HTS Newsletter, July, 2009Volunteer editor: Gary Lee Phillips, fuffle@ix.netcom.com
HTS Newsletter, July, 2009
Volunteer editor: Gary Lee Phillips, fuffle@ix.netcom.com
Our next meeting will take place on Saturday, July 11, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Susan Rubendall's house, 3407 N. Trainer Rd., Rockford (directions available here.) This month's meeting includes a member to member workshop on dyeing with natural dyes. See full details in Susan's description below.
August 8 meeting reminder: Sit & Spin, Business meeting.
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The deadline for the next
newsletter will be July 23, 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.
With the simplest of ingredients -- plants from field and garden, alum from the grocery store, and hot water -- we can create beautiful coordinating colors in yarn and fleece. By purchasing natural dye materials that are not available locally and using mordants other than alum, we can expand our palette to a full color wheel. Come to the July meeting of Hollow Tree Spinners and experiment with the beauty of natural dyes.
The meeting will be held at the home of Susan Rubendall, which is on the east side of Rockford (see map and directions below). Superwash merino yarn will be provided. It will be mordanted prior to the meeting so we will have more time to experiment with dyes. We plan to use indigo, madder, cochineal, walnut, logwood, fustic, weld, and lac. If you would like to work with dye materials from this area, feel free to bring marigolds, Queen Anne's lace, goldenrod (if it is in bloom), trefoil, willow leaves, black walnut hulls, onion skins, coreopsis, yarrow, zinnia, sunflower, cone flower, or any other plant that interests you. It would be a great help if you would chop your dyeplant and simmer it for an hour or more the day before the meeting. Then let it cool in the pot and strain the liquid. That will save a lot of time on Saturday. If you have a skein winder or niddy noddy, please bring it along.
Come and have fun in the sun. You can spin on the deck or in the house if it's too hot outside. Susan will provide lunch.
Click here for a map that shows the location of Susan's home at 3407 N Trainer Rd in the northeast corner of Rockford.
To get there, take the most convenient route to Rockford, which will probably put you on Interstate 90. Take the Riverside exit. Proceed west on East Riverside Blvd. about half a mile to Perryville Rd. Turn left on Perryville. Drive about half a mile. Turn right on Spring Brook Rd (you'll see the huge Woodman's grocery store on the east side of Perryville). Continue on Spring Brook about three blocks and turn right on Trainer Rd. Follow Trainer for two blocks. 3407 is on the right side of Trainer. There are gardens in the front yard and bright red lights on the garage.
If you get lost, call 815-636-9746 and a search party will be sent out.
The Day at Petersen Farm on Sunday, June 28, was great fun. The weather was perfect, except for some strong wind gusts, and over 2000 visitors passed by our booth. Many stopped to ask questions and examine our work.
Reminder: Both the McHenry County Fair (Woodstock, August 5-9) and the Boone County Fair (Belvidere, August 11-16) have fiber arts displays. Details appeared in last month's newsletter. Entry forms for McHenry County are due on July 17. The forms for Boone County are due on July 18. The actual items to be exhibited must be at the respective fairgrounds on the Monday before the fair opens (Mon., Aug. 3 for McHenry, and Mon., Aug. 10 for Boone.) The dates do work so that you can enter the same items in both fairs if you wish.
Don't forget to be planning your entries for the show next fall as well. There are only three full months left, folks. I'd like to see lots of small projects, so please consider mittens or a hat at least. We could use more felting entries too, both needle felted and wet felted. Items that are ready for the county fair can also be entered in the show in October.
It's that time of year again. 
All around the world, cyclists are stretching their calf muscles and oiling their chains, just to get ready for Le Tour de France. At the same time, all around the world, handspinners are stretching their calf muscles and oiling their wheels, just to get ready for Le Tour de Fleece. Or their drop spindles. Either one is okay.
The principle behind le Tour de Fleece is simple: "They spin, we spin." To quote the Ravelry group:
Guidelines (NOT RULES):
I've already got my "Tour" project picked out: four ounces of Helen Mathey-Horn superwash merino. My husband and I will be on vacation for the last week of le Tour, so I need something drop-spindley. There's also plenty of fluff for my wheels. Come to think of it, I do have a rather large bag of pure white Falkland - just the thing to dye at Susan Rubendall's home for our July meeting.
So what will you all be doing for le Tour? And let me know if you're on Ravelry. If enough of us are there, we can form our own team. Email me at barbrev at earthlink.net.
P.S. Remember - our July meeting is at Susan Rubendall's where we will play with natural dyes. Our August meeting is at Toni's. Our September meeting will be at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. We should be able to find some way to reconnoiter that Saturday. And October, of course, is on the Square!
So how are your projects coming? Don't have much yet? Guess what -- you can use le Tour de Fleece as an excuse to spin lots of yarn for our October show.
See you at Susan's.
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 are just three months left until all show projects for 2009 must be complete. 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 June 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.)