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Mountain Spinners and Weavers

Volume 39, Issue 6 February 2016

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

2 Workshops

4 Doubleweave Explorations

5 Felting Wool

6 Birthdays

President’s Message

We started out 2016 in a new home with several

visitors and guests and many things to present to the

members. We said thank you x 3 to Nancy Wilson.

She put together the Holiday Party singlehandedly

and made a success of it. She has offered to put

together the raffle baskets for the Holiday Sale, and in

March, she will take over the newsletter. The audit is

complete thanks to the hard work of Nancy Ricketts

and Mary Kelly. We have a new larger storage unit

which we still need to get organized and cleaned.

And last, but certainly not least, the board has decided

to drop commissions to 10% for all Guild shows for

2016!

Two gals from Flagstaff Wool and Fiber came to talk

to us about the festival, June 4-5, at the Pioneer

Museum in Flagstaff. They offer free space for guilds,

need demonstrators and are accepting proposals for

workshops. Sounds too good to pass up.

Next month is the Silent Auction, proceeds go toward

scholarships for native weavers. So look through you

stash of fiber and fiber paraphernalia. I am certain

you have something you need to get rid of. It needs

to be at the church by 8:30 a.m. the morning of the

February meeting.

So many exciting things and spring is just around the

corner. See you in February.

- Barbara Redmond

February: Silent auction Thanks to Tom Veatch for leading this event. A 12-shaft LeClerc loom will be the largest item for sale. The Guild will keep a 4-shaft Baby Wolf for loan. Articles that will be up for sale in the silent auction will have a minimum bid of whatever was paid for the item at the Yavapai College auction.

Shop the Silent Auction:

Choosing Yarns

By Barb Kiger There will be a wide range of yarns to choose from at our Silent Auction, Some of these yarns will be marked with fiber content, size of yarn, and yardage per pound. Others will not have labels and you will have to use your knowledge of fiber properties and your tactile skills to make a good guess as to fiber content and appropriate use. Fiber is the raw material of yarn. Every yarn is designed for a purpose. Choose yarn suitable for your project by considering fiber characteristics, yarn construction, and care needs. FIBER CONTENT Weavers prefer to use natural fibers--materials worth the time and effort put into a handwoven product. These fibers are resilient, accept color readily, wear well over time, and most of all they are a pleasure to handle. There are two major natural fiber groups, animal and vegetable. ANIMAL (protein - wool, alpaca, silk, etc.) Most animal fibers are in the form or hair, down, fur, or fleece. All have similar characteristics. Wool, the most representative of this category dyes easily, is absorbent and elastic, insulates and breathes well, does not wrinkle and resists soiling. Because of the scales on each fiber, It can be fulled or felted to change the surface look. There are many breeds of sheep and one can choose a wool type from fine to coarse, slick to lofty, soft to scratchy. Choose wisely. The fine wools, like merino, are best for clothing needs where they touch the skin. Coarser ones, are better for rugs. The elasticity of wool makes it a good choice for warps, as is is very forgiving in the tensioning process. Dirty, oily wools attract moths. Check you stash regularly

Continued on page 2

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Directory Corrections

Shelly Leichter's phone number is 928-710-8843 (cell) and 928-771-9303 (home) Sylvie White's address is 13622 N. Warpaint Pl., Prescott, AZ 86305

Upcoming Workshops:

Tom Knisely's workshop has filled. The final cost to participants is $80. Quite a bargain. If you still owe the balance, please get a check to Barbara Redmond, made out to MSWG by the end of January. If you need to drop out, contact Barbara as we have a waiting list! The Kathy Hayes workshop, Eco-Print Intensive, is scheduled for October 6,7,8 2016. Kathy is a nationally recognized fiber artist out of the Tampa Bay area of Florida. She is limiting her workshop to 10 participants, so you can expect plenty of one on one time with the instructor. Eco Print Workshop Intensive 3 day: Eco Printing is contact printing of plants onto fabric. In this 3 day intensive you will learn about plants, fabrics, equipment, processes and bundling techniques. Silk and wool fabrics have an affinity for plants and create fantastic prints. This workshop is perfect for fiber artists, feltmakers, dyers and art quilters. No experience is necessary, just a willingness to experiment and enjoy the bounties of nature. This workshop is designed to learn the essentials to carry out printing at home. Cost for the workshop is estimated to be $200 and there is a supply list. Other workshops: Anne Marie Bellam's “On Your Way to Designing Your Own Knitting Pattern”, $50 beginning immediately; Lois Longfield's Locker Hooking class, $25 kit included, March 2016; Barbara Redmond's “Felted Vessel” class, $25 materials included, May 2016. Please contact me with workshop comments or questions. Barbara Redmond

Continued from page 1 and if you find any, get rid of that yarn immediately before they transfer to other yarns. Silk, unlike the other protein fibers, is extruded by the silkworm to make a cocoon. It is lustrous, translucent, dyes readily, very strong, drapes well, and looks and feels elegant, but, it is expensive and needs special care. Sometimes you can identify silk by a slight, but, distinctive odor. VEGETABLE (plant - cotton, linen,hemp, etc.) These are cellulose fibers. Cotton is the most available. It is cool & comfortable for clothing and practical as it can be machine washed. But, it has low elasticity, it wrinkles, dries slowly and can shrink in its non-mercerized form. Linen and hemp come from plant stalks. The fibers are long and strong. Linen is cool to wear, but wrinkles. Ironing increases the luster. Over time this fiber wears and breaks on folded edges. Rayon and tencel, categorized as MAN-MADE, are chopped up and then extruded fibers made from cellulose,. They are lustrous, drape well, and are comfortable. They will shrink and/or stretch. Other categories are METALLICS from minerals & SYNTHETICS such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic. The synthetics are often used in small percentages to bind fibers together in the spinning of novelty yarns. Beware of using cheap acrylics, such as knitting worsted type, as they are stretchy, can pill & fuzz, and have a lifeless look. YARN CONSTRUCTION Yarns can be singles or plied strands. Loosely spun singles can break in warps. Generally, a plied yarn is stronger than a singles. However, the amount of twist can effect this. Feel the yarn, pull it and see how readily it breaks. If it breaks easily, use it for weft instead of warp. Knitting yarns are spun to be more springy. They can be used for weaving, but, care must be taken to get even tension in a warp or to avoid drawing in too much with a weft shot. Novelty yarns used for texture, have many forms, lumps, bumps. loops, boucles. CARE NEEDS Consider the care needs for your projects. Items like towels should be of machine washable fibers, like cotton, cottolin, or linen. Specialty clothing items, can be fibers that require hand washing or dry cleaning, as they do not need to be cleaned as often. Enjoy the Silent Auction and try something new - a fiber type, a novelty yarn, a different color. There are always a lot bargains to be had.

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MSWG Library

Doubleweave: On Four to Eight Shafts by

Ursina Arn-Grischott. Interweave Press (2000),

Hardcover, 192 pages

Magic of Doubleweave: The Best of

Weaver's (Best of Weaver's series) by

Madelyn van der Hoogt

Other authors: Alexis Xenakis (Photographer)

Xrx Books (2006), Paperback, 108 pages

Doubleweave [DOUBLEWEAVE]

[Paperback] by Jennifer Moore

Interweave Press (2010), Paperback

The Double Weave: Plain and Patterned

(Shuttle Craft Guild Monograph 1) by

Harriet Tidball. Shuttle Craft Books (1960),

Edition: 1st, Paperback, 34 pages

Loom-Controlled Double Weave from the

Notebook of a Double Weaver by Paul R.

O'Connor

Dos Tejedoras (1992), Paperback, 95 pages

Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle

Loom by Betty Linn Davenport

Betty Linn Davenport (2008), Edition: Revised

Edition, Spiral-bound, 76 pages

Http://www.librarything.com Login: MSWGuild Password : Bronson

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Doubleweave Explorations

by Caralee Roberts I first learned about weaving doubleweave cloth many years ago, when I took a doubleweave class from Carma K. We studied how double weave involves weaving two fabrics at the same time. The first fabric is above the second on the loom, and each has a separate set of warp threads and sheds. We learned how to weave so the two fabrics were completely independent, or so that they were connected at one or both salvages in order to make either one fabric that was twice as wide (connected at only one salvage) or a circular fabric or “tunnel” (connected at both salvages). It was lots of fun playing with these ideas, and then changing the pattern of sheds that you lifted to interlace the two fabrics in different ways. You could make a pocket in a fabric, or—if the two fabrics were of different colors—you could make stripes and pockets of different colors. You could even fill the pockets to make small pillows. Finally, you could weave one fabric with designs in it that had sharp, contrasting colors, because the color changed in both the warp and weft. These designs showed up like completely different fabric (which they were) and the reverse of those designs showed up just as clearly on the other side of the fabric. Of course, the down side of working with doubleweave was that it took twice as long, because you were really weaving two fabrics at the same time.

Two years ago I took a class in Eugene from Madeline Van der Hoogt on deflected doubleweave. This class opened up a whole new aspect of doubleweave to me. Madeline had us warp our looms so that one set of warp threads was made from cotton, and the other from wool. We then wove several different doubleweave patterns using two shuttles (one cotton yarn, one wool) that interlocked and resulted in an interesting pattern on one fabric when finished. But the pattern became even more interesting when it was washed. When washed, the wool threads shrank and “deflected” to produce circles, or inundations, or quilted designs in the fabrics. This fall I took a interesting course on double weave from Jennifer Moore. She took doubleweave ideas to an even more exciting level. By warping 4 different

colors in a doubleweave and using the same four colors in the warp, you could produce 16 different colored fabrics and change them at will. You could do also play with blocks, twills and pick-up weaves that allowed much more variation in the

design of your fabric than would be available in for single weave fabric. Perhaps the most fascinating patterns she show us were how to weave overshot patterns using doubleweave. Overshot patterns are generally one fabric with a second “pattern” design woven on top of it. The “pattern” can not exist separately from the basic fabric it is woven upon. In this case the pattern becomes a separate fabric and intertwines with the basic fabric to become one beautifully patterned, double-thick fabric. Since the overshot pattern is an independent fabric, the pattern is not limited by the length of a tie-down. It is tied down to its own warp at every stitch. The resulting fabrics are beautiful. Jennifer showed us how to take any overshot pattern and redesign it for double weave

Finally, at a summer school class that both Donna Meyer. and I took from the Weaving School, we learned some traditional variations on doubleweave called lampas. I used one of

these variations, called Beiderwand, to make a modern looking wall hanging for my home, although the traditional patterns for Beiderwand usually look more like block pattern variations. .

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Handspun

My wife sits in her swivel chair ringed by skeins of multicolored yarn that will become the summer sweater she has imagined since September. Her hand rests on the spinning wheel and her foot pauses on the pedals as she gazes out into the swollen river. Light larking between wind and current will be in this sweater. So will a shade of red she saw when the sun went down. When she is at her wheel, time moves like the tune I almost recognize now that she begins to hum it, a lulling melody born from the draft of fiber, clack of spindle and bobbin, soft breath as the rhythm takes hold.

--- Floyd Skloot

Used with the author’s permission from his poetry book Approaching Winter (LSU Press, 2015).

Felting Wool

Felting causes wool to shrink into a thick, dense fabric. In the Far East for over 3,000 years, felt has been used for clothing and yurts (tents). A felt cover is stretched over a wooden circular frame. The flocks of sheep that travel with the people across treeless steppes provide the fiber for both clothing and yurts. Felting wool requires three conditions — heat, moisture and friction. It can be done in a sink using hand manipulation. For example for felted soaps, wrap wool fiber around a bar of soap use hot water and rub the wool around the soap until it shrinks to shape. Verla Davis recommends using small bubble wrap to mold the felting wool around the bar. Check the workshop listings in this newsletter for Barb Redmond’s upcoming workshop on felted vessels. Wet felting and does not involve knitting or crocheting. Use your home washing machine for knit felting or crochet felting Place the knitted or crocheted item in a mesh laundry bag. Use a hot-water wash, a cold-water rinse and laundry soap. Check the item repeatedly. When felted to your satisfaction, lay the felted item flat to air dry. Use the resulting fabric for bags, vests, jackets or other items. Needle felting or dry felting requires no water or agitation. A barbed needle is used to tangle and compact wool fibers forming felt sculptures. These sculptures may be designed over a wire form or worked on a hard felted form. Debra Salazar and Kathy Robbins (MSWG members) are creating felted sculptures. Wool shapes may also be designed on a flat foam surface. Templates (like cookie cutters) may provide a design. Fold excess wool inside for a rounded edge. Turn the design over and needle felt the back until smooth. These flatter sculptures may be added to a felted purse or vest or other item. Kim Steffgen (MSWG member) is experimenting with rolled felted balls that she connects into colorful bracelets. From Mary Bricker and her experience at Arcosanti, we learn about painting felted projects. The workshop was "Fiber Painting Workshop". Sue Bunch was the instructor. Her web site is www.BacktoBackAlpaca.com.

Her method allows one to create a finished felted project in three hours! Sue has developed a method that begins with prefelt as a base. We were encouraged to bring a picture to work from. Small amounts of dyed wool roving were supplied for us to choose from for our individual project.The surface of the prefelt was covered with multiple very small amounts of the dyed roving to create the picture. I chose geometric planes of color. Others created cactus, birds, flowers etc. The surface of the prefelt was evenly covered.The prefelt with the roving was secured with punching with a felting needle so that the forms in the creation would not "move" during the actual felting.Next the surface of the creation was covered with a plastic mesh, warm soapy water was thoroughly worked through the piece, and a felting tool was used to continue the felting process. The next step was to roll the piece between layers of plastic in a towel and again continue the felting process by rolling the rolled up towel containing the piece on the table top Eventually the fibers stuck where they belonged the piece was then rinsed and worked in water to continue the felting and to remove the soapy water. The piece was placed in an electric cylinder that looked like a salad spinner on steroids and the final piece was nearly dry.Voila!! Success. The class was for absolute beginners and the experienced !!!

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Mountain Spinners and Weavers Guild Minutes of General Meeting

January 16, 2016

Call-to-Order: President Barbara Redmond called the meeting to order at 9:05 at the new meeting place Shephard of the Hills Lutheran Church on Green Street in Prescott Visitors introduced themselves: Christine from Illinois, Barb Nelson, Luana Clifts, Susan Cruse, Janet Carroll, Bobby Green, Jamie Nieland, Barbara Sweeney, and Lisa Wilke. President’s Announcements: Thank you to Nancy Wilson for arranging the holiday party at Cracker Barrel restaurant which was a great success with short notice. About 30 members attended the event. Thank you to Nancy Wilson for volunteering to take charge of the raffle baskets for the November sale and to take over the newsletter in March. Thank you to Mary Kelly and Nancy Ricketts for completing the annual audit. MSWG materials have been moved to a larger unit (Thank you to Cheryl Smart). The new unit will be organized in April by the Board and volunteers who can help identify what should remain in the unit. The Fiber Retreat at Arcosanti is next weekend. Several workshops will be held. Donna Meyer has contact information. The Guild applied for inclusion in the Fine Arts Show at the Coconino Center for the Arts. We were not accepted but Louisa Ballard encouraged the Guild to apply again next year. Pictures of items are part of the application so artists are encouraged to submit photos that could be included in next year’s application. This is a juried show. Reminder: Scholarships are available for local and other workshops. Secretary: Kaye Sullivan Minutes were approved as published. Treasurer: Gail Burton November: $14,038.73 income $9464.79 expenses $4573.94 net income $$35,572.94 total income

December: The total income is now $34,572.94. The complete report is attached. The Board voted to reduce the 22% commission weavers pay the Guild to 10%. This was discussed and put to a vote by the attending membership. Ann Marston made a motion to accept this change, Mary Bricker seconded the motion and those present supported the motion. Starting now members will give only 10% of their earnings to the Guild. The reasoning for the change is to reduce the amount of money in the treasury and to increase what the weavers earn. The hope is that more members will take part in Guild shows. This new policy will be reviewed yearly by the Board. Ann Marston asked what an optimum balance of funds should be for the Guild. This will be studied/discussed by the Board. First Vice-President: Deirdre Hockman Andrea Green and Robin Robinson will give a presentation at this meeting on the Flag Wool and Fiber Festival. Anyone who is willing to do a presentation should contact Deirdre. Second Vice-President: Cheryl Smart February Meeting: Members should bring items for the silent auction by 8:30. Carma Koester is accepting some items for members who cannot attend. All proceeds go to the Guild to use as a donation for the Adopt-a-Native Elder program. The Plaza Mother’s Day Sale is coming up in May. This year more help is needed to run the sale and more items are needed to fill the Guild tent. Cheryl Smart and Deirdre Hockman are chairing the sale. Help is also needed for setting up (Friday afternoon) and taking down on Sunday. Barb Kiger and Janet Lambert are co-chairing the November sale. Contact Barb if you have questions or would like to volunteer. Workshop Chairperson: Barb Redmond Tom Knisely’s workshop has been filled with 20 participants and has a waiting list. The cost is $80 for members and $100 for nonmembers. Kathy Hayes will teach an echo printing (direct printing on fabric) workshop on October 6-8. The cost will be about $200 and will have a maximum of 10 participants.

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Annmarie Belllem has eight openings for her workshop on designing knitting patterns. In March Lois Longfield will repeat her locker hooking workshop. The $25 fee will include a kit. Barb Redmond will teach a felted vessels workshop in May. The fee is $25 and includes a kit. General Announcements: Convergence registration is on the website. It will be held in Milwaukee this year. There is scholarship money available. Luida Gottlieb reported that the Guild had 20 members who did volunteer spinning at Charlotte Hall Museum this past year. The spinners’ location has been changed to the map room of the territorial building. Members are encouraged to volunteer as part of the Guild’s mission to educate the public. Time: Mondays from 10 am to 2 pm. Special Interest Groups: Tapestry: Meets this Wednesday, Jan 27 at the Stoneridge Community Center in Prescott Valley from 1-4 pm. Sewing Handwovens: Meets this coming Friday from 1-3 pm at Wilda Postel’s home. Weave Structure: Meets at Fiber Creek on the first Thursday of each month from 10-12. Hospitality: Mary Kelly and Yvonne Johnson Thank you to Verla Davis, Gail Larson, Debra Dorrell, and Carma Koester. Next month’s hostesses are Jennifer Stocker, Janet Lambert, Kathy Grace and Sara Dedmore. Historian: Kathy Robbins The latest photographs are on the table. Librarian: Carma Koester, absent Facebook: Kathy Robbins Facebook now has 154 members and more are encouraged to join. Membership: Ann Lindstrom The Guild currently has about 115 members. Newsletter: Donna Meyer All submissions should be in by next Saturday. Parliamentarian: Debbie Allen

Any major change, like the change in commission for 22% to 10%, must be voted on by the membership. Publicity: Sylvie White, absent Way and Means: Sigute Walker The raffle consisted of skeins of yarn. Barbara Redmond won the raffle. Show-and-Tell: Members should put their names into the provided container after participating in show-and-tell. The name drawn will win a free membership. Mary Kelly: Children’s book on how rayon is made and how it replaced silk Barb Kiger: Two scarves on with painted warp and mixed colors; one made with thrums Deirdre Hockman: A wool ruana with accent yarns Diane Braun: 8/2 overshot towels; 2 overshot placemats Barbara Albeck: mitred squares shawl Luida Gottlieb: Nylon ribbon shawl that won a blue ribbon at the county fair Debbie Allen: Heavy Hopi yarn made into a knitted bag Katie Stout: Unmercerized cotton towel Luana Clifton: Angora bunny on knitted sweater Nancy Wilson: Experimented with the pH of water for dyeing wool, llama spinning, spinning fractals Kim Steffgen: Wool bead bracelets Ann Lindstrom: Squares from zoom loom Kaye Sullivan: Paper doll summer-winter towel, two polychrome double weave table mats Adjournment: The meeting adjourned informally.

Links

Craft in America http://www.pbs.org/video/2300857107/ Spining Lace Weight http://schachtspindle.com/tips-for-spinning-fine-yarns-

for-handwoven-lace/

Spinning Using a Spindle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXTWgMeMgI

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13Wild

Mountain Spinners & Weavers Guild

P.O. Box 1820

Prescott AZ 86301

STAMP

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Please send comments, articles or book reviews to MSWGnews@gmail.com for inclusion in the next issue.

Donna Meyer, editor

SAVE THE DATE "FEBRUARY 27, 2016"

Arizona Federation of Weavers & Spinners FEDERATION DAY 2016

"A CELEBRATION OF OUR GUILDS" JOIN US FOR A DAY LONG LEARNING

ADVENTURE

Website Members’ Page http://www.mtnspinweave.org Login: mswgmember@yahoo.com Password: Bronson

Don’t let us forget your birthday! email MSWGnews@gmail.com to let us know when to celebrate.

Nancy Ricketts 2/10

Cass Schorsch 2/17

Kathleen Baldwin 2/21

Sara Dedmore 2/27

1 "Kiger, Laura" 12/5