Stratford-upon-Avon Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers

  St Blaise, the Patron Saint of Wool Combing* and the Wool trade.   This year we shall be taking a tour through the Patron Saints linked to our skills of Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing.  The first of in this series is St Blaise, the Patron Saint of Wool Combers and Workers. Blaise of Sebaste was a physician, became Bishop of Sebastea, now located in Turkey, in the 3 rd -4 th century and is known as one of the Christian saints. His feast day in the Western world is 3 rd February and became a religious holiday in 1222. He is the patron saint of Wool Combers and is depicted with one or more wool combs (seen in his right hand above) but also, often with crossed candles and sometimes with animals. As a physician, he cured throat diseases and sick, wild animals; he is also the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. In 316, the Roman Emperor, Licinius began a renewed round of persecution of Christians and Bishop Blaise was captured and thrown into prison. Before be...

Just a quick reminder for our February meeting on Saturday 20th. Plying with Purpose with Chris Pegler  Don't forget to bring Singles which are spun up and taking up space on a bobbin (if a spinner), a ball of tightly plyed yarn if not. Not a full bobbin/ball's worth (could take too long), around 10-30g would be good. Any thickness or material. (This is for practicing Andean/Bracelet plying). Further details in the February Newsletter.

PLYING WITH A PURPOSE with Chris Pegler Plying is the last activity that Chris has excavated from her 'Certificate of Achievement in Spinning' learning journey. It seemed appropriate to leave plying till last as it is almost the last process in spinning yarn. She will try to share what she knows without being an expert tutor and mindful of not all guild members being spinners! (GBA stands for: Getting Better At and recognises that we each have a different starting point). This GBA is a (very deferred) companion to her Taming Twist session in 2019.  Unlike that one we are not together in a room comparing what we do with ease and so she has changed some of her plans from her in-person session due last year. So on our zoom call she wants to get you all (spinners and non-spinners alike) to do some measuring and reflecting on ply before the session. She is asking that you find 1-3 yarn(s) you like to use or spin and do some measuring, so that we can all make comparisons. Further det...

  2021 & BEYOND Welcome, all our members and readers to 2021  with our wishes for a healthy and kinder year and beyond. We wake today with a world in a crisis that we couldn't even imagine this time last year, but also with hope for the year ahead. With the option of face to face meetings still so unlikely we are planning for the first quarter monthly meetings to be held online, the rest of the year is planned but is subject to change depending on the circumstances and guidelines at the time. So we have ...... January 16th       - This is our AGM, but before that we have a talk from the author of  'This Golden Fleece',   Ester Rutter.  Look out for the AGM papers that will be circulated shortly.  February  20th     -  Getting better at PLYING March  20th         - Freeform Crochet April 17th            - Backstrap weaving May  15th ...

   After a year like no other for most of us,  your Committee would like to take the opportunity  to wish you all a Merry Christmas and  good wishes for a better year for all in 2021!  

  DECEMBER CHRISTMAS 'PAAARTY' MEETING   Can you believe we are that time of year? It is our Christmas Party Meeting this Saturday and the  goody bag should be with you (or very shortly!) There is a litte preparation required so do check the good bag, newsletter  and below for instructions!!!!! The Christmas Party Zoom screen will open at 10.20 am and we hope everyone will have joined us ready to start proceedings at 10.30 am.   As usual there will be official notices and a chance to “show and tell” us what you have been making , ask advice if you have met problems, and generally share news, before we start on making our trees by 10.50 am. Preparations  1. DRINKS/FOOD - For our normal Christmas meeting we have a shared meal, when everyone brings a plate of food. When we first started we used to supply wine but as almost everyone drove to meetings and we all became more conscious of the problems of drink and drive, Ann started to make a mulled fruit cu...

Just a little reminder for tomorrow's meeting. Knitting needles at the ready and a few grams of your yarn stash is all you need. The zoom invite has already been emailed to all members but please let us know if you can't find it. To get you warmed up for the 'Show & Tell' we got some work here by our member Ros following on from last month's workshop. Ros commented, 'I thought it gave an impression of the sea so needle felted a small boat and silk waves on one side. I used a continuous length of woven braid to join the sides and make a handle. Not sure what I will use it for!'  Looking forward to seeing you all and your items then.