Thursday 20 August 2009

Autumn programme

Coming soon............

First meeting of autumn will be Tuesday 1st September 2009 7:30pm in the Linen room, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

Monday 1 June 2009

Wool Day 2009



As always the weather was fabulous. The spinners gathered at the Corradreenan farm where we had a lovely day spinning, knitting and chatting. There were lots of visitors to the folk park and hopefully a few new members for the guild!

Sunday 17 May 2009

Purl Celebration

Keep an eye on your inboxes for details of the venue and time for the Purl Celebration. Remember to RSVP by Friday 22nd May. And contact Lorna (secretary) if you have any queries....

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Selling your yarn and Purl Celebration plans

Last nights meeting focused on selling your yarn. Joanne, Inga and Freda each gave a short presentation. Joanne discussed using the internet and marketing your products. Inga introduced us to 'googlewack' and 'making yourself viral' in her talk on promoting yourself and Freda talked about her experience of selling at craft fairs, shows and local shops. Hopefully everyone was inspired and maybe we'll all be decreasing our current stash so we can make a new one!

We were reminded to leave items for display/sale at Knit and Stitch with Joanne, Dorothy, Kay or Inga before Wednesday 15th April.

Forthcoming events also mentioned were:
UFTM Cultra Wool Day 30th May
Saintfield Show 20th June 2009
Castlewellan Show 18th July (TBC)
Holywood Transition Town event Sept 2009 (TBC)

As it is our 30th year as a guild a celebration was proposed. It was also pointed out that 30th anniversary is represented by pearl, so this will be our Purl celebration! It will be on Tuesday 16th June at a venue to be arranged. We hope to contact as many current and past members as possible and new members will also of course be very welcome!

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Stitch and Creative Crafts Show, Belfast

We will be demonstrating spinning, carding and doing a bit of knitting or crochet at the Stitch & Creative Crafts Show in the Kings Hall on 16,17 and 18th April 2009. Come along and say hello.

Thursday 19 February 2009

update to programme

The presentation at the March meeting is now confirmed as Freda McGill of the NI Rare Breeds Trust and April will be on using the internet to sell your yarns.

Saturday 7 February 2009

update on spring workshop

The workshop will run from 10-4 on Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th March in the Lagan room.

On Saturday Val will talk about old wheels and her research into the variety of wheels in the UK. Anyone wanting Val and David to look at an old wheel of their own should bring it along too. I'll be taking the opportunity for a bit of child-free spinning and bringing my not-so-old louet too! It'll be our usual pot-luck lunch so bring something to share and a plate/cutlery.

On Sunday Val will teach spinning with the great wheel and Hilary will also be bringing her great wheel along so there should be ample opportunity for us all to get plenty of practice. This will include learning to card for and spin using the long-draw method, so bring your carders, some wool and wheels. Again lunch will be a pot-luck affair.

Personally I can't wait for two whole days of spinning and talking fibre with my friends!

The workshop costs £20 for the two days. There are still one or two places left if people want to attend (please contact Lorna via email to book a place).

february meeting

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the February meeting, but luckily for me neither could the speaker Freda McGill! The weather here was cold and frosty with snow in places and travel was difficult for many. We are hoping to reschedule Freda's talk for March or April and will update the blog once finalised.

Monday 12 January 2009

Spring Workshop


Dorothy is currently taking bookings and deposits for the Spring Workshop. Contact Lorna via email (maisiehandspun(AT)live(dot)ie) if you want to take part.

Valerie and David will be talking to us about their research into Spinning Wheels in the UK, David will tell us about making spinning wheels and Valerie will teach us to spin on their great wheel (which I got to try out at Woolfest 2008), it will be a fascinating workshop with something for everyone.