Happy New Year!  I hope your holiday season was a good one and that you’re getting rested up and organized for the new year ahead.  As I write this, my husband is outside shoveling the driveway as we had a dusting of snow again last night.  A pretty mild winter so far here in Bend, but the snow seems to come in every week or so, blanketing the area in white powder.  Snow days I’ve decided are great weaving days.  Whether you have snow or not, plan some ‘weaving or fiber fun days’ into your schedule for 2019.

More guild grant reports are arriving in my email box each month; several are featured in this newsletter.  Please remember that if your guild received a grant this past year, we do need to have a report and photos of the event forwarded to my attention at president@northwestweavers.org.  They will be included in a following newsletter.

The Prince George 2019 ANWG Conference workshop and seminar offerings are now available for viewing on their website:  http://anwgconference2019.com

Registration will open January 27 at 9 AM.  They have put together a diverse group of instructors and class offerings for this conference so I hope you will review the conference website and be ready to register.  Please forward this newsletter and conference information on to your entire guild membership or other interested fiber enthusiasts as we want to have a full conference in June.  Check the blog and website for updates as we go through the next several months.

Check out our new study group “Wrapped in History” lead by our Education Chair, Isabelle Fusey.  She is putting together a group interested in historical weaving drafts and our weaving mentors from the 20th century.  The group will weave a project from a ‘historical weaver’ and meet at the Prince George conference on Friday, June 14 at Noon.  https://northwestweavers.org/education/history-study-group/wrapped-in-history/ 

Hope to meet many of you in Prince George in June; have a fiber-filled winter season.

Linda Gettmann

ANWG News

ANWG Conference 2019

We have an impressive list of confirmed instructors for the Conference. We drew heavily on our local talent who may not be well known outside of western Canada, but also included some from beyond our 'borders'. Check them out at Instructor’s Bios.

We have tried to cover as many of the fibre crafts as possible with workshops in spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting. Seminars will broaden the scope, tasters of other fibre crafts also included.

Confluence - the coming together of different things. Spinners may dye. Weavers may spin. Felters may knit.

The Final Schedule of 2 Day Conference Workshops and 2 hour Seminars have been posted under Workshops and Seminars Schedule.

Online Registration begins Sunday, January 27th at 9:00am PST.

Airline and Hotel discounts to be posted soon.

Fashion Show, Exhibits, Author Signing provides List of Exhibits Categories and Awards, Event Information, Forms and Guild Booth Applications.

Market Hall provides Vendor Information and Applications.

What’s New has blog posts and other information .

Design Challenge think about pockets.

Blog posts for the conference are at https://confluences2019.blogspot.com/

The posts are being shared to the website and the conference FB page https://www.facebook.com/laurafrycochair/

Please Note: Internet Explorer has problems viewing the complete webpage, please use another web browser.

http://www.anwgconference2019.com/home.html

“Weaving Tartans—A Guide for Contemporary Handweavers” by Linda Tilson Davis

Linda Davis, who is known to many ANWG members as a long-time weaver and excellent teacher, just released a new book: “Weaving Tartans—A Guide for Contemporary Handweavers”.  Being a lover of plaids, and especially tartans, I immediately ordered a copy.  It is sold on Amazon for $12.95: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tartan+weaving+book&sprefix=weaving+tartans%2Caps%2C224&crid=3BNQMLB7D7ZWO . 

This book is a must for anyone aspiring to weave a tartan.  It covers tartan weaving from A (Arithmetic involved) to Z (the Zen feeling when it is completed).    

You will find:
•    Where to get information on weaving a particular tartan
•    Ideas on planning a tartan, what combination of colors will look good and how much of each
•    Tips on winding the warp, setting up your loom and tools needed
•    Avoiding thickness at selvedges due to color changes     
•    How to make the squares truly square  
•    Achieving a true 45-degree angle in the twill pattern
•    The tartan meaning of sett
•    Reading a tartan thread count— what does R34 G20 W2 mean to you?
•    A wonderful chart to help you plan, warp, and weave your tartan project (if you send Linda a copy of your Amazon bill at tomlin@bendcable.com, she will send you the chart and directions so that you do not have to create it yourself).
•    Resources for additional study
•    And more!!

With its great pictures and charts, this book is full of wonderful information for both first-time and experienced tartan weavers. I wish I had read this book prior to weaving throws in our family tartan for family members.

Ila McCallum

News from Member Guilds

British Columbia: Comox Valley Woolgatherers

The Comox Valley Woolgatherers held their annual potluck Christmas lunch on December 10th.  Everyone enjoyed good food and good company.  For a program each person told about one new weaving, spinning or knitting thing that they had learned in the past year.  Lots of good ideas were shared.

There was also a gift exchange.  Back in May, twelve of us put some yarn in brown paper bags with our name.  We then each drew a bag from the pile and everyone had to make something from the yarn, to be returned to the owner in December.

The result was an assortment of knitted, woven and embroidered items admired by all.  

Sheila Carey

British Columbia:  Kimberley and District Guild of Fiber Artists

CHALLENGE GRANT REPORT

OUR SINCERE APPRECIATION TO ANWG FOR THE GRANT THAT MADE THIS WORKSHOP POSSIBLE

Kimberley and District Guild of Fibre Artists’ Foray into Felting Forging

October 20/18 was a blue sky, golden autumn morning in the mountain town of Kimberley, B.C., when a desperate gang of 10 gathered in the Studio at Kimberley Arts Centre 64.  The 10 were filled with anticipation while waiting to be led through the process of “forging fibres into felted vessels”.

At 9:00 a.m., “Barbarous Barb” known better as Barb Guillen, of Moyie, B.C., reigned up at Centre 64’s Studio door fully loaded with an impressive array of fibre fabricating booty.

Tables were circled and set up with plastic sheets, bubble wrap, soap, and towels.  Finally we were armed with pool noodles and water loaded sprayers.   Barb passed out pre-cut plastic pattern pieces (for shaping and separating the inner and out layers of two vessels each) and a quantity of carded wool fibre to form the inner/base layers.  One vessel would be forged into a pumpkin shape and the second, into a tall cylinder.  The gang was “chomping at the bit” to get underway, after being given the full lowdown on all the coloured wool fibre, ribbons, lace, and fabrics supplied by Barb for construction and embellishment of our vessels.  Yippy, ay, oh – let’s go!

A tense quiet reigned during the initial pulling, patting, spraying, and layering of wool “tufts” around flat, plastic forms.  Once the wool reached a certain stage of readiness, the pieces were treated to rolling by pool noodle.  Barb circled the tables many times, as she checked on gang members’ techniques, answered questions, and offered helpful hints and encouragement.    Studio 64 reverberated with the pulling, pounding, rolling, fingering, whacking and slapping of fibres as the forgers progressed to a hard earned and successful conclusion.  The gang of 10 felt good and, thanks to Barb, we were ready to forge on with future felting projects!  

Article submitted by Wilma Mcrae, member of Kimberley

British Columbia: Midnight Shuttles Spinners and Weavers Guild

Our local Museum at Campbell River has an annual Festival of Trees at Christmas. They suggest the trees “ will put a smile on your face and add a little twinkle to your day”. Each tree has a sponsor and is decorated with imagination. Our Guild decided to take part this year. We were sponsored by the Arts Council and Coast Discovery Inn and Rob Fuccenecco.

We started from “once upon a time”.

Once upon a time people made their own decorations for their Christmas trees. Our tree continued that tradition.

We included all kinds of fibre. Some we spun, some we dyed, some we wove, some we repurposed and sometimes we just let our imaginations fly. Every ornament was connected to fibre arts.

The idea first came up back in March and we agreed enthusiastically. Of course we then showed our personality types by some members immediately making decorations, some saying “ oh there is plenty of time” and some panicking over “just how many do we need to make?”

The many strengths of the Guild were shown by the many ways decorations were produced.

We wove on an inkle loom at Fibrefest and felted and wove at table looms at fall fairs. We were patiently led through group projects of some decorations at our regular meetings.

Many members also produced little treasure decorations on their own. The variety of the decorations and the many skills that were demonstrated was amazing. You can see some of the details in the picture.

Decorations were collected and a small group dressed the tree. Roving and a handwoven blanket were put around the base and a spinning wheel sat by its side.

We won the prize for Most Sustainable Tree and took great pride in what our Guild can accomplish. And it was fun!

Gael Ackroyd

Montana: Alpine Spinners and Weavers

AWSG meets in Kalispell, Montana, but members span northwest Montana from Eureka in the north to Ronan in the south.  There are monthly guild meetings, as well as monthly meetings of a spinners group and a weavers group.  In 2019, a new freeform group will be meeting weekends to attract members who can’t attend the other meetings during week-days.

Weavers spent 2018 discussing weaving techniques and participated in two workshops.  A workshop for beginners was held in the spring as described in the July newsletter.  Then in September, Annette Swan Schiff’s workshop Fabrics That Flow and Show taught us how to sparingly use more expensive and decorative yarns to make fabrics suitable for clothing.  Currently, the weavers are experimenting with rep weave on the inkle loom in preparations for a rep weave round robin on the guild table loom.

In 2018, the spinners participated in a fiber exchange following the year’s theme Uncommon Threads.  Each participating spinner spun 1 oz. of fiber donated to the cause by someone else.  2019’s theme is Fibery Fun and is the spinners year for workshops, so more on that later.

AWSG members demonstrate weaving and spinning each year at the Makers Faire and the Northwest Montana Fair, mostly to kids, but to anyone who is interested.  Everyone loves the free 7 strand braid kits which members make from scrap mat board and yarns.

Since we have show and tell at each meeting, there wasn’t as much at the year-end show and tell, but the pictures illustrates spinning, weaving, knitting, and basket making. Members also made handmade ornaments for their 2018 Christmas exchange.

Check out our Facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWSGuild/.

Teresa Knutson

Montana: Bozeman Weavers Guild

 The final guild meeting of 2018 was celebrated with good cheer and tasty food. Our host Wendy Fedlock shared her beautiful home which radiated the warmth of the season. The rafters were hung with garlands and holiday treasures delighted us all.  It was so welcoming and relaxing that we actually had time to connect as friends bound together by our weaving adventures. We traded weaving drafts, recipes, stories and tips.  Crafts, laughter and door prizes again filled the day.

As we head toward 2019, our attention turns to education and outreach. Several committees have been created to explore a variety of opportunities.  In January we will learn more about our elementary school outreach program and practice with some of the materials that Barb Good has designed to engage the students. These learning stations and activities meet the curriculum needs of the school district as well as enthrall the students. Barb has a lot to share on the topic as she is a recently retired arts educator and administrator. She is passionate about bringing the joy and skill of weaving to students of all ages, but most especially school kids.

Another group chaired by Deeny Hinkle is organizing a demonstration program serving nursing home residents. This program seeks to engage the residents’ curiosity and memory to make a connection on an individual level about their own experiences with fiber.

This June we venture into the open air, collaborating with the Museum of the Rockies in their living history farm.   This will combine demonstration and hands on kids’ activities. Several of our members are already enthusiastic and regular volunteers with the farm at the Tinsley House. Warren Knipfer serves as our liaison with the education department at the museum.   The program, “Waste Knot, Want Knot”, focuses on the resourcefulness of early ranchers to repurpose materials to meet household needs through weaving.  We will be concentrating on the Great Depression years in Montana. The local spinners group, The Twisted Sisters, will be joining us for the event.  Stop by if you are in the area. 

All of these projects are being fined tuned by their committees and we look forward to sharing the final version with you in future newsletters.

Wishing you all the best in the new year.  Happy 2019.

Mary Bartlo

Oregon: Eugene Weavers Guild

The Eugene Weavers' Guild Annual Fiber Arts Celebration and Holiday Sale was held November 23-24 at the Eugene Textile Center. With lots of demonstrations, door prizes, a charity raffle, food, and a great venue for selling members' handcrafted items, the celebration was great fun. Ongoing demonstrations over the two days included weaving on a multi-shaft, rigid heddle, and inkle loom, spinning on a wheel and spindle, book making, and ply splitting with the opportunity for visitors to get involved.

Greeters welcomed visitors from as far away as Kansas City with a description of the activities and an invitation to complete a comments card for a chance to win various door prizes given at the end of each day. The door prizes were donated by local businesses and guild members. There was also the opportunity to buy raffle tickets to win either a shawl made by our local Sheep to Shawl team (Just Desserts), or a runner woven by a member of the guild’s Weave Structure Study Group. All proceeds of our raffle go to two local charities, Egan Warming Center and Cafe' 60/ Senior Meals. And we can't forget the refreshments! Always a popular table, all the refreshments were donated by members of the guild throughout the two days.

Our "Gallery" sales area included handcrafted items by 34 guild members. Eugene Textile Center (ETC) hosts our annual event by opening up the store at least a week prior to opening day to let us organize, decorate, and get ready, and shares in the excitement of the two-day celebration. Every year, ETC continues to host the sale of members’ items until December 24th. The guild’s first sale was in 2009. Over the past 10 years, we have substantially increased our participation, selection of items and sales. Our emphasis this year was to make this annual event a true celebration of what we, as makers, do.  It takes many volunteer hours by both our sales team and those working during the sale to make our celebration and sale so successful. We are already planning for next year!

Jeanne Remiro

Oregon: Portland Handweavers Guild

CHALLENGE GRANT REPORT

THE BANNER PROJECT

These are the eleven banners woven by over 500 members of the public in a weaving project conceived and directed by Debbie Ellis, a member of the Portland Handweavers Guild (PHG). The project was supported by a grant from the Assn. of Northwest Weaving Guilds (ANWG).

The Banner Project was launched in April, 2018, at the Gathering of the Guilds in Portland, OR, and was taken to other regional public events with the purpose of introducing people to weaving on simple rigid heddle looms.

The goal of this work in progress was to create one combined 9-yard-long banner that would be given to a worthy cause or charity. If enough interest was expressed by the participants - most of whom had never woven before - then a series of introductory classes in rigid heddle weaving might be planned. About 90% of these weavers have expressed interest in such a class.

Response has been so enthusiastic, that the original 9-yard-long banner has grown to 33 yards. Five rigid heddle looms - all provided and staffed by their respective owners, as well as other volunteers, were used: Two Schacht’s, one Ashford, one Kromski, and one Beka. All were warped with black Maysville cotton rug warp, sett at 10, to a width of 15 inches.

The varied weft yarns and fibers, as chosen by each weaver, were provided largely by private "stash," as well as by the PHG. The weaving itself is completely freestyle, in the manner of Japanese Saori, which delights in imperfection: Loose or tight structure, various styles and materials used, uneven edges, uncut yarn ends, etc.

The next step will be to clean and finish these banners for gifting to various recipients, to be determined by a small committee.

I hope that weaving guilds and other groups throughout the world might use this very successful and gratifying project as a challenge to create similar programs for their areas.

Debbie Ellis                                                                                        

Oregon: Rogue Valley Handweavers Guild

Rogue Valley Handweavers continue to share our love of fiber!  We thoroughly enjoyed our December Guild meeting which included a Christmas potluck and gift exchange. Many creative handwoven gifts brought bright smiles and heart-felt thanks.  It is always a joy to give and receive such wonderful gifts from friends. The potluck left us with full stomachs and the need to exchange recipes for tasty treats. 

As 2018 draws to a close, various woven articles are on display at the local Central Point Library and will travel onto the Medford Library.  Our display is a component of our ANWG grant, which contributed to our Linda Davis tartan workshop.  The tartans woven and on display share with the community and hopefully entice others to join the fun of handweaving.  With the new year upon us, our annual Beginning Weaving class will be held April 7, 8 and 13th, 2019, with signups and interest increasing. As members of our guild assist our lead instructor, we get to sharing the art of weaving, as well as bringing our members and the students an opportunity for education and fun.

We send all a Happy Weaving New Year!

Kamie Liston

Oregon: Salem Fiberarts Guild

The Salem Fiberarts Guild is very fortunate to have space at the Willamette Heritage Center (Mission Mill) in Salem, Oregon.  The Textile Learning Center, which has lots of looms of various sizes and kinds as well as all the equipment needed to weave, is the guild’s home.  Every year during the last part of December just before Christmas, the Willamette Heritage Center puts on Magic at the Mill—a Christmas fairyland full of lights, Santa, exhibits, demonstrations, shopping, and fun!  Salem Fiberarts Guild members demonstrate, help with children’s activities such as weaving on specially prepared looms, and have a lot of fun.  2019 was an especially fun year at “Magic” as many of our members assisted in various ways, bringing the weaving community into the larger Salem community.

Ila McCallum

Oregon:  Threadbenders Guild

Our guild hosted a Beginning Weaving Workshop on October 12-13-14 at the Baker County Library in Baker City.  There were ten participants, the maximum for the class.  A few were new to weaving, others had woven 20+ years ago and wanted a refresher before getting started again, and a few were active weavers who were self-taught but wished to glean new ideas and approaches from an expert.  The instructor was Vila Cox from Boise, Idaho (http://warpedandwonderful.com), who offered an informative and interactive program focused on planning a weaving project, reading a draft, warping, and finding and fixing errors (very helpful!).  Participants also had the opportunity to begin weaving a twill gamp that could be finished at home.  By the conclusion of the weekend, everyone was tired yet eager to put their new knowledge to use in their next weaving project.  

Nancy Findholt

Oregon and Washington:  Columbia Fibres Guild

The Columbia Fibres Guild is based in The Dalles, Oregon, serving the Mid-Columbia Gorge, both Oregon &  Washington.  Our president is Mary Davis, from Stevenson, Washington.

Fund Raising: We held our annual holiday luncheon in December.  This year we had a potluck and silent auction.  Our attendance was down just a little (its a busy time of year!), we had a lot of fun, and raised over $450. for the guild.   

Workshops:  Mary Davis conducted a Pine Needle Basket making class attended by about 15 people.   Each person created a small basket to take home.  We learned a lot and had a wonderful time.

We have a Fair Isle knitting class and a Cable knitting class scheduled for January and February.  Indigo dyeing and Eco dyeing will be scheduled in the Spring when we can be outside!

Field Trip:   Every year we plan a field trip in April.  This year we will visit the Aurora Colony Museum, in Aurora, Oregon for a tour and lecture on the history and textile arts of the community.

 Of Time and Threads: The Dalles Art Center, in Oregon featured our Guild’s work during the months of October and November. It was a wonderful show, representing all fiber arts, both for sale and for display only.  The Art Center was very happy with the show and we hope to do it again in the future.

Anne Kramer

Washington: San Juan County Textile Guild

2018 Retreat

Our guild is lucky to have members willing and able to instruct in several disciplines.  So our retreat committee arranged for workshops in jewelry making, felting, bio-dyeing, origami, basketry, among other fun projects to be taught by our own world class teachers.  In all, thirty guilders took their choice of eight workshops over two days in early November.  This was our first retreat at “The Firs” in Bellingham, Washington which is a ferry ride and a 45 minute drive from our island homes. 

We set up a rigid heddle loom for the non-weavers in our group to try their hand at weaving using novelty yarn and raffled-off the scarf of many hands at the end of the weekend.  On the first night ice-breaker we broke up into teams and made fantastic hats out of buttons, bows, and ribbon provided.  On the second night, our key note speakers were from the Tempestry Project  https://www.tempestryproject.com/ in Anacortes, WA.

A Tempestry is a wallhanging, or temperature tapestry, that represents the daily high temperature for a given year and location, with January at the bottom and December at the top – think of it like a bar graph.

Tempestry Project wall hangings are usually knit, but some in our group were interested in weaving, crocheting, and even basket-weaving their “graphs”.

All in all, our retreat was deemed a fabulous success by all involved.  Calls for another retreat will be heeded after the organizers of this past year’s event rest on their laurels for awhile.

Anita Barreca

Fiber Events

Spring and summer bring many fiber events to local areas.  I live in the Willamette Valley and there are several fiber events in February and March.  Please support your local fiber events and local fiber artists.

Please check our website https://northwestweavers.org/events for guild-sponsored events, other events and calls to artists.

ANWG Newsletter Deadlines and Formats

The deadline for news articles for the ANWG newsletter "Northwest News" is the 10th of the month of issuance: January, April, July, and October. Articles may be sent at any time to newsletter@northwestweavers.org.

Articles should be no longer than two pages typewritten and contain a maximum of three photos. Newsy, short articles with photos about guild happenings are of greatest interest. All photos sent may be used in the ANWG newsletter "Northwest News" and/or on the ANWG website. Before sending photos obtain permission of those people pictured to have their photo in the ANWG newsletter and/or website. If you have any questions, contact Ila McCallum, Communications Chair and Newsletter Editor, at newsletter@northwestweavers.org.

This newsletter is in HTML format. If you would lilke it in a pdf file, please go to our website: https://northwestweavers.org/about/newsletters/.