Demo at Buffalo Museum of History 9/23 1-3pm

Just a reminder, demo at the Buffalo Museum of History (Historical Society–Elmwood and Nottingham in Buffalo)) is this Sunday 9/23 from 1 to 3. 12:30 set-up.

Using the Drum Carder
Sunday, September 9, 2012

The next meeting will focus on drum carders.  Ideally, we will see a variety of different drum carders, how they work and how different people use them. We will do a demonstration on how to use the drum carder that was so generously gifted to us. If you want to use this, you need to see the demonstration. We would also like those who have drum carders to bring them in and do a short demonstration on how you use it. Please bring your own fiber for this.

Everyone should bring in the results from the spinners challenge, we should have more time to look at them now. Bring it in if you have already shown it, we might want to get a picture of them all together.

We really appreciate how generous our members were, both in donations and in bidding, at the auction.

Labor Day sale with spinning wheels

There is an estate sale in Tonawanda with 3 spinning wheels, a skein winder and a table loom for sale. I can’t tell what the condition is from the pictures, but here is the link http://rickkaye.com/pix.htm . The sale is Aug. 31st, Sep 1st, and Sept. 2nd

Some larger items that have been most generously donated include:

Pat H. is donating a picker made by her husband, but it's an exact copy of the Li'l Dynamo Wool Picker, sells for about $150.00.  Her husband is a very good carpenter so I'm sure it's excellent quality.  The Woolery's box pickers, which don't look any different, sell for over $300.00. 

Pat is also donating a 1# clean Alpaca fleece, a 1.2# clean Llama fleece, and two? raw Llama blankets.

Pat M. donated 1100 yds. of Irish yarn from Studio Donnegal that she purchased on her trip to Ireland last fall. This is the same yarn sold in the US as "Tahki Donnegal Tweed", however the light blue color is one she's never seen in the US shops. This is worsted weight and should be enough for a sweater.

Sue P. is donating (among other things) "The Spinner's Dream Basket" which will include a variety of fibers totaling about 12 oz., all local and natural colors, and a handmade spindle, this is a $70.00 value.  

Sue is also offering a subscription to her Barn Dance Fiber Club–3 oz. of the fiber of the month for 3 months, a $65.00 value which includes shipping. It's for September, October and November.

We also have a Spinning Wheel Lamp, a vintage handmade Birdhouse, and a large Sheep stuffed animal.

If anyone else has any large ticket items, please let us know if you can. If you can't make it and are interested in any of these items, let Liz know and she can put bids in for you.

So bring items for the auction, money (!!), your spinners' challenge, a dish, and your wheel, if you think you will have time to spin. There will be plates and silverware, but you can also bring your own. There are some birthdays, so there will be cake!!

August 12, 2012

Picnic and Auction. 

Our next meeting will be our first picnic potluck and our first auction. We will have a Chinese auction, tickets are 2 for $1 or 15 for $5. We will also have a silent auction for the more extravagant items. Anything you wish to donate should be brought the day of the meeting unless you have made other arrangements. We would like to know if you are donating a large item ahead of time. Check your email for information regarding large ticket items.

What to donate? Of course, any fiber or fiber-related item is welcome. Buttons, shawl pins, soap for fiber, dye pots, dyes, spinning accessories, etc., are always nice. We also know that many of you are multi-talented, and if you are so inclined, donate something along those lines. Items with a fiber theme, such as stationary or jewelry, would be welcome.  Other ideas include a gift basket, or possibly a fiber related service. Or even a really nice plant.

We will try to post any larger ticket items we’ve been told about a week before the auction. For those unable to make the meeting, you can put a bid in beforehand. Give us your starting bid (or we may set one for certain items) and your high bid for the item.  It will work just like an ebay auction. If something makes $50, bids go up in $5 increments, and if by some miracle something makes $100, it would go up in $10 increments. For example, the high bid on an item is $100, but someone who isn't there has a high bid is $150. We would then put $110 on that item and that person would get it unless someone bids $120. If there is more than one person bidding on it who isn't there, bids will be raised based on who got to me first. I'm willing to take care of this part of it. Contact me (Liz) if you want to do this at 716.837.0486 or at rozwellus@yahoo.com.

At this point we decided against a live auction due to the small size of the guild, the work involved, and this being our first auction. We may look into it in the future.

Please bring a dish to share, your own plate and silverware, if possible. This will be our first fundraiser for the guild; your help and donations are needed to make it a success. Based on experience with other guild auctions, there should be some great deals and we can raise lots of money for our guild!

Sunday July 8

For those participating in dyeing with rhubarb root, you will need to bring rubber gloves and something to take dyed yarn home in. That's it.

April 2012 Meeting

Our April meeting is Sunday, April 15th, from 1-4:00.  Our program is "Scouring a Fleece" with Amanda Hartrich.  Amanda is the owner of Inspiration Fibers and is experienced in how to scour the wool from different breeds of sheep.  Also how to clean Llama and Alpaca.

I'll have our new drum carder at the meeting if anyone wants to use it.

See you then,
Doreen