Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild Notes

January Third Thursday Guild Meeting 2011

2011-02-13T17:39:00.000-05:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 20 January 2011 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 13 in attendance.

Business Meeting

Treasurers Report by Lynn:

December's swap dues have been deposited.
2011 dues are currently being accepted.

Fiber Fest

This year will feature a skein an garment competition. Ol'North State Knitting Guild is developing the rules for entry and judging.

Program

Judy and Elaina led a lively session on "making it do", re-purposing items for fiber arts use.

Punky suggested to use of a placemat on which to rest a project and be able to easily turn it on lap or table. Also she suggested using a lifeline, a length of thread or yarn threaded through the stitchesof a lace project to mark the extent of error free progress. Should an error occur that requires ripping back, the lifeline facilitates picking up stitches with greater ease.

Jane uses cardboard weaving bobbins for storing spindle or wheel spun singles prior to plying.

Carole uses jump rings as stitch markers and stores them in empty medicine bottles.

Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions, would like to make a correction, or if I have inadvertently left out your suggestion!

December 2010

2011-02-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 10 December 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 21 in attendance

Elections by unanimous vote:

President - Jane
Vice President - Judy
Recording Secretary - Jame
Treasurer - Lynn

Appointed positions:
Librarian - Amy
Outreach - Elaina

By-laws were approved unanimously.

SWAP!

November 2010 Guild Meeting

2011-02-13T12:39:00.002-05:00

November Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 18 November 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 11 in attendance.

Presentation

Show and tell for members who entered State Fair contests. Wow! Thank you to Lynn, Shawn and Jane for bringing in your skeins, shawls and rugs! It's great inspiration to start planning for 2011.

Business

Lynn gave the Treasurer's report.

The treasury has a positive balance.
A search for another bank is underway since SunTrust is instituting a service charge on checking.
The Guild received a thank you from the Craft Center for our donation.
New books and movies were purchased for the library.

Amy reported on the library:

New items in the library include How I Spin, The Gently Art of Plying, Drafting:The Long and Short of it, and Spin Control.
Please contact Amy if you want to check out a book but will not be able to attend a meeting at the Craft Center. E-mail sent to the yahoo group will reach Amy, or you can send her a private message through the yahoo group website.

Jane reported on
Old business:

By-laws are currently being written and revised and will be ready for the December meeting elections.

New business:

Frith and Kathryn have resigned from the SAFF skein and garment competition committee.
Nominations for 2011 officers: President - Jane, Vice President - Judy, Treasurer - Lynn, Recording Secretary - Jame

Other business:

Carolyn would like to attend a winter fiber retreat, perhaps at a beach house. Would anyone like to plan one?

October Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-10-23T15:13:00.000-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 21 October 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 9 in attendance.

Wheel Round Robin

Wheels present at the meeting were Stacey's Ashford Traditional, Amy's Majacraft Rose, and Jame's Spinolution Hopper.

Business

The NCSU Crafts Center has provided the TTFAG with a locked cupboard in which to keep the Guild Library. Amy, Guild Librarian, shelved the books after the meeting and plans to organize the books at the November 18th meeting. This will allow the library to be available when Amy's schedule doesn't permit her to attend meetings.

Respectfully submitted,
Jame
TTFAG Recording Secretary

September Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-10-21T16:01:00.005-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 16 September 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 13 in attendance.

Fiber of the Month

Elaina Kenyon brought samples and provided information on angora rabbits.

Presentation

Members and guests in attendance shared recent favorite fiber-related books.

Books passed around included:

Thinking Outside the Sox: Winning Designs from Knitter's Magazine
Lucet Braiding: Variations on a Renaissance Cord by E. Fuller
Hand-dyeing Yarn and Fleece : Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative Techniques by Gail Callahan
Teach Yourself VISUALLY Hand-Dyeing (Teach Yourself VISUALLY Consumer) by Barbara Parry
Sock Club: Join the Knitting Adventure by C. Schurch & B. Parrott
Magnificent Mittens and Socks by A. Zilborg
Respect the Spindle by A. Franquemont
Sock Innovation by Cookie A.
The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear by E. King

Business

A response from the NCSU Craft Center regarding use of their space for December's Swap meeting is pending.

Sunday 18 September is Spin-in-public day. All members are exhorted to go forth and spin!

Carolyn announced the latest news regarding planning for the 2011 Carolina Fiber Festival which will be held May 20-11. Next year the Ag-Fest portion will be scaled back, but a third of the Jim Graham Building will be available for the Carolina Fiber Fest , more space = bigger festival. Planning is underway to organize contests such as skein and garment, fleece and sheep to shawl. More volunteers are needed, please contact Carolyn if you can help.

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild Book Club

2010-10-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

Schedule for the remainder of 2010

October 30 - Come join fellow knitting enthusiasts at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on Saturday morning, October 30 to hear author Katie Boyette speak about her new book, KnitWit: 20 Fun Projects for Beginners and Seasoned Knitters. Following Katies's talk, she will be available to sign
books. Event will begin at 9:30am.

November - conflicts with Thanksgiving, so will have a combined Nov-Dec meeting in early December

December 4- "Fibery Gifts", book TBD

August Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-10-21T15:55:00.000-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 19 August 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 13 in attendance.

Fiber of the Month

Carolyn Beasley brought samples and discussed the merits of Icelandic sheep and their fleece.

Presentation

Jane handed out sheets with rules for entering the NC State Fair and Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) [http://www.saffsite.org/index.cfm/do/contests.main] and discussed entry requirements.

Business

The Guild will donate $100 to the NCSU Crafts Center for the use of the facilities for meetings. Jane will check on the availablity of a room for December's swap meeting.

July Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-10-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 15 July 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 15 or so in attendance.

Fiber of the Month

Jane provided information on Teeswater sheep.

The American Teeswater Sheep Association allows colored and spotted sheep, but the Teeswater Sheep Breeders Association Limited stresses that the sheep have black legs and feet and black markings on their faces, but uniformly white fleece.

Fineness information:

UK
Bradford Count 50s-44s
Micron Count 30-36
Staple Length 6-12 inches

US
Micron count - 33 -35
Staple length - 8 -12 inches.
Yearling Fleece Weight - 13 - 20 pounds

Presentation

There were 4 very different drum carders to try out. James and Carolyn brought the giant motorized Strauch, Punky brought her Clemes and Clemes, Lynn brought her English one, and Jane brought her Louet Jr.

Many thanks to Jane for compiling the minutes!

June Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-06-28T15:57:00.002-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 17 June 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 16 in attendance.

Fiber of the Month

Elaina brought samples of mohair from her herd of angora goats.



From June 2010 Meeting

Presentations

Spinning for a purpose. Members brought projects and discussed why and how the spinning was done.

Business

Per discussion at the last meeting, the business meeting was held after the Fiber of the Month and special topic presentations.

The shawl made at the Sheep-to-shawl demonstration at the 2010 North Carolina Fiber Festival was on display.

From June 2010 Meeting

May Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-06-28T15:31:00.004-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 20 May 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 10 in attendance.

Jane led the business meeting and proposed moving the business section of the meeting to after the presentations. It is also time to start thinking about a location for December's swamp meeting. Anyone with ideas should contact Jane.

Presentation

Jessica presented a travelogue of textile adventures to Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Egypt, Jordan, Scotland, Norway and Sweden. She displayed part of her collection of unique textiles and related books. Thank you, Jessica!





From May 2010 Meeting

April Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-06-28T14:56:00.002-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 15 April 2010 at the NCSU Crafts Center with 19 in attendance.

Jane asked for announcements. Elaina announced the CFSA farm tour to take place April 24 & 25. Carolyn had the t-shirts for the Carolina Fiber Festival.

Presentations

The fiber of the month was Blue-faced leicester (BFL) Samples of fiber, yarn and finished items were presented by Kim G. and Elaina K. BFL are large, dual-purpose sheep that produce about 3 to 5 lbs of soft, lustrous wool. Wool locks in the grease were provided by Elaina from her ram, Lord Nelson.

Color Blending on Combs

Judy Tysmans presented information on color-blending with hand combs. She recommended weighing out the fiber to be sampled before blending large amounts. She demonstrated use of combs and brought samples of yarn spun with different proportions of dyed mohair and naturally colored wool.

From april meetings

Color Blending with a Drum Carder

Carolyn Beasley brought her power carder and demonstrated making a three-layered batt of blue wool. She emphasized that it was best to start with well-picked locks because a well-prepared fleece will blend more quickly than a less prepared one. Also, take notes if you want to reproduce what you create!

From april meetings

March Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-04-15T17:38:00.008-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on March 18 at NCSU Crafts Center with 18 attending.

Jane started the business meeting at 7:15. Jame reviewed the minutes from the February 18 meeting. Lynn gave the treasurer's report; as of March there are 39 paid members for 2010 and the guild account has a positive balance. She will purchase self adhesive name tags for use at meetings.

Old business: Jane asked for assistance with writing by-laws for TTFAG and Nancy S. volunteered.

Library: Amy is taking suggestions for DVDs to add to the guild library. She can be contacted on the yahoo groups list.

Presentations

Fiber of the Month

Nancy Shroyer demonstrated spinning line flax into linen and passed out fact sheets on flax and processing.



From March meeting

Swedish Rep Weaving

Jessica demonstrated Swedish rep weaving, a warp-faced technique for which she recently attended a Triangle Weavers Guild workshop by Rosalie Neilson.

Sheep to shawl

Lynn summarized her progress so far in organizing a sheep to shawl demonstration at the Carolina Fiber Festival in May. The demonstration will run on Saturday, May 22 for 4 hours, time TBA. Volunteers to card the washed fleece and to spin are needed. A member of the weaving guild has volunteered to do the weaving, but would like the TTFAG to provide a warped loom. The details of providing a loom and warping it are pending. Lynn asked for volunteers at the meeting and signed several carders and spinners up. Thank you for helping out!

March First Saturday Book Club Meeting

2010-03-23T17:43:00.002-04:00

Here is the Recap from our March 6 book club-- Scarves, Shawls, Stoles- Any Technique

Thanks to all 25 of you who came to the meeting! We enjoyed seeing your work and hearing your tips and resource recommendations. Here's what I wrote down. As always, please feel free to fill in the gaps. I know there are many this time, as we had a large crowd, and we went around the circle fairly quickly. If I have missed yours (resources, tips, fiber suggestions, etc..), please add it.

Resources-
Knit one Below (scarf)
Folk Shawls (book)
Unique Sheep website
Tasha Tudor Shawl
Great American Aran Afghan (book)
Design Sourcebook of Home Decor
"Critter Kits" --Morehouse Farm website. (love to see some of them critters!)
Prayer Shawls of various kinds
Knit Picks website
Doris Chan Crockett pattern
A Gathering of Lace (book)
Harmony Guide-- Lace and Eyelets (book)
Norah Gaughn shrug pattern
Cat Bordhi moebius patterns
Icelandic 3-cornered shawl pattern (Help-- I did not note anything more than this!)
Faroese shawl books (in Faroese language, also in English)
Lucy Neatby shawl
Schoolhouse Press books-- some translations of traditional ethnic patterns, like Faroe.

Tips--

Bamboo fiber has good draping and wicking qualities, is also shiny, and is a good choice for a shawl.
Faroese shawls have good shoulder shaping.
For lace weight yarns, look for yarn on cones. Good choices, and value.
Stitch dictionaries, like the Harmony Guides, are good starting points for designing your own.

Next meeting is Saturday, April 10. Topic is author/designer Anna Zilboorg. We'll discuss her work and what inspires her. Please bring her books, patterns and any work you've done or are planning from her patterns, or work you've done that was inspired by her in some way. If any of you have met Anna personally, or taken a class taught by her, please share your experience.

We will offer her newly re-published Magnificient Mittens and Socks as our featured book. Total cost is $21.24. (retail is $24.95.) Please e-mail me by April 1, so I can place an order and have the book at bookclub for you.

(Buying the book is not required for you to participate in bookclub.)

Location is Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, 3522 Wade Ave, 27607. Time is
9:30 to 11:00am.

Looking forward to seeing you then!

Jackie

March First Wednesday Knit Night

2010-03-23T17:39:00.000-04:00

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Knitting Focus Group for March was postponed 1 week to March 10. Because of the date change there were only 7 present. The topic of discussion was supposed to be yarn, but due to the small group, we decided to delay that discussion until the April meeting.

Michele Riggs, who is going to be opening a yarn shop on Salem St in Apex told us all about the process of opening a shop. The name of the shop will be Downtown Knits, and will be on the 2nd floor. She told us of her adventures visiting shops all around New England to get ideas. We had a long discussion about knitting needles and what people wanted to see available in the shop. The shop has a 5/1 planned opening date.

Nancy Shroyer

February First Wednesday Knit Night

2010-03-23T17:35:00.000-04:00

On Feb 3 the Knitting Focus Group met. There were 13 in attendance. The purpose of the group is to discuss knitting topics, have show and tell, knit and snack. The top of discussion for the February meeting was knitting needles and crochet hooks. What did people like and why. It seemed the majority preferred circular needles in general, though for sock knitting about ½ liked to use double pointed needles. Most liked the Knit Picks, either Harmony wood or nickel interchangables, with the one complaint being the Harmony ones often pull apart from their joins. Knit Picks will replace, or you can use some super glue to fix. Neither of which helps when the tip goes in the middle of a lace shawl, which just happened to me this morning! Addi Turbo needles were mentioned by quite a few, as well as Inox and Susan Bates. Punky brought her full sets of Signature Needle Arts needles. They were certainly works of art!

Nancy Shroyer

February Third Thursday Guild Meeting

2010-03-20T12:17:00.006-04:00

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on February 18 at NCSU Crafts Center with 22 attending.

Jane led the business meeting and discussed start time for the meetings. With several members needing to regularly leave early, Jane proposed that the business meeting start at 7 or 7:15, followed by the presentations. In the discussion that followed, members preferred a 7:15 start time.

Jane also brought up the subject of creating by-laws for the Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild in order to present and document the Guild's mission and processes. Existing by-laws for other, similar groups can be used as a template.

Presentations

Fiber of the Month: Border Leicester

Carolyn presented information about Border Leicester Sheep. She and her family's Heel Side Farm started with 6 sheep and now have over 40. She brought examples of products from raw fleece to yarn.

Turkish Spindles

Jame and Frith demonstrated using Turkish spindles which are low whorl spindles with removable cross arms. Singles or plied yarns are wrapped around the arms in a pattern, once finished the cross arms and shaft are removed leaving a ball of yarn ready to use for knitting or crochet. Several spindle makers have versions of Turkish spindles: Ashford, Jenkins, Viking Santa, etc.

Respectfully submitted,
Jame
Recording Secretary

February Second Saturday All Fiber Arts Meeting

2010-03-20T11:15:00.001-04:00

13 February

Judy was a willing hostess, but the snow kept everybody away!

Many thanks also to Mary K. who planned to host, but had to bow out in order to go to a funeral. Our deepest sympathy to you, Mary.

February Book Club Meeting

2010-03-20T11:06:00.001-04:00

First Saturday Book Club meeting
6 February

What a wonderful time!! Thanks to all (20-plus) who came out to Quail Ridge Books for our Lace focus. We are indeed fortunate to have so many talented lace artists in the group! And, a special thank you to Carolyn and Carole who showed us their beautiful tatting, inspiring all of us to reach beyond our established skills. Also, thanks to all for the many tips shared regarding blocking, error correction, and keeping track of rows.

Here is the info on the tatting group that Carolyn told us about-- "Tri-Tatters" Meeting on Feb 20 at Cameron Village Library in Raleigh starting at 1:30pm.

Also, there is a group, "NC Regional Lacers" -- http://www.dbwebdesign.com/goldenbobbins/ Their website mentions a "Lace Day" in Chapel Hill on April 10. There are also lots of other interesting links at this site. Looks like a great source of info- especially if you want to venture into tatting or bobbin lace.

We had a ton of excellent resources at the meeting. I started out keeping track of everything, but later got too interested in the discussion, and did not write down everything. I was busy admiring all the lovely shawls, too. Please fill in the gaps for me!

Resources (mostly books)-
A Gathering of Lace- Meg Swansen
Knitted Lace Designs of Herbert Neibling
Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Pi Shawl" - Pattern in Knitter's Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Knitting Lace- Susanna Lewis
Heirloom Lace- Sharon Miller
Haapsula Shawl- in Estonian (but English edition is offered by School House Press)
Knitting Lace Triangles- Evelyn Clark
Knitted Lace of Estonia- Nancy Bush
Knitted Lace- Sonja Esbensen
Knitted Lace in White- Sonja Ebensen
"Pi-r-squared Shawl"- Pattern in Knitting Around, by E. Zimmerman
"Russian Edging" article in Piecework Magazine, May/June 09 issue
Gossamer Webs Design Collection- Galina Khmeleve
Shetland Lace- Knitting Pattern book 250. (help-- I did not record any more than this)
Victorian Lace Style-- Jane Sowerby
First, and Second Books of Modern Lace Knitting- Marianne Kinzel

also an encouragement to Google 'random lace'

Next month's topic is Shawls, Scarves, Stoles, and Afghans-- any technique (including lace), on March 6.

Hope to see you then,
Jackie

2010-02-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

January 2010 Notes

Saturday Book Club meeting, 9 January 2010

Jackie writes:

Thanks to all who came out to book club today! And especially, we'd like to thank Cynthia for sharing so enthusiastically about feltmaking. It was a great time learning much about this wonderful craft. I especially loved the Nuno scarves.

Look for more info on upcoming book club meetings. The next topic is lace, on Feb. 6.

See you then,
--Jackie

Second Saturday All Fiber Arts Meeting, 9 January 2010
Hosted by Judy who writes:

Hi, everyone,

I guess we around 25-30 here altogether today. We had an officers'meeting first, then the regular guild meeting, which was a very
enjoyable experience.

Thanks to those of you who brought donations for the Helen Wright Womens' Shelter in Raleigh. Some was yarn, and some was clothing and dishes for womens' apartments. All of these items will be very welcome.

It was suggested that I mention that we had decided in guild some years back to knit and donate chemo caps to the UNC Oncology Resource Center. The numbers had dwindled to nearly none this year, so I asked whether we should do a different project. It was decided to continue this, and to let you know that this was a guild activity. I've been delivering them to UNC when I have several here, and can continue to drop them off at UNC . So those of you who would like to do some charity knitting, this is an opportunity. In previous years when I had some to bring, I always took a picture of all of them and emailed it to Jame to put in the picture album---I imagine those pictures are still on the Twisted Threads Yahoo site, so you can enjoy the creativity of guild members over the years.

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/patterns.htm

This is one of the many web sites with free patterns, both knitted and crocheted. Wool tends to be a little itchy and too hot for summer. Silk, cotton, alpaca, acrylic--there are many fibers that will be soft, and fine to use.

Carolyn Beasley is looking for volunteers for the Ag Fest in May at the fairgrounds in Raleigh, so watch for some emails from her about several activities, including a sheep to shawl demo, with maybe more than one team, depending on how many of you volunteer for the activity. Expect to see some emails that start with "Ag Fest" in the subject line. Anyone who wants to rent a booth there, Carolyn needs the money to pay the NC Ag. people by early Feb., so you need to get in touch with her soon. Spinners will be needed for demo spinning, and for some classses for children, like drop spindling and wool carding.

Anyone who has not paid dues yet this year, Lynn Michael is collecting the dues and the form which can be found on the Yahoo site under Twisted Threads.

And anyone who would like to host the 2nd Saturday Twisted Threads meetings in coming months, please let me know. I'm glad to host y'all, but I'm just as glad to move around to visit others' homes. Usually the 3rd Thurs. meeting at NC State has a short class on different techniques after the business meeting. If you'd like to have classes at the 2nd Sat. meeting, as well, I'm fine with that, and would enjoy that, too. Anyone who enjoys a unique technique related to fiber arts, we'd enjoy scheduling your presentation. Since we don't have a business meeting at the 2nd Sat. meeting, there's more time to teach. If there's an interest, I could do a demo on processing pet fur for yarn, for example.

Thanks so much everyone who turned out! Several of you had been at Jackie's Quail Corners Book Club in the a.m., so you really deserve a "gold star" for going from one meeting to the other! Those of you we didn't see this time, hope to see you in February!

Judy

Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on January 18 at NCSU Crafts Center with 10 attending.

Lynn Michaels presented information about Shetland Sheep and brought fleece samples for the group to take along with a fact sheet about Shetlands.

Carolyn updated the guild on the planning and progress so far on the Carolina Fiber Festival. So far 1/3 of the available booths have been paid for and another 1/3 have been reserved, payment pending. The current vendors can be found on the web site. Carolyn asked the group for suggestions on demonstrations to hold at the festival. Demonstrations will be short, free presentations at set times throughout the day. Suggestions for demos included felting, support spindles, and carding. She also asked for input on classes to be held, and ideas for classes include shifu paper weaving, spindle and wheel spinning, and felting.

Sheep-to-shawl will be held as a demonstration; multiple teams are welcome. The March TTFAG special topic will be sheep-to-shawl how-to.

For more information about the Carolina Fiber Festival or to volunteer to help with demonstrations, contact Carolyn (contact info on the festival page).

Fourth Tuesday

Held at Glenaire.

Respectfully submitted,
Jame
Recording Secretary

2010-01-22T20:12:00.001-05:00

December 2009 Notes

First Saturday Book club meeting

Jackie writes:

We had a nice time thinking about fibery gifts! We were encouraged to use the book "Knitted Gifts" by Ann Budd between the Nov and December meetings. We had a bunch of cute things to pass around, both from the book and elsewhere. I was inspired to do the take-out drink holders ("Coffee Clutch", p. 71), perfect for our soccer coaches, after seeing Elizabeth's.

Other sources mentioned included-

Etsy Moochiland-- "What came First the Chicken or the Egg?"
www.berroco.com- "Minutia '09"

That's all I wrote down! Kim, what pattern did you use for the beautiful lace ornament?

We also talked about "potato chip scarves", which work great with Noro.

--Jackie

Second Saturday All Fiber Arts Meeting

Hosted by Judy T. on December 12, 2009 She wrote:

Hi, everyone,

I believe there were 8 of us at the meeting. Most had wanted to learn Indian finger weaving, so we had a class in that, and everyone went home able to do it, more or less :-)

Lynn collected dues from 1 new member; Cathy brought her Kiwi, and let a new spinner try her wheel. Thanks, Cathy!

And we ate Christmas cookies, among other things, and drank hot tea on a very chilly day...

--Judy

Annual Swap Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on December 11 at Elaina's in Efland, 20 attending. This was the guild's annual swap meeting, where dues paying members bring fiber and yarn that is unwanted and swap with other members.

We also held the election for officers. Jane writes:

Greetings, Fiber Friends,

Since there was less than one volunteer for each position, the officers were elected as a slate and by voice vote at the meeting on Friday.

I couldn't get anyone else to volunteer to be president for 2010, but there are volunteers for 2011 and onward.

I also couldn't get a volunteer to be vice president, but I was able to split the duties among three people who were willing to be heads of committees.

I've had to spend a lot more weekends with my mother this year, and it's likely to continue indefinitely, so I'm trying to spread the duties around.

President: Jane B.
Vice President: replaced by 3 committee heads:
Program: Elaina K.
Outreach: Judy T.
Education: Kim G.
Secretary: Jame A.
Treasurer: Lynn M.
Librarian: ???

Also:
Book Club: Jackie L.
SAFF Skein and Garment: Frith G. and Kathryn B.
Carolina Fiber Fest: Carolyn B.

--Jane

Respectfully submitted, Jame A., Recording Secretary

2009-12-10T23:08:00.002-05:00

November 2009 Notes

7 November Book club meeting.

Jackie writes:

Thanks to all who came. A special thanks to Elizabeth and Mitchell who modeled their special garments!

Our topic was focused on knitting for kids.

Here are some of the resources we looked at or heard about. Please add what I did not get. I'm still working on my multi-tasking skills!

-"Baby Surprise Jacket", from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "The Opinionated
Knitter". (pattern is also found online, and in other EZ's books)
- "Rowan Junior", by Kim Hargreaves
- "Alice Starmore's Children's Collection"
- Several other Alice Starmore books include kids patterns
- "Fairy Time Knits", by Amy Carroll and Denise Brown . I loved the
fairy tales.
- "Kid's Crochet", by Kelli Ronci
- "Handknits for Kids", by Lucinda Guy
- "And So to Bed", by Lucinda Guy
- "Animal Knits", by Zoe Millar
(Both the Lucinda Guy and Zoe Millar books have cool motifs kids like)
- "Alligator Mittens" from Stitch n' Bitch, book 1, by Debbie Stoller
- The February project (baby sweater) in The Knitter's Almanac by E.
Zimmerman
- Patons has a collection of Peter Rabbit characters for knitting. (I
don't remember exactly, but I think it is for pictures on sweaters.)
- Encore has a good baby afghans collection
- "The Wonderful Wallabees", pattern by Cottage Creations
- "Threadbare" online group
- Marilyn shared her quick and easy bootee pattern.

Some other tips--
- raglan sweater style is practical -you get longer wear.
- felt an adult sweater. It just might fit your child. It is also a nice way to pass a favorite sweater down, and might even hide carpet beetle holes!

We talked a bit about doing a "knit-a-long" in the future. Bring suggestions to the December meeting. We can decide on a project, then begin after the New Year by devoting the first 15 minutes of each monthly meeting to it. Book club lends itself well to this, I think. I'm in sweater mode at the moment, so I would love to do a sweater, but it could be anything. My other thought was doing anything from one designer, like Jarod Flood. (I like his stuff.)

Looking ahead in book club---
December 5 we'll focus on "Fibery Gifts" - knitted or otherwise. If you bought the Ann Budd "Knitted Gifts", try to work up something from the book to share. If you did not buy the book, bring something else. But come anyway, even if you don't have a little something to share!

January 9 is our "Felting Focus". We are excited to have Cynthia Mollenkopf as our guest artist. Cynthia will be talking about felting, answering questions, and will have some of her own work to show us. I'll be asking for an RSVP for this meeting later on. Our featured book will be "Uniquely Felt" by Christine White, and we'll offer it at the 20% discount.

Finally, a reminder that we have been so fortunate to be able to do this at Quail Ridge Books. The spot is great, and the staff has been very positive, and helpful to us. So, I'd like to encourage us all to remember them when we're shopping for the holidays!

Ok. That's it for now. If anyone is wondering, we lost in the third round of soccer playoffs. Too bad, but my life IS returning to normal!

Enjoy the fibery season!

See you in December,

--Jackie

14 November Second Saturday all fiber arts meeting

Hosted by Carolyn Beasley. She writes:

"Thanks to those who made Saturday a wonderful time at our house. It is always good to be around such creative women. Hope to see you soon."

Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 19 November at the NCSU Crafts Center with 10 attending.
Jane introduced the following business items:

*TTFAG Annual Swap meeting will be held at Elaina's on Dec 11 with a potluck starting at 6pm.

*Carolyn is organizing the Carolina Fiber Festival to be held 21-23 May at the Holshouser Building at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. Currently accepting vendor booth reservations; the application is available on the show's web page http://carolinafiberfest.org Ads for the Festival are running in Spin-Off and Handwoven magazines.
Planned exhibits and activities include a shearing demonstration with David Sweeny, a sheep to shawl contest, and workshops for spindling, shifu woven paper fabric, and dyeing. Anyone interested in the sheep to shawl contest is encouraged to start forming a team now.

Then Judy showed us how to do Indian weaving. She brought finished examples and yarn and sticks so everyone interested could give it a try!

2009-11-01T23:13:00.001-05:00

October 2009 Notes

10 October Book club meeting

Jackie writes:

Thanks to those who came to the meeting. It's always nice to learn about such an interesting person, and especially to see the Starmore designs.

Jane, the Fair Isle and Aran are really lovely. (And I would still wear the sweater with the moth hole!)

Here are sources that provided the info I had:

www.wikipedia.org (has a list of her books)
www.alicestarmore.com
www.virtualyarns.com (Alice's own line of yarns. And, judging from Punky's own work in-progress, the yarn is beautiful)
www.knittingdaily.com -- blog (Look for the Jeane Hutchins 2005 interview)

The piece I read was an excerpt from Alice's book, /Road Movies, Vol. I--The Memoirs of a Knitting Gypsy,/ which I found on the Virtual Yarns website.

Alice's discussion of the origin of Aran sweaters is found in her book, /Aran Knitting./

The newest Starmore design could well be the cap on the cover of the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of /Piecework/ -- "Capillifolium Baby Bonnet".

Next month's focus is Knitting for Kids-- November 14. See you then!

--Jackie

October Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 15 October at the NCSU Crafts Center with 10 attending.

The evening's topic was support spindling. Jame presented a workshop.

Support spindles are used to produce fine yarns with short fibers using bead spindles, takli, akha, or Russian spindles; or are used to produce low-twist, thick yarns with the Navajo spindle or the Norwegian high-whorl lap spindle. Thank you for showing us your Navajo spindle, Jane!

Jame learned about support spindles initially from Galina Khmeleva and Stephanie Gaustad at SOAR 2000 weekend workshops. She has continued to spin with supported spindles since then.

Hands on Demonstration

We started with a hooked stick and cotton sliver to create a leader and get a feel for long draw drafting of the fiber. Then we attached the leader to a bead spindle and worked from there, either continuing with cotton or switching to the sample of camel down.

Useful web sites for support spindle information

Hooky Sticks and Akha Spindles
Start Spinning
Spinning Down Fibers
Cotton Travel Kit
Using the Russian Lace Spindle
Akha Spindle
Make an Akha Spindle

Books

Handspindle Treasury Interweave press - articles on support spindles, the hooked stick, high-whorl lap spindle, Russian Spindle, Navajo spindle, Akha spindle, and takli spindle.
Gossamer Webs by Galina Khmeleva - introduction to spinning with a Russian spindle
Hand Spindles by Bette Hochberg - hooked stick, bead whorl, Navajo spindle
The Alden Amos Big Book of Hand Spinning by Alden Amos - instructions for making a Thai spindle and coin takli, sections on spinning with cotton and down fibers, and on long draw drafting.

17 October Saturday Dye Workshop

Natural dyeing hosted by Punky. Attending members dyed their yarns or fiber with onion skins and walnut husks.

27 October Fourth Tuesday lapwork meeting

Held at Glenaire. Did anyone bring their State Fair or SAFF entries?

Respectfully submitted,
Jame
Volunteer recording secretary

2009-09-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

September 2009 Notes

5 September Book club meeting

Jackie writes:

Here's a re-cap of our September meeting, "Knitting for Men".

It was fun to hear your successes and "lessons" with this topic. May we all go forward better armed with options for knitting stuff our men will actually wear!

Patterns and book ideas---
Penny Straker patterns.
Alice Starmore's Book of Aran Knitting - pattern "Irish Moss"
(Elizabeth - please correct if I'm wrong on the pattern)
Son of a Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller (I loved the wrestling masks! No, this wasn't just about sweaters!)
Going Straight by Woolly Wormhead. Interesting hats
Brooklyn Tweed by Jared Flood
Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsbeth Lavold
Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop
"Aunt Pat's Slippers"
Socks For Soldiers
Fold-over Mitts (Knitting Daily, PBS TV)
Best of Interweave Press (several patterns for men)

"A Christmas Past", men's Fair Isle sweater by Dale Long

Let me know if I'm forgetting any.

Hot tips---
Conservative color
simple, basic shapes
school colors
machine washable yarn
involve them in planning the design - pattern and yarn
get into the spinning instead (if you are going to have to knit a large boring sweater with small needles)

Good luck!

See you October 10. We'll look at knitting for kids. An easier-to-knit-for group, perhaps. Please note the meeting is the second Saturday, not the first.

Best wishes, and enjoy your fiber!

--Jackie

12 September Second Saturday all fiber arts meeting

Hosted by Carolyn Beasley. Thank you, Carolyn!

17 September Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on September at the NCSU Crafts Center with 10 attending. Welcome new members, Katherine and Rachel!

We held a wheel round robin, everyone got a chance to try the eight wheels which were brought to the meeting. Each person took her or his own fiber and tried out each wheel for about 10-15 minutes.

Jame's 19" Reeves frame wheel

Rachel's Clemes and Clemes

Katherine's new Lendrum folding wheel

Judy's experienced Lendrum folding wheel

Marilyn's Majacraft Little Gem

Punky's Schacht Matchless

Carolyn's Kromski Symphony

James's Kromski Sonata

Jan's Majacraft Little Gem

Thank you all for bringing your wheels! It's a great experience to see how another wheel feels when spinning (even a different one of the same make), to compare different tensioning and whorl ratio systems, and to learn how to lean back and relax while spinning (thank you, James).

22 September Fourth Tuesday lapwork meeting

Held at Glenaire.

2009-09-04T10:11:00.004-04:00

August 2009 Notes

First Saturday Book club meeting.

Jackie writes:

Thanks to all who participated in the discussion on using color! Lots and lots of inspiration form your work, and so many great ideas and tips! Here are a few I noted. Please add/correct. I know I didn't get everything-------------

-Keep a portfolio of pictures that inspire you. Magazine clippings of garments, or postcards of museum paintings could give ideas for puttingcolors together.

-Practice often! It builds confidence and skill.

-Look for inspiration in the world around you.

-Wrap lengths of each color around cardboard and place them side by side. See how the various colors look together. Play with hanging the arrangement. (weavers' tip)

- Take yarn to a dimly lit room to get an idea of value - which ones stand out?

- Look at yarn under different lighting.

- Photocopy yarns together on a copier to see contrasts

- Use the color wheel to find a particular harmony, and choose colors accordingly.

- Suggestion for Fair Isle (Erika Raspberry) - choose all solids or all heathered colors - don't mix, and put anything back you don't like.

- Technique can play a role in determining which colors stand out more. For example, how you hold yarns for Fair Isle can make a difference.

- Get feedback from others regarding your ideas - particularly in using your own left overs. A "fresh pair of eyes" is often helpful.

- Slip-stitch techniques can add texture as well. It's also an interesting way to use variegated yarns.

Books and resources. Please add to this- I think I'm missing a few of the many books we had.
-Spin Control by Amy King
-Poems of Color by Wendy Keele,
-Tudor Roses by Alice Starmore
-Fair Isle Knitting by Alice Starmore
-How to Select Color Palettes for Knitting and Other Fiber Arts by
Nancy Shroyer
-Colorworks by Deb Menz
-The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitleson
-Slip-Stitch Knitting by Roxana Bartlett
-The Knitting Experience: Color by Sally Melville

These two commercial yarns were mentioned a few times: Noro, and Koigu.

The author of Jane's biochem book, The Theory and Practice of Wool Dyeing, (from last month) is Peter Bird.

Looking ahead --------We'll kick off the fall knitting season with September's topic of "Knitting for Men". (These projects might be a whole lot less colorful! switching gears...) Our featured book is The Knitting Man(ual) by Kristin Spurkland. Book club discount is $18.38 with tax. (retail is $24.95). Please let me know by August 19 if you'd like me to order one for you. I'll send out another reminder later on. Book club date is September 5.

Also - The October date was changed from the 3rd to the 10th so we can go to Montpelier, VA for the Fall Fiber Festival, if we like. Would be great if a bunch of us could carpool/tailgate up! I think its about a 4 hour ride from Raleigh.

That's it. Again, please add what I have left out. See you next month. Hoping we can keep up the breakfast and/or lunch tradition!

--Jackie

Second Saturday all fiber arts meeting

Hosted by Amy on 8 August. Thank you, Amy!

Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild met on 20 August at the NCSU Crafts Center with 12-14 members attending (the scribe forgot to count accurately). Welcome new member, Jan!

Jane led the business meeting. Topics for the next 4 monthly meetings are as follows:

September - Wheel Round Robin
October - Support spindles
November - Finger weaving
December - Swap. Bring your unwanted but usable fiber arts items to swap. This activity is for dues-paying members only. Dues can be paid at the meeting for 2010. This meeting will be held on a Friday (date and location TBA) rather than the usual 3rd Thursday.

Planning is underway for the Fiber Festival as part of NC AgFest. TTFAG will host a demo booth. Carolyn is helping to organize. Some proposed activities are a sheep to shawl contest/demonstration, a fleece display, and a kid's area. The weaving guild will participate as well. Volunteers welcome!

The evening's topics were lucets, nalbinding, and corking. Jame, Carole and Jane brought lucets and demonstrated their use. Jame did a brief tutorial on using a nalbinding needle, and brought a book on spool knitting: Kids Can: Corking by J.A, Sadler as well as some spool knitters made using the instructions in the book. This book is available from the Wake County Library System.

Program ideas for the coming year are welcome. Some suggestions made are making color choices and combining colors, and fitting patterns.

Fourth Tuesday Lapwork Meeting

Held at Glenaire on August 25. The alt lapwork meeting was cancelled due to poor turnout at meetings on the 4th Tues over the summer.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jame
Volunteer Recording Secretary

2009-07-25T14:45:00.017-04:00

July 2009 Notes

Dyeing Demonstration

Jackie hosted the fourth Tuesday Alternate Lapwork night on 23 June 2009. Glenda brought materials for several yellow dye pots: fresh picked Queen Anne's lace, osage orange wood dust, and tansy.

The fiber (white wool in the lock, white wool roving and grey wool roving) was pre-mordanted with cream of tartar and pickling alum before being added to the dye pots.

The pots used ranged from enameled, aluminum and cast iron and were heated by an outdoor fire. The type of pot can influence the results, for instance the cast iron pot will act as an iron mordant and darken the wool.The dyeing finished after dark so we will have to wait to see the colors produced later.

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Photos of the dyeing results, finally! We are really grateful to Glenda, who shared her expertise with natural dyeing with us last month. The fiber stayed in the dye pots all night, and were taken out to air dry the next day. The Border Leicester roving (I think that's the breed) is from Glenda's own sheep. The colors in the photos are fairly true to actual, except that the osage orange and tansy show a bit pale in the photos. They are actually a little more vibrant. I like them. The Corriedale fleece has sticky tips, which come off when I process. I don't expect they will affect the color in the spinnning/knitting. I couldn't resist including the cat - a real "neb-nose" (Pennsylvania talk!)

Jackie

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Knit night at Jane's 1 July 2009

Jane shared her experience in knitting a well-fit sock. To get good fit, measure the foot in question 1) around the ball of the foot (where toes start), 2) length of the foot heel to toe, 3) ankle and 4) around instep and heel. The general recommendation is for socks to have about 10-20% negative ease, i.e. smaller than actual size of the foot being fitted. Then make a gauge swatch, which usually involves starting to knit the sock pattern, far enough along to get measurements which can be compared to the actual foot measurements, then adjust needle size or stitch count (if the pattern allows) as needed. Multiply your gauge by foot measurements to check fit. Ask questions on the list for more information!

11 July book club had a discussion of dyeing books. The featured pre-ordered and discounted book was R. Buchanan, A Dyer's Garden.

11 July Second Saturday afternoon meeting was hosted by Lynn in New Hill. Thank you for hosting!

Third Thursday Guild meeting

There were 20 in attendance at the 16 July 2009 meeting held at the NCSU Crafts Center.

A business meeting was led by Jane. Nominations are needed for officers to run the guild in 2010. Elections will be held at the December Swap. Currently Jane is president, Elaina is volunteer treasurer, Judy is volunteer vice president, Emily is librarian, Jame is volunteer recording secretary, and Jackie is book club president. Emily will be stepping down, as will Jane.

Special Presentation

Elaina gave a special presentation about Jacob sheep and brought in fleeces and samples from Gary's flock. The breed is unimproved and is ranked critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

The Jacob is a medium sized sheep with multicolored fleeces and up to 3 sets of horns. Fleeces are black and white and can have distinct spots or may have freckling of many small spots. An occasional sheep has lilac spots, a blue-gray.
As an unimproved breed, the fleeces are variable in texture from fine to coarse. A spinner purchasing a Jacob fleece needs to ask or feel the fleece to determine if it will suit the intended use. More information about the breed can be obtained from the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association.

Featured Projects

Mel's sweater was nominated by all present to be the featured project of the evening. It is her own design using yarn from Sanguine Gryphon. You had to be there to see it! As it is new design not ready for sale, we'll have to wait for its debut to see the sweater on-line.

But wait! Here's another great project seen at the meeting. Judy knitted the sheep puppet for Elaina from Elaina's shetland wool. The pattern is the Estonian Hand Puppet from Spin-Off Summmer 2006.

New member Punky brought some roving in that she dyed with natural dyes at a class. Some of the dyes used were madder, indigo, and onion skins.

May/June 2009 Activity

2009-06-19T23:19:00.010-04:00

It has been a busy month since the last 3rd Thursday meeting.

Fiber Fair

The AgFest Fiber Fair occurred 29-31 May in the Holshouser Bldg at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh.

The Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild was represented by Kim (Fri.), Jessica (Fri.), Judy (Sat.), and Jane (Sun.). They demonstrated spinning and carding. Heelside Farms provided cards and a washed fleece for carding demonstrations, and some roving for mini spinning lessons. Thank you!

Vendors present at the Fair included Heelside Farms, the Tail Spinner, Rare Find Farm, and Pots & Patches. The Carolina Alpaca Breeders and Owners had a display set up. Several members of CABO including Twisted Threads member Cathy of Kipling Pines Alpacas, had booths with various alpaca products to sell such as yarn, fiber, and finished items.

The Carolina Weavers Guild had a display table set up.

First Saturday Book Club Meeting

On 6 June, former Twisted Threads member Joanne Seiff gave a presentation at Quail Ridge Books about her recently published book, Fiber Gathering, to an audience of 40. Joanne also made available a mini trunk show of items created for the book such as the crocheted socks, the blossom stole, and the forest shawl. She also introduced her soon to be published book, Knit Green. After the talk she signed books, then went to lunch with long time guild members Jackie, Jane, Jame, Judy and Sue. Special thanks to Jackie as well as Great Yarns for helping to make this happen.

Good to see you again, Joanne!

World Wide Knit in Public Day

Several Twisted Thread guild members attended the 13 June event hosted by the Ol' North State Knitting Guild at Lake Crabtree Park. ~~Anyone care to share some stories or pictures?~~ Thank you for the picture, Kim!

Third Thursday Meeting

The 18 June Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild meeting at NCSU Crafts Center was attended by 9 members and guests.

The Beasley's presented a video of the May 29-31 AgFest Fiber Fair which featured interviews with several vendors who were present as well as a demonstration of Turkish spindle spinning by Jane. We discussed improvements for next year's AgFest Fiber Fair such as a kids area with hands on projects and separate areas for guilds.

Jo Ellen at the Crafts Center offered some raw llama fleece to any who wanted to experiment.

Respectfully submitted,

Jame
Volunteer Recording Secretary

Corrections and additions welcome, especially pictures!

2009-05-25T14:48:00.005-04:00

The 21 May 2009 meeting of the Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild was held at the newly renovated NCSU Crafts Center. Fourteen members and guests attended. We were welcomed by Assistant Director Jo Ellen Westmoreland. The Guild will be using this space for our third Thursday meetings indefinitely. A big thank you to Nancy for facilitating our use of this space.

At the business meeting led by Jane the following items were discussed:

Fourth Tuesday meetings will be in dual locations through September, then October through February they will be held only at Glenaire Retirement Community in Cary.
Judy is hosting the alt lapwork meeting on 26 May, 7-10 pm.
The June 4th Tuesday meeting will feature a mini-workshop on dyeing. The 23 June meeting will be hosted by Jackie.
Carolyn is coordinating space for the Twisted Threads Guild at the NC AgFest 29-31 May, 10 am-7pm. Our booth will be in the Holshouser Building with the Fiber Fair. All are welcome to stop at our booth to sit and spin, knit, crochet or demonstrate other fiber arts.
Jackie is continuing to coordinate the first Saturday book club meetings held at Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh 9:30 to 11 am. The June 6 meeting will feature former Guild member Joann Seiff, who has recently published Fiber Gathering.
Congratulations to member James, who will graduate on June 6! A celebration will be held at Heelside Farms, guild members welcome.
Volunteer Recording Secretary Jame proposed blogging meeting minutes rather than posting a file to the yahoo groups site. Feedback on the format is welcomed.

The evening's demonstration was done by Frith who showed all interested the basics of Navajo or chain plying both on a wheel and "ply-on-the-fly" with a spindle. Thank you Frith!