HTS Newsletter, September, 2009Volunteer editor: Gary Lee Phillips, fuffle@ix.netcom.com
HTS Newsletter, September, 2009
Volunteer editor: Gary Lee Phillips, fuffle@ix.netcom.com
Our next meeting will take place on Saturday, September 12, at noon at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. We will meet at 12:00 noon at the dealer's booth for Susan's Fiber Shop. The festival is held on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds and directions are available on their web site. This month's meeting includes discussion about the show in October. If you have skeins or projects for the show next month, they can be turned in at this meeting. Entry forms (see details below) should be sent directly to Susan Rubendall right now, if possible. For those with show entries who cannot make it to the meeting in Wisconsin on Saturday, entries can be delivered to The Fold in the next week, or you can arrange to get them to Susan in that time frame.
October 10 meeting reminder: The show will be open in October. Join us in front of the courthouse as we demonstrate spinning to promote the show upstairs. If the weather is bad, we will demonstrate inside the gallery. This is always fun and a great opportunity to get the public interested in what we do, so join us. No meeting at The Fold in October.
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The deadline for the next
newsletter will be September 26, 2009. If you are submitting material for inclusion in the newsletter, I really would appreciate having it by the deadline. The newsletter continues to be delayed by late announcements and information, and I would much prefer to get it out to you several days earlier than is now possible.
As at least some of you know by now, Susan had a little disagreement with a ladder and took a fall that injured her back. She is home and doing OK, but may not be able to get to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival on Saturday. However, if she does not attend, someone else will be collecting show entries on her behalf, so if you have skeins or projects to enter and are coming up to Jefferson County, please do bring them. She says that at the moment, we are lagging far behind last year in entries. This is not good. The weavers will be laughing at us, folks.
If you cannot come up to the festival on Saturday, that doesn't mean you can't submit entries for the show. Your entries can be dropped off at The Fold this week or next. Please get them in by September 19 at the absolute latest. Our items are going to be judged before the show is hung in the gallery, due to Heather Winslow's tight schedule, so they must be in well ahead of time. Remember to fill out an entry form for each item, and specify the category from the prospectus. Notes about your intentions and experience with the project should be provided on the form, in the indicated place at the bottom. The judge finds these very helpful. Entry fees are payable when the forms and entries are turned in, either at The Fold or at the festival. If necessary, you can contact Susan (susanrubendall @ aol.com) to arrange to get materials directly to her by the 19th.
The actual display in the gallery will go up on Monday, October 5. We can use some help with that, so please contact Susan directly if you can help out. The gallery open house for the show is on Sunday, October 11, from 1 to 3 pm, and we can use some spinners to demonstrate during that time slot. Refreshments will be served, and the Weavers Guild would welcome help with that. We also need people to watch the gallery and demonstrate spinning or answer questions from visitors at all times that the gallery is open, and you can contact Susan to sign up for a shift. We need to do our part with this, and can't just let the weavers take care of it. Please help out.
Now, I have a few words to say about the county fair, as well. I have put in my efforts to get the McHenry County Fair to expand its needlework categories over the past four years. As of this year, they distinguished natural fibers from the acrylic yarns. They also added a specific category for handspinners to show skeins. I publicized these changes to our guild members repeatedly. I even offered to deliver and pick up entries at the fairgrounds for you. Only one person two people from our guild entered anything in the county fair. Just one! I felt truly embarrassed, after promising them that they would get more items to exhibit if they followed my advice. [Note correction: there were TWO members with entries. I failed to note the second name when the tags were uncovered.]
Next year I will not be judging entries at McHenry County. Wool Warp and Wheel from Richmond will take over the judging responsibilities, so that I can put items into the display myself and help to expand it.
Hobbies are strange things. I speak from experience. It's not just that I knit and spin. My husband has been building and flying model rockets for forty years.
One day Mark and a group of local model rocket friends piled into a car, and drove to central Iowa to the SIG plant. 
SIG makes model airplane kits that include balsa, an favored ingredient in model rockets. SIG invited the lot to look around in its balsa wood warehouse, to set up their scale, and to select whatever they wanted, at warehouse prices. The gang came home with a car full of extra light, extra strong balsa. Imagine going to a major sheep and wool gathering and having your pick of top prize winning fleeces. They were that happy.
Hobbies themselves are joys. Take spinning. There's the glide of fiber through fingers, the sheen of silk, the purr of the wheel. Beyond the hobby, though, is the hobby community. Even better than spinning is gathering with fellow spinners to spin - to talk about spinning or to talk about everything but spinning. The process of gathering spins us together as we spin together. Hobby communities do that.
Last month my daughter, Liz, needed - of all things - a reference to get the apartment she wanted close to her school. When it turned out the people she tried to reach were all out of town due to it being late summer, we turned to the rocket community. Bob and Judy have known Liz her entire life. The reference was quickly and happily written.
All this is to let you know that one of our own, Susan Rubendall, was injured in a fall earlier this week. She's fractured her L2 vertebrae and is in a lot of pain. It could take her a few months to fully recover. Do send Susan get well cards. If you've misplaced your address list, check with me or with Toni. And do volunteer to help with the show. Susan has carried much of the weight of getting projects ready for judging and hanging. Work will keep me away in early October, so I won't be much good, but I'm sure Susan would be happy to share her secrets with another person.
Hobbies are great fun. Friends are precious. Let's support a friend.
Oh, and remember - we're taking Saturday, September 12th off because of Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. If you're there Saturday, look for me in the Spinning Fine Wisconsin Wools class. I'll also be staying at the local Rodeway.
And especially remember, for our October 10 meeting, we'll sit and spin on the Woodstock Square. In case of rain, we'll spin inside the show.
The prospectus and entry form for the 2009 Hollow Tree Spinners Show is now available on our Web site at
Read the prospectus carefully. There are no changes from last yeart except for the dates; however, it's important that we refresh ourselves on the rules, including the following.
Dates: Entry forms must be given or sent to Susan Rubendall in time for receipt by September 12. If at all possible, please submit them much earlier.
Projects must be delivered or sent to Susan for receipt by September 19. If they are ready by September 12, you can give them to her at the meeting in Wisconsin. Late submissions may be accepted, but you must contact Susan directly to make arrangements.
Entry form details: Choose your category number carefully and write the number (not the name) on the Show category line. The categories are listed in the prospectus.
Use the bottom lines of the form to provide the judge with information that will help her understand your goals and your analysis of the project. The judge's feedback will be much more beneficial if she understands what you were trying to do
Programs for the new year: This year's schedule will be announced as early as possible both at meetings and in the newsletter. Note that all workshops are optional, and you are welcome to come and socialize or sit & spin during workshops. All of this year's presentations will be led by members, so there will be no fees. Refer questions about events or schedule to Susan at SusanRubendall@aol.com.
There is less than one month left until all show projects for 2009 must be complete. The deadline is September 19 for this year's submissions. NOW! is the time to start planning for next year's show.
If you know of an upcoming event, or have a press release or web link, send it to Gary (fuffle@ix.netcom.com) in time for the previous month's deadline in order to make sure it gets into the newsletter in time.
Space permitting, members and their friends may submit notices and classified advertisements to appear here.
Did you miss the August newsletter? It's still available online, right here. Past newsletters are retained online for one year before we retire them to reuse the space.
Are you receiving a monthly e-mail telling you that the newsletter is ready? If not, you need to sign up for the Hollow Tree Spinners e-mail discussion group.
We are trying a Web-based newsletter instead of e-mailing the actual document. This should mean that anyone with access to the internet will be able to see the newsletter, regardless of the kind of computer or software they are using. Most public libraries now have internet browser access as well. An e-mail will be sent to members once a month when the newsletter is ready, reminding them to look at it and print it if they wish. Please let us know what you think. E-mail the editor, Gary Phillips, or guild manager Toni Neil with your comments or suggestions.
Meetings are on the second Saturday of each month unless otherwise announced. The newsletter should be ready by the Saturday before the meeting. Please get items, announcements, etc. to the newsletter editor, Gary, at least a full week in advance of the newsletter date (TWO weeks before the next meeting.)