

2010-02-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

We met January 9 in the big meeting room at the Burlington Public Library. It is a very nice, light & airy room.

There were over 25 people at this meeting!!!

Deb brought the new Lazy Kate she had gotten for Christmas -

This lovely lacy item is a neck warmer

Nicki was nice enough to model this coat (not hers, but it fit perfectly!) Nice to have you back Nicki!

We had some lovely woven items to show off too.

And Felted Hats

And Itty Bitty sock ornaments

Speaking of felted items - that talented Deb Lacy made this cute PINK flamingo for her folks

How could you pass up a face like this?

A new venture for one of our members........

And last but not least, the cotton that Nancy's friend Casey brought back to her from Hawaii.

December meeting at Nancy's Farm

2010-01-02T21:34:00.001-08:00

We had a great time at our December 12 meeting with members old and new

Nancy G. brought out the pelt that she had processed. It got lots of Oohs and Aahs!

There were a whole lot of beautiful items that were shared at the meeting - lots of things that were destined for Christmas presents.

Hand dyed, hand spun and hand knit - you couldn't get any more beautiful than this hat!

Unless it was this lacy shawl...

Some hand spun that had been overdyed to create a beautiful colorway

Knitting with wire - who'd a thought?

This lovely hand hand spun will be woven into material to make a coat.

An Elizabethan style neck warmer - soft and very warm.

A new knitter's milestone, one mitten done.

And two little bitty pairs of socks!

Another lacy shawl.

And a beautiful woven scarf

Ah, the lucky friend or family member to find this lovely pin in their stocking.

Another warm winter hat

And more skeins to handspun to show off.

If you click on this to biggify it you can see the sparkly metallic yarn.

And of course no meeting is complete without our potluck lunch.

Barking Sheep wine - the perfect complement to pizza...

The gift exchange included this small project basket with some nice tea and a mystery novel to round out a cold winter's evening.

See you all on January 9th in Burlington!

Show and Tell from our November meeting!

2009-12-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Here are all the beautiful show and tell items from our November meeting. This spiral scarf was crocheted with bits and pieces from her stash. I can't wait to try this easy pattern that looks so elegant when it is finished!

Deb finished her sweater.

It is really gorgeous.

Several people wanted to make off with these pretty pink felted slippers.

This hooded caplet is just perfect to keep your head and neck warm under helmets.

We even had a few pieces of woven material for show and tell this time.

This hat was destined for my church auction - I finished it 10 minutes before we had to leave!

This hat and wrist warmer set are crocheted from handspun Targhee wool from Huckleberry knits. The colorway is called Winesap, and it has all shades of green, red and brown, like the apples themselves.

The Perfect Ratatouille

2009-10-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

What is a recipe doing on a spinning blog? Well, so many people asked for the recipe to the dish that Deb brought to guild yesterday that we decided to print it here on the blog. As you can see, this recipe is a labor of love - that must be why is was so delicious. Also, as you can see, we did everything but lick the dish. Thanks to Debra Lacy for sharing the recipe with us.

For piperade
½ red pepper
½ yellow pepper
½ orange pepper
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
½ cup finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and finely diced, juices reserved
1 sprig thyme
flat-leaf parsley
½ a bay leaf
salt

For vegetables
1 courgette [zucchini], thinly sliced
1 aubergine [eggplant, preferably Japanese] thinly sliced
1 yellow squash, thinly sliced
4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
½ tsp minced garlic
2 tsps olive oil
Pinch thyme
Salt and pepper

For vinaigrette:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Assorted fresh herbs (chervil, thyme)
salt and pepper

For piperade, heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop finely.

Combine oil, garlic and onion in medium skillet and over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, their juices, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them.

Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread remainder in bottom of an 8-inch skillet.

For vegetables, heat oven to 275 degrees. Down center of pan, arrange a strip of 8 alternating slices of vegetables over piperade, overlapping so that ¼ inch of each slice is exposed. Around the center strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward center. Repeat until pan is filled; all vegetables may not be needed.

Mix garlic, oil, and thyme leaves in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well. Bake until vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.)

For vinaigrette, combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

To serve, heat broiler and place underneath until lightly browned. Drizzle vinaigrette around top.

Adapted and edited from Confit Byaldi, by Thomas Keller, chef and owner of French Laundry restaurant. He was the consultant chef on the movie Ratatouille.

Spinning on the Sidewalk!

2009-09-13T21:40:00.001-07:00

Saturday September 12, NW Handspun Yarns in downtown Bellingham, played host to our regular guild meeting.

People were very interested to see what we were doing and I think that we did a great job of being ambassadors for our craft!

We started setting up about 10:00 - it was lovely and shady on the side of the street where we were working - We were extremely lucky for the good weather, as it had been cooler and rainy all week.

Here is Deb L. modeling the shawl that was spun and woven during the "Sheep to Shawl" at the NW Washington Fair last month. Aren't those colors great on her?

We are selling tickets to raffle off this shawl and the one that we made during the Skagit Highland Games in July.

The red yarn was all dyed last month during dye day - the brown thread is the yarn that was spun during the event. It is a fleece from one of our Shetland Sheep - I think it is quite pretty. If you click on the picture it will "biggify" so you can see the detail!

Here is the shawl that was made in July.

I am always fascinated by the different wheels that everyone has. It often seems that there are no two alike!

This little wheel is Denise's new antique wheel that she just got last week. A few mechanical modifications and "there you go" - she has a new traveling wheel.

Linda was combining three different rovings to make this pretty thread that she will ply with a midnight blue - I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I have added a few more blogs to our members blog roll. Let me know if I'm missing yours.

The sun finally started to creep over the top of The Crown Plaza and we lost our nice shady spot - I don't know about anyone else, but the back of my neck was really sunburned - you'd think I'd have remembered to bring some sun screen after I reminded you all to bring yours...

We had a few people using drop spindles.

Deb showed off all the beautiful things that she brought back from The Sock Summit.

Nancy was warping the shop loom in preparation for her Anniversary party next month. (She was smart and wore a hat!)

This picture says it all - We just had a GREAT time - lots of time to laugh and talk.

Thanks to NW Handspun Yarns for being such a great host!

At The Fair

2009-08-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

Our members did very well at the fair this year. Oksana got a champion ribbon on her beautiful shawl.

I forgot to write down who did this shawl, but I thought it was awfully pretty.

Yvonne got a blue ribbon on her shawl too. (click on her name and you'll be directed to her website where there is a much nicer picture of her shawl)

Dye Day

2009-08-18T22:18:00.001-07:00

On Saturday August 11, Karen & Nancy W. graciously hosted Dye Day at their farm. They have a big cement area that is perfect (provided it doesn't rain - but there is always the barn if it does) for working with dyes and water, and such.

I wasn't able to attend, Karen took these great pictures.

What a rainbow of colors - you did good gals.

Some of the yarn that was dyed will be used for the warp for the sheep to shawl that we will be doing at the fair on Saturday 22nd. The yarn that will be spun that day will be the brown Shetland fleece donated by Nicki C. and Marietta Shetlands, that we weren't able to use at the Highland games because of the color of the warp. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

They need spinners to demo in the barns at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe the last week of the month. If you are interested and want to find out more, let me know.

Hello Spindrifters!

2009-08-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Skagit Highland Games 2009

Doin' what we do best -

Talkin' and spinnin' -

The shawl that was woven -

Spinning away! It was a fun weekend!