Join us for the annual PHG Holiday Social. We’ll make a few announcements, welcome guests and new members, but the rest of the meeting will be filled with fun! To make it extra special, each person should bring a dish to share. The guild will provide drinks and paper goods. Instead of Surprise Ewe, we invite everyone to bring a particularly nice fiber-related item for the exciting teacup raffle. And if your item is really nice, it might end up on the $1 raffle ticket table. Not only that, but you never know what might happen during our Holiday Social, so you won’t want to miss it. The Dizzy Spinster awards get handed out at the party, and sometimes we have a special guest (or two) who comes to hand them out. It’s the most fun and entertaining meeting of the year!!!
Learn to Spin
Spinning 101
Do you want to learn to spin?
Peachtree Handspinners Guild will hold a “Learn to Spin” class on Saturday, July 21 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm at North Decatur Presbyterian Church.
Bring your own spinning wheel (or let us know and we’ll have one there for you to spin on) and a check for $15 made out to PHG.
Preregistration is required. Reserve your space by emailing anniehall60@gmail.com with the subject heading “PHG Spinning 101,” letting us know if you’ll bring your own wheel.
North Decatur Presbyterian Church is located at 611 Medlock Road, Decatur, GA 30033.
March meeting
The Peachtree Handspinners Guild will meet Saturday, March 24, 2018, 1:00 to 4:30 pm in the fellowship hall of North Decatur Presbyterian Church (NDPC). The door will be open at 12:30 with the business meeting starting at 1:00. The March program will be presented by Gale Evans of Gale’s Art on Color Theory. Gale said that we will be working with paint so wear clothes that you won’t mind if they get a little paint on them.
Library Exhibit Challenge
By Paula Vester
The guild received its copy of Piecework and I picked it up from the mailbox the other day. It appears to be an issue filled with socks – history is interesting, but I will never knit a pair of historic socks like those amazing examples in that issue. But tucked in the back of the magazine was a wonderful article about a sweater. An amazing sweater that survived 75 years and now resides in the
Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. The pattern taken from that sweater is available on Ravelry, or you can buy it from the museum bookshop (the Ravelry income for the sweater sales also goes to the museum). The modern designer is Lea Stern (you can search “The Green Sweater by Lea Stern” in Ravelry), and the story is wonderful.
I will soon be in search of a nice fingering weight yarn to try and make this sweater. It seems to be sized for about a 7 yr old, and I may just knit it in that size and see if any on my great nieces can eventually fit it. I just want to see if I can follow a pattern of this kind…….my question: who might want to join me this coming year and choose a project to be knitted, crocheted, embroidered, or quilted from some historical story?
Maybe this could be our Library Exhibit Challenge for the 2018 year — history in fiber…….Find some historical – or maybe a family related – story/project and work on it for the exhibit at the DeKalb Library in June. I like some of the stories I hear you guys talk about pieces in your family collections, so those would certainly be perfect. I am sure some of us have some of the old books from grandmothers, aunts, etc. of patterns or books of the things people were doing in textiles throughout several generations. Let us make this year’s exhibit a fabulous one of history, fiber, family and friends.
February meeting
The Peachtree Handspinners Guild will meet Saturday, February 24, 2018, 1:00 to 4:30 pm in the fellowship hall of North Decatur Presbyterian Church (NDPC). The door will be open at 12:30 with the business meeting starting at 1:00. February’s Program/Meeting is a social spin with a (weaving) twist. This day will be mostly social spin except for those of us who are starting or working on a small weaving project. There are a couple of requests.
First, if you have a smallish woven item that you treasure, please bring it to show off, especially if it is from somewhere other than the USA. I have a cute handwoven South American sash covered in little bulls that I adore. Your “bring” can be made by anyone but it would be nice if you could attach a note to show origin, maker if known, where you found it or who gave it to you and why you love it.
Second, this meeting is also intended to be a mini-social for those of us who recently acquired a small loom (continuous yarn, rigid heddle, tapestry, Navajo, etc.). You don’t have to be a newbie to participate; we’d love some experienced weavers to pop over and give advice/help or just weave for a bit so we can watch and learn. I expect we will move off into a corner so come prepared to weave for an hour or so. No pressure, come and go as you like. After all, this IS a social spin day!
Pay your dues!
Membership Reminder
It’s time to pay your 2018 dues if you haven’t already. Give check or cash in appropriate amounts to treasurer Kim Wall. Please fill out the form on the last page of the newsletter, or put the info on a piece of paper to help Kim and Alice keep track of who has paid.
January 20, 2018
The Peachtree Handspinners Guild will meet Saturday, January 20, 2018, 1:00 to 4:30 pm in the fellowship hall of North Decatur Presbyterian Church (NDPC) (see map at right). The door will be open at 12:30 with the business meeting starting at 1:00. The program this month will be Dream Wheel-Go-Round.
In 2011 there was a Dream Wheel Weekend at the Spinning Loft in Michigan. It featured special spinning wheels loaned for the occasion. Spinners got to try out some wonderful wheels!
Miranda Hapgood has our own Dream Wheel-Go- Round planned for this month. Do you have a special wheel tucked away at home? Please bring it along so others can enjoy spinning on it.
The available wheels so far include:
- Upright and Saxony-style wheels
An early Alden Amos wheel
A Shaker wheel made between 1793-1807
A half-spoke wheel from Norway, made around 1870
Napoleonic-era (1799-1815) wheel from Holland
A Tiny gypsy wheel from Hungary
A Carson Cooper Sabrina, inspired by a French travel wheel - Spindle Wheels
Rio Grande—a treadled spindle wheel
Walking Wheel made by Norm Hall
Walking Wheel made by Lyle Wheeler
Antique “scoop” walking wheel
1790’s Virginia walking wheel
Alden Amos Bull Pup charkha
Bosworth Attache Charkha
Please plan to come and join the fun!