December Newsletter

The following is a recap of the December meeting and additional notes. The January meeting will be 01/08/09.

December Meeting Business

Weaving Related Items from the Estate of Paula Russell

Betty recapped the weaving related items the guild was able to obtain from Ms. Russell’s estate. Ms. Russell willed all of her weaving items to the Seattle Weaving Guild and they kindly shared with our guild the items that they were not able to use. Betty also thanked Fran for cleaning up all of these items – which had not been used for many years and were quite dusty. These items included:
1. 8 shaft 24” Folding Loom
2. Warping Board
3. Doubler
4. Rope Maker
5. 2 mystery (but interesting) looms
6. Weaving Books
7. Twinning Frame
8. Misc items

Betty proposed the following use of the donated items: (which will be displayed at the Jan. meeting and photos will be posted on the blog)
1. 8 shaft 24” folding loom – Add to CAMEL looms and make available for checkout after April. From Jan – April, 2008, use it to make items for ANWG booth. It would be warped in 5/2 cotton in colors compatible with the booth theme and available for check-out two weeks at a time. After the ANWG project completion, it would be available for members to check out and use for their personal projects. It folds into a compact size and will easily fit into the back of an SUV or large car trunk. It will also be used for the guide’s sheep-to-shawl participation. It will be stored at Fran’s house.
2. Warping Board – Add to guild inventory and available for checkout
3. Doubler -- Add to guild inventory and available for checkout
4. Rope Maker -- Add to guild inventory and available for checkout
5. Twinning Frame – sell at Jan meeting via silent auction
6. 2 mystery (but interesting) looms – sell at Jan meeting via silent auction
7. Weaving Books – Add to guild library
8. Misc items – sell at Jan meeting via silent auction

ANWG Conference
The 2009 Conference and Post Conference event will be held May 28 - June 3 on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane. Registration for the conference opens on Jan. 1, 2009. The conference booklet can be found at the following internet link: http://anwg2009.org/images/ANWG2009_Registration_Booklet.pdf . General Conference information is on the internet at: http://anwg2009.org/index.php?section=home The $395 conference fee includes three ½ day classes or the equivalent of 9 hours of class time, room (dorm rooms - Thurs, Fri and Sat), 8 meals during the conference and more.

Sheep to Shaw and 2008 Shawl Raffle

Toni recapped our letter to the fair board, outlining our concerns about the tone and nature of the judge’s comments. The guild voted to buy a lovely fleece from Evelyn. (photo on right) for our 2009 entry. The 2008 shawl raffle was won by Fran and the guild raised $40 toward the expenses of 2009 Sheep to Shawl.

ANWG Booth Update
Cary and Rocky provided an update on the progress of the booth items. Several more transparencies have been completed. Other completed items include bowls, goblets, sandwiches and many leaves (by Rocky using a Weave-it). If you are interested in making a transparency, please pick up the loom at the January Meeting.

January Meeting Date Change
Remember, the January meeting is one week later on 01/08/09 since the first Thursday falls on New Year’s Day.

December Program Recap

The December program was on creating inkle band (ribbon) Christmas ornaments and based on a Handwoven project found in the Sept. 2001 issue, page 26. The article “Holiday Ornaments” was written by Jo-Anne Tabachek. Georgean provided ribbons for all of us to use and Toni led the instruction. The Handwoven issue is available in the guild library.

January Meeting (1/08/09): Roc Day and Sale
Bring any fiber related items you wish to sell or give away. We will also be having a spin-in, so bring your spinning wheels.

February Meeting: Bags! Bags! Bags!
We will be featuring and discussing all the different types of shopping bags that can be made from your weaving, knitting and other fiber projects. Please bring any examples that you would like to share. Check out the Handwoven bag ideas at: http://www.interweave.com/weave/bag-of-the-month.asp

Requests and Opportunities
Knitting Needles: Sheryl Small is asking for donations of short straight knitting needles and small left-over balls of good yarns. She is volunteering at Meeker Middle School in Kent, teaching At Risk students knitting. She does this after school on Tuesdays. She could use some help if anybody is interested in helping young students learn the fine art of knitting.

Arachne Guild Blog
If you misplace or delete your newsletter, you can always find the information posted on our blog. Bookmark this link: http://arachne-guild.blogspot.com/ Photos of the silent auction items will be posted on the blog before the January meeting.

Future Programs
Jan: Roc Day and Sale (bring wheels for spin-in)
Feb: Making Your Own Shopping Bag
Mar: TBD
April: Carol Goodwin Program
May: ANWG Booth Mockup
June: Dye Day

Show and Tell

Arachne December Meeting Reminder

Date: Thursday, Dec. 11
Time: Set-Up/Social Time 9:30-10am
Business Meeting/Program: 10am (promptly)

December Program:
The December program will be inkle band (ribbon) Christmas ornaments. Georgean will have ribbon available so we can learn the technique. If you have inkle loom bands that have been lying around and you don’t know what to do with them, bring them also. We will make ornaments from them.

Holiday Gift Exchange:
There will also be a gift exchange for those wishing to participate.

Shawl Raffle:
The 2008 Sheep-to-Shawl will be raffled at this meeting. Tickets will be $5 each. People who worked on the shawl will get one free ticket. You can buy as many tickets as you like.

Lunch:
Holiday Potluck

Opportunities:
Basketry-Twinning Class, Saturday, Dec. 13 at Fibers, Etc., in Tacoma.

November Arachne Meeting

November Meeting Business:
2009 Sheep to Shaw
Betty led a discussion on the 2008 Sheep to Shaw results and the 2009 Sheep to Shawl demonstration. The membership decided to write a letter to the fair board regarding the judge’s comments. We would like to see the comments focus on the positive, i.e. best hand, best use of color, etc.Rocky will be the chair person for the 2009 Sheep to Shawl team and will be assisted by Georgean and Toni.

Shawl Raffle
The 2008 shawl, displayed on the right by Hilde, will be raffled at the December meeting. Tickets will be $5 each. People who worked on the shawl will get one free ticket. You can buy as many tickets as you like.

Meeting Start Time
We have decided to have set-up and social time from 9:30-10am on meeting days so that we can start the meeting promptly at 10am. Please practice courtesy to the speaker and the program host. The extra half hour will give you time to get up your pot luck item in the kitchen, add your show and tell item to the table and check out/in books from the library. It is very important that we start our meetings on time and practice courtesy to the speaker and the program host.

December Meeting Date Change
Remember, the December meeting is one week later on 12/11/08.

November Program
Rocky presented a program, “Cable Plying,” using her experiences following Judith MacKenzie McCuin’s article “Cables: Demystifying the Mysterious Yarn,” printed in “Spin-Off,” Spring 2008 and what she learned from Amelia Garipolli, Port Angeles, WA. Thank you Rocky, for an excellent program and teaching us how to spin better cabled yarns.

December Program
The December program will be inkle band (ribbon) Christmas ornaments. Georgean will have ribbon available so we can learn the technique. If you have inkle loom bands that have been lying around and you don’t know what to do with them, bring them also. We will make ornaments from them. There will also be a gift exchange for those wishing to participate.

Requests and Opportunities

Knitting Needles: Sheryl Small is asking for donations of short straight knitting needles and small left-over balls of good yarns. She is volunteering at Meeker Middle School in Kent, teaching At Risk students knitting. She does this after school on Tuesdays. She could use some help if anybody is interested in helping young students learn the fine art of knitting.

Craft Demo Opportunities: There are craft demo opportunities at the Cannery in Sumner this holiday season. Toni Smith will take volunteers for the weekends Nov 29 and 30; Dec 6 and 7; Dec 13 and 14; and Dec 20. Please have your folks contact her for more information.

Transparency Project for ANWG Conference 2009:
As most of you know, we are engaged in producing an entry into the ANWG Waves of Color 2009 Conference. Our concept designer, Cary Knaack, has envisioned a picnic setting under a lilac tree. She chose lilac because Spokane (site of the 2009 conference) will be having their Lilac Festival about the same time as the conference. Our colors will be representative of the lilac on a tree made with an umbrella skeleton festooned with woven leaves (made with the Weave-It loom – ask Rocky if you would like to make some) and our beautiful Transparency blossoms we make with the C.A.M.E.L. loom currently making the rounds. (Please sign up for this project!) Some of you have already begun making crocheted sandwiches and food items for the picnic. We need a basket, and a cloth for the site. Any of you that have something already woven or if you would like to weave a cloth for our picnic, please let us know. Think: Lilac. If everyone could find the Summer/Winter C.A.M.E.L. pieces we did last year, the wonderful pinks/yellows/blues/lavenders would make great napkins for our display. Let’s get going! Sign-up for the Transparency C.A.M.E.L. Check with Cary for patterns to crochet/knit food or other embellishments for the picnic. We should make this a prize winning guild project! (submitted by Rocky)

Arachne Guild Blog
If you misplace or delete your newsletter, you can always find the information posted on our blog. Bookmark this link: http://arachne-guild.blogspot.com/

Future Programs
Jan: Rock Day and Sale (bring wheels for spin-in)
Feb: Making Your Own Shopping Bag
Mar: TBD
April: TBD
May: ANWG Booth Mockup
June: Dye Day

Arachne Newsletter -- October 2008

The following is a recap of the October meeting. A special hands-on demonstration was given by Karin Skacel, President of Skacel.

October Program Recap
“It’s not needle felting. It’s not wet felting. The Artfelting technique utilizes Artfelt paper, a new paper specifically developed to ease and speed up the felting process. Artfelting can create felted material that is wafer thin as well as thick enough for a handbag all while allowing precision detail of design. The only thing that limits creativity with artfelt is your imagination,” Karin told us as she started her hands on demonstration.

Karin went on to explain how the technique was developed in Germany and showed us many, many gorgeous examples of scarves, shawls, jackets, bags and more that hand be created using the Artfelt technique. They were all inspirational! Everyone attending was given two sheets of the Artfelt paper, roving and pencil roving and then we all created our own designs. If you missed the meeting or want a refresher on the method, you can find a step-by-step demonstration on the Artfelt website or by clicking here. If you misplace the written handout provided by Karin, it is also on their website. Please bring your completed ArtFelt project to the November meeting.

2009 Sheep to Shaw
Betty asked everyone to think about the 2009 Sheep to Shaw project and bring their ideas for it to the November meeting. There is fiber left over from this year’s project that can be used. Betty also asked for volunteers to manage this project. If you are interested in managing it for the guild, please contact Betty or speak up at the November meeting. Hilde displays our 2008 Sheep to Shawl entry (on right).

November Program
Rocky will present a program, “Cable Plying,” using her experiences following Judith MacKenzie McCuin’s article “Cables: Demystifying the Mysterious Yarn,” printed in “Spin-Off,” Spring 2008 and what she learned from Amelia Garipolli, Port Angeles, WA. If people would like to try cable plying, they should bring a spinning wheel, 2 or more colors fiber to spin, and 3 bobbins.

Show And Tell
There were many terrific items at show and tell. Holly took photos and is working on creating a show and tell slide show for our blog..

Mark your calendars
December 11Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (2nd Thursday instead of 1st Thursday), Holiday Party plus Woven Holiday Card Demonstration by Georgean
Future Programs
Jan: Rock Day and Sale (bring wheels for spin-in)
Feb: Making Your Own Shopping Bag
Mar: TBD
April: TBD
May: ANWG Booth Mockup
June: Dye Day

Annual Dues
If you haven’t paid your Arachne dues yet, please send your check for $20, made payable to Arachne, to Frances Drohman.

October Meeting Reminder

The next Arachne meeting will be Thursday, October 2nd, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring a free Art Felting Demonstration by Skacel.

PLEASE BE ON TIME! The program from Skacel is a freebie that other organizations have had to pay for – so we need to be courteous, allow plenty of time for traffic snarls and be on time. The door will be open at 9:30 am, so library books can be returned and water can be heated in the kitchen prior to the 10 am start time. Betty says there will be an extremely short business meeting prior to the program and asks you to let a board member know in advance if you have an item of new business.

Everything you need to participate in the program will be provided by Skacel. The Show and Tell table will be available for you to display recently completed projects and you will have an opportunity to describe your project during lunch.

Lunch is a no-theme pot luck – a chance for you to show off your pot luck culinary delights!

Arachne Newsletter -- Sept. 4, 2008

The following is a recap of the September meeting. Presentation by Cary on creating transparencies for ANWG booth and fair event were the main focus of the meeting. Georgean conducted the business meeting in Betty’s absence.

New Business

Show and Tell Table: Georgean proposed going to a Show and Tell Table instead of show and tell “round the room”. She volunteered to organize and manage the table. Photos can also be taken of Show and Tell items for the new guild blog (details below).

ANWG Conference Scholarship: Georgean reviewed the availability of scholarships to the 2009 ANWG Conference in Spokane, May 28-31, 2009. A motion was made, seconded and approved by the membership to nominate Georgean for the scholarship. Holly will submit the information to ANWG.

Fair Volunteer Opportunities: Georgean viewed the time slots that need to be filled by the membership. If you didn’t sign up to volunteer for the 4X4 at the meeting and want to participate, contact Georgean.

October Program: Skacels of Kent will present a free hands-on “Artfelt” demonstration. The demonstration takes 2-3 hours, so please plan to arrive on time for the October meeting. Artfelt is a combination of needle felting, wet felting and fulling.

2008-2009 Programs: Georgean reviewed the programs planned so far. See list below.
Board Meeting Minutes: A planning meeting was held by the board in August. The minutes from the meeting were reviewed and copies of the minutes were available to all members. (If you were unable to attend the meeting, contact Holly for a copy.)

Guild Blog: Holly reported that she had created a free blog (http://arachne-guild.blogspot.com/ ) for the membership. In addition to emailing the monthly newsletter and reminders to the membership, the meeting minutes, alerts and other information will be posted on the blog so the membership can refer to the blog if their newsletter has been deleted from their email. (No last names, phone numbers, etc., will be on the blog.) She also created a gmail.com mail account for the guild and all newsletters, etc., will be send from this address: Arachne.Guild@gmail.com . She passed out a sample copy of the blog and asked that everyone bookmark the blog address. There will also be a link to a free FlickR type photo account and photos from show and tell will be posted there.

September Program Recap
The program included an overview by Cary of the guild’s booth for the ANWG conference. The booth will have a large wooden umbrella stand that will be decorated with a lilac theme.
Handwoven linen lilac transparencies will be suspended from the umbrella along with woven leaves and artificial lilacs. Beneath the lilac tree will be a simulated picnic – with various woven or felted picnic related items.

Guild members are needed to weave the transparencies and the picnic items. Cary, Rocky and Toni have warped a C.A.M.E.L. with linen and woven some sample transparencies. Cary has prepared a notebook to accompany the traveling loom and it has detailed instructions on how to weave the transparencies. The notebook also includes: 1) various lilac photos that can be used for cartoons (or you can create your own design), 2) a list of supplies you need when weaving transparencies, 3) a sign-up sheet for the C.A.M.E.L and 4) a sign up sheet to weave or felt items for the picnic. Cary has some yarns available for the transparency art work or you can use yarn from your stash. Rocky, Toni and Georgean each gave some tips on weaving transparencies, based on their experiences.

Georgean also explained her idea to create leaves using a Weave-It loom and Kate signed up to make the first batch of leaves.

Project Reports
Sheep to Shawl Update: Kate presented an overview of the prep work that has been done for the Sheep to Shawl on Sept. 11 and showed everyone a beautiful sample that had been woven by Hilde. The guild will be weaving on a 4 harness loom instead of an 8 harness using 622 yards of handspun for the warp and more than 600 yards for the weft. Our space is below the grandstand and Kate strongly recommends those working the 6-10pm shift wear ear protection.

Camp Burton Retreat: Georgean reminded everyone that she needs their Camp Burton fee ($107.50 for the full weekend) by Sept. 15th. There is still time to sign up for the Camp Burton Retreat, if you contact Georgean immediately. If you would like to participate, please contact Georgean.

Mark Your Calendars
October 2nd, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Free Art Felting Demonstration by Skacels,
November 6Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Cabled Yarns Demonstration by Rocky (bring wheel),
December 11Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (2nd Thursday instead of 1st Thursday), Holiday Party plus Woven Holiday Card Demonstration by Georgean

Future Programs
Jan: Rock Day and Sale (bring wheels for spin-in)
Feb: Making Your Own Shopping Bag
Mar: TBD
April: TBD
May: ANWG Booth Mockup
June: Dye Day

Annual Dues
If you haven’t paid your Arachne dues yet, please send your check for $20, made payable to Arachne, to Frances Drohman, 30464 11th Ave S, Federal Way, WA 98003.

Sept. 4 Meeting Reminder

The next Arachne Guild Meeting will be Sept. 4th from 10am - 2pm. The meeting will begin promptly at 10am.

Cary will be giving a short program on the ANWG conference booth and about 'Transparency Weaving '. She will specifically will be introducing the C.A.M.E.L. that will be passed around for those who choose to weave a transparency of a lilac flower. The ANWG conference will be held in Spokane, WA next May. The theme of our booth is a Lilac tree with a 'picnic' going on under the tree. Volunteers are also needed to weave items for the "picnic".

Georgean will have the tickets for the Fair for both our Sheep to Shawl day, Sept. 11 and for the 2 days we do 4x4's. For Sheep to shawl we will need 5 volunteers all day. That is 10 am to 10 pm. For the 4x4's we need 4 people for each of the 3 time slots on those days. (10am-2pm, 2pm-6pm, 6pm-10pm) You can work on anything you want of your own during the 4x4's as long as it is fiber related.Georgean also needs your checks for the Camp Burton retreat. If you can only come for Sat. Lunch thru dinner, the cost is $29.55. The total cost for the weekend is $107.25. She needs to get the final count in no later than the middle of Sept. Any questions please call her.

June Meeting Recap...

The following is a recap of the June, 2008 meeting. The election of new officers and a program on spinning with silk caps were the main focus of the meeting.

Election of New Officers for 2008-2009
The following new officers were elected for the upcoming year:
President: Betty
Treasurer: Frances
Programs: Georgean
Sec/Newsletter: Holly
Kitchen: Pat and Dawn

Annual Dues
If you haven’t paid your Arachne dues yet, please send your check for $20, made payable to Arachne, to Frances. She needs to receive your payment by July 10th so the membership list can be distributed prior to the September 4th meeting. Please provide Frances with your current mailing address, phone number and email address when you send in your dues. If you do not want this information included in the membership list, please make a note when you send it, with your dues, to Frances.


Project Reports
Sheep to Shawl Update
Kate reported that she had carded a Rambouillet fleece she purchased in Dayton, WA. She said the carding process was not an easy task as the fleece was quite soft and had lots of vegetation in it. Kate passed out the fiber to those who are going to help but she is still in need of spinners. If you are interested in helping, please email Kate.

Weaving Waves of Color, 2009 ANWG ConferenceCary reported that she continues to work on the sample and planning for the Arachne booth at the conference.

Camp Burton Retreat
Georgean reported there is still time to sign up for the Camp Burton Retreat. Recapping the retreat info in the previous newsletter: “The fall retreat for Moonspinners and Arachne at Camp Burton is Oct. 3-5, starting with dinner Friday the 3rd through Sunday breakfast the 5th. The full weekend is $107.50. For info on part time contact me (Georgean). There are limited spaces available due to the Native American Flute players being there at the same time. They have invite us to their concert on Sat. evening. NWRSA members have been invited to join us, so get your check in for reservations soon. Time is flying and it will be here before we know it. This is a great time to kick back and relax and spin or knit or whatever, with great food and no cooking or cleaning. We get to socialize with each other that is usually pretty limited at guild meetings.” If you would like to participate, please contact Georgean.

Mark your calendars
No meetings for July and August
September 4Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
October 2nd, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
November 6Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
December 11Th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (2nd Thursday instead of 1st Thursday)

June Program Recap
Georgean demonstrated her favorite technique for spinning from the silk caps that guild members dyed at the May meeting. Some of her tips included: 1) Remove the thinnest layer possible from the silk cap by grasping the edge and pulling back. 2) With that cobwebby piece, find an edge to start spinning from.3) Because cap silk fibers will not slip apart as easily, she demonstrated how to wrap the length of the silk fiber around your hand and use that to pull with. She pointed out that using your fingers in the normal method to do this could make them very sore very fast. Several members had already spun their silk caps and passed their gorgeous silk skeins around during show and tell.

Volunteers Needed
Sheep To Shaw: Spinners: Contact Kate
Event: Sept 11th Western Washington Fair in Puyallup: Sept 16th & 19th for the 4X4 demos.

Websites of Interest
Palette Generator Holly shared three scarves she created using this color palette generator. She has written a tutorial on how she uses this website to capture colors and she has posted the tutorial file on a website using Adobe Reader file. Click here to open and print it.

Upcoming Events
Betty B. will be showing her pottery and weaving at the 4th Annual Private Art Show (PAS), Sunday, July 13th, Noon to 5pm at the home of Dave and Sue Gantt, 36928 Pacific Highway S., in Federal Way.