Spring is upon us as I look out toward the snow covered Cascade Mountains in Central Oregon. Sunshine one day, snow the next seems to mark the beginning of spring in Bend. I’ve been fortunate already this year to take a weaving workshop lead by Linda Davis on Weaving Tartans. We had a great weekend of learning new techniques and discovered there are thousands of registered tartans and beautiful plaid color combinations to keep any weaver busy, Scottish or not. My tartan is called ‘Rainbow 2’ and was fun to weave in 5/2 cotton as a table runner.
More regional workshops, events, and conferences are coming up shortly, along with the Annual Membership Meeting in Portland on Saturday, May 19. Please RSVP to Melanie Smith, ANWG Secretary if you are attending the meeting or if you are sending her a proxy by May 9. Her email is secretary@northwestweavers.org. I hope to meet many of you there. We will have a business meeting, committee reports, the 2019 Conference report, Show and Share, and announce the winners of the 2018-19 Challenge Grant Awards. See the website for more information: https://northwestweavers.org.
June 12-17 brings us to the MAWS – Montana Assn. of Weavers & Spinners Conference near Bozeman at Big Sky. There is a week’s worth of workshops, seminars, and events planned. Space is still available, check out their website at -- http://www.bozemanweaversguild.org/maws-2018/
HGA’s Convergence in Reno will be here in early July. ANWG will have a meet and greet at that event on Sunday, July 8 from 5:30-6:30 PM at the Peppertree Hotel. Stop in and say hi and meet others from the ANWG region in attendance.
I’d also like to welcome our newest guild member, Prairie Fiber Arts Collective in Alberta, Canada. We hope you make many fiber art friends in the ANWG guild membership.
Enjoy this newsletter full of guild reports and events, and be sure and visit our new, updated website often this year for the latest news and information. https://northwestweavers.org
Woven together, Linda Gettmann
ANWG Annual Membership Meeting
Saturday, May 19, 2018 ~ 8:30 ~ 3:00 PM
Oxford Suites Hotel, Jantzen Beach, Portland, OR
We would like to invite all ANWG reps or another member of your guild to join us in Portland for the Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday, May 19. We will have a continental breakfast available at 8:30 AM; check-in, drop off show and share, with the meeting scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM. If you or another member of your guild is not able to attend, a member from another guild can attend and vote for you with a pre-submitted proxy. Those forms are available on the website: https://northwestweavers.org/about/anwg-meetings/ and need to be sent to Secretary Melanie Smith by May 9. Please RSVP to Melanie Smith, ANWG Secretary if you are attending the meeting or if you are sending her a proxy by May 9. Her email is secretary@northwestweavers.org.
Show and Share is a popular part of these meetings, so please bring one item per guild to display. We will have a vote on the best item in several categories. To reduce the amount of paper you need to bring, we will have a sign-up sheet for each item on display and if anyone wants the weaving instructions/draft they can list their email to have the information sent to them by the person who made the item.
A block of rooms at reduced rates is available at the Oxford Suites Jantzen Beach hotel, King rooms $143 or 2 Queens for $156. plus tax for Friday and Saturday nights. Reservations for these reduced rate rooms need to be made by April 18, 2018 by calling (503) 283-3030, or (800) 548-7848 and mentioning the Assn. of NW Weavers’ Guild group. After that date the rooms left unsold will be released and any reservations made will be subject to availability and at the regular rates. Rooms are available by 4 PM, check-out is 11 AM. Cancellations can be made without charge by 3 PM, 24 hours before arrival. Here’s their website: https://www.oxfordsuitesportland.com/
Agenda
Continental breakfast and check-in for proxy’s, show and share ~ 8:30-10 AM
Welcome and call meeting to order ~ 10:00 AM
Introduction of board members
Written questions from guilds to the board
Determination of a quorum; formal adoption of agenda
Approval of Minutes of 2017 AMM - Melanie Smith
Treasurers report - Rae Deane Leatham
Committee Reports:
Membership - Liz Moncrief
Communications - Ila McCallum
Education - Isabelle Fusey
Webmaster - Isabelle Fusey
Old Business:
2018-19 Grant awards announced, short comment from winners present about
their planned event (if time)
Lunch in Bistro
Accomplishments
New Business:
2019 Conference Report, Confluences, Prince George, BC - Serena Black
Answer any written questions to the board
Next AMM will be held during the June 11-16, 2019 Prince George Conference
ANWG Meet & Greet at Convergence in Reno
Show and Share
Adjourn
NOTE: Any ANWG member guild or ANWG board member may place an item on the proposed agenda by providing the ANWG secretary with notification specifying the item to be considered. The ANWG secretary must receive the notification at least 30 days in advance of the annual meeting. To contact the secretary: secretary@northwestweavers.org.
Members Gallery -- Chocolate Challenge
Reps and Members, We’ve issued the challenge to you to send us pictures with short, descriptive titles to post on our ANWG website, in the Members Gallery. This web page, northwestweavers.org/gallery/, is designed to feature exciting happenings in your guild, area and with your members. We haven’t had much response, so I want to personally double dare you and your guild to show off your talents and skills, fun events, exciting venues...and put the rest of us to shame for not doing the same.
I promise a box of chocolates to the guild to step up first. You’ll garner immortality for yourself and your guild, and get to enjoy the formal presentation of this handsome award (chocolates) at the members meeting in May. I already have a box on my list for the first guild to send in their dues, so don’t you covet a place next to them receiving your honor? Remember - Double Dare and your guild will live on in infamy for ANWG 2018.
Liz - your humble Membership Chairperson
P.S. I’m thinking extra dark chocolate truffles, but don’t blame us if you don’t have enough to take home to your guild after the meeting
Liz Moncrief, ANWG Membership Chair
Do you Ravelry?
Are you a fan of Ravelry? Yes, Ravelry is for knitters but not just for knitters, weavers also have a community on Ravelry. Did you know that ANWG has a group there? It is “Assoc Northwest Weavers”.
This group features lots of inspiration! The post for each project has pictures, project information, tools and equipment, yarn and the weaver’s notes.
If you are not currently a member of the group, please join and post your most recent project for everyone to see.
For those of you who are not familiar with Ravelry, the URL is https://www.ravelry.com/. You will need to join Ravelry (no charge) to enjoy the many, many inspiring posts. But watch out, Ravelry can be addictive!
ANWG Meet & Greet, July 8, 2018
The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. will present Convergence®, an international fiber arts conference, in Reno, Nevada July 6-12, 2018 at the Peppermill Resort. With more than 1,500 participants, HGA’s biennial Convergence® Conference is a multi-faceted experience with exhibitions, shopping, fashion show, tours, workshops, seminars, lectures, and more. We are excited to share with our members and fellow fiber enthusiasts all that Reno and Northern Nevada has to offer.
ANWG guild members attending Convergence® are invited to a “Meet & Greet” on Sunday, July 8 ~ 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM in the White Orchard Dining Room at the Peppermill Resort. Stop by and meet ANWG board members and other Pacific Northwest ANWG guild members attending HGA’s biennial conference.
Alaska: Anchorage Weavers and Spinners Guild
The Anchorage Weavers and Spinners Guild has had an active year. We have a strong interest in increasing our skills, and have continued a long tradition of workshops, study groups and retreats to energize ourselves and broaden our enjoyment and skill in the fiber arts. During our summer season we have no guild meetings, but individually pursue our own adventures. This year a large contingent of Alaskan weavers and spinners traveled to ANWG in Victoria, and all returned with ideas bubbling and more energized in our chosen craft.
Our fall season started with workshops for both weaving and spinning. Nationally renowned spinner, Celia Quinn taught us “All you want to know about spinning silk”. The workshop included both lecture on silk types, and history of silk manufacture, and then hands on reeling silk from cocoons, and dying and then spinning from silk hankies. Workshop participants learned by doing that silk is a magnificent fiber to add to your spinning repertoire and that its beauty does not need to be feared. Celia inspired and delighted us with her workshop.
Our weaving year started with Dianne Totten’s workshop on Crimp Cloth. This workshop showed us that texture in weaving can be manipulated to increase the possibilities of clothing design in amazing ways. The additional benefit of crimp cloth garments fitting a multiplicity of sizes added extra dimension and value to its potential in clothing design. New vistas of clothing construction now open, as some weavers who had sworn off weaving for clothing are now saying oh, I could do This!! We all enjoyed the mental stretch as we learned to crimp! Many of our weavers are now getting their workshop looms warped up for a Theo Moorman workshop mid April, to be taught by Heather Winslow. We have so enjoyed having Heather as an instructor in the past, and Theo Moorman promises to be another exciting workshop.
We punctuated our winter weaving and spinning season with a mid winter retreat at a rustic camp location outside Anchorage. Hardy participants who took advantage of time away from daily responsibilities to fellowship with other fiber enthusiasts learned new techniques and tips while staying cozy and warm at a lovely camp. What could be more fun?! We have decided to repeat this next year, as a fiber adventure in the dark days of winter is a perfect boost to everyone’s morale!
And underneath it all, like a bubbling little spring, one of our long term study groups has been making amazing tablet weave bands. This year these dedicated artists began tablet weaving with patterns from the book Applsies and Fox Noses, and then began to explore new structures. Discovering Randi Stoltz’ website, they found her patterns for Snartemo (Norwegian) bands and fell in love. Beautiful band weaving resulted as they fine tuned patterns and executed them in both modern and traditional threads. The tablet weavers study group was also able to reach out to the local Sons of Norway and jointly participate in an online live workshop last fall. This lively study group shows to us all how a passion for fiber arts can take you in many directions and lead to surprising learning opportunities. We plan to continue our study groups and add more next year!
The Anchorage Weavers and Spinners Guild continues to evolve as we pursue our mission of celebrating the fiber arts of weaving and spinning as we both learn, practice, do, and teach, bringing our love of fiber arts to new generations. It is a great time to be a weaver or spinner in Alaska!
Christine Dittrich
British Columbia: Midnight Shuttles Spinning & Weaving Guild
Our small guild has been having fun this year. We started the fall season at the Black Creek Fall Fair.The Black Creek spinners generously allowed us to share space to showcase many of the variations of spinning and weaving. Black Creek is a rural community south of Campbell River on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The hall is a busy centre that provides a range of fitness and other recreational activities. They have an old fashioned fall fair featuring music, crafts food and Community activity groups. It attracts a large crowd.
We found our demonstrations brought back lots of memories for adults. Children and some adults seemed very willing to try everything we had available. The drum carder is always popular. Some of our members have been teachers, Brownie leaders or just are good at showing people how to work from raw wool to finished fabrics.One of the most charming sights was seeing very young children take away a piece of yarn they helped spin. We also had small cardboard looms warped for children to weave and take. Some of the teenagers enjoyed producing a finger woven friendship bracelet. This was inspired by the workshop by Carol James at the ANWG conference in Victoria. The warp on the table loom was also well used. The hall used a picture of a couple of our members at the table loom in their next brochure.
Our next public demonstration was at Haig Brown house. This was the home of the Environmentalist and author Roderick Haig Brown and his wife, librarian and feminist Ann Elmore. The Museum at Campbell River invited us to show our activities there for their Fall Fair. This was another busy and popular event. We had many of the same activities and displays. Our members are usually not selling their products at these demonstrations. There are always people wanting to buy anyway. This day the painted warp scarves could have sold many times over. Their brilliant colours and unique designs drew a lot of admiration.
One teenager was fascinated by the art and craft and joined the guild. He is our youngest member with a talent and enthusiasm we appreciate.
We have also had a class on Summer and Winter with Norma Dean from The Woolgatherers Guild. Norma is very comfortable teaching weaving skills. We have enjoyed her talents previously. One of the looms she prepared for us used a linen warp to produce a rug sample.We find a class goes best with a wonderful potluck lunch and that the learning happens between members as well as from the teacher.
Currently we have two display cases up at the Community Hall to help advertise Vancouver Island Fibrefest. Some of our members have devoted their time to assist in planning this event that takes place in Campbell River May 5,6,& 7. It includes workshops, displays, a fibre market and more.
Gael Ackroyd
British Columbia: Kalamalka Weavers & Spinners
The Kalamalka Weavers and Spinners had a good year participating in community events and meeting regularly to achieve a high standard of workmanship and quality in our members’ weaving and spinning.
We held our annual Spin-in at Desert Cove in the Spring which attracted participants for a day of spinning and sharing our work with others. Additionally, we participated in two community events. The first included making Christmas gifts with children at an afternoon event hosted by the Sustainable Environment Network Society in Vernon, BC. The guild also participated in the annual Okanagan Artisans Show & Sale. Both the sale and the Christmas gift making were great successes as members were able to promote the art of spinning and weaving in the community.
Lindsey Lorraine
British Columbia: Kimberley and District Guild of Fibre Artists
Kimberley and District Guild of Fibre Artists, KADGOFA, is and active group of 10 – 15 members with meetings every Wednesday, 2:00 to 4:00pm, September through June in “Centre 64” - Kimberley’s Centre for the Arts. We are fortunate to have a large Guild room with ample storage for supplies and space for both table and floor looms. Curious onlookers/visitors are encouraged to become actively involved with members working on Guild or personal projects.
Bill Henriksen, our longest member and designer/creator of our Guild Room, is on hand at every meeting to give spinning lessons on his unique, self-designed, 3 person, teaching wheel! Aside from turning people into spinners, Bill is the Guild’s equipment maintenance expert!
During the past tear our Guild has explored we felting with artist, Sue Scott, from Kaslo, B.C. Sue’s workshop was open to Guild members and the Public. Attendees were pleased with the ;learning process and the beautiful handbags the were able to create under Sue’s organized and energetic guidance.
As you can see by the photo below, stuffed tubular doubleweave used in the creation of hot pads, bottle “cosies”, etc proved to be projects of great interest and excitement.
2018 started off with a “Beginner Weaving Series” in which 5 non-weavers learned to create warping chains, sley and wind a warp, read a pattern draft and finally weave a set of mug rugs. Their mugs have never been happier ((-:
Though our most recent “group warping” has been somewhat enough to make one’s eyes crossed, we have managed not to get crossed with each other as we dressed out 8 harness loom with a 24” wide very fine wool yarn at 30epi in an undulating twill pattern. This “enterprise” is definitely not moving at Captain Kirk’s starship’s “warp speed”!
This coming Fall our Guild is hoping to give a sheep to shawl street demo at a “First Saturday” celebration in the downtown public Platzl of Kimberley. We look forward to a wild and wooly time while sharing the joys of spinning and weaving with our townsfolk and out-of-town visitors!
Finally the members of KADGOFA wish a all ANWG members North and South of the 49th, the joy of continued learning and production in the Fiber Arts during the months to come. Happy Spring and Summer!
Wilma McRae
British Columbia: Langley Weavers & Spinners Guild
The Langley Weavers & Spinners Guild has just completed a very successful year of significant contributions to the fibre arts community. It was a banner year for the Guild. In July 2017, the LWSG members staged a 3 months long gallery show, “Fibre Arts A-Z”, at the Centennial Museum in Fort Langley, B.C. This exhibit used all of the letters of the alphabet to feature over 60 creative fibre projects by guild members that covered everything from angora to a parade of knitted zombies. A project statement accompanied each piece in the gallery to help the public understand the intent of the artisan as well as showing the functionality and unique originality. The progressive construction of a garment called the 100-kilometer coat occurred during the show and represented a true piece of BC wearable art. The coat was designed by guild member, Heleen de Boer, and other members used local resources to provide the fibre, which was used to spin the yarn, weave the fabric, and add surface embellishments to complete the transformation to finished coat. Guild members also provided “urban art” by yarn bombing the approaches to the Museum and decorating wire forms of sheep to greet visitors.
The Langley Guild took part in an annual Sheep to Shawl competition sponsored by the Surrey Museum and won the trophy for producing the winning shawl. The team was inspired by the breathtaking scenery of the Langley area and chose the Ms and Ws pattern for the shawl to echo the coastal mountains and surrounding waterways. The warp of local Romney wool was sporadically hand painted using a rich blue dye to highlight the natural colours of our landscape, especially the way light dapples on the water.
The Guild members demonstrated at several local events such as the Bradner Flower Show, Aldergrove Fair, Langley Arts Council displays, Langley Library, and at local schools. The Guild’s annual Artisans’ Sale that has been running for 43 years is held in early November.
The Langley Weavers & Spinners Guild was formed in 1971 under the sponsorship of the Langley Arts Council to promote and educate both the guild members and the community regarding the crafts of spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting and knitting. Our guild has over 100 members; we are a teaching guild and everyone with an interest in the fibre arts is welcome to join and learn.
Lois Hunter, ANWG Rep for LWSG
British Columbia: Prince George Fibre Arts Guild
We have had a 'harsh' winter and lots and lots of snow, which has made it difficult for our members to attend guild meetings. It's been a good winter to stay at home and work on our various fibre crafts!
We continue having 'movie' night the last Tuesday of the month. In February, it was appropriately, Dyeing with Ice.
As we moved into March, we prepared for our information booth at Fibres West where we promoted the conference in 2019. Our booth had a display of member work as well as the conference banner. It was good to touch base with the vendors, all of whom are very excited about being able to sell their products at another ANWG conference.
Our April weaving workshop on Twills with Laura Fry is a go and good use will be made of the guild room and looms.
Some BC guilds have already volunteered to do jobs for the conference and interest is building.
Hope to see everyone in June 2019!
Laura Fry
British Columbia: Selkirk Weavers and Spinners' Guild
Our guild has been hard at work preparing for our summer gift shop opening in June, as well as for our summer weaving project on the loom in our guild room. This year we have decided to weave winter scarves using up some of our yarn stash. When the scarves are done, they will be donated to local groups that help the homeless and in need, to keep a few more necks warm in the winter months.
This Spring, we have also been trying a new meeting format. As well as our regular monthly guild meeting held on a weekday afternoon, we have added two crafting meetings, one on a weekend afternoon, and one on a weekday evening. We don’t do any business at these meetings, but people bring their spinning wheels and current projects, or something they need help with, and it is a good time to socialize and catch up. We’ve also found it beneficial for some members who can’t make our weekday afternoon meetings.
Kirstin Doggart
British Columbia: Whonnock Weavers and Spinners
The Whonnock Weavers and Spinners enjoyed two days with Joan Carrigan of Saltspring Island making baskets. A unique random weave base was made from wicker for the first basket.
The second day cedar, sedge, and barks were provided for the group to be creative with to make the pictured small Ikebana flower vase. The group prioritizes education for their members by using any profits made from their Guild annual sale to subsidize workshops for the members.
Irene Weisner
Montana: Billings Weavers Guild
The Billings Weavers Guild has had a busy year.
Many members have woven shawls for our guild booth for the Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners (MAWS) 2018 conference in June. 2/18 lace weight Zephyr Wool-Silk in conference colors was used for these shawls and members were encouraged to explore new weave structures and to experiment with the colors.
A second project encouraged weavers to explore weaving with cottolin. Warp and weft were provided to participating members to weave towels with encouragement to “step out of your comfort zone” by using new color combinations or “disliked” color(s) and/or using a new weave structure.
We all had a great time in January at our dye day at the home of Linda Shelhamer. Linda organized the day beautifully, providing everything we needed to complete our projects for both warp and weft. Most of the yarns used were animal fiber; the dyes were acid based; the technique was painting.
Guild meeting presentations by members have included twining, designing and converting twill and overshot patterns to huck patterns, fibers of India, and Saori. A study group is being formed using Madelyn van der Hoogt’s “Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers” as a guide.
All of our weavers are producing some really outstanding projects. Please check them out on our Facebook page: Billings Weavers Guild.
Ruth Terry
Montana: Bozeman Weavers Guild
"The Sky's The Limit" The Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners (MAWS) biennial conference at Big Sky, MT, June 12-17, 2018 is now happily ‘coming soon’. The Bozeman Weavers Guild (BWG), the host for the 2018 conference, is excited as we make final preparations for our event and registration, which opened in January, is testimony to the fact that many people are looking forward to joining us.
In addition to the headlining instructors (Jason Collingwood, Jane Patrick and Linda Hartshorn), we have many talented regional instructors who will share their skills in classes that span the spectrum of fiber arts. There are too many to list here but included below is information on a class that may be brand new to you.
On Saturday morning, March 3, twenty BWG members attended Pam Refling’s Intro to Fiberworks/Computer Design ‘trial run’ class. Everyone came with their laptops, pens, notepads and an eagerness to learn about the Fiberworks program. Under Pam’s direction, attendees learned how to choose drawing modes to create a design and the associated threading, tie-up and treadling drafts. It was amazing to see the draft warp and weft take shape and then come alive with the addition of color. And It was fun to see how an initial design can then be transformed with color gradients and the multitude of other tools available in the program.
Everyone agreed that Fiberworks is an invaluable tool package for creative weavers who want to pursue their own designs. Interested? Pam will be teaching this class as part of the main MAWS conference offerings. There is still time to sign up!
In addition to a wonderful selection of classes, there will be a variety of events. The last newsletter included information on “Reach for the Stars: Fiber Artistry in the Big Sky (The 2018 MAWS Open show hosted by the Helena Weavers and Spinners Guild), the “True Colors of the Big Sky” Fashion Show (hosted by the Billings Weavers and Spinners) and the Conference Exchange Items (trade handwoven tea towels and handspun skeins). In this edition we’d like to acquaint you with other exciting conference events:
Big Sky Barbeque: Meet the Instructors - The main conference will kick off with a special dinner in the Huntley Dining Room. Meet and mingle, get to know our instructors and look for our MAWS Living Treasures, those wonderful fiber artists who have given so much of themselves to their own guilds and the MAWS organization.
Business Over Breakfast with Jane Patrick - All main conference registrants may attend this special session with Jane Patrick, co-owner of Schacht Spindle Co. If you are interested in the business of fiber, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to chat with Jane.
Top Ten Fiber Tips with Collingwood, Hartshorn, and Patrick - Three of our nationally and internationally known conference leaders will share their best tips covering their wide range of practice. Open to all conference registrants.
Keynote Address: “Weaving an Adventure” - Doris Florig, a self-described “Nomadic Contemporary Weaver,” has been chosen to give the keynote address on Friday evening, June 15, at the 2018 MAWS Conference. Doris exemplifies the conference theme of “The Sky’s the Limit!” with her adventurous spirit and amazing variety of fiber interests and expertise. Doris has been weaving, teaching, writing and exhibiting her work since the 1970’s. We are delighted to welcome her to MAWS 2018.
Special Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake - Enjoy socializing as you indulge in the season’s best dessert! Doris Florig will be available to sign copies of her recently published book Weaving An Adventure, as will our other published conference leaders.
We hope that everyone will make plans to come weave, spin, dye, felt and knit with us under the Big Sky! Additional and updated information on the 2018 MAWS conference, classes and events is available on the BWG website: www.bozemanweaversguild.org/maws-2018
Mary Bartlo
Oregon: Clatsop Weavers and Spinners Guild
The Clatsop Weavers and Spinners Guild held a "challenge" to create a bag using at least a bit of a multi-color bulky 99% wool yarn. And when we said "multi-color" we meant it! The only rules were to use the yarn in some way, and produce a bag. The created bags were exchanged via a number draw at our December holiday potluck. Sizes ranged from large market totes to small wallets, and utilized all our favorite techniques: weaving, knitting, felting, needle-felting, braiding, dyeing, sewing, crocheting, and Tunisian crocheting. One bag was knitted from the yarn made by splitting up the original bulky yarn and re-spinning it into DK weight. The bags were wildly different, but each was special and creative.
Julie Wittrock
Oregon: Gorge Handweavers Guild
Nine Guild members participated in a towel exchange on March 30th.
We have created a notebook on Tips and Tricks and have at least one new idea for each guild meeting. One of our members has graciously taken on the task to email each member the Tip & Trick that has been shared.
The Weavers Guild of Oregon (WEGO) has a traveling show with the theme being Color Gone Wild. Two of our members had their pieces selected, Kathy O’Hern is exhibiting “Rainbow Gathering” a hanging that is also photographed on the cover of the show’s pamphlet. Mary Marker’s entry “Gold Always Goes With Black” is a beautiful silk scarf.
Our Guild is getting ready for several upcoming events: