Past Issues

THE NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA SPINNERS AND WEAVERS GUILD

February 3, 2001 from 10:00 - 2:00 at Christ Church in Meadville

Dues are due. Still $10, payable to NPSWG and mailed to Susan Fenton.

NEW NEWS

If it is time to renew your Interweave Press publications, please consider doing it through the guild. It is usually $2-3 less than a regular subscription and if we submit five, we get one free subscription for the guild library. E-mail Barb Lodge at arbar@toolcity.net, and she will coordinate the order. Be sure to include the month when your subscription expires.

Guild Library News: We are missing several magazines! Please check out your stuff to see if you have guild issues of Weaver's, Handwoven, or SpinOff.

UPCOMING EVENTS

An exhibit at Meadville Council on the Arts, at the Heeshen Gallery on December 31-January 27. Entitled “Beyond the Visible”: Recant works by Carol Werder, a former guild member. Her art is constructed figurative paintings that present iconic portraits of every day people.

EGLFC: Chautauqua Weaver's Guild will be hosting the Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference next summer. It will be on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute in October. Keep watching for news of this conference less than one hour's drive from Erie.

MAFA: Because of major renovations at Bucknell University, MAFA will not be able to meet there in 2001. No decision has been made yet, but it looks like the conference will probably meet at Towson University, Towson, MD.

The Great Lakes Fiber show will be held May 26-27, 2001 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, Wooster, Ohio. The fairgrounds have nice facilities and there are some excellent vendors that participate in this show. If you have any workshop ideas, or would like to teach one, please contact Linda Reichert by e-mail don47linda@valkyrie.net The show includes sales booths with fiber related supplies, finished items, crafts, spinning and weaving demonstrations, workshops, and, sheep and wool shows and sales. Food available.

MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER MEETING

Treasurer's report:

Checking balance:	$1045.59
Savings balance:	$3328.06 (including our grant)

The Vice-Presidents reported on their progress in planning programs for 2001 Meeting Schedule. It was decided that there would be an April 2001 meeting rather than moving the meeting to the Saturday of the March workshop. The Oct 2001 meeting will be changed to the second Saturday rather than conflict with the EGLFC that will be held over the Columbus Day weekend.

March workshop information will be in the newsletter and on-line. Member signup deadline is Jan 31 with a $20 deposit. Balance due by March 1.

FiberFest. Change of date was discussed, and whether or not to invite quilters and herb vendors. General consensus was to keep it as is for at least one more year and have it Sept 7-8, 2001 and try for a grant to offset the cost. Ruth Schnell has volunteered to do the food concession. Donna Wellman will help Bonnie. We will invite other fiber groups. Focus will be educational and social.

Christ Episcopal Church has invited us to participate in their annual Dinner/Auction to benefit the Meadville Area Free Clinic. Feb 2, 5pm social hour, 6pm lasagna dinner, 7pm goods and services auction. We will raffle a shawl donated to the guild by Sue Spencer and 10% of the proceeds of the raffle and 10% of our individual sales will be contributed to the Clinic. We may demonstrate and sell.

We need the brochure updated, and publicity. Sue and Karen will work on it and Lorraine and anyone else who wants to participate. Need items by Jan 16 (Tues Spin date) so that space and arrangement can be planned. Karen Fry will warp the guild loom and weave.

Pioneer Steam and Gas Engine Society has asked if we will demonstrate at their event. Bonnie will get more details.

Show and Tell. Sue showed an Orenberg shawl that she purchased (290 hours of work!), Karen got a job, Ann ran a marathon, Blanche wove 2 rugs, Ilene a cardwoven purse woven on a loom ala SSD directions.

NEXT GUILD WORKSHOP: WEAVING THAT SINGS

Have you always wanted your woven designs to flow? Want the freedom to inlay a variety of materials without distorting the ground fabric? Learn to apply this versatile technique for use in clothing, rugs and pictorial weavings. Using 2 sizes of warps, the Theo Mormon technique allows designs to be “painted” on the surface with inlay yarns. 3 different threadings achieve cloth to wear, walk on, or hang. The NW PA Spinners and Weavers Guild is planning a workshop suitable for weavers (beginning to advanced skills) with Nadine Sanders on March 16-18, 2001, at Christ Church Episcopal on the diamond in Meadville, PA. Each participant will need either a small portable or table loom with 4H and a 10 or 12 dent reed or a loom with 6H and an 8 dent reed. The cost of the workshop is only $50 for guild members, $60 for non-members.

Nadine is a weaver, voice and piano teacher. She is co-author of Weaving that Sings with Joyce Harter, her mentor. Nadine’s biography speaks for itself. “While presenting workshops and programs throughout the country, I strive to touch each participant’s sense of creativity. I incorporate all the senses in my presentations. One way of doing this is with music. Music and weaving go hand in hand for me. Close vocal harmonies relate to the successful marriage of structure, design and materials, which can make weavings sing! The rhythm inherently linked to weaving and music making is the touchstone to my creative energy.”

Members of other guilds are invited to sign up after January 31, 2001. Final sign up is February 15. To register contact Amy Albrecht by email at albrecht@velocity.net. A non-refundable deposit of $20 (payable to NPSWG) is required to register with the balance due March 1.

Nadine will be presenting a lively and upbeat program open to the public on Saturday evening about the history of weaving music and of weavings/weavers inspired by music. Participants are asked to bring ears to listen, voices to sing, love of music and weaving and if you are a musician who plays by ear or chords, your: guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, autoharp, violin, flute, or whistle.

This project was made possible through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. It is funded by the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual legislative appropriation, and administered locally by the Arts Council of Erie, Inc. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

LOST & FOUND

One Turkish drop spindle was found after the fiber festival. ItÍs in a HersheyÍs plastic bag with some grey wool. If you are missing this please contact Donna Wellman.

ATTENTION

A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison Over 1200 handweaving patterns suitable for all skill levels. The book is 8.5" x 11" (22 x 28 cm), hardbound, 217 pages. $30. You can buy this at http://www.spenship.com

EVERYTHING I KNOW

My mother taught me Consideration for Others:
“I just scrubbed that floor. Go outside and bleed in the entry!”

My mother taught me Medicine:
“ If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to freeze that way!”

My mother taught me ESP:
“Put on your sweater, don’t you think that I know when you’re cold?”

My mother taught me Humor:
“When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

My mother taught me about Sex:
“How do you think you got here?”

My mother taught me about Justice:
“One day you will have kids and I hope they will be just like you.”

Courtesy of Fleece Facts, the Canton Weavers and Spinners Guild newsletter.

SUITABLE HOUSEMATE TEST

From the sockknitters digest… it can apply to any fiber addict, be it spinner, weaver, or whatever: Joan Hamer’s rules for choosing a suitable houseperson who can live with a knitter:

1. On your first date, pull out your knitting at the most romantic moment during dinner at a nice restaurant. Does he/she flinch, even slightly?
2. Invite him/her to your house for a dinner. Does he/she seem annoyed when you have to clear the yarn off the dinning room table to make room for the paper plates you use so dishwashing won’t eat into your knitting time?
3. Take him/her to your favorite LYS. (Local Yarn Store) Does he/she shift from one foot to another, keep checking the time, or offer to wait in the car instead of fondling the yarn, suggesting nice colors, or offering to pay the bill?
4. Does he/she buy you dumb gifts like flowers, candy, or <gasp> a store bought scarf instead of a gift certificate to a yarn shop?
5. On vacations, does he/she hide the Yellow Pages to prevent you from looking up yarn shops in the vicinity?
6. Does he/she make snide references to grandmas who knit, your cute little hobby, or your “crocheting”?
7. Do you notice a sharp intake of breath when you show him/her your stash?
8. Are there signs of protest when you turn down a trip to Hawaii because Stitches (or any other Fiber Seminar or Gathering)
9. Does he/she expect that house keeping, cooking, washing the car, or walking the dog will take priority over your knitting?
10. Does he/she rattle on about nothing knowing full well you are counting or concentrating and can’t be bothered?

If the answer to 3 or more of these questions is yes, the person you are considering is unsuitable and probably cannot be trained. Next!

Courtesy of The Blacksheep Handspinners Guild newsletter