The Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers Guild doesn’t have official meetings over the summer months, but our members keep busy participating in a number of local events. We help at local fairs. Members bring out their table and inkle looms, spinning wheels, needle felting, bobbin lace and of course their knitting needles and crotchet hooks; so they can demonstrate the many types of fibre arts.
The Cobble Hill Fair found guild members demonstrating various fibre arts to young and old. A popular event for the youngsters was Kumihimo weaving. Two members made and gave 60 kits to happy weavers to make their very own Kumihimo friendship bracelets. A large tea towel display was a crowd pleaser and added colour to the booth. Michel and her group were kept busy helping folks learn needle felting using cookie cutters as templates. These worked really well as one young man felted a panda bear complete with perfectly placed eyes.
Ladysmith Arts on the Avenue is an annual event where artisans of all kinds set up their tents and displays on the main street of the town. Our guild member, Alison is the lead for this event and uses the space for demonstrating spinning and weaving. A number of members join her to spread the word and answer all those questions about how and why we spin and weave. The year she displayed an number of items celebrating our 50th anniversary.
two woven placemats and skeins of wool by Jean Irwin who the Guild’s treasurer in 1979.
a nap-size wool blanket, one of several woven sometime in the 1980s on Margaret White’s floor loom as part of a Friendship Blankets project. An extra blanket was always made and used as a prize in a raffle.
a runner woven by Phyllis Rodd for the 1987 Teacup Exchange. The mug that inspired it belonged to Joan Mayer.
a pine needle basket by Joan Mayer woven in 1990.
a small teddy bear that was created for the Guild’s booth at the 1991 ANWG conference in Eugene, OR. Our booth’s theme was “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”.
a bobbin lace star by Sandie Laver around 2012
a small chenille scarf woven by Alison Irwin as a prototype of a project that will appear in the November/December 2023 issue of Handwoven
The Cowichan Exhibition is the last summer event. Guild members manage the adult and junior Spinning & Weaving sections in the display hall. There were some fabulous entries this year with many focused on The Very Hungry Caterpillar book which was this year’s theme. While monitoring the displays we are happy to answer questions about the items and share our knowledge with everyone. This is a wonderful venue to share information about the guild. We have a number new guild members this year because they found us at one of these events.
Two members hosted “Spin n Grin” get togethers over the summer. We had a great time meeting in their lovely garden, chatting, spinning, knitting and just generally catching up with each other. Enjoying a few homemade treats was an added treat. Thank you Diane and Teri for hosting us.
Now that Autumn has arrived we are busy getting ready for our Weavers & More Show and Sale and the Fleece and Fibre Sale next month. Click on the link for more information on these two events!
