Guild member Sophie presented this workshop. There is a long history of flax growing in Friesland in the Netherlands where Sophie lives. As recently as 150 years ago everyone had a small field of flax, which the women spun into linen yarn for shirts, nightwear, children’s clothes, lace etc. The woman who taught Sophie to spin flax was taught by … Read More
Fleece Workshop March 2021
Amanda Hannaford ran this workshop, which focussed on fleece – the different properties of fleece from a variety of breeds, how to process and spin them to get the best from them, and what the resulting yarn can be used for. She started by showing us samples of short, medium and long stapled fleece processed in different ways. First a … Read More
Silk Spinning February 2021
Jaine Mahon of (Skye Silks) gave us a wonderful workshop on silk spinning via Zoom on the morning of 13 February. She started by taking us on a tour of her studio, showing us some of her lovely handwoven silk scarves, and other handwoven and hand dyed items, then on to spinning. She had made up boxes, beautifully packaged, containing … Read More
January gathering
The morning Crafters’ Question Time, attended by 18 or 19 people brought an interesting range of questions and answers and ended on a light note with “What is the most extravagant craft item you’ve bought and has it improved your crafting, which everyone had the chance to answer! The afternoon session, again attended by 19 people, was filled with friendly … Read More
December pm gathering
Following the Teneriffe Lace workshop in the morning several people proudly shared their completed medallions, while some continued to work on theirs, or spin, or just join in the general chat. There was some interesting headgear which we all admired, plus the usual visits from pets! Later we had a show and tell – easy to do as we’re all … Read More
Teneriffe Lace December 2020
Teneriffe lace medallions are worked on a circular loom (cardboard and pins!), a bit like Dorset buttons. They can be quite simple or more complex as the pictures show, and were used for collars table cloths etc. They would also make snowflakes for your Christmas tree. Mary has provided instructions for making a card loom: Teneriffe Lace on card Mary … Read More
Tapestry and Quiz Day 14 November 2020
Our morning Zoom session focussed on tapestry weaving, with a total of 16 members taking part. We had a show and tell, and were able to admire a range of tapestry weaving styles. Sadie Paige showed some of the samples she has created for the Certificate of Achievement. She didn’t want those to be on show yet, so has sent … Read More
Britspin 2020
BritSpin – The British Wool Spinning Marathon – Team Highland Guild report by Team Captain – Liz Armstrong For those that don’t know, BritSpin is a 4-day spinning event where teams of 10 spinners compete in a spinning marathon and some optional additional events. The event raises money for charity and this year’s charity was the RNLI (chosen by last … Read More
Zoom meetings 10 October 2020
At the pre-AGM meeting in September we decided to start a programme of Zoom meetings for members, held on our usual Guild days – the second Saturday of the month. This was the first, and it worked extremely well. In the morning we had show and tell, and a fair bit of general chat. It was good to catch up … Read More
Colours of Highland
To start off this gallery Alison M has sent a picture of a tapestry weaving inspired by late sun on the hills. She used a variety of yarns, including Harris yarns and wool left over from the Scottish tapestry panel she was involved in stitching. She sent two pictures and I’m including both as I’m intrigued by the difference the … Read More
Sea and Shore
As it is difficult to meet up at the moment, we have decided to celebrate our crafts in a couple of on-line exhibitions. This is the first and will run to mid October. I will be adding pictures as they are sent in. To start off we have my Krokbragd weavings, following on from the March workshop, and Mary’s dyed … Read More
Rigid Heddle Weaving 14 March 2020
Jane Kitchener tutored this beginners workshop, which was held the day before the Krogbragd workshop. Apologies for not posting this sooner. I wasn’t there, but it seems to have been a very successful day, and Inga has provided photos which show what went on. The resulting weaving looks lovely. Here is Jane’s report of the day: As someone who regularly … Read More
Krokbragd Weaving 15 March 2020
Another excellent workshop tutored by Kathryn Kusa. Eleven Guild members took part, and there was a lot of bustle early on as everyone arrived and started to set up their looms – quite a variety of these, including 2 rigid heddle looms. We had warping instructions beforehand. Krokbragd uses just uses 3 shafts and is threaded 1, 2, 3, 2. … Read More
Open Day and Challenge 8 Febrary 2020
Between 40 and 50 people attended this event, with some coming and going in the course of the day. We had a big circle of spinners around the hall, with several weavers at tables as well. This was the day to bring along what we had made from the fibre distributed at the September Open Day: 50 gms Corriedale tops, … Read More
Spinning workshops 11 & 12 January 2020
The Spinning for Beginners workshop, run by Michelle Stirling on 11 January seems to have gone very well – here is a write up from Inga: As is very common at guild events the air at the beginning of the session seemed full of anticipation for a day of crafting fun, and Michelle did not disappoint! The day was full … Read More