Our September 2024 Spinning Guild meeting will be held on September 21, 2024. Not our usual second Saturday of the month date because it coincides with the WNY Fiber Arts Festival, so it will be one week later. The meeting will be held at Doreen Kelly's home in West Seneca.
Our program will be Needle Felting a Landscape, led by Mary Fisher. See your member emails for more information.
Our August 2024 program is Dyeing Wool And Protein Fibers With Natural Dyes
It was held at Stitch Buffalo in Buffalo NY. on August 10th.
Their facility is first rate, with a fantastic room dedicated to dyeing fibers. Our workshop was taught by Dawne Hoeg from Stitch Buffalo, who is extremely knowledgeable about using natural dyes. Here are a few pictures from our fun day.
Happy May and early Mother's Day,
Happy New Year,
Our next meeting will be on Saturday, January 13, 2024 at the West Seneca Senior Center from 9am to 12pm.
Our program will be "Pass the Batt" in celebration of Roc Day which is on January 7th.
We did this a few years ago with great results.
Pass the Batt
Perhaps something once looked good to you, now you realize you will probably never use it as hoped. You will need to bring 2 oz. of prepared, easily spun wool or wool blend, (or a protein fiber) in a color way of your choice, to pass.
Start spinning with your fiber, after a few minutes, we will all pass that fiber to the next person, and so on. (You will always be using your own spinning wheel. Just the fiber is passed) As a challenge we will suggest trying different ways to spin it, thick, thin, etc. There is the possibility of getting some very colorful yarn.
To pull things together, you may decide to spin a single prior to the program to ply your program yarn with. Neutrals were suggested, and you may also want to incorporate this fiber into the program yarn. Drum carder and combs will be available.
We will offer small project suggestions for what to do with the final yarn. After you take your yarn home and ply it, if it's a light worsted weight, it will be perfect to use for our Zoom Loom program in February. We'll talk about it during the meeting.
What is Roc Day (or Saint Distaff's Day)?
Saint Distaff’s Day (also known as Distaff Day, Roc Day, or Rock Day) is the day when spinners go back to work after the holidays. Most of what we know about Saint Distaff’s Day comes from a poem called “Saint Distaff’s Day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day,” by Robert Herrick from his 1648 book Hesperides.
Saint Distaff’s Day may also be called Rock Day or Roc Day. In several Northern European languages, “roc” or “rok” means “distaff.” To be confusing, Saint Distaff’s Day may also fall on Old Rock Day, January 7, which celebrates fossils.
Happy Holidays Everyone
