April 2009 Newsletter

Next Meeting April 18,2009
10 AM - 4 PM (more or less)
Email goes to: spinner@serendipityspinners.org

March in a Nutshell

by Sue Toorans

March was transitioning from lion to lamb and wasn't completely sure which it would be. Since rain was threatened we met in the firehouse. The echoes in there are killer, but we survived. The rain did show up by mid afternoon. It was a little blustery, but we had the big doors open for air. That was nice. We did rather lead the meeting with discussion about how our booth went at Stitches before we were called to order. The conclusion was that it went pretty well and the highlight was the girl scout who was willing to trade cookies for more fiber. They were Thin Mints.

Dues are past due. Please make checks out to Serendipity Spinners.

Old Business

Stitches - The Official Report: On Thursday and Friday combined, our booth made $130. On Saturday we made $270. It was a long day. On Sunday we made $221. This adds up to $621. Next year the booth fees have gone up a little, to $200 which we've already paid.

Quilt Redux - Only two people sent me their names as interested. Just in case more came forward at the meeting, I had blank post-its and a pen. Once they saw it, several people wanted their name in the drawing. Lotus won! It went home with her as did the address to which to send the "thank you" note. The funds that the quilt raised paid to move four migratory worker shacks on to the main museum grounds for historical display. In time they will be furnished in a Mexican theme and a Japanese theme. One of the other shacks will be an information center.

Lotus reminded us of the estate fiber and equipment sale. Much of the fibers were priced at $1 per pound. There's lots of non-wool too.

Yarn from the spindles at last year's Stitches. Have fun Lotus

Thank you Jocelyn for organizing our Stitches demo booth!

Lotus won the quilt!

New Business

Serendipity Spinners now has a Ravelry group. Chris J. can give you the particulars.

Spinoff has opened up an area of their website to spinning groups. Lotus saw this in the latest issue. The webmaster (me) is supposed to look into linking us to that site.

Aviva heard of some people in Missouri trying to sell their Icelandic fleece. She brought samples of white and brown. They are a double coated sheep and no one in California raises them. Because they aren't raised in this state, we won't see them at the Monterey wool festival. www.ozarkicelandicsheep.com

Jocelyn had flyers for Spinning at the Winery (soon there will be information on our events page.) The date is June 6 from 10-4. Jocelyn is also the chair for the CINCH 2010 Return to Sender. She'd really like some help with that. Especially help that's done it before. (My arm was starting to hurt a little from all the twisting. I gave in.) Registration for CNCH 2009 is still open.

Show 'n Tell

Marcia: wove a white Shibori fabric. To make it Shibori, you weave in extra threads, pull the threads tight and then dye. She showed one she had done with discharge dyeing.

Woven Shibori Fabric

Jocelyn: trying to finish spinning her current lot of fiber so she can start fiber bought at the sale. Her pink sock machine has arrived. She has fiber to match.

Current lot of fiber.

Jocelyn's daughter doing her homework.

Chris S.: spinning purple (shiny!) on her drop spindle. Tracked down her wheel's woes to a too-tight drive belt. Now she can ply and has been doing so with a vengeance.

Chris spinning on her new drop spindle.

The yarn plyed this month!

Kimberly: passed.

Tina: showed off a chicken doll in a dress (no naked chickens here). It was knitted from handspun. She also showed the vest she was wearing. Her daughter brought a pink stripped scarf she Knitted. It was so pink it's a wonder that it didn't find its way home with Jocelyn.

Knit Chicken.

Knit Vest.

Knit and Felt bag.

Knit Horse Parts.

Knit Scarf.

Carol: had nothing to show. Not even news about Billy.

Chris J.: wine color sweater - probably will finish in time for summer heat. Also showed off red knit gloves (cabled, it look like), Brought her friend Candace.

Wine colored Sweater.

Cabled Gloves.

Candace

Aviva: silk for a scarf. Getting nearly done.

Pink Silk.

Nancy D.: knitting another dog sweater from scraps for Sara. Sara's fashion statements are the talk of the town she lives in. It's a small town.

Another Dog Sweater!

Sue: working on the never ending pair of socks.

The Never Ending Socks.

Frank : showed yarn he made on a drop spindle from sale fiber in golds and purples. He'd gotten a preview.

Yarn made on a drop spindle.

Lotus: had nothing to show. She had made Dee's silk/wool/alpaca blend into a moebius scarf. She's stopped at the sale on the way to the meeting and had purchased a vivid multicolor wool pencil roving.

Pencil roving.

Ginny: was here for her second time. She's spinning fall colors. She just got her Little Gem wheel. She showed us her first finished object; a Merino neck warmer. She has spun several skeins 3-ply for socks and yarn for tam hat from 2 ply. She modeled the hat for us. The blue skein is planned for fingerless gloves. She had a soft yarn she swatch testing out for shawl.

Fall colors.

More fall colors.

Handspun hat.

Ginny's bounty.

Ginger: been spinning white Cotswold. Shed heard there are some Cotswold strains that have soft fleece. The fleece she's spinning is soft.

White Cotswold.

And that's March in a nutshell.

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