June 2009 Newsletter

Next Meeting June 20, 2009
10 AM - 4 PM (more or less)
Email goes to: spinner@serendipityspinners.org

May Nutshell

by Sue, Ginger and Frank

Our May meeting day was nice, if a tad warm. While we were setting up, a small "friend" dropped in on Kimberly. We moved out from under our usual oak across the street to the lawn of the house. The only bugs we experienced after that was mosquitoes.

We moved to a different location.
Ginger and Chris S.	Our President, Kimberly
Marcia, Lotus and Sue	Chris J. and Chris B.

Sheep to Shawl

The Alameda County fair Sheep to Shawl is July 19. (They changed the dates of the fair this year.) We'll be in the same air conditioned building as we have been in the past. This year, the Silverado is running the competition this year. So far, most of the "old" rules may still apply. They have said that drum carders are permitted. We are hiring a professional judge, Stephanie G. Because of that, there is a $30 per team entry fee. That isn't so bad and it solves some of the issues that the judging has caused in the past. We hope. Sue is "organizing" the Serendipity team.

Submission due dates for this fair are already passed.

Monterey Wool

The Monterey wool judging is on July 25th. This is always an interesting way to learn more about wool. The judging is held on the grounds of the Monterey County fair. Wes and Jane Patton are the judges this year. The judging starts at 10:00 am. There is usually coffee and sweets in the morning. Lunch is a potluck. The Monterey wool auction is August 16th. Don't believe their website when it say the auction is on Monday, the 17th. It's not.

If you plan on submitting an entry to this fair, the book of entry forms is supposed to be online the first of June.

Spinning at the Winery

June 6 is spinning at the Retzlaff winery. This is a potluck lunch. It is okay to bring your own water, but they ask that you purchase any other beverage from the winery.

Santa Clara county fair

Santa Clara county is having a youth fair from July 30th - August 2nd. They'd like some people to demonstrate textile techniques. Contact Marcia if you are interested.

Founders' Day Fandango

A celebration of local history. July 26, noon.5pm. History Park San Jose. Contact Marcia if you'd like to sit and spin at this event.

Treasury report

We have $1,940 as of last deposit. This would be a good time to sponsor some workshops or classes. Bring your ideas to the next meeting.

Pins

Since time immemorial, Serendipity has been buying pins for the winning Sheep to Shawl competitions. Not once has a winning team thanked us. Fine. We decided not to do that this year. We did decide to buy our own team pins for participating. We'll use pins with the year and hang a sheep from them.

These are our team pins.

Discussion

Every now and then, we are asked where to get spinning classes. Now that Nancy is not in town, the only place we could think of was Hanalore. She is a bit pricey for someone just exploring an interest. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Show 'n Tell

Chris B.: Did a lot of dying experiments years ago. She brought in the pieces she had put on her grid and her book of dye recipes. She showed us the article featuring her watercolors.

Chris B's dye samples.

Chris J.: Just brought knitting. She is working on a pair of socks from yarn that was only $2.50 per ball on special at Joanne Fabric.

Socks knit with well aged yarn.

Frank: Is spinning more wool with a drop spindle.

Frank spinning on his Golding drop spindle.

Sue T.: Showed an anodized aluminum chain in blue. Her stone carving class was featured in Palo Alto weekly article. Brought in alpaca silk yarn - 2 big skeins that she plied after last month's meeting.

Anodized aluminum chain in blue.

Sue's long term project of alpaca and silk.

Lotus: Practicing the great wheel. A friend is in the Yeoman of the Guard. One scene features a great wheel. Lotus is trying to teach her enough so that she can mimic moves. Lotus is knitting Houdini socks. There was something about starting at the toes and the middle and somehow, getting a sock out of it.

Her son is engaged.

Lotus practicing spinning on a great wheel.

Houdini socks.

Marsha: Is plying mohair from her daughter in Missouri.

Plying mohair from her daughter.

Kimberly: Is knitting naturally dyed silk from CNCH last year.

It appears Kimberly is still spinning the naturally dyed silk from CNCH.

Chris S.: Crocheted shopping bag made from fabric remnants that are made into yarn. She is crocheting a simple baby blanket in cotton.

Chris' neat crochet giz she created so she can crochet with her RSI brace.

Chris is working on a car seat baby blanket.

Shopping bag.

Ginger: Knitted a pair socks. She thought the yarn was random stripes, but found it does repeat when the second started matching the first. Her young cat invented a new game. She backs off, runs full tilt, then jumps over her lap and grabs whatever she can - sock or yarn ball. The cat then continues on at a run when she lands with her catch. Ginger gets to hunt for her projects.

Ginger's completed pair of socks.

The sock she is currently working on.

And that's May in a nutshell.

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