October 2008 Newsletter

Next Meeting October 18, 2008
10 AM - 4 PM (more or less)
Email goes to: spinner@serendipityspinners.org

September in a Nutshell

by Sue Toorans

It was another lovely day at the park. We had a pleasant time using microwaves in the out-of-doors to dye wool for the CD spindles booth. Ginger brought baggies with 2 oz. (dry) of wet wool and lead the effort.

There was another group that had reserved some of the area. They had someone at the gate. Some of us got a little annoyed. We need to be patient. The park has a track record of forgetting about us. There are times they just don't tell every member of a group that might have rented part. PLEASE be patient with the uninformed and just explain that you belong there. Please do not just blow by the gate guards.

Programs

We're in luck! Margaret has set up a program for our October meeting for after lunch. She met Travis Meinolf at the Makers' Fair this year. He is an evangelical weaver who has devised a simple backstrap loom that can easily be used to teach weaving anywhere, any time. He and his loom are featured in this month's Craft magazine. He weaves on the streets of San Francisco with donated yarn and then, in turn, donates the blankets to the homeless. He'll be talking about his experiences. Stash donations would be very welcome. If you supply a wire coat hanger with the cardboard still on it and a little yarn or string, you can go home with one of his die-cut looms.

Old Business

Aviva has located all the guild's goodies. Thank you, Aviva. The guild owns a drum carder, wool combs and a library. She has the library at her house and is cataloging the books. The list will get out to our website about the time that it does. Please remember that our website is your resource, too.
The drum carder and wool combs can be borrowed. We require a surety of a $50 check that we hold until the tool is returned. Then the check is returned uncashed. There will be a checkout list for the library.

Don and Willow Million, former members, are down sizing their stash. We win! They are willing to donate to the guild what fleeces they don't want. Much of it was award winning at the Monterey wool show. Some of it will go to the guild for CD spindles, some for practice. There might be enough for the guild members to have a feeding frenzy.

Jocelyn has volunteered to be chair of the CD spindle booth for Stitches 2009. Thank you, Jocelyn. Let's all be good about signing up to help teach so that she might be willing to do it again.

New Business

Next year's Sheep to Shawl. Last year the Serendipity team placed poorly. We had a beautiful, lofty, warm winter shawl. In July. In Pleasanton. This was a really bad design choice. I can say that. I designed it. Since I'm a good geek, I went to the internet to see what winners do. One of the Silverados blogs. In her blog she talked about how the entire team practices spinning to specification all year long.
I'm willing to captain a team and lead an effort to spin to spec. The group that was at the meeting thought this was an okay idea if it didn't take too much of the "fun" spinning time. I don't think it will. Each month we can get together for 15 minutes and compare what we've done and talk about how to be more consistent. What we do need is several spinners who are willing to commit to this. I'd like more spinners committed than we are allowed on a team to take care of the inevitable scheduling conflicts that will arise. Who'd like to play? We will be starting in October.

It's time for new officers. We vote for them in November and they take office for the December meeting. The president chairs the meetings and sends a welcome note to new members via email. The note I've been using is on our website in a hidden file. I can share. The vice president chairs the meeting in the absence of the president and stores the library. The treasurer is Lotus (if she's willing to continue. Are you, Lotus?) The webmaster is Sue Toorans as is the Nutshell author. The newsletter team is Ginger, Frank, and Sue. Are you, Ginger and Frank, willing to continue? If everyone is content then the officers to be elected are P and VP. Please consider one of these offices. Neither of them are terribly onerous.

The bear committee had the unfortunate task of delivering two bears. Both of which were thoroughly hugged by all attending members. Lisa gets a bear in honor of the passing of her father and Dee gets one in honor of the passing of her brother. For those that are new and don't know this tradition, we started Bears for the Bereaved many years ago. The committee gets (and currently has lots) hand spun wool yarn from members, knits them into a particular bear pattern, felts them, stuffs them, hugs them and delivers them to bereaved guild members in honor of their loved one.

Show 'n Tell

Michele: is doing needle felting.

Sharolene: is spinning cotton. She is planning to weave single ply cotton. She wants fabric that she might Ikat dye.

Aviva: is working on lace knit shawl. At the wool auction, she split a fine combing colored fleece. It is a pale grey-brown. She may or may not dye her portion.

Kimberly: is spinning silk and some alpaca. She is allergic to wool.

Chris Schodel: (a new Chris) showed off plyed yarn started at the August meeting. This is the very first yarn off her wheel. She spun it from mill end fiber that she got from the Yarn Place.

Shirley: this is her first time at a meeting. Welcome, Shirley. She was spinning a blended silk. She also works a lot with silk and alpaca blends. Her current project is weaving since yarn is very fine.

Sue: my hands were pooped from spending all the previous week solid (took vacation from the day job) working in my studio on art. I did show off the first sock of a pair. My August show went reasonably well.

Debbie: is spinning possum, silk, merino blend on the quill attachment to her wheel. She has finished several afghans for her daughters. Her older daughter (Martine) has graduated college and has started a job in San Francisco as a counselor for gifted children. Cleo, her younger daughter has just entered UC Santa Cruz. Both have a gratifying need for warm blankets, now.

Ginger: was supposed to insert her show 'n tell when she had a moment. She didn't. I can't remember what she showed, but I'm sure that whatever it was, it was lots of it.

Carol Lewis: got new tiny Louet Victoria wheel. It is supposed to fit in the overhead bin of airplane. She is spinning wool dyed long ago.

And that's September in a nutshell.

If you have news or pictures of interest to the group please send it to spinner@serendipityspinners.org