July 2008
Next
Meeting July 19, 2008
10
AM - 4 PM (more or less)
Our website is up. We are www.SerendipitySpinners.org.
Email
goes to: spinner@serendipityspinners.org
June in a Nutshell
by Sue Toorans
Wow! Our June meeting was hot, hot, HOT. It is always a bit cooler under the oak tree, on the lawn than it is on the asphalt, but that didn't quite make it comfortable. Several people brought squirt bottles of water that had been set on mist. They shared. It was nice. I (Sue) got my wheel and fiber out and set up. At the end of the meeting, I put it all away and wondered why I had brought it. I had spun nothing; hadn't even treadled the treadle once just to say that I had. Others at the meeting were much more industrious than I was and got spinning done.
We found out AFTER we had assembled at the park that there was a wedding later that day (oh, those poor, HOT people) and that they had rented the whole park to themselves. We were directed to leave at 2:00. Marcia had been talking to the park about the Fandango (more on this later) several times and, not once, did they mention we were to be out early. She'll be asking about that. Most of us were reasonably okay with leaving early and finding some place cool to hang out. Just this once.
Marcia brought packets of credentials and the rules for all the Sheep to Shawl participants. We found out that there is a minimum epi (ends per inch). The first set of rules we saw this year had no minimum so we chose to sett at 8 epi. The rules state that ten epi is the minimum. Ginger, our weaver, will be adjusting the design accordingly. I really hope I didn't spin the warp too fat for this sett.
Old Business
Margaret Moore thanks us for the supplies to teach kids to spin on CD spindles. In case you don't remember, we permitted her to take all the leftover fiber after Stitches. It seems she's putting it to good use.
Treasurer's Report
We have a balance $1484.23. Our last Bill for the website was $9.95 plus $1 for bank. Lotus "gets" to have a discussion with the bank on the $1 fee to use a check card. I (Sue) was reimbursed for the cost of the aprons for the Sheep to Shawl. Aviva has moved (around the corner) so Lotus will update and distribute roster.
Website Report
Website is now up to date on newsletter. In theory, on the
10th of each month, there is an automatic meeting reminder email notice that
will be sent out. The script calculates
the date of the third Saturday of that month and includes it. Please update your spam filters to white list
anything coming from SerendipitySpinners.org.
Or, if you don't know how to do that, just put spinner@serendipityspinners.org
in your address book. That'll do the
much same thing. While you're adding to
your address book, add guild@serendipityspinners.org. Anyone can send email to this and it gets to
the entire guild (with email addresses).
Using the guild email list, I agreed to send email to remind the rest of
the guild to come to the
New Business
I proposed it be cooler next months meeting. It was seconded and passed unanimously. We voted it. It will happen.
Lotus made it to the Retzlaff winery and found out that Wild Fibers will be in area in late Sept. There will be a dye workshop at Lotus' house with them. It is a workshop on natural dyes called "Nature's Palate" and costs $50 per person. She'd like it if guild members got to pay half and guild pays the rest. I don't remember if we voted on this, or not. If we didn't, we can do that at the July meeting (I think) The workshop is Aug 9. and starts at 9:00 am. There is a concert that night at Lick Observatory. I'm unclear on whether or not Lotus has invited those attending the workshop to attend the concert free of charge or not. If you are interested, contact Lotus.
I won't be at the August meeting so someone else needs to run the meeting. Ginger won't be at the July meeting. Frank has agreed to take the notes.
Nancy Weber's next spinning class starts up on July 13. We didn't catch where it is being held. She told us about Green Planet Yarns, in
Margaret Moore brought in Pain-Free Back books for those who ordered them. She brought in more than was ordered for those of us into impulse book purchases. For one dollar per book, how can we go wrong?
Our guild is shrinking. I am very concerned. We do, usually, have a lower attendance rate in the summer than the rest of the year, but this year is way lower than I remember it being in previous years. Starting with the list of ideas I came up with, I solicited ideas from the membership present on how to gain membership. A lot of really great ideas came out. A few more have shown up via email. Those ideas are:
- Invite/encourage/drag a friend to a meeting.
- Radio stations may have free community service announcements. At least the one I listen to does and I'm willing to try and get announcements about our meetings on it.
- Nancy
Weber can arrange to get spinners admitted to spin at the
- We need more/some programs to entice people to come.
- Lotus gave contact info for Mexican heritage who are interested in spinners. (I don't actually have that information, but that will be rectified.)
- We need to have fliers available to all to download and print. It would be nice if they were ready in time to take with us to the Sheep to Shawl. Frank will work on this. I'll be creating a page on our website with all manner of publicity materials. The master of our business cards will be there. The fliers will be there. Once we have the fliers, EVERYONE is encouraged to print some off and take them with them to fiber related places. Take them to your knitting groups, sewing groups, etc. If you have favorite yarn stores in the area, ask if you may leave some for people to take.
- Chris is willing to create a Ravelry group for us. I don't know what that gets us, but no advertising is bad.
- Marcia suggested we sponsor a spinning award at the local county fairs. That way our name will be in the public eye for the entire run of the fair.
- Michelle (brand new member) suggested we have a new member welcome meeting at specified times each year.� She, also suggested we take a survey of the people who are members but don't show up. Sharolene will investigate Survey Monkey for us.
- Newspapers
often have community service areas or events pages. Ginger is going to investigate her local
papers. (That's
- Newspapers LOVE the human-interest story. We need to get our act together to do the Hats for the Homeless and feed the newspapers the story (in written form).
I'll be returning to this topic/issue in July. In the mean time, I'd like everyone to try and bring a friend to the next meeting and all subsequent meetings.
We voted to
continue to supply the
Nancy Weber won the draw for the 2008 shawl. As it turns out, she had won the 2007 shawl, too. That mystery is solved.
We voted to allow
our Sheep to Shawl entry to circulate through the
Founder's Day Fandango is looking for spinners. We will have covered area. The festivities are from noon to 5:00 PM on Sunday, July 27th. Setup starts around 10:30. Glenna Harris will send some folks. Contact Marsha. Yes, there is free parking.
There was an impromptu lyceum on Andean plying right after lunch.
Show 'n Tell
Sue: I showed the aprons embroidered on my very own machine. There are 12 of them. The guild owns this batch. They are to be used whenever we go out and do demonstrations. Check them out with me and return them when done. I'll be uploading the embroidery design to the publicity page in .pes (embroidery machine readable) format. If you have an embroidery machine that takes a different format, talk to me and I'll try and get that format uploaded, too.
The response to the aprons was overwhelming. I seem to have promised to do up another dozen to offer for guild members to buy from me for a reasonable price. It'll be somewhere around $10-$15, I think. Yes, Nancy, I can put your name on it, if you really want it and for little or no more. I was just completely overwhelmed by the group's response.
Those of us on this years Sheep to Shawl team who were on last years have agreed to wear the T-shirt as well as the aprons.
I showed off the warp we'll be using, including the blue for the stripes. I'm quite pleased with the color.
I gave away a mystery book entitled Three Bags Full. The sheep are the detectives. I hope it circulates around the guild.
I got out a silk/alpaca blend to spin and then didn't touch it.
Ginger:
showed Nalbinding. She learned this
ancient form of tangling yarn at
Carol: has triangular shawl knitting project. It's starting to pick up speed as she works down from the long side of the triangle. She has an Ashford Joy (double treadle) wheel for sale.
Marcia: was
in
Sharolene:
did damage to
Aviva: has a new puppy that is competing for Saturday time so she has missed our meetings. They (she and the dog) are going to puppy school. This is very important since the dog is bigger than she is. He/she/it is a brindled Anatolian shepherd. She (Aviva) has moved around the corner. They unpacked in only 6 weeks. This is some kind of record for them. They, now, have a garage. When they went to CNCH, Sage got a hoodie pattern and Aviva found the yarn for it - Australian Targhee. Sage has graduated from high school. She'll be attending UC Santa Cruz next year.
Margaret Moore:
got kit for
Her grandson is on
the traveling volleyball team.The team
is in
Michelle Kasper:
is a new face that has "graduated" from
Nancy Weber: working on purple Superwash merino. She has just had the surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome but can still spin. She has to take it easy, though.
Lotus: has
been busy with work for the summer season with evening programs at the
observatory. She will be gone most of
September. Two of the weeks are in
Frank: has felted, knit bags with braided cord handles. He'll be using at least one of those bags for his hand spindles. At Fiber Artisans, he did Shibori (dyeing) and showed off a lovely piece done with indigo dye.
New Events and Resources:
Fandango:
Peralta Adobe - Fallon House Historic site in downtown
Quilts and Stitches
Beyond Knitting: Uncharted Stitches
June 17 Aug 24 2008
408.971.0323
Tues - Sun 10 am -5 pm
Admission $6.50 adults
New yarn shop in
Green Planet Yarn
(408) 871-9196
http://www.greenplanetyarn.com/
Dates to Remember:
July 19 :
July 27 :� Fandango -
Peralta Adobe - Fallon House Historic site in downtown
Aug. :
If you have news or pictures of interest
to the group please send it to spinner@serendipityspinners.org