Derbyshire Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers

It has been well over a full year since I made a post on the Derbyshire guilds website. I must apologize for this. 2009 was a difficult year for me, we lost our dear grandson at Christmas 2008. It was very sudden and a great shock to us all. He was only 17 months old and we miss him terrible. I am afraid to say that so many thing got put on the back burner throughout 2009. The guild has been very understanding and the members very supportive. But now I must try and bring this website up to date with all the interesting events and things the guild have been up to.

The 2009 meeting got off to a good start on Saturday 10th January with a Spin-in. Members brought along their stash of interesting fibres to share with us all.

At the Friday evening meeting on the 30th January 2009 Jean Groom and Ann Jones gave a very interesting talk and slide show of their trip to Bhutan.

The Saturday workshop on the 14th February 2009 - Making a woven corrugated cardboard basket led by Karen Edwards.

Friday evening meeting on 27th February 2009 was a Drop Spindling night led by Alison Daykin.

Saturday 14th March 2009 workshop we all enjoyed A Vegetarian Platter of Dyeing with Mary Hawkins with some lovely results.

Friday evening meeting on 27th March 2009 was the guilds AGM and annual competition.

At the Saturday workshop on the 11th April 2009 we all made 3D Felted Mittens with Penny Marsden. After a lot of hard work we all went home with a lovely pair of brightly coloured felted mittens that were a perfect fit.

Friday evening meeting on the 24th April 2009 was a show and tell night with members bringing along the projects they were working on.

Saturday 9th May 2009 we had a very interesting Antiques Road Show with a Buy, Sell or Exchange table.

The Friday evening meeting on the 29th May 2009 Jean Groom gave a talk called The Story of my Wheels. Jean brought in 8 of her 9 wheels. Each wheel had a story behind it on how she acquired it. A lovely nostalgic evening with some beautiful spinning wheels.

Saturday 13th June 2009 was the Derbyshire guilds open day held in the Hazelwood Village Hall. The Threshing Barn stall was in attendance along with other stalls with lots of goodies on sale. Some excellent food was provided along with some excellent company from visiting guild and friends.

There was no Friday evening meeting at the end of June 2009 because most of us were at Woolfest up in Cockermouth, Cumbria. The weather was very warm and it's hard to believe not long after Cockermouth was flooded out and homes were under 5 ft or more of water. The later half of 2009 was a very hard for Cockermouth, but they are fighting back to get ready for Woolfest 2010 and we will all be up there this year for Woolfest to support the people of Cockermouth.

Saturday 11th July 2009 we had a most interesting and informative workshop run by the Ladies of the Long Draw Spinners. Pam Austin gave a talk on the history of long draw spinning, then the three ladies, Pam, Rosalind and Val set about teaching us all the technique of long draw spinning. By the end of the workshop we were all mastering it. Well done ladies.