Author: Stephanie Hoyle
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Open Day June 2022
Around 30 members attended to spin, chat and have a good look at our proposed new venue, the Highland Hotel in Strathpeffer. The room allocated was big enough to accommodate us comfortably, and had a homely feel, which soon had people re-arranging chairs into informal groups. More seating was available in the breakout area next…
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Double Weave Workshop May 2022
Our first face to face workshop for over two years was tutored by Christina Chisholm, a very experienced weaver, who is also very good at explaining things. She also used samples from her Certificate of Achievement to show what we we’re aiming at. In double weave half of the warp threads are used for the…
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Dyeing Challenge Jan 2023
Inspired by Fiona Dendy’s procion dyeing on grey fleece, members of the dyeing interest group agreed to consider incorporating this into a challenge for the winter months. The details will be finalised at our meeting on December 3rd but are likely to include the following ideas: • Grey fleece dyed with a range different colours…
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Weaving Challenge Jan 2023
Following the example of the spinning group we are setting a weaving related challenge for January. This is not restricted to those who join in the monthly zoom. It’s open to everyone to join in and have fun! You won’t need to get any fancy equipment, in fact (and I’ve just thought of this!) part…
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Spinning Challenge January 2023
Open to everyone in the guild, the spinning challenge is intended to be fun and to encourage each other to be productive with our spinning. There will be one afternoon and one evening spin-along session on zoom on different days each week during January and we particularly hope that newer guild members will join in…
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Members’ Open day April 2022
April 2022 Members’ Day The focus for the day was spinning. We had demonstrations of combing, blending board and picker. As usual there was also a lot of chat and a bit of show and tell! Sheila had brought her double weave samples to give people a clearer idea of what the May workshop is…
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Members Open Day March 2022
Our first face to face meeting for two years – how lovely it was to meet up again! There were 30 plus members present, spread around the outside of the big hall at Strathpeffer Community Centre, mostly with spinning wheels, though Ruth had brought a marudai and was weaving a kumihimo braid, and Susan was…
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February 2022 – Quiz
Around 20 of us turned up to see how much or how little we know about our crafts! Once again Serena had set a challenging and fun quiz which extended our knowledge as well as testing it. The first section was about archaeology, with pictures and questions about ancient textiles. Next, 10 anagrams of the…
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January 2022 – Janet Phillips, Weaver
Janet describes herself as textile designer rather than a hand weaver: she starts with a design brief, constructs the weave, then works out a threading and lifting plan, rather than the other way round. This is the way she learned to work in her first weeks at Galashiels. She uses a table loom to sample…
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December 2021 – AGWSD Summer School
The Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers (AGWSD) holds a week-long Summer School every two years, with an exhibition in the year in between. The exhibition was cancelled in 2020, but after some uncertainty, the Summer School did in the end go ahead in August 2021. It was held at Writtle University College…
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November 2021 T J Frog – Dorset Button Decoration
Tania Jane “The Button Lady” of T J Frog tutored our November workshop. We had the opportunity to buy a kit from her beforehand which had all the materials needed to make 2 decorations which could be hung on a Christmas tree. I almost didn’t buy one as I thought I could probably assemble enough…
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October 2021 Trisha Gow – Fungi Dyeing
Trisha Gow is a tapestry weaver, who discovered fungi dyeing when she attended the Battleby Gathering in the 1980s. She is a member of the Scottish Fungi Dye Group, and has attended the International Fungi and Fibre Symposium several times. Apparently, there is no historical record of the use of fungi dyes – research began…
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September 2021 Johnny Shiels, Wheel Maker
Another interesting meeting I wasn’t able to attend! Enclosed is the write up from Norah: JohnnyShiels
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August 2021 All About Cotton
I wasn’t able to attend this meeting, so the write up is thanks to Liz. I clearly missed a very interesting meeting which looked at spinning, weaving and dyeing cotton, with contributions from several of our members. It’s attached here as a document: Cotton spinning
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July 2021 Cally Booker – Weaver
Cally gave an inspiring talk on her life as a weaver from how she got started to the work she is doing now. She described her journey as a series of accidents! Cally lives and works in Dundee and her walk from home to her studio in an old jute mill takes her through a…