Knit Michigan

Knit Michigan 2008 is a one day event being held on February 2, 2008, that focuses on raising money for cancer patients, families and research while sharing a passion for the fiber arts. This multi-faceted event has something for everyone. Michigan Guilds host rooms where the public can learn to spin, knit, weave, or crochet and there are special rooms for children and tweens targeted to their age level. Classes, many led by Michigan knitwear designers, are available to marathoners who start their Knit Michigan day at 7 a.m. and continue until nearly 10 p.m. All may take part in public areas that include a market featuring 14 different local yarn shops, a memory area, a spin- and knit-in, silent auctions and knitting and spinning contests. For an additional fee ($15), the public may enter a “knitting help” room hosted by local knit shops.

All funds raised are divided between five different Michigan Cancer Charities that include: Rose Cancer Treatment Center, Beaumont Medical Center, Royal Oak; Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit; Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc; Gilda’s Club, Royal Oak; and University of Michigan, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor. In 2007, the first year of the event more than $20,000 was raised to support selected cancer charities. Major event sponsors are Academy of the Sacred Heart and Genesys Regional Medical Center.

The event will be held at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1250 Kensington Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 and is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is available for purchase. Fee for the public to enter is $10. Complete information may be found at www.knitmichigan.com.

Cabin Fever

About the time the Winter Spin-Off issue arrives, cabin fever strikes Indiana handspinners. The symptoms we exhibit seem to appear or disappear based on the amount of snow on the ground. Commonly, if there is too much snow, we feel flat and lethargic and have no energy, much like a singles thread left on the bobbin for a year. If the snow has been here too long, we start to mentally ravel, similar to the way fiber drifts apart when the amount of twist inserted is not enough. If the snow (too much for too long) gets covered with ice before melting, we may finally snap, like locks of weak fleece breaking under tension, or (probably worse) turn into hard, compact, tightly bound pieces of felt instead of being the warm, comforting people upon whom we depend to cope with this weather!

The cure for all this comes, of course, when a thaw reveals signs of spring underneath the layers of white. Until nature obliges, packing up my wheel and taking to the road to meet with other spinners for an extended gathering is a guaranteed reprieve. Whether you are snowed in by the weather or snowed under by life’s demands, spinning in the company of like-minded companions can become your personal escape route. Here are some stories from other spinners of how they found their reprieves.

Twenty years ago, Lois Heinsen wondered how many spinners there were in her area, near Las Cruces, New Mexico. “Just for the fun of it,” she decided to find out and get them all together in one place at one time by sending letters to every guild address she could find. Leona Whitworth (now living in Idaho) arranged for the gathering to take place at a campground in Cloudcroft, and volunteers were recruited to cook the meals, while others offered to teach workshops. Thus the first Southwest Regional Spinners Retreat came into existence! Since then, the energy and enthusiasm marking that first retreat has carried through for twenty years and was held last July in a new location in Sacramento, New Mexico. Sixteen “playgroups” were offered, the annual challenge contest was held (this time toys, in other years socks, gloves, and shawls), and those participating in show-and-tell were entered into door-prize drawings. Family members were welcome with special rates for kids staying in the same room as their parents. Local amenities included hiking trails, horseshoe pits, riding stables, a golf course, and picnicking areas in the surrounding national forest. The “crowning achievement” was everyone got a crown and royal name, just for the fun of it!

Debbie Webb, a member of the Friendship Spinners (Northern Kentucky/Southern Indiana), attended a retreat at an Ursuline monastery near Owensboro, Kentucky. When introductions were made, Debbie mentioned she is a shepherdess and handspinner. Before the retreat ended, she was teaching another nun to spin on a spinning wheel and had volunteered to help with a new arts program focusing on traditional craft skills. The emphasis was on making tools and equipment from materials on hand instead of buying commercial products. So Debbie brought in CDs and dowels to make handspindles. Natural dyestuff was collected, and soon dye pots were steaming. PVC pipe was fashioned into a two-harness frame loom, and popsicle sticks became shuttles. Under Debbie’s direction, participants learned to wash, card, spin, dye, and weave from wool donated by Friendship Spinner Rebecca Dougherty. Mug rugs were the first items to come off the loom, and then students embarked on a larger project to create a shawl for the nun’s mission work. The Ursulines immediately identified with the contemplative aspect of spinning and its potential as an avenue for prayer. Eager to continue the enjoyment “newbies” were experiencing, Debbie was asked to help the sisters host quarterly spinning gatherings at the monastery beginning in November. Located in a century-old facility off a state highway, the second all-day gathering will take place in February with fiber enthusiasts from three states invited to attend.

If you would like to create an escape and connect with other spinners, click here for a list by state or country of groups meeting near you. For those reading this column for the first time, the content of what is posted comes from the newsletters of spinning groups sent in from around the world. As the year begins anew, I want to thank the many editors who serve in this capacity for your guild, and ask you to include me on your mailing list at the address given below. After posting items of interest to our larger spinning community, newsletters are passed on to spinners who send a self-addressed envelope affixed with 2 ounces of postage to: Peggy Coffey, 7297 N. Range Road, LaPorte, IN 46350. Read on to learn what other groups are doing and stay connected in 2008.

National Make-It-Yourself with Wool Competition

Beginning in 2008, handspun wool yarn will have its own category in the National Make-It-Yourself with Wool Competition sponsored by American Sheep Industry Women. Preteens, juniors (ages 13 to 16), seniors (ages 17 to 24), and adults are eligible to enter garments, wearable accessories, and fashion/apparel design. Offered through state fairs, there are prizes for junior and senior state winners who advance to the national competition. Scholarships and awards from the American Wool Council, Mohair Council of America, and Pendleton Woolen Mills, among others, are part of the incentive to promote the beauty and versatility of wool fabrics and yarns. Projects must contain at least 60 percent handspun yarn (yours or another’s) and be completed after January 1, 2008. Entrants may weave, knit, crochet, or use a variety of techniques to create clothing and articles from sheep’s wool.

Rocky Mountain Weaver's Guild

“Getting the word out” at meetings has become easier for the Rocky Mountain Weaver’s Guild (Colorado) through the use of an LCD projector. Before each meeting and during the break, announcements of fiber activities and guild events are projected on screen. This frees time up for more show-and-tell and programming. Text and photos can be sent electronically or through the mail prior to the Guild’s monthly meeting. Each issue of their newsletter, the Shuttle Scuttle, has a page containing information on a weaving swatch and spinning sample enclosed or photographed (often in color). Volunteers make between 250 and 300 samples per issue and are paid for the materials used to make them.

Southwest Women's Fiber Arts Collective and Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center

Two new organizations are promoting fiber arts in New Mexico. The Southwest Women’s Fiber Arts Collective was presented with an Award of Achievement by the New Mexico Women’s Foundation for its work in connecting fiber artists to one another and locating venues for selling their work. The group has held a fiber art camp for disadvantaged children, initiated a knitting program at El Refugio, a woman’s shelter, and opened a storefront gallery. The Collective coordinates the southern half of the state and works closely with New Mexico Arts and the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center. The center is developing a Fiber Trails network throughout the state to provide a comprehensive listing of artisans, small co-ops and art galleries. The map would be used by visiting tourists and potential buyers to easily locate the sites.

Illinois Prairie Spinners

Remember Popeye and his declaration “I’ve had all I can stand, I can’t stand no more”? Julie Guise of the Illinois Prairie Spinners (Illinois) enlisted the image of him rolling up his sleeves to tackle getting organized this year. She made a list of all her projects and what the next step was for each of them, and then she identified why it was stuck in that condition. She asked herself, “What needs to be done to move it further along to completion?” She remembered that a member who was moving away, put each project in its entirely into a ziplock bag in a large basket, then pulled them out one by one to work on until finished. She only allowed herself to start something new after completing some unfinished ones (UFOs). Julie suggested that everyone in the group package up unwanted UFOs for an internal yard sale in which theUFOs could be passed on to someone who might actually finish them.