 Greetings, Fiber Friends!
I've been thinking about the ebb and flow of light and dark these days. Although sunset comes early now, we are surrounded by glittering lights, bright colors and festive gatherings. This will then be followed by the grays and whites and dark colors of winter. It strikes me as somewhat ironic that the approaching Solstice marks the shift when days begin to lengthen again yet it is really just the beginning of winter. I have never been much for New Year's resolutions, but I do love taking time each year to reflect on and look ahead to what I want to work on in the new year. I've come to think of this instead as planting seeds, which feels very apropos to the upcoming season of hibernation and dormancy. I'm the kind of person who can get spread too thin because I am interested in trying so many things (squirrel!!) so I use this to focus my time/efforts (that's the hope, anyway). I want to develop solid skills and get better, not just dabble. Winter is a great time to hunker down inside and this year in particular I've got time to dive deep with a few things. Here are the seeds I'm planting this winter:
I will stop there because, well, remember the "too many things" bit? I think it's a good list to start the new year with. Some new things, some finishing up loose ends; it feels balanced and enticing. What seeds do you want to plant this year, what will you grow? LeslieAnn Bestor To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.
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 Greetings, fiber friends!
I write this letter as the rhythm of the rain and the sounds of migrating birds fill my ears. We just finished a week of gloriously sunny (though quite nippy) weather, probably the last stretch of such days for a while. I am inspired by the riot of color around me and the rapid pace of change. There is a flurry of activity preparing for upcoming winter weather and celebrations. There is a seasonal and cyclical rhythm to our creativity and making. For some of us, this lines up with the seasons in nature - the warm sunny weather beckons us outside to garden and hike/boat/play and we return to our looms/wheels/needles during the colder/darker months when it's cozy and bright inside. Others weave throughout the year and are perhaps tuned into different cycles - holiday gifting and sales, entry deadlines, availability of materials. And some follow a more spontaneous flow, exploring different things as their interests take them. Although I work on textile projects year-round, I do find my activities are connected to the weather. This year in particular I feel a bit like the animals stockpiling food for the winter, gathering my supplies so that I will have (creative) sustenance to carry me through the grey months ahead. I'm focused on botanical printing right now because the leaves are at their peak and they're about to be gone. So there's an urgency to not only print as much as I can but to preserve as much as possible so that I can continue to print during the winter. Exhausting sometimes, yet I know it's just a moment and the next part of the cycle will be quieter. (Well, once I get through making things for the gifting season ahead). At least that's what I tell myself, as I think about the new things I want to try during the 'quiet' time of the year while I snuggle on the couch with the dogs and handwork in my lap. Enjoy the vibrancy of Autumn! Our next meeting is November 18th at our new meeting location (see info below), I hope we see you there! LeslieAnn Bestor To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Greeting Fiber Friends,
We have moved into one of my favorite seasons and I'm loving the crisp air that invites the soft woven scarves to drape themselves around my neck once again. I'm dreaming of making holiday gifts and decorations and starting to mull some new directions with my looms and yarns. For many of us Autumn is the beginning of the year, partly because of the calendar - schools & guilds start up again after a summer holiday - and partly because the seasons move us from outdoor to indoor activities and we move (back) into creating with renewed vigor and inspiration. Our new year for Whatcom Weavers Guild kicks off with our meeting on October 21st. We are ushering in the return of in-person meetings with a new meeting place and a commitment to continuing both in-person and Zoom meetings throughout the 2023-2024 year. I am excited to shake off the isolation off the last couple years and gather together with my fiber friends, there is nothing like the camaraderie and fun of a roomful of weavers/spinners/makers. Although I am ever grateful to Zoom meetings for allowing our guild to thrive through the pandemic, I am looking forward to stepping out of those little boxes and exchanging hugs and engaging in informal chitchat, maybe even pick up a piece of handwoven beauty from the show-and-tell table and examine it closely. It will be refreshing and bright and we are going to have so much fun this year! Check out the program info below for details on the new meeting place and zoom setup. And speaking of fun, wait till you see this year's Guild Challenge! The annual challenge is a prompt - here's a colorway or an inspiration photo, let's see how we all interpret it through fiber and textiles. This year we are going to play a game, Weavers Poker, to mix things up and add a light-hearted touch (seriously, I have blue hair, you should not be surprised by this!). At our October meeting those who want to play will draw 6 cards, one from each deck (Color & Design; Weave Structure; Fiber, Grist and Yarn Structure; Final Use; Amp My Weave; and Inspiration) and our challenge is to incorporate as many of the cards in your piece as possible. You are allowed to lay down and redraw up to 2 cards at the meeting. Additionally, we have a wild card – LeslieAnn discovered a cone of thousands of yards of pale lilac lurex – you can trade any card for a bobbin of this fun sparkle to incorporate into your piece. If you can't attend the meeting or will be there on Zoom, do not fret - we'll make sure you get a hand, too. It should be a lively meeting and I hope it sets the tone for a year of enjoyable gatherings filled with both stimulating discourse and the informal, spontaneous fun that comes from being together in person. I hope to see you there. LeslieAnn Bestor To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Greetings Guildmates and welcome to the 2023-2024 year of textile fun!
Whatcom Weavers Guild is entering its 53rd year as a guild of textile makers/creators/aficionados and we are going strong! Our membership continues to grow (over 100 this year!) and includes folks from our corner of WA as well as neighbors from Canada and those who live afar but stay connected through the internet. You will be receiving our yearly membership packet soon and I hope you take the time to peruse, appreciate and make use of the wealth of resources within our guild. This richness will be on display right away, at the Quilt and Fiber Arts Show on September 15 & 16 in Ferndale. The guild will be displaying an array of our members' work and demonstrating weaving and spinning as well as selling items made by members. Stop for a chance to see what I think of as show-and-tell on steroids. We may still be looking for volunteers to help in the booth, send an email to info@whatcomweaversguild.com if you'd like to help out. Helping out is a great way to get involved in the guild and to get to know people. I've only been in the area for 2 years and was pretty reluctant when I was approached to join the board; I felt I was too new to the guild to take on a leadership role. But Carol and Sharon are pretty persuasive and pointed out that it would be a great way to connect with people and settle into the community. I'm here to report that they are right, and my life is so much richer for friendships and knowledge I have gained. After the isolation of the last several years, participating in our group is a great way to stretch out again and re-connect, especially with others who share a passion for textiles. So I encourage you, maybe even challenge you, to make this the year that you participate in the guild and spend time with other members to share and inspire each other. Come to meetings, chat each other up, work side by side on guild projects like the Little Looms day at the library. Our guild is rich with the experiences and inspiration of many, and we have many ways to share that with each other so take advantage of the opportunities to connect that come with guild membership. I look forward to seeing you at our first meeting of the year on October 21. LeslieAnn Bestor To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Out in the garden at last! Thanks to a friend who tends a colorful “Messy Garden,” I’m learning to love, not judge my own messy garden. The dandelion crop has thrived in the cold, wet northwest spring weather. Tulips and daffodils have lasted much longer than expected. The hollyhocks, which cannot be stopped from growing out of the cracks in the patio, are carrying on as usual. And now the sun is out! (Or is out as I write – as we know, it could be pouring by the time you read…) In the sun, the weld that self-seeded last year has grown a full 12 inches in two days. It isn’t called “Dyer’s Rocket” for nothing. Foxglove that self-seeded summer before last is growing at least a dozen healthy plants (randomly arranged), that promise to shoot up tall stalks of purple bell-shaped flowers later in the summer. There are blossoms on the two dwarf apple trees, and my little dwarf golden plum in the backyard has blossoms for the first time since it was planted, 4 years ago. We even watched a Rufous Hummingbird dipping his beak into the blueberry blossoms. Such a gift.
We have had temporary custody and care of a small dog for the past month. Some of you have met Mr. Shackleton on Zoom. In addition to practicing new skills like weaving or typing while he rests his head on my arm, I’m seeing more of my own neighborhood due to the non-negotiable two and sometimes three walks a day. A curiously bored hole in an old tree down the street has proved to be the new home of a pair of Flickers. The spreading sawdust on the ground shows just how deeply they are excavating into the cavity for their nest. DH (Dear Husband) has been taking advantage of the nice weather to replace our front porch steps with a true landing and stairs with handrails on both sides. The “temporary steps” installed 30 years ago proved surprisingly resistant to demolition. Visitors to the studio and the Guild Library should be well pleased with the improvement. These should hold up for at least another 40 years, though it’s possible that the Guild Library will move to a new home before that time. (In 40 years, I will be 106, if I’m still around.) I hope to be reading, weaving, learning, and welcoming new weavers, spinners, knitters, felters, dyers… and gardeners too, for years to come. Hope you all enjoy your spring activities, indoors or out! Warmly, Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Celebration of Life
If you haven’t been to see the Katazome Exhibit at the Whatcom Museum in downtown Bellingham, you will want to plan a trip soon. The exhibit is lovely and so inspiring, there are numerous cafes close by, and the museum shop has some very nice items that coordinate with the exhibit too. Great for a small group field trip or solo Artist’s Date. Special events are on the schedule as well, including curator’s tours and artists’ lectures. Katazome Today closes June 11, 2023. Fibres West 2023 was a fun time! A carpool of Guild members attended on Friday. I had an appointment, but DH (Dear Husband) offered to drive up on Saturday. We had not crossed the border in 3 years, not since March 2020. It was lovely to see the yarn vendors, fleeces, bobbin lace makers, and more. Surrey is so close to us, right across the border. Talking with folks in the Museum of Surrey booth, I remembered a guild field trip from years past, where we toured the Textile Studio, learned the history of their Jacquard Loom, and were even allowed to weave on it. This summer will be the second year of a community dye garden project at the Museum of Surrey, and we are invited to come up this summer to see what they are doing. On display at Fibres West were yarns dyed with Japanese Indigo, Marigold, and Rosemary. The Dye Garden is a multi-age hands-on community outreach program of the City of Surrey, active during the summer months. Also at Fibres West, I learned of a new Exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver, Dressed For History – Women’s Fashion 1750-2000, which opened March 16, 2023. Of course, not to be missed is the Ikat Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. It’s up from March 9 to May 29. Fiber Fusion is coming up in Early June, and classes are open for registration! It’s time to be planning our trips and organizing carpools. As the world is opening up more fully, with exhibitions, festivals and travel, we are also sadly attending memorials as well. Friends and colleagues we haven’t seen enough of in the past few years are taken away from us, way too soon. Remembering to value the sweetness of life, every single day, is my keynote for spring. I am grateful for crocuses, daffodils, sun, rain, string, and a community of fiber lovers to share it all with. Warmly, Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Applesies and Fox Noses and colors, oh my!
The Band Weavers Study Group enjoyed a lively meeting in February. We watched Annie McHale’s Video instructions for using the Seizen Inkle Pattern Editor. The Pattern Editor lets the user experiment with color and design before committing to thread and shows what the band will look like in a drawdown. We plugged approximations of the ANWG Conference colors into the pattern editor and saw what a difference color order can make in the design of a woven band. For PDF of instructions on the use of the tool, go here. Gail shared a sample band made with Omega Sinfonia, Annie McHale’s go-to yarn for bands. Good colors, sheen, strength, and hand. It makes a lovely band. (Not all by itself – you still have to weave it). Heidi shared Show and Tell from the Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, and her beautiful Tea Towels, a first big project for her, supported by the Rigid Heddle Group (see photo below, under Rigid Heddle Study Group). Heidi’s selvedges and even beat are enviable, color and design are lovely and thought out. Woven on a Rigid Heddle Loom! Mae, Gail, and Leslie Ann plotted and planned projects for themselves (i.e. leash for a new puppy!) and for Guild Booth Displays for the ANWG conference and Evergreen Quilt and Fiber Events coming up. Lynn got her inkle warped and we shared some new “weaving words” over tangled string. We all oohed and ahhed over Peg Templeton’s lovely hand-drawn and colored card weaving designs, carefully catalogued, and shared by our hostess, Sharon Allen. Fortified by the group energy and inspired by the Book “Applesies and Fox Noses, Finnish Table Woven Bands”, I attempted my first unsupervised card weaving project the next day. Well, thank goodness nobody was watching me. “Weaving Words” indeed! Of course, I modified the “simple pattern” from the book, to use all five of the ANWG colors. This changed the design a lot more than expected. Of course, I didn’t actually READ the instructions in the intro chapter. (The pictures are great!) 16 cards, that’s not a lot. People have been doing this for millennia. How hard can it be? I copied the pattern out on graph paper and cut threads to length. Clamped my pegs to the kitchen counter, and threaded the cards. Lesson one – a toast rack or napkin holder might have helped for holding the cards. Note to self – work on a table next time. Lesson two – tension is essential. I transferred the warp and cards to my band loom. Tension better, but now the design on the back is what shows on top! How is this possible? Lesson Three – have a system for tracking each turn of the cards. Counting eight turns and then reversing for eight turns sounds a lot easier than it actually is… The pattern from the book is called “Little Chicken Toes and Birds Eyes.” So far no two repeats have come out looking the same, and the most recognizable motifs might be called “Little Turtle with a Broken Foot” and “One-eyed Alien” but I think it’s getting better! Hoping you and all your projects are well and happy, Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Get warped, not weft behind!
How is writing like weaving? Well, often rectangular in format; writing a newsletter item, like a fiber project, takes some planning, maybe a little research, inspiration, but mostly, sitting down and getting started! Start with step one – be that getting out the yarn, looking at colors, pulling out books or magazines for drafts or inspiration, editing a prior piece, trying it again with a new approach. Of course, a deadline is always a super motivation… Speaking of deadlines, inspiration and motivation, have you been thinking about our Annual Guild challenge? Me too – but now, it’s time for me to motivate! Just to review, this year, our Guild is taking the opportunity to show what we do in a display booth at the 2023 ANWG Conference, June 11-17, 2023, in Bend, Oregon. (ANWG = Association of Northwest Weavers Guilds, pronounced an-wig). A number of Whatcom Guild members are making plans to attend the conference, but all of us can be there in spirit and in fiber, by creating a project for display in our booth. Annual challenge doesn’t mean the project takes all year. Just saying. Doesn’t mean the piece has to be big. The theme for this year’s challenge is Color and Community. Using the theme colors chosen for the Conference, (Rust, Purple, Blue, Green, Gold), create a project that reflects your interpretation of our fiber community. Several Study groups, as well as individuals, are working on projects using these colors. The Tapestry weavers are working on their pieces, and the Rigid Heddle Group is going strong. At least one person in the Jane Stafford Zoom Group is weaving a shadow weave in these five colors, and I have seen it. Lovely! The band weaving group is re-convening in February, with room for more members. If you want to join up for inkle, card weaving, small heddle weaving, let me know. Let’s get together to share patterns, explore colors and yarns, get warped, and weave! A collection of bands, bookmarks, shoelaces, bracelets, key fobs, will help fill out our booth display – small, portable weaves are so much fun to do, and fit my bandwidth! I’m also planning crackle towels in theme colors, and I’ll have woven bands to sew on for hanging loops, when I hem the towels. The difference between writing and weaving? No fringe to twist, no wet finishing, and no hemming! Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Color and Community
What do Tyvek festival bracelets, broccoli, and fudge have in common? And what do they have to do with fiber arts? As you wonder, I’ll try to wander through an explanation. In mid-December 2022, memories of dry, crumbly fudge and fudge that never set, to be eaten only with a spoon, put me on a quest for the perfect recipe. Candy thermometer, kitchen timer… the downside of successful fudge research is, too much fudge. Learned: following a recipe carefully, using specified ingredients yields success. Also learned: a simple microwave recipe made fudge just as good as the complicated stove-top version. Maybe better. Intention for 2023: eat more vegetables. (More about this later.) The last day of 2022 involved neutralizing and disposing of a spent indigo vat, scrubbing dye pots, wiping down counter tops, and making a fresh indigo vat. Learned from the fudge research: review the recipe, gather and prepare the equipment, plan for enough time to follow the recipe for the vat and the procedure for dyeing… Happiness is the magic of an indigo vat that behaves just the way it is supposed to! Learned: wear gloves right from the start, to avoid Indigo fingers. I haven’t attended a Festival in quite a while, but Festival Bracelets, the Tyvek kind that stick together and don’t come undone until you cut them? Yes! The perfect tag for skeins of yarn going through a scour, mordant and dyebath. Labeled with a sharpie, you know what you did when all is done. Check out the three samples below:
And broccoli? Washed, chopped, placed in a covered microwave-safe glass dish on high for 90 seconds. Perfectly steamed, perfectly timed. More vegetables eaten; less time spent cooking. More dyeing, more weaving, and no more fudge for me for a while! Wishing you all the best in 2023! Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Mysteries Revealed
Thanks to experienced and sharing instructors, I was able to weave a willow bark basket and unlock some of the mysteries of Jamtlandsdrall/Crackle Weave, all in the last three weeks. It may be a while before I try to make another basket. My appreciation for the basket makers art has only increased with this experience. Judy Zugish grew the willow, harvested and peeled the bark, then dried it for the requisite number of years, before leading us step by step through the day-long process of weaving a little gem of a basket, perfect for holding a tea light. A fun day, and a charming holiday centerpiece. Crackle Weave (AKA Jamtlandsdrall, in Sweden) has been a mystery to me for years. Thanks to Liz Moncrief’s workshop, turned study group led by Sheri Ward, the darkness has been lifted. I get it about the incidentals. I finished my samples. And labeled them! The really cool thing (well, one of the cool things) about Crackle Weave, is it can be changed in so many ways, even on the same warp, depending on weft, color changes, tabbies or not… I’m looking at the ANWG Conference Colors and considering a set of towels. Or a scarf. Four blocks on four shafts opens up a new world of possibilities. Thanks so much to a fellow guild member for the loan of a portable floor loom. It was especially fun with several other Guild members taking the workshop. At the same time, there is a simple and exciting “Weaving Adventure” happening in my studio, designed by a new-ish weaver and friend. Starting with yarns in colors she likes, my friend developed a design for a scarf, for a rigid heddle loom. She wound a wrap, from which the loom was warped and the weaving begun. You don’t always have to use a complex weave structure. Plain weave can certainly appear complex in color, texture and design. By the way, most of the yarns came from Evie’s Mom’s Stash Sale. (If you know, you know…) Sweet to be using them in such a pretty project. A shout out to Lynn and Wendy who have been organizing the Guild Library Books. For those who haven’t had a chance to visit the Library, it’s easy, and we have a number of newly acquired books, including some knitting and crochet resources that weavers will find useful. There is also equipment available for loan, that can help new weavers get started. Read through the member PDF that was emailed last week for all the information, including who to contact with questions. Here's hoping your December is safe, happy, and full of all the warm fuzzies. Warmly, Carol Berry 2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here. |
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