# Roswell, NM Fiber Guild & more (long)



## featherbottoms (May 28, 2005)

I went to my first meeting of the Roswell, NM Fiber Guild this past Thursday. They meet the first Thursday of the month from Sept thru May at the Roswell Adult Center. The Guild had kinda been neglected for a long time but recently several people got together to revive it and I think they are pleasantly surprised at the interest. The handout from the meeting this week says there are at least 10 new weavers in the group.

I have never been to any type guild meeting before and didn't know what to expect. There were 14 people at this meeting. Some people were professional weavers who either have studios or weave commercially and have their art/clothing/garments offered in juried shows and in some of the pricer shops in areas like Santa Fe. Others were spinners, knitters, quilters, etc. Most everyone did several crafts.

Each meeting has a discussion and a show-and-tell. The things people brought were so pretty - and so well done!

One young woman does several crafts but she brought some felted rocks for show-and-tell. They were so cool! She also spins, currently Alpaca, and brought some roving that was soft and awfully nice.

Another lady mostly weaves on continuous weave looms and had a couple throws she'd made. Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of a continuous weave loom. We were at a thrift store and I thought I was buying warping boards but what I bought were three continuous weave looms in three different square sizes. Must be some kind of karma at work.

A couple other people brought items they'd made on their RH looms. I was so envious of their talents. I took my older model RH loom with me and got some pointers on the warp that's on there now. I also got some good ideas on what I want to do next (one of the show-and-tells was an alpaca and wool scarf, made on a RH loom, that was as delicate looking as a spider web).

One of the women has been spinning for many, many, years and brought some dog hair she'd been working on. One of the professional weavers has a friend who lost all 4 of his sheltie dogs and she has been commissioned to make something from their fur. She sent it to the spinner and we got to see the results. Some of the hair had been cut so that it was not usable but the weaver had plans to possibly use it as "tufts" in the weaving. As far as I could see, that yarn looked just as nice as the alpaca once it was spun and plyed (plied?). The weaver was asked to bring the finished piece, or at least a photo, so we could see what she made from the hair.

One of the ladies owns a studio in Roswell and offers beginning RH weaving classes, in addition to a few others. The RH class runs two 6 hours days and that seems like a good amount of time for something so new. The next class is scheduled for January and I'm going to sign up. This same woman brought a huge bag of alpaca roving in a rainbow of colors. It's hard for me, being such a newbie, to even comprehend what can be done with so much raw material.

I have a project on my RH loom right now that was supposed to be a 14" wide x 3' long table runner but I ran out of warp so it's going to be a 4" wide scarf . I hope to have it finished by the next Guild meeting so I can take it for show-and-tell and get feedback on what I did wrong and how to make a better one next time. I plan to get some alpaca and wool yarn for my next project (I was inspired by that one piece at show-and-tell) but first I need to learn to figure out how much yarn I need for a project. I don't want to run short again.

For the meeting in April next year, to celebrate Earth Day, we are supposed to bring an item that we made from recycled material. I don't know how to do anything from recycled material but I was wondering if I could take clothing scraps and do something with the largest continuous weave loom. That particular loom is about 20" square, maybe a bit bigger, and I could probably make something out of several squares and then tack them together. Someone else mentioned denim jeans but I wouldn't know where to start. I also thought about finding a throw or afghan at a thrift store and taking it apart but that may not be a good idea. I would appreciate any ideas as this is not something I've ever tried.

The Guild has a decent size library that we can check out books and patterns from. Some of these date back to the 40s. There' also a 4-harness LeClerc Dorothy Table Loom Guild members can check out. I don't know if you can take it offsite or use it there. I may ask next time. Someone in Carlsbad, NM has an 8 harness (but currently set up as a 4 harness) floor loom for sale right now for $1,500. She is moving and the loom has to go by next weekend.

Next year I may sign up for classes at Tierra Wools in Los Ojos, NM. They haven't posted the 2013 schedule yet. I didn't think about it until right now, but this is close to an area I've been considering for a week long winter vacation. I may have to look at this closer for the first of the year. You can see information about them here http://www.handweavers.com

For anyone that might be interested, the Taos Wool Festival is scheduled for October 1-10 - that's this year. You can see info about it here http://taoswoolfestival.org. I didn't learn about this until the meeting and won't be able to go this year.

In late May will be the bi-annual Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta. You can see info about that here http://www.fiberartsfiesta.org.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any ideas for the recycled item.

Debora


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

The multicultural art community is one of the things I miss the very most since I left NM.
That and the food. 

For something recycled:

maybe plarn? (plastic grocery bags cut into strips and woven/knit/crocheted)

or you could spin newspaper yarn.

The denim rugs are beautiful and sturdy. 
People make rugs from tshirts too.

So many ideas out there. 
You will just have to find inspiration from the resources available to you I guess.

Congratulations on finding some people to learn from. 
It sounds like a wonderful bunch.


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## featherbottoms (May 28, 2005)

gam, what is newspaper yarn?


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Consider t-shirt yarn. T Shirt Yarn Tutorial


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Wow, what a happening group! Great inspiration. You are lucky. And classes----I love taking classes even if I've had them before--always pick up something I missed, and it's FUN. Keep us informed of your adventures, please.


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Lucky you to have found a good group. There's so much fiber stuff happening in New Mexico. I went to the Taos Festival a few years ago--came home with 3 churro fleeces!
As for recycled projects, a friend makes twined rugs using strips of old sheets. She does it on a square frame with nails at the top and bottom on which to wind the warp. It's easy to do and very effective. Right now I'm knitting a lacey neck warmer/smoke rink from cashmere yarn that I raveled and dyed from a thrift store sweater. It's really fine yarn and breaks easily, but is oh so soft. You can do a lot with recycled yarns from thrift store finds. I've also spun telephone book pages and made a small basket. I'd like to do something bigger, but would rather spin softer fiber.


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## featherbottoms (May 28, 2005)

Thank you all for your comments. I am excited because I've not lived where I had a chance to do something like this in a very long time. Fortunately, I work part time and my husband told me to take advantage of this and do whatever I wanted.

I am planning RH weaving classes in October to make a scarf for my husband. It's going to be a simple thing but it's something I want to do before November. In January I'm signing up for the full beginning RH class and I am going to plan to go to Los Ojos next spring. I'm just waiting on information about the classes for 2013. And, I plan to be at the Fiesta in Albuquerque the end of May.

WIHH, I got lucky with this group of people. Not a snooty one in the bunch and everyone seems really open to helping a newbie learn.

I looked up newspaper yarn and thought a bit about t-shirts, but it's fate, or something, because I spent about 4 hours this morning looking at videos and online resources and books for weaving on a frame loom and then I started finding things about twining. It looks awfully interesting. I think I am going to warp my frame loom with some cotton yarn and then take some thrift store finds, don't have them yet, and do a twining project. Of course I also discovered Beduin weaving and that's just so cool.

So, a twining project is in the idea stage. I have until April so surely I can get something going and finished by then 

Debora


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Your square looms are very flexible tools. Your squares can be sewn together for vests, scarves, blankets, even bags for shopping.

Teeshirt yarn as mentioned above is a great recycled medium. It also works well in twining projects.

I like switching around on different projects and invite you to visit my blog
Franco's Fiber Adventure
Franco's Fiber Adventure

Have a good day!


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