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
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
Spin to Weave Workshop October 2019
I was too late to book for this workshop, run by Christina Chisholm, but visited it to take photos. When I arrived Christina was demonstrating how to avoid wasting precious handspun when using it as warp. She had a strong, commercially spun yarn, wound onto the back beam of her loom, and threaded through heddles and reed. A handspun warp, … Read More
Ann Artis – Daft Batts
‘Daft Batts’, a workshop tutored by Anne Artis. (pictures below) Anne Artis, an ever popular tutor from Callander, was joined by twenty-one Highland Guild members for her workshop entitled ‘Daft Batts’. We were invited to come prepared with a variety of fibre preparation tools but, in fact, only needed access to a drum carder after an initial session with hand … Read More
Feb 2019 Open Day and Challenge
Another good day, with 30 plus people attending, and a shared lunch. Most people were spinning; Sheila had brought along a book charka to spin cotton. Click on the pictures to see more detail. The focus of the day though was the Guild challenge. This started at the September meeting, when those participating had been asked to bring 100 gms … Read More
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Long Draw Successes
Serena sent in these pics of the Long Draw Spinning workshop. She writes “Great workshop today with Odet Beauvoisin showing us how to do long draw for woollen and worsted yarn. I think most of us got it some of the time. Interesting that Odet is such a proficient spinner that she had to add in neps to make her … Read More
Speed Spinning with Anne Artis
Twelve spinners, with an interesting variety of wheels, attended Anne Artis’ workshop on Speed Spinning at Strathpeffer. The workshop started with Anne giving us each a carrier bag containing individual bags of fleece to spin, all of them very different and some of them fairly challenging. The bags were numbered 1 – 10 and the contents varied from commercially prepared … Read More
Art Yarns with Isobel McCallum Scott
The Art Yarn Workshop with Isobel was a great success. If you think you knew about spinning – do go to one of her classes and learn much more. Mindful that average wheels would be in use, the class was adapted so we all achieved interesting fancy yarns. Beehives, wraps, coils and many more – all techniques that could be … Read More
Silk Spinning with Odet Beauvoisin
The silk spinning workshop was held on a bright October day in the community hall in Strathpeffer as access to Dingwall was restricted by resurfacing works. Hilma had managed to relocate the event at the last minute but sadly, due to an injury could not enjoy the benefits of her hard work. Odet was an inspiring tutor and had brought … Read More
Fancy yarns and exotic fibres with Ruth Gough
I had not learned to spin the last time the Highland Guild hosted Wingham Woolwork, but having visited the wonderland of Wingham at Wentworth a couple of times, I was very keen to see the travelling shop. I had the whole weekend reserved, the Saturday for trying out the various fibres available, and the Sunday for the workshop with Ruth. … Read More
Improve Your Spinning with Isobel McCallum Scott
The March workshop was full of students keen to improve their spinning. Isobel had given us the opportunity to state what areas we were most interested in working on prior to the workshop, so she came armed and ready to teach us to spin thicker or thinner, with more consistency and using many different techniques. She also brought along some … Read More
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