Work for Idle Hands: Archived Entry

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Saturday October 21, 2006

A sheep in clover...

What a fantastic day I have had.

I went to join the nearest Spinners Guild, which after some research turned out to be "Creative Fibres" Group for East Surrey. They sounded small but they meet monthly in Headley Village Hall, which is (as I proved this morning) about a 4 minute drive from my house. As luck would have it, this month was their annual "Open Day", and that being the case I did not expect to stay too long. However it was so fantastic I stayed all day and had a great time. I was hoping it might be enjoyable, but it exceeded my expectations in every way.

They are involved in many different fibre crafts, have experts in every discipline and run regular workshops, and are a jolly welcoming group of people. I am so looking forward to being a member. They also have a separate Spinners group, that get together monthly in Ashstead, and I met several of them there, (with their wheels). To a man (or woman - only one brave man showed up to look around), they seemed to favour the Ashford "Joy" wheel, eulogising about how easily portable it is compared with "all the other wheels" they each seemed to own!

Here is their display table showing weaving, cards, knitting, (which includes spinning and dying the wool), braiding, silk paper, and a home made frame for Kumihimo braiding.

In case any of you are thinking of keeping sheep, I should point out that clover isn't too good for them it seems, as described in Far from the Madding Crowd.