Garden Marlborough Once Again

From Friday 5 November to Sunday 7th the Marlborough Weavers and Felters will be holding their annual display. "Weave It! Felt It!" is held to coincide with the final weekend of Hunters Garden Marlborough, one of the really big events on the Marlborough calendar which culminates in a Fete in Seymour Square on the Sunday.

The display is across the road from the Square, in the St Andrew's Church complex (the stone church with the glass spire.) Friday and Saturday 10am till 5pm and Sunday 11am till 4pm. The same venue also provides tea and coffee and a sitting-down spot for rest and recovery for those with retail fatigue. If you are in the area, do come and visit. Most of the work is for sale. Free admission.

by Rose Pelvin

October Meeting: Visiting Richmond Weavers

Nine weavers travelled across the hill to meet up with Richmond (Nelson) Weavers' group today. This annual exchange started in 2008 when Marlborough visited Richmond, making this year's third such event.

Today's meeting started with morning tea, (since it was 10.30 by the time Marlborough arrived), followed by an extended show and tell; a report on the 60th birthday of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and a yarn store in Northern Italy the size of an aircraft hanger (!) by Julia who has just returned from Europe; then lunch, (Richmond group always puts on a fabulous spread), followed by general mixing. In addition, there was a generous lunch spread prepared by members of both groups, and a wee sales table by members wishing to reduce stash, towards which Marlborough Weavers inevitable flocked at the end of the meeting.

There is a greater variety of works, and some finds from other lands, when close to 20 weavers bring woven and other textile items to talk about. Within our own groups, we get used to each other's styles and color pallets that we can often guess who wove a particularly piece, so it's refreshing to have this opportunity.

Among the "finds" there was a miniature vertical 2-shaft loom, about 25cm high, made by a doll house maker in Nelson. It had wire heddles and the harnesses lifted the pedals were pressed. So if you have very tiny hands, you could weave on it.

There should have been a pictures of lunch, it was really quite lovely, but this writer was too busy talking most times, and trying out different asparagus sandwiches and eying a dirty yellow cone of Swiss silk at other times. Apologies.

by Meg Nakagawa

Wall Hanging, by Judy Bool

My personal challenge for 2010 was to weave a wall hanging. An article by Betty Booth in Issue 21 of The Wheel magazine was just what I needed.

The warp was 22/2 black Cottolin and 16/2 black linen, wound together.
The pattern weft was the cottolin and linen wound together with an unspun woolen variegated yarn, used double, for the pattern rows. I also used a metallic yarn in this pattern row.

Finished size is 60 inches by 30 inches.

I am pleased with the final result - but would I weave another? Maybe. It was enjoyable laying in the fancy yarns but nobody told me that linen has a mind of it's own!

by Judy Bool

Waffle Weave Baby Blanket, by Chris Beech

7 shaft 12 epi wool

My personal challenge for 2010 was to weave something in waffle weave, and the need for a baby gift inspired me to act! I was in a hurry [baby getting older], so elected to use instructions for a Weekend Blanket from Handwoven Nov/Dec 2003. I can only assume their American weekends are much longer than ours! Either that or I don't have the staying power they do.

I was reasonably happy with the blanket, though the waffle cells weren't as deep as I had hoped. Yarns were all from the stash, which was satisfying but did involve some compromise - eg the turquoise acted differently to the other yarns.

Multiple weft colour changes and long floats were an issue, but I solved that by leaving tails at the selvedge, and covering them with a ribbon border rather than my preferred crochet edging.

by Chris Beech

September Meeting: More on Chinese Knots

Further to the Chinese button photos, here is the genuine article with the knotted buttons and the loop buttonholes, just as June showed us.

And yes, this is the frogging we talked about. (Amazing what you find in the Hospice Shop.)

And here is something I forgot to show - how to personalise your tools (or whatever) by adding a turkshead to the handle. It could be extended to cover the whole handle. Not particularly practical on this sort of tool, but fun to show you can do it.

by Rose Pelvin

September Meeting: Chinese Knots

September meeting saw Rose patiently leading us through the intricacies of Chinese knots. She also gave a brief introduction to turksheads and celtic knots, which we will try at a meeting next year.

Thank you Rose for your never-failing enthusiasm.

Tricia and Sue fiddle with their knots

Joan perseveres with her knotty problem. Check out that sumptuous scarf!

Rose's scarf sported a turkshead ring

By Chris Beech

Treasures of Tricia Jane

No, sorry, it's not a new wool shop opened in town; it is PART of Tricia's stash - a really cheerful sight on another rainy weekend. Look at those colours and be inspired.

by Rose Pelvin

93, Not Out, by Peg Moorhouse

I got back from holiday to find that Peg needed to set up an exhibition today at Fibre Spectrum in Nelson. It got done with a hiss and a roar! It will be there for all of September.

by Rose Pelvin

August Meeting: Card/Tablet Weaving

Sue Timpany demonstrated card/tablet weaving to an enthusiastic group, and showed how to make your own cards.

There were five lots of cards warped, using a variety of methods for attaching and tensioning the warp: G-clamps to a table, then attached to a waist belt; tied to a door knob or chair, and round the waist; on an inkle loom; on a table loom with the castle removed.

Joan plays her cards, with Jan on the chair as ballast

Tricia, Sue and Joan

Jan, June and Win discuss a tablet weaving pattern draft

A selection of Sue's tablet woven book marks

Thanks Sue, for a very informative night. You gave us a taste of the incredible range of patterns available to the card weaver, and de-mystified this technique to the extent that several who had never tried it before went home with cards! Watch this space.

by Chris Beech

The Linen Piece, by Win Currie

A nephew was married a few weeks ago and as is the modern way the traditional ceremony/reception, honeymoon scenario was turned on its head. In brief the reception for rellies is to be held some weeks later and was accompanied by a request for no ‘boxed’ items. This was translated by the mother of the groom into ‘why don’t you weave something’. Here is what I did. I might add that this was no simple matter since I hadn’t done this sort of linen weaving for many years and so had go back to ‘Weaving linen’ 101. Not only that but I had to completely retie my loom ... twice... I did it wrong the first time.

By Win Currie