Past Issues

THE NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA SPINNERS AND WEAVERS GUILD

June 1, 2002 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cook Forest

2002 FOREST FIBER FESTIVAL

The 2002 Forest Fiber Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2 at Cook Forest State Park (directions). Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The festival will include demonstrations, workshops, contests, vendors, animals, the wheel doctor and more.

Saturday workshops include “Core and Ply Spinning” with Nancy Griffin of Otter Creek Store in Mercer, Pennsylvania from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost is $20 per person and participants should bring a spinning wheel and extra bobbins.

At 1 p.m., Nancy will teach a one hour workshop on “Basic Knitting.” The cost is $5 per person with your own needles or $10 with Nancy’s needles.

Lorraine Dallas will teach “Create Your Own Classic Tweeds” from 2 to 4 p.m. Bring a wheel, bobbins, hand carders, yarn and half a pound of prepared wool (batts or roving). The cost is $5 per person.

On Sunday, Marilyn Merbach of the Butler Guild will teach “Working with Cashmere” from 10 a.m. to noon. Bring a wheel hand carders, ballwinder, knitty knotty and paper and pencil. The cost is $14 per person and there is a class limit of 15 people.

To register for workshops, call Bonnie Crytzer or e-mail at stumphillacres@usachoice.net.

Children’s activities will include making a felt ball at 1 p.m. on Saturday and stick weaving at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Kool Aide dying will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

There will be a soup luncheon fund raiser for the art center on Saturday. The cost is $6, which includes soup in a take-home, hand-thrown pottery bowl and bread.

On Sunday, Pete Grove will shear a sheep and members of the guild will demonstrate skirting, washing, dying, combing, carding and picking the fleece. There will also be demonstrations of flax spinning with Kathie Plack, inkle weaving with Sally Smailer and needle and wet felting with Donna Wellman.

Stewart VanOrd will be on hand to diagnose wheel problems and the skein and people’s choice contests will be held as well. Skeins for the competition should be two to four ounces and tied in four places and twisted. Items for the people’s choice award must be hand-made and completed within the last year. Entries for both competitions will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and judging will be at noon on Sunday.

MINUTES OF THE APRIL MEETING

The April meeting was held at Christ Church on Saturady, April 6, 2002, and was chaired by Cheryl Geist-Brozell. Treasurer’s report as of April 2, 2002: Total receipts $61 ($1 for raffle, $60 in dues). Expenditures: $6.80 for postage, HGA one year $45.00, two bobbins for guild wheel $14.10, deposit for Beth Brown Rensel workshop for 2003 $200. Total expenditures $265.90. Checking account balance: $268.09. Savings account balance: $3372.93. Total funds available: $3641.02.

There weren’t any minutes for Febraury. The secretary was away.

In old business, Donna Wellman reported on plans for the Fiber Festival. Vendor’s packets have been sent out and some are back. Classes and workshops have been set. There will be lots of publicity. Brochures will be out May 1.

The Sawmill estimates attendance at the Herb Festival (held at same time) to be around 8,000 people.

We can raffle the shawl, but we must donate 10 % to Sawmill.

Ann Sheffield reported on plans for the Beth Brown Reinsel workshop to be held Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1, 2003. Saturday will be on Norwegian mittens and Sunday will be twined knitting. She will give a slide show on Saturday evening on Scandinavian construction methods.

Any grant applications anyone receives should go to Ann.

The Edinboro Highland Games will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2002. Set up will be the same as in previous years. Spinners signed up so far include Donna Wellman, Elaine Fertig, Bonnie Crytzer, Roz Macken, Judy Hanninen and Donna Long. Amy Albrecht will weave.

Sue Fenton stressed that dues are still due and the next Hub will not go to any one who has not paid their 2002 dues.

Kate Arkwright offered to stay on as Program Chair with Donna Wellman coming on as Co-Chair. Sue Spencer and Ann Sheffield will be Co-Presidents. Nominations will be official in June. A secretary is still needed. Barb Lodge was not at the meeting so we couldn’t ask her if she wants to stay on.

Under new business, Amy Albrecht would like the guild to do a demonstration at Heritage Days in Waterford on Saturday, July 20, 2002. There is no admission charge, and we would be allowed to sell items.

We have also been approached by the Kennerdell Arts Festival to do a demo on Sunday, September 15, 2002. They do charge admission, so we would need to be paid $100 for doing a demo.

The Fiber Fest at Lake Farm Park in Ohio is June 27 – 30.

Barb Hauck reported that the Erie Arts Council is looking for fiber members.

A local rug hooking guild has an exhibit at the Transit Building in Oil City.

The August meeting will be held at Sue and Larry Spencer’s home in The Woods on Saturday, August 3, 2002. It will be a potluck and spinning/knitting/craft of your choice retreat.

For Show and Tell Barb Hauck modelled her woven jackets, Janet Smouse showed her teddy bears with hand-knit sweaters, Anne Sheffield hauled her sock hoard out for every one to exclaim over, Susan Fenton showed us her beautiful Orenburg lace shawl that she is working on, Lorraine Dallas demonstrated the entrelac technique in a sweater she is knitting and Loretto Bellicini wore a beautiful Aran sweater that she knitted.

LIBRARY REPORT

From Barb Lodge: A great many of our magazines are missing. Please look in your stuff--all guild copies have labels on the front cover on which the guild name is stamped. These magazines are a great resource for us all--please return them. If you plan to follow the directions on any of the Knits projects, check the internet site of Interweave Press first to see if there are corrections posted for that particular project (http://www.interweave.com/knit/Knits/OOPS/Index.cfm). If you cannot do this yourself, call Barb and she will do it for you.

You can also find corrections for the other Interweave Press magazines, but they are not as conveniently listed as they are for Knits (you might let IP know this).

SPIN STUDY GROUP

Some time in the summer of 2000, a woman came from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to talk and offer grants to those people who were conversant with a cultural art and wanted to know more. Sue Spencer listened to her and decided that she would like to take advantage of the woman’s offer. She consulted with Joanna McDermot – would she be willing to take on an apprentice if they could get a grant? Joanna was willing, so they struggled through an application for a grant. But they were denied.

However, their enthusiasm increased while waiting for a decision so they decided to proceed without the grant moneys. They had a prospectus that would run from January 2001 to December 2001. When Donna Wellman heard about it she said, "how can you do that without me?" Ruth Walker-Daniels said, "that sounds like a great idea; may I join in?" And because Roz Macken was fervently spinning any fiber she could get her hands on, she was an obvious candidate and invited to join, too. The apprenticeship program became a Spin Study Group.

In January 2001, the Spin Study Group began following that prospectus. Now in June 2002 we’re still following that prospectus. There is so much to learn, so many fibers to learn to spin, so many books to read, so many gurus to learn from and so much fun, so much companionship.

Our goal, you ask. We will be able, each of us, to translate the skills we’ve learned, the knowledge we’ve acquired, the respect and admiration for fiber and equipment we’ve realized, into workshops and classes. We will be able to teach Spinning. We will be able to write about Spinning. Maybe we will become gurus!

TAPESTRY EXHIBITION

If you find yourself in New York City anytime between now and June 19, there is an exhibition of some 40 Renaissance tapestries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Highly praised, this exhibition includes works from major cities of Europe, including the Vatican, as well as U.S. cities.

SHEEP FOR SALE

For sale: Romney sheep. Yearlings and older ones all registered and lambs are eligible for registration. Contact Bonnie Crytzer at stumphillacres@usachoice.net