Blog Posts - Whatcom Weavers Guild

Newsletters

The Whatcom Weavers Guild publishes a monthly newsletter September through June of each year with periodic updates and supplements sent to the group. Newsletters are sent to members via e-mail whenever possible. Members without e-mail addresses receive the newsletter in the postal mail. Submissions of items of interest are encouraged. Please e-mail your submission to the Newsletter Publisher by the 25th day of the month to be included in the following month's newsletter which is typically distributed during the first week of each month.
Members may advertise in the newsletter for free. A $5 minimum donation is requested for any non-member (non-commercial) wishing to advertise, payable to the Guild Treasurer prior to publication. Commercial entity rates are $5 minimum donation for members and $7 minimum donation for non-members -- payable prior to publication.

September 2018 Newsletter

8/30/2018

As I write this in late August it feels like sweater days are here already, though I know there are more warm days ahead before we settle in to wearing wool on a daily basis. Warm or cold, rain or shine, fiber-filled goodness is coming up in September! The Fall Fiber Exhibit at the Jansen Center will feature work by Fibers and Beyond Workshop Instructors and finely-crafted examples by WWG members. The opening reception is September 6! Also open are the new Textiles studio and classroom downstairs in the J. The Whatcom Weavers Guild has been given the Glimakra standard loom of late, nationally-known weaver and artist Jo Morgan. Her classic Swedish loom now has a home in the J Textiles studio.

In Bellingham, September 15 opens the meeting and program year for the Whatcom Weavers Guild. Our theme for the year is Creating Connections: Through appreciation and practice of the fiber arts, including spinning, felting, knitting, crochet, stitching, beading, dying, basketry and weaving, and through our ongoing and new community outreach events and projects.

The monthly programs scheduled for 2018-2019 are diverse and exciting. On September 15, we have a full agenda starting at 10 am, with a Lunatic Fringe yarn raffle, a 2018-2019 Color Challenge, the “real” big reveal of our “Walk the Dog” challenge – I’ll have my vest finished for sure this time – and the interest group, mentoring, knit-along, weave-along, and charitable project options available. You can sign up to carpool to Fiber Fusion in Monroe in October (the October 20 meeting is a field trip). Members will choose 2-3 person hospitality teams, and pick the month when your team will open and set up for the monthly meeting. (Many hands make light work!) The September program, by shepherdess, educator and knitter Lydia Strand, promises to be amazing!

I look forward to seeing you soon,

Carol Berry,
WWG President

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.

August 2018 Newsletter

8/6/2018

Well! Just as I was getting a project set up in my basement (not a perfect space, but COOL), the temperature dropped. Perfect weaving weather. I am working on M’s & O’s Towels, as promised for the F & B sale, and getting ready for the Wool Show, at the NW Washington Fair. On my “bucket list” for several years now has been setting up a full-size standard Swedish floor loom, and weaving in public. This year, it’s happening, at the Fair! For warp, a 2-ply cream-colored wool, at 10 ends per inch; for weft, a rustic handspun gray single-ply, that looks to weave up at 5 picks per inch, for a cozy drape. The weave, two-inch wide herringbone stripes. There is enough yarn for two 32-inch wide by 2-yard long throws. Can this be done in a week, while explaining the process to the public? Come by the Wool show and see how it’s going.
Looking beyond summer, we have a schedule of events, meeting programs and guest speakers for 2018-2019 that is not to be missed!

Looking forward to sharing fiber connections in the year ahead,

Carol Berry,
WWG President

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.

July 2018 Newsletter

7/1/2018

At this moment, I have an Undressed Loom. Ten yards of Shetland wool cloth has been woven, and picked up, destined for the Skagit Highland Games. The cloth will be “waulked” to traditional Scottish music and singing and returned to me ready for sewing! What a deal. Shetland wool donated from two other weaver/knitters’ supplies made up the warp and weft. Next year, my goal is to use locally grown wool! Eleven yards, sett at 12 epi, 10-12 ppi, 20 inches wide, is about thirty-five 150-yard skeins. The opportunity is open to weave cloth for next year. Up to four lengths of cloth can be finished by the “waulkers” over two days of the games.

Up next on the undressed loom – towels, table runners and scarves for the Fibers & Beyond sale. I’m doing M’s & O’s – a structure I never get tired of! Easy to thread, with lots of room for variations. What are you are doing this summer? We would all love to see what’s on your loom; what’s in your garden; or for those who spend summertime boating – what’s on the water! Photos should be sent to Katia, our amazing WWG newsletter editor and tapestry weaver.

Hope you are enjoying the sun when you can be outdoors, and the rain when you can be inside with your fiber!

Carol Berry,
WWG President

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.

June 2018 Newsletter

5/31/2018

What’s Coming up in June?

Weld, madder and dyer’s chamomile are coming up in my garden. The flax seed saved from last year has been planted in the University “Outback” and has sprouted! A new dark brown Romney fleece from the Wonderful Woolies sale has been washed, for carding and spinning. WWG “Walk the Dog Challenge” pieces are due to be finished for show and tell at the June meeting. Mine isn’t ready, yet – but getting closer. Bring a work in progress to show, if not complete. We will have a second showing in September. It may seem early to think about October, but the Fibers & Beyond mini-conference workshops are good to go, and look great! Go to the F&B page on the Jansen Art Center website here to register. WWG members get first chance at these workshops, before they open to the public. It’s not too early to start weaving, knitting, felting, stitching, or making cards for the Fibers and Beyond Sale. F& B entry fees are $10 before June 30, $15 from July 1- September 29. You can fill out an entry form at the June meeting. Scroll down to the Fibers & Beyond Article in this newsletter for the full line-up of workshops and details for registration. You can register through Jansen Art Center's website by clicking here. To access the website, you’ll need a password, which is WWG2018.

See you soon!

Carol Berry,
WWG President

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.

May 2018 Newsletter

4/29/2018

ANWG President's Message

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. 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.
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.

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

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.

April 2018 Newsletter

3/31/2018

Spring Weaving, for Summer Singing

I have volunteered to weave 10 yards of wool cloth, for use in the “Waulking the Wool” demonstration at the Skagit Valley Highland Games. Waulking songs are traditional, as the singing helps create a rhythm for the time it takes a group to full the yardage. Getting into my yarn closet for some “spring cleaning”, I came across 20 skeins of Scottish Shetland wool, in 15 different shades, ranging from mauve to ocean to moss to plum, 150 yards each. At 12 epi, 22”wide, this is just enough for an 11 yard warp, and that cone of black heather, also from Scotland, will work for the weft. The yarns were all gifted to me from weaver’s estates or over-stashes, and I’m thrilled to be using them up. The warp is measured, see the photo! I have two months to weave the cloth, in time for the 24th annual Skagit Valley Highland Games. I may or may not have Celtic ancestry, who knows? – And I don’t sing, but I love to weave and can’t wait to get going!
I can’t wait to see what you are weaving, knitting, spinning, felting, stitching this spring.

Best,
Carol Berry
Program Chair

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.

March 2018 Newsletter

2/27/2018

Happy March! Although winter isn’t quite finished with us, the bulbs are beginning to poke their heads above ground and buds are beginning to set, and in no time, our days will be longer, warmer, and brighter with the colors of spring. Great inspiration for a fiber project, don’t you think?
Our Saturday Guild meetings are going well. Join us to share your work and ideas, learn more about what’s going on in the fiber community, and make new friends. If you have questions about weaving or a loom, bring them; if you have an idea you’d like to share, share it; if you have a challenge you’d like to start, bring it. Let’s all make the best guild, ever!
This coming month, we will be taking a field trip to the Whatcom Museum to see “Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry in America”, and hear Polly Adams Sutton talk about her cedar bark basketry.
I hope to see you all, soon. In the meantime, create!

Kathy Hutchinson
President

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.

February 2018 Newsletter

1/31/2018

Hello Fiber Friends:

It is nice to see new and returning members with interest in varied fiber related creations all of which are shared at each meeting.

Your membership keeps you connected with this great group of makers and collectors of fibers and string; expensive, shinny, dull, lumpy, fuzzy, soft, scratchy, stretchy, colorful, others left overs, you name it, we are into fiber & string. Making amazing towels, scarves, shawls, garments, rugs, wall hangings, and blankets to name a few. Looking forward to another year of fun and interesting times together.

Cathy Thompson
Treasurer/Librarian

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.

January 2018 Newsletter

12/31/2017

Hello Fiber Friends:

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope your holidays were filled with peace and joy.
Have you made your New Year resolutions, yet? I hope you included “create and share the craft I love with others”, as one of your resolutions. I know I am grateful to all of you who have inspired and shared your craft with me over the years, whether it be weaving, spinning, knitting, felting, carving, beading, basketry, or other fiber related crafts. And, I know as Guild members’, we inspire others in the community to learn, inquire, and appreciate our craft.

One of the ways we can continue this is through outreach events. Last year, we participated in 5 exhibits, and we are starting this year with a bang, also! In March, members will be holding a skill share event at the Everson Library for children and adults to learn more about weaving. There will be hands-on demonstrations of weaving projects that participants can take home, and hopefully be inspired to continue to learn more about the craft. If you would like to join us, please let us know: we will be talking about it again at the January meeting.
I look forward to seeing you at the January meeting!

Best,
Kathy Hutchinson
President

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.

December 2017 Newsletter

12/12/2017

Happy Holiday season to everyone! Not too much snow so far, lots of rain and wind—and the grandkids want a White Christmas of course. I hope your creative efforts, whether for gifts or shows, are successful. This will be my last newsletter as your editor— after five years, time to hang up the keyboard and camera. Our Guild is very fortunate, amongst our new members, to have great talent to move us into the next phase—updated website and a blog! Thank you, Katia Paroczi. More information will be coming your way to help you use the new tools. Being your Newsletter Editor has been most fulfilling and I am very thankful for all the encouragement and contributions.

Happy Weaving and Happy Holidays to all.

Pat Fisher, Newsletter Coordinator

To read the entire newsletter please click here.