S/He savoured the hours of freedom and solitude…….

……much better than Lockdown or Corona blog don’t you think?!

How many times have we uttered the words ‘there’s not enough hours in the day’……..’I wish I had the time to do the things I really enjoy doing’ ?

Well, here are a few things some of our members have been creating since we last met in February – and doesn’t that seem an age away!

Some members’ contributions are in their own words.

First up is Robert-

With the expectation I will one day get a proper floor loom (c’mon universe, is there one out there waiting for me?) I’ve been exploring the whole new world (for me) of weft-faced rug weaving on my hand looms, in contrast to the balanced weaves I’ve been used to so far.  Feels like going back to basics, but it’s fun for this old dog to learn some new tricks and explore possibilities.

The attached pictures are of a sampler I’ve just taken off the loom.  I’ve used three different warp threadings side-by-side, described in one book as “double two-tie unit weave” and in another as more simply “plaited twills”.  Since it’s only a sampler I’ve been using up various balls of wool/acrylic knitting yarn, weaving in triple thickness. I’ve discovered that you can convert a balanced weave pattern to a weft-faced structure by ‘weaving in opposites’. Hope all that makes sense!

 Think I’ve got enough of an idea now to actually make some (albeit small) rugs…

 

Tania sent a photo of the ‘ingredients’ she was going to use , then followed with the art yarn she had spun. Her art yarn is wonderful!

 

Maureen has been very busy!

Knitted in feather and fan pattern using West Yorkshire Spinners ‘Excuisite” 80% Falkland Merino and 20% mulberry silk, lace weight.

I’ve also fiddled around with a name badge in peyote beading, yet to work out how to mount it, all good for a brain workout.

and also-

The Knee Rug conversion:

 

Step One:  Take one UFO (waistcoat) created from one of Tania’s lovely Art yarns,  add natural Merino handspun, solar dyed light aqua and micro wave dyed dark teal handspun yarns. Varying the ply and Art yarns will creates its own unique effect.

Step Two:  Remove stitching that originally formed the ‘waistcoat’. No re-knitting at this stage.

Step Three: Crochet together ‘waistcoat’ pieces to form a flat centre.

Step Four: As it was a herringbone knit, you’ll need to ‘fill in’ the corners to square it up.

Step Five: Pick up stitches around circumference on a long circular needle and knit in the round, until you have used up all your stash balls or attained the size you want for your Knee Rug.

Sit back, snuggle up and enjoy the pleasure of having rescued a UFO and created an even larger hole (or dint) in your stash!

More from Maureen!-

Peyote Beading came about when I did a workshop in Glen Innes with the very talented Joy Fletcher, who has won many Craft Show prizes for her far more complicated work than I have mastered.  Fortunately I still have a stash of beads and therefore an almost endless resource of little glass beads.

The Jumper was worked in commercial Bamboo yarn from my stash, in a top down style from a  Drops knitting pattern.

I love knitting socks, so I decided to make these using a double moss stitch just to take more time in doing them. I generally use commercial sock yarn.  On this occasion it was a random dyed Wrigglefingers hank.

 

 

Edna has completed the shawl she was working on at the February meeting. The puppy dogs are a fatal attraction for Edna. She makes them to sell to support the Jerry Green Animal Rescue where her daughter works.

 

Mary next-

I’ve just finished these knitted slippers for our son in Germany

 

I had already unpicked and washed the original shrug which I knitted in the early days of my spinning and never been entirely happy with. I’d decided on this wave pattern as it’s so easy and gives a nice scalloped edge, I’m quite pleased with it. It’s hand spun shetland and mostly dyed with onion skins. It was a good project for this time when there’s so much more time at home, I’ve since knitted a small jumper for our youngest grandson and am now wondering what to do next!

I hurt my back last week with too much gardening, so spent some time on my sewing machine instead. I’ve made several balloon balls for my grandchildren which are fun and safe to play with indoors.

I’ve washed some fleece from our brown sheep and am considering felting a rug, I’ll let you know how that turns out!

We await the update, Mary!

 

Jean has probably produced a lot more than these gloves, so we will await the next blog when no doubt she will surprise us!

At last I completed my fingerless gloves from yarn left over from the tunic I made some time ago, inspired by Lynn’s Domino workshop

 

I have just put  my felt sculpture out for the summer– in winter it would take off in the wind!

I think some of the winds we have here in North Wales would see it airborne any time of year! Might be taken for the prop from Portmeirion’s ‘The Prisoner’ rather than the Search & Rescue drone being trialled at Maes Awyr Caernarfon!

 

Wendy, one of our members who owns The Naked Spinner in Criccieth has  more time on her hands now after a hectic year

 

Ann has been doing more spinning than usual but has also been making wash bags for nurses, having done over two dozen at the last count.

 

She also has a wip which will be good to see when completed. She has such a good eye for colour in her spinning

 

Lynne has not had a good time recently after a very bad fall so is restricted in what she can do

First is a crochet cat bed plus I made padded sides and base with some fabric I had.

Second is 2 crocheted bags to hold oddments of yarn, I had a pattern but did not know what it made, made one and remembered so made another to hold my Spun and dyed yarns.

Third is a machine (for kids) which makes friendship bracelets, plastic and very noisy, they are for Edna’s daughter (Liz) who fundraises for a dogs home.

 

Sue has been busy making Christmas presents

 

and a wip from 6 years ago which was to use up hand dyed, handspun stash but which I think I’ll have to begin again on larger needles as there is a variety of wool weights being used. Maybe I’ll get it finished if I’m happier with it…I’m winging it with the pattern anyway!

 

And  Ann Sh.  has made a mysterious piece of material that she intends making into a cushion cover but is having trouble uploading a photo- never mind, Ann, we’ll do a workshop on this for you!! Bring it along to the next meeting and I’ll put it in the blog then.

 

Meinir sent info re knitting keps for Key Workers-

Cap for Key Workers

Every year the Shetland Island host a week’s knitting event, comprising of classes, demonstrations and talks, Shetland Wool Week.. This year 2020, the event has been postponed due to the coronovirus.

Each year there is a patron who designs a cap pattern for the Wool Week and this year it is the well known Shetland designer Wilma Malcolmson who has created the official pattern, Katie’s Kep.

Talking to one of the Dutch tutors that teaches at Wool Week, Hadewych Van der Werf, she has asked people in her knitting class to knit the pattern and produce knitted caps to give to key workers as a way of appreciation for all their hard work and effort during this crisis.

Wilma Malcolmson has kindly agreed that the pattern may be used to knit a cap for Key Workers in North Wales and it may be downloaded for free from the web site the Shetland Wool Week . The cap is a fair isle pattern, with clear instructions, is suitable for those wishing to try some fair isle knitting for the first time or the more experienced knitter. You may have someone in mind to receive your finished hat, if so, please give it to them.

If there are any spare caps, please place in a clear sealed plastic bag, it’s up to you if you want to put a little note in with the cap, then please can you post to Katie’s Kep,c/o Tanrallt, Llangian, Pwllheli, Gwynedd LL53 7LN .

The caps will be distributed to key workers in the voluntary/public service sectors to say thank you to the unsung heroes of this crisis.

This is being run in conjunction with the charity Awyr Las

 

So for now it’s goodbye and good wishes to all!

 

 

 

 

 

Show and Tell

Welcome to 2020, everyone!

And what a wonderful start it was; a great session of ‘Show & Tell’.  Once again, I’m amazed at the skills of our members – the words light and bushel come to mind!

It got off to a good start with Jannicke outlining what we would be doing at her tapestry weaving workshop in March. She brought along several samples of weavings she had done in the past.

 

In Norwegian this technique is called “billedvev”, meaning “picture weave”. This weaving technique is like weaving a puzzle, each area of colour is separate from but dependant  on the other areas at the same time.

This form of weaving was used to depict important political, historical and religious events including the Vikings.

Other examples can be seen here

Other samples Jannicke brought along were Krokbragd, a traditional Norwegian technique which is similar to the colourwork of Fair Isle weaving, as the same patterns are frequently used in both.

 

One of our talented rug weavers, Rachel, began to warp up a small loom in a figure of 8, to show others how to do this stage, which ideally should be prepared before the March workshop.  For this project, the warp needs to measure 14 cm either end and space the warp evenly. Jannicke will bring the necessary sticks to bring the 40 warp threads to the same plane.

 

Really looking forward to this session, Some of us already weave, some do not but I think we will all learn something new.

 

Talking of Rachel, she brought along a couple of her rugs to show us. She has a huge floor loom and weaves rugs as presents for special family celebrations such as a wedding .

She pointed out a slight ‘imperfection’, a ‘ladder’ in the rug, which led her on to talk about legends of indigenous peoples and their stories about spiders and ladders.

In Navajo culture, rug weavers would leave little imperfections along the borders in the shape of a line called ch’ihónít’i, which is translated into English as “spirit line” or “spirit pathway. The Navajos believe that when weaving a rug, the weaver entwines part of her being into the cloth. The spirit line allows this trapped part of the weaver’s spirit to safely exit the rug.

There is another story here

Much looking forward to our ‘Show & Tell Rugs’ at the  October meeting.

 

This year’s Association competition is ‘Still Waters’- a textile piece in any discipline to fit within a 6inch/15cm ring. A metal ring, a wooden embroidery ring or a cardboard circle covered with dyed and embroidered fabric are all appropriate.

Edna brought along a couple of 6″ rings, initially to give members an idea of how to create the basis for their project

She had made these some time ago, not based on the competition, and had used silk painting on one and made silk paper on the other. Silk paper is one thing I’ve never made and so Edna gave me instructions and sent me home with some silk. Thank you, Edna!

 

Lynne also whizzed by with her example of crochet in a ring….but I missed getting a photo. Sorry, Lynne!

 

Beryl showed us her cross stitch work and a little story behind each. Originally, she had decided to make herself  the Welsh dragon, but it had been so liked she presented it to them and so had to make another one which she is keeping for herself!

The Isles of Scilly map is a kit she bought to sew as St Mary’s was her birthplace. It is a lovely reminder of her family, some of whom still live there and who she was able to see when she got a chance to visit.

 

Beryl also knits and crochets hats, scarves, gloves etc for charity and brought along an example

 

She also brought a lovely cable hat she had knitted, saying that she doesn’t normally suit hats, but was rather taken with this one!

 

Weaving seems to be prevalent in this blog, for here now comes Robert!

He has three spinning wheels at home, but since he started weaving three years ago, they are collecting dust!

He began his weaving with traditional designs, working with angular patterns, rather like this later gradient wall hanging

but has since started experimenting with waves…

The warp he is using is cotton dyed with onion skins, a follow-on from our dyeing day last year.

 

Chris was next to show us her projects; fingerless mittens with a domino pattern and a  wet felted and needle felted item, photos of which I didn’t get as I was so overcome by the sight of the  aran sweater she was wearing. We have watched the progress of this being knitted over the past two years or so at various meetings and never expected to see the day it was finished…..but then again, as she says, she is a busy lady!

And isn’t it just beautiful.

 

This is a hand-stitched quilt in progress made by Mary as a present for a family member, the individual fabrics evoking relevant memories. Having handstitched one myself, I know how much time goes into this.

 

Also, I couldn’t resist posting this photo of a couple of Mary’s past creations. Her lovely  homegrown fleece, handspun, hand-dyed, handknitted Shetland jumper with her own design features, accessorized with her beautiful handfelted necklace from a previous workshop.

 

 

Maureen, from Australia,  brought along some of her work that she did

when she belonged to a guild in her home country. She handspun the merino  for this  knitted piece that can be worn either as a long skirt with a separate knitted halter-neck bodice, or as a dress. There are armlets to go with it and a separate yoke collar of space-dyed yarn. Just look closely at the photos for better detail. All in all, a wonderful piece!

 

She also brought along another project from when she was a member of her Australian guild. Their task, working with three different sized templates, was to produce different pattern designs to demonstrate their skills.

 

She was also wearing a lovely top-down knitted sweater…

 

Janis was next in line to show her yak,silk and merino shawl which was so soft. There was also her Shetland Wool Week beanie, a free pattern which can be downloaded from this site

She also brought along a piece of silk to show the shibori dyeing she had done, which was lovely!

Once again, sorry Janis, no photos.

On a positive note, last year  Janis brought along to show us some eco printing she had done and this has led to her leading a workshop for us in April. Another meeting to look forward to!

 

Jean brought along her ‘recycled’ cable sweater. She  handspun the yarn and dyed it with logwood and an alum mordant. ‘Recycled’ because it was knitted up and undone three times before she was satisfied with the design and fitting!

 

Our last ‘Show and Tell’ of the day was Glenda who could be called ‘the bag lady’ simply because each meeting she has a new project bag she has made! A couple of meetings ago it was mentioned about having a wrist bag to put a ball of wool in whilst knitting and lo and behold she goes and makes one!

 

And finally, hanging forlornly and anonymously on the wall, a gorgeous freeform weaving project which demonstrates a varied number of different stitches and knots

 

 

Thank you to all who brought in items for us to see. It was a great session attended by a good number who went on to spin, weave, knit, crochet and chat.

Please note that the calendar of meetings for 2020 has been updated here on the blog and on our facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Llyn-Guild-of-Weavers-Spinners-and-Dyers-746018142239288/?ref=bookmarks

There is no epiblog today as this has been such a long blog, but I would welcome ideas for future ones.

Simply Spinning and Weaving…with a bit of Show and Tell

June’s meeting was supposed to be a Fibre Show and Tell but became a ‘finished fibre’ show and tell!

We welcomed new members who came along with some lovely items to show…

And more…

 

Even more…

 

and even some sewing…

 

After the Show and Tell we had the fibre swap- 100g of fibre  in just two colours were randomly swapped amongst members. We can add a further 25g and create something to show at the November meeting for the Rita Walker trophy..

Normal activities then resumed.  There was there weaving…

and spinning…

there was crocheting…

knitting…

 

and some beautiful handmade cards made by a member to raise funds for Jerry Green Dog Rescue where her daughter is Community Fundraiser…

 

 

and some nuno felting…

 

There was a good turnout of members attending and our numbers seem to be rising monthly, bringing new enthusiasm and skills to a lovely group. Great!

 

Epiblogue:

Calon Wlan again held their Fleece Fayre at the lovely National Trust farm, Hafod y Llan, near Bedgelert. It was a good day with plenty of fleeces for sale

lots of craft stalls

 

together with a variety of demonstrations

 

Thanks to Lilian, Chris and Sue who represented the Llyn Guild, demonstrating spinning and weaving and hands on sessions with both adults and children and answering many questions about our craft. So busy, in fact, that I didn’t take any photos of our group!!

 

 

 

Spinning & Weaving

Just a simple spinning and weaving session this month….and once again, a little gift from Edna!

Although there were only about half of the members there, it was interesting to see how many different spinning wheels there were. There are probably more hiding at home, as I know for sure that some members have one or two or three or more and, of course, each one has to be different!

 

Someone was spinning silk

 

Someone was spinning the fleece of their pet sheep

 

Someone spun merino and silk blend with a hint of sparkle

 

 

Of course, there weren’t only eight spinners there; some were weaving and some were knitting and crocheting

 

Jannicke brought along her backstrap weaving which we were impressed with, reaffirming that you don’t have to spend large amounts on expensive equipment to produce a lovely piece of work.

 

Jean was wearing her nuno felted waistcoat

It is surprising how soft and supple this is. And of course, colour is the key.

 

A few months back, Jean put out a request for old jeans. She wanted to make a rug. Today, she brought in the finished article. There were quite a few umms and aaaaaaahs! It has to be said, these photos do not do it full justice.

 

Look at this lovely interpretation by Jean, of a Maggie Jackson shawl from her ‘Ireland’ book

 

Don’t forget to click on a photo to view the slideshow.

 

Dyeing Picnic July 2018

Well, we couldn’t have asked for better weather, considering the torrential downpours and buffeting winds of the last two years- no tying down of the gazebo and getting members, dressed in raincoats and wellies, to sit on chairs holding down the flapping side panels .

Although the sun didn’t appear till later, there was a warmth and calmness to the day even though the results of the dyeing weren’t always what was expected. We all put it down to the water!

 

This time we were looking at substantive dyeing; dyeing without any mordant.

A little more information about the two types of dyeing with plants can be found here .

We’re in front of ourselves, what shall we do next?

Everything laid out ……

and ready to go!

Familiar things on the list –

teabags

onion skins

comfrey

woad

Some things  not quite so familiar –

aronia berries

copper solution

elder buckthorn bark

And three from our earlier in the year  talk  by Cathy O’Brien

cladonia

parmelia saxitalis

xanthoria parietina

The parmelia is found on the uplands, mainly on drystone walls; xanthoria is found on old trees; the cladonia, we’re not sure which one as there are so, so many, was found in the carpark by the beach! Some lichens are rare and are protected, so if you fancy trying this out, check first.

 

The dyepots were set up……..there were more but I got over-excited and missed a few.

These were brought up to boiling and then strained

Yarn was added

You might notice from the last photo that not all the dyebaths had been strained before adding the fibre. This was comfrey and quite a few hilarious minutes were passed trying to get the leaves out.However, one must note,  even Harris Tweed  cloth and garments have the occasional bit of vm in there so we are in good company!

One of the dyebaths was elder buckthorn bark to which was added soda ash.  Skeins of yarn were added and this will be fermented over 3 to 4 weeks. This solution can’t be boiled as the wool will simply disintegrate.

elder buckthorn bark

 

Jean had prepared some examples of what we could expect

 

The skeins, once removed from the dyepots were rinsed and hung out to dry in the glorious sunshine.

Some of ours did not achieve the same vibrancy as the examples. The xanthoria parietina should change from pink to blue as it oxidises in the air, and ours wasn’t quite there, even though several people said they could see it (Specsavers comes to mind).  And our woad, well, what can be said? Quite a failure! But that sparks an idea perhaps, for next year!

One strange result was Mary’s labels. All started off white and look how the different dyes were taken up

 

 

 

There are many books about natural dyeing. The go-to book, of course, is Jenny Dean’s Wild Colour

More about natural dyeing can be found here 

And, if you want know what flowers you can grow for dyeing, with recipes, look at this book

 

Thanks to Alan Silverside  for the most wonderful photos of lichens at Last Dragon Lichen

Thanks also to Hazel and Gwilym for donating the aronia berries at Aerona

Thanks to Ann Shingles for the use of her home in a beautiful location,

Thanks to Jean Rickford who has to plan, provide, manage,and organise our day (and us). She does it superbly ,too.

 

 

Show & Tell- Equipment

Well, it was that kind of session, with a lot of  ooohs! wows! what a good idea! not seen one of those before! how does that work? and so on…..

One of the first oohs! was the introduction of a Country Spinner- I don’t think many had seen one in real life and we were taken aback at the size of the bobbin and orifice

 

There were a variety of carders, hand carders- flat versus curved-

 

and very handy covers for them to protect the tines

 

Drum carders, Classic and Barnett

 

A variety of equipment, besides the carders, was  displayed to show how to blend fibres-

Blending boards- handmade at home and much, much cheaper than buying  readymade ones. Fibre is pressed into the board using a wallpaper paste brush. Small rolags made using large  and small knitting needles.

 

Homemade hackles with 6″ nails on one and metal Affro combs on the other and a selection of pottery and shell dizzes with a bead hook to help initially pull fibres through the diz.

 

 

There was a lovely warping board made by a member’s husband, who can turn his hand to anything

 

This a is a mudag, sometimes called a creelagh or murlagh. It is a basket once made in the Scottish Highlands but this was made by a Yorkshireman! It was used to hold fleece prior to spinning. The unusual shape meant fleece could be carded into rolags and placed by the fire  so the heat on the lanolin in the fleece would help with the spinning.

 

There were handy, handmade travelling, spinning machines- a rakestraw, and one made from a piece of wire

 

Here is  a Navajo spindle, the size of which brought a great big wow! It had to be about 4 foot in length, definitely not suitable to use whilst travelling!

 

Handmade Lazy Kates were in evidence

 

swifts, antique metal and wooden

 

Most of us have this type of ball winder

But just look at this beauty!

 

A lovely little weaving/darning tool and just look at the price!

 

I think this member’s husband should go into business with this Andean plying tool he made.

 

I’d never seen one of these before- a sailmaker’s palm

 

And here is a selection of items, not equipment, that members brought in to show us. Each one had a precious story behind it.

 

Thank you to all who brought in their treasures and made this such an interesting session.

 

Small Loom Weaving

A pleasing turnout for this session. We also welcomed three new members (** see below re membership/workshops) to our small Guild which is very good.

There were a few different small looms being demonstrated on.

There was a short  demonstration of basic pin loom weaving. This is a very quick and simple way to do small patchwork pieces that can be sewn together to make larger pieces.

There is a basic pattern on the pin loom .

then there are other patterns such as a herrringbone

One of the good things is that as you weave, the bottom of the warp fills up as you weave the top bit. You can easily make a 6″ square in 15 minutes! It’s also something you can put down and pick up at any time without worrying where you’re up to!

You can find tutorials at the Fibre Factory website  ,Work for Idle Hands here and Donna Kallner website

For more complex patterns, Weave-it Weaves can be downloaded here.

Mary demonstrated weaving on the inkle loom. She told me that her husband had made this  in hardwood for someone who then decided they wanted it in softwood. Thereby Mary inherited this by default and had to go to the library to learn how to use it. I think she’s mastered it well!

Anne showed us how to weave on the Zoom Loom

Can’t remember the name of this modern version but we used to do it on a wooden cotton reel with four nails stuck in the top, sitting in front of an open fire, listening to the wireless…..oh, those were the days…….. and it was called French Knitting then!

Just a few of my more rustic ones

After a busy morning and lunch, some relaxed knitting and spinning whilst others carried on weaving.

If you decide you want to get your own pin loom, they are easy enough to make. If you do decide to buy one, be selective- some look very nice but are expensive, others are more basic/rustic but work just as well. If you want to join an online group, there are many. I joined this facebook  group and also got my loom from Julie Kernow who is Admin on that page. She has some for sale now.

Here are just a few things I found online that can be made from pin loom squares- there are many more inspirational items out there. Click on an image for a slideshow.

Just a few more photos from the day.Click on a picture for the slideshow

If anyone wants to look into small looms further, here is a link at aLoomaNation with downloadable manuals and patterns.

*Reminder that the 21 June session is ‘Show and Tell Equipment’. Please bring your unusual, or handmade, or exotic, or strange, or even weird equipment to show us!

**Unfortunately, we have to limit the Dyeing Picnic in July, and the Nuno felting in September, to existing members only.

 

 

Mapuche Weaving

 

A couple of weeks ago we saw Liz Beasley of Ananuca visiting us at the Guild to show us how to do Mapuche weaving. Quite a few of us do weave but this was something quite different.

She started by giving us a brief background to her involvement with it and the people of S. Chile

http://www.handmadeinchile.co.uk/

Some of you might have seen them in action last year at Wonderwool:

http://www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk/show…/2017-show-events.html

I particularly like the handmade looms- they just pop into the forest and cut down suitable branches! Spindles are handmade often with clay, potatoes as the weight as strong yarn is needed for weaving their blankets, rugs and ponchos. They spin sheep’s wool and use plant dyes.

https://fairandfab.co.uk/worksh…/mapuche-weaving-from-chile/

 

We first warped up our looms- an old picture frame-

Plastic tubing-

Another picture frame-

 

Two small willow wands were cut to divide the shed-

String heddles were made-

Then the weaving began-

 

 

 

Those of us used to working on rigid heddle looms found that with Mapuche, the weft needed to be pulled tight across the warp in order to create a good pattern. Some of us rigid heddlers started a new weave to achieve a better pattern.  Mapuche weaving patterns are warp based. Most of us worked on a simple pattern like the last photo. Some were more adventurous like the first few. Liz showed us some source books with the most intricate designs and like a lot of indigenous peoples, many communities have their own designs. They often tell a story and spiders (natural spinners and weavers!) feature strongly.

Liz gave us a comprehensive set of notes on  all the processes of mapuche weaving she had covered in this workshop- warping up,dividing sheds, creating string heddles, preparing the weft, creating a shuttle, weaving using the sheds, creating a fringe and for those who might be more adventurous, How to Build a Mapuche Loom!

Below are just a few pics of Liz’s weaving.

 

We want to thank Liz for a great session and would recommend anyone to take one of her workshops.

Lichen Dyeing Talk

On the morning before Cathy O’Brien from the Gwynedd Guild of WSD came to talk to us about lichen dyeing, there was some bantering about the pronunciation of the word: was it ‘litchen’ or ‘like-en’. No consensus was reached it has to be said, both sides stuck to their guns!

We had been looking forward to her visit and were not disappointed.

First we were given a brief historical perspective of dyeing including the Romans and the manufacturing of the very secretive Scottish ‘cudbear’, plus the term ‘crottle’ which is a Gaelic name for lichens. Here is a link if you wish for more info about cudbear.

She led us through her own journey in researching lichens and dyeing after a visit to Tenerife  where she learned of the role of that island in exporting lichens for use in dyeing. One of the ones that grows there like a weed is roccella . Unfortunately for us it doesn’t grow here in the UK (unless you know better!)

Lots of examples were on display, both fresh and dried and Cathy  talked us through recognition, collecting and drying before explaining the different methods of extracting the dye: boiling method, ammonia method, together with photo-oxidising dyes. This was accompanied by photos, notes and examples of yarn she had dyed.

Cathy is still on her journey experimenting with lichen dyeing but was happy to let us join in and share her knowledge. If anyone decides  to have a go at this a reference book and magnifying glass are recommended as some lichens look very much alike and others are protected.

You can find out more here

Pamphlet guide info here and here 

 

Thanks to Cathy for an inspiring talk!

Follow us on Facebook here

 

Wool and Fleece Fair / Ffair Gwlan a Cnu

At the beginning of February a really great day was held in Penygroes celebrating all things woolly.  There was everything from fleeces to felting:

and slippers to Saori weaving:

People were selling, demonstrating and talking about their passions, fleeces were for sale and there were exciting discussions about taking this event into the future.  The Llyn and Gwynedd Guilds were represented and we happily spoke to many visitors. A  lot of the people who came to the Fair had no idea that so much was going on in the area.

Here are some more pictures from the day!