SPRING TERM – Round-up!
Successful 4 Corners – Photos
Spinning – making yarn from fibre
Felting – needle felting and wet felting
Dyeing – using natural plant dyes
Weaving – making cloth
It was a really good day! If you would like to go on the waiting list for next February, please reply.
Four Corners Workshop – ALL PLACES TAKEN
Not too early to sign up for February 2025! ……date to follow
Look out for photos……………..
Saturday 24th February 2024 – 10am-4pm
Calling all textile enthusiasts- from beginners to the experienced.
All are welcome to come along and join us for a day of …
Spinning – making yarn from fibre
Weaving – creating cloth on a loom
Felting – needle felting and wet felting
Dyeing – using natural plant dyes
Settlement & LALG members £30 / non-members £35
The Settlement, Nevells Road, Letchworth, SG6 4UB
All materials are included in the price
Bring your own lunch – drinks will be provided
For further information or to book your place email:
northhertsguildswdevents@gmail.com
OUR BEADING EVENING – lead by Helen Swan
A recent workshop on beading – l introduced our members to the fascinating world of beads. We learnt that by using modest looms for example a small rigid heddle loom, or a beginners loom we could obtain some amazing results.
We made our own stitch markers for our knitting projects.
Helen also displayed some Kumihimo beaded braids, and Carol very quickly learnt how to use a Kumihimo disc to make a braid, another absorbing beading skill!
Solar Dyeing – RESULTS!
This links to our Solar Dyeing Evening on 15 June!
We were delighted with the results, in general. It was incredible how many shades and even colours could come from one dyepot. Some were disappointing as the colours were not as expected or very dark. A slight error when following a dye ‘recipe’ can be disasterous but we reflect and learn! Overall the whole experience was really enjoyable and interesting. THANK YOU TO SUSAN DYE FOR LEADING US!
2023-2024 PROGRAMME (see above right) and SUMMER WOOL FESTIVAL JULY 2023
We enjoyed demonstrating, promoting our guild and displaying our creations for two days at the Summer Wool Festival. We also had fun browsing and buying, of course! Visitors ‘flocked’ to our stall and were very interested in ‘Flossie’ (in the background) and our dyed fleeces.
KIMPTON FOLK FESTIVAL – 1st July
A lovely relaxing day, demonstrating and promoting our crafts amongst all ages!
Solar Dyeing with Susan Dye – 15th June
We thoroughly enjoyed this venture into solar dyeing, using a variety of natural ingredients. We added natural yarn, fleece or material to the pots. We all kept a note of our ‘recipes’ for future reference.
Everyone ended up with their own dyepot which will brew in the sun for 3 months, then in September we will compare results…… We look forward to this!
THANK YOU SUSAN
ANNUAL CHALLENGE 2023- To create a bag!
See the range of beautiful, innovative bags, created by our members, along with a short description of the skills/materials used.
Felted 3D, using plastic resist worked three layers of felt then cut out for handle. Snug home for granddaughter’s Sylvanians!
Ashwell at Home 14 May
Demonstration of Spinning and Drum Carding in the church
Visitors were very interested in our activities
Our Annual Event!
Four Corners Workshop
Saturday 18th February 2023 – 10am-4pm
Calling all textile enthusiasts- from beginners to the experienced.
All are welcome to come along and join us for a day of …
Spinning – making yarn from fibre
Weaving – creating cloth on a loom
Felting Acid Dyeing
NHSWD members £15 / LALG members £25 / non-members £30
The Settlement, Nevells Road, Letchworth, SG6 4BU
All materials are included in the price
Bring your own lunch, drinks will be provided
For further information or to book your place email:
spinners_4_corners@btinternet.com
UPCOMING EVENT – 18 FEB 2023
FOUR CORNERS WORKSHOP.
Your chance to come and ‘have a go’ ……………. more in the New Year, so watch this space!
CHRISTMAS – Secret Santa!
Our last meeting of 2022. We made a small gift to give anonymously. We then had fun admiring the varied collection and guessing who made them!
It was a lovely festive evening and we look forward to meeting again in 2023.
Autumn Activities – Projects and More!
Felted Picture Cards – with Lynda – 17th November
We had a wonderful evening creating needle-felted Cards. Normally the sound of lively chatter can be heard during our evenings, but it was so quiet as we concentrated both on our creations and on where the needles landed!
FLOSSIE – Our Guild Project ,of a British sheep wool blanket, has continued to grow over the years – but we’re not finished yet! It attracts a great deal of interest when it is displayed at events.
NEW! – BESSIE the Non-wool blanket ‘companion’ project……. more later, but here are it’s beginnings!
Vest – for Carol’s husband – made from Corriedale fleece, originally dyed orange and then over-dyed with purple.
SUMMER WOOL FESTIVAL 2022
Last weekend several of us joined other guilds and set up a stall at this new and most welcome festival that has taken over from Fibre East.
We displayed our creations and demonstrated our skills. The public showed a great deal of interest in our crafts and crafting. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely!
ECO PRINTING – Susan Dye The Big Reveal
23rd June 2022
It was like Christmas without the stress! We opened our packages and the room was filled with happy gasps of amazement and delight. Many thanks to Susan Dye for leading us through the process and then steaming our tied up tiles and pipes. Also to Kathy Groom for unpacking and ironing our prints.
You can see the wonderful results below!
Summer began!
ASHWELL AT HOME – 8th MAY
The theme of the Ashwell at Home was Health and Wellbeing.
Activities were aimed at how people could enhance their lives after two years of living and working apart from colleagues, friends, and families. The psychological benefit of weaving, spinning, felting, and dyeing and the process of making something unique for ourselves and others fitted in well with the programme of events
The event attracted hundreds of visitors, but the area in St Mary’s church where the Guild demonstrated our crafts, offered a quiet and reflective space for visitors to view our work and talk about our Guild. Flossie was a big hit, even people who were not particularly interested in spinning or weaving marvelled at the differences in the wool from different sheep breeds. Some visitors were also keen to show us photos of crafts they had tried over lockdown. Many thanks to Jan, Helen, and Katherine who gave a warm and instructive welcome to visitors.
Rounding up SPRING 2022
SPINNING WHEEL EVENING – 17th March
At our last meeting before Easter we had a spinning session where we devoted the evening to the subject of our spinning wheels, their story, and what they mean to us, why we chose our particular model, special features, etc! As many as possible took along their spinning wheels. (See below)
We had 8 different wheels ranging from a custom build to an electric spinner; from traditional designs to modern builds; some folded, others did not.
Helen S starting the evening with a discussion of all the component parts of a wheel and each of us had to locate them on our wheels. It was very interesting to see the differences as not all wheels have the same components. We spent some time talking about ratios and how each of our wheels enabled the bobbin to rotate at a different rate from the drive wheel.
The rest of the evening was spent trying to spin on each other wheels. This was a great chance to have a go spinning on something different and to consider the pros and cons. Everyone really enjoyed the evening and it was a good way start the Easter break!
OUR SPINNING WHEELS
4 Corners Successful Day! – Sat 12th February
Our visitors enjoyed a varied day……….. We all thoroughly enjoyed crafting and learning together!
UPCOMING EVENT!
Four Corners Workshop
Saturday 12th February 2022 – 10am-4pm
Calling all textile enthusiasts- from beginners to the experienced.
All are welcome to come along and join us for a day of …
Spinning – making yarn from fibre
Weaving – creating cloth on a loom
Kumihimo – Japanese braiding
Felting – felt a 3D shape or a small picture
Dyeing – Shibori style dyeing
NHSWD MEMBERS £15/ LALG members £25 / non-members £30
The Settlement, Nevells Road, Letchworth, SG6 4BU
Lunch and materials are included in the price
For further information or to book your place email:
northhertsguildswdevents@gmail.com
SPRING ROUND-UP – Scroll down to see all!
Coming soon……
Solar Dyeing – with Susan Dye – 15 June
MARCH – CARDING EVENING – Drum carding, Hand carding, Colour blending
FEBRUARY – 4 CORNERS WORKSHOP – ANNUAL EVENT – So look out for next year!
All our participants enjoyed the day immensely……… and so did we!
Spinning
Weaving
Felting
Dyeing
Crafting together 