Peterborough Weavers and Spinners Newsletter September 2023
County Fair Winners
Guild members were invited to submit items to the County Fair exhibition, held at Lang Village from Aug. 26-28. Molly and Anda took them up on the invitation and their submissions (and ribbons!) are shown here. As Anda says, “It’d be nice to have even more Guild members participate next year.” The fair project booklet was circulated last spring to members. It is doubtful that there will be many changes for next year, so go ahead and create some beautiful fibre items to exhibit! There were several classes with no entries at all.
PWSG Board positions to be filled:
Vice President – this role is mainly to step in for the President if they are unavailable to hold the meeting. It is not required that the VP become the next President.
Artisans Centre Board Rep. – this role is to attend ACP meetings monthly (1st Thursday of the month starting at 1 p.m.) and report back to the Guild with ACP news. Darlene has been handling this very well so far. Most importantly, this role ensures that the Guild has 2 votes on the ACP Board. We have been operating with only one vote and that is not ideal.
Please consider whether you would be able to take on one of these roles for a 2 year term. Thanks!
Dr. Wool Presentation
Helen Knibb, aka ‘Dr. Wool’ gave a fascinating slide presentation and talk about “terroir” which is the effect of place on the character of wool. She told about soil, plant life, water (salt marshes), weather, altitude and the food sheep are fed, and how all these factors create differences in the wool that is produced. We learned about the history of the Ontario fibre shed and the methods that producers use to create the type of wool that buyers want.
Lynn videotaped the presentation and I hope to send out a time-limited link for Guild members to watch. Julia is working on getting that going, so stay tuned!
Show and Share
Darlene is taking the OHS Level 2 course and brought a woven piece made from singles that she sun on her Canadian Production Wheel. She also brought the ‘booklet’ which is required to be completed for each project that is handed in for grading.
Lois showed two examples of her tapestry weaving. One began as an abstract and ended up looking like fantastical birds. The other is rainbow clasped weft weaving with black soumac in between the coloured sections.
Lynn made these inkle bands after learning from Douglas in his class. The piece with the orange edging is an example of tablet weaving.
This is half of a longer woven piece given to Marie by a friend who visited Sierra Leone. It is called country weaving and is done on a 2 shaft loom using local cotton that has been hand dyed.
Molly made these scarves for the County Homecraft Fair.
And Douglas! Oh, Douglas! How did I miss getting photos of all the lovely things you brought. Douglas also did some tapestry exploration and made an abstract wall hanging. He’s also done some backstrap weaving in the airport and made some bookmarks. Finally, he shared his May Challenge project, tea towels made on his 6 harness loom.
Fall Fibre Festivals and Events
Warkworth Spinners and Weavers Woolstock 2023
Spin-In at St. John’s United Church Sat, Oct. 14 – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 3 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Paris Fairgrounds, 139 Silver St.
Campbellford, ON Paris, ON
World of Threads
Tues., Oct. 10 – Sun, Oct 15
Queen Elizabeth Park Community & Cultural Centre,
2302 Bridge Rd
Oakville, ON
“Fables in Yarn” Guelph Exhibition by Alisa McRonald
Sep. 26 – Oct. 15
Guelph Civic Museum, 52 Norfolk St
Guelph, ON
And finally, don’t forget to renew your membership (slight fee increase this year) and send your fee to Julia. Lois has sent out a couple of emails about this, but if you need information or help, contact Gillian, Julia or Lois. I look forward to seeing you in October when we will be making ornaments to sell in order to raise funds for Five Counties Children’s Centre. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store. Please save up small bits of ‘toothy’ yarn, and any wool fabric (like that suitable for rug hooking) to be cut into 1” squares.
