Whorled News, November 2009

The November 14th guild meeting will be 11:00 at Sky Peak Ranch: Sky Peaks in Northwest Reno. A map is available here. You can you can access it from 4th street a little west of Truckee River Nursery or from a road you can enter on McCarran going south turning to the right like you wanted to reach Home Depot. At that stop sign, turn right, keep going for awhile through a light and go another few blocks and Sky Peaks is on the left. The community room is on the back or NW side. This meeting is brown bag. Come early and visit.

The December 12th guild meeting will be at the Bartley Ranch Schoolhouse. Driving Directions: Bartley Ranch:. Drive .8 mile west from the intersection of McCarran Blvd and Hwy 395. Turn left (south) on Lakeside Drive and continue .4 mile. Bartley Ranch is at the north base of Windy Hill. Turn left on Bartley Ranch Road and continue several hundred feet to the main parking lot. Cross the covered bridge and turn right into the parking lot for the School House.

This our Christmas meeting and will be potluck. Bring something for the White Elephant Sale, all proceeds to benefit the guild. Also, expect to shop from the variety of fibers that members bring for sale.

Sock Summit 2009, Portland Oregon - Toni Pearce

While I didn't get a chance to actually attend Sock Summit to the extent that I was able to take classes (kinda expensive!), I was able to plan a visit to my sister around it, and was totally overwhelmed by the experience. This was the first ever Summit, their motto "Taking sock knitting almost too far" was an apt one too.

The first day, Thursday was entirely dedicated to classes, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were open to non class attendees. We went early on Friday (the Max train in Portland dropped us off right at the front door of the convention center!) to check out the vendor booths, and my good friend, David, found a spot in an all day beginners sock knitting class. Friday was the day for setting the new Guinness World Record for the most people knitting on 2 needles at the same time - which was accomplished, beating the old record by several hundred knitters! And the vendors! Did I mention vendors? There were row upon row of booths dedicated to nothing but yarn, fiber, and knitting. It was overwhelming!

Some vendors were familiar names, Carolina Homespun, Woodland Woolworks, South West Trading Co., but many were talented new fiber artists with yarn, fiber, bags, and needles the likes of which I have never seen. There was also a sock museum, and free seminars held during each day. We also had a chance to attend a huge book signing. Luminaries such as Barbara Walker, Cookie A, Stephanie Pearl McPhee, Cat Bordhi, they were all there to sign copies of their books! It was so awesome to see so many knitting legends in one place. I did get a couple of my books signed, but wished I could have brought more from home if I had the room in the car.

I don't believe I have ever seen so many yarn-aholics in one building. It seemed to me that attendance was really great. Perhaps a sign the economy is starting to change a bit? During the evening, they had a sock hop, and the wonderful people from Ravelry hosted a couple of meet ups in the downtown area while the Summit was going on. No one knows if there will be another Summit, as apparently it was more of an undertaking to put together than the founders had initially thought, but knowing what I do now, if it were to happen again in Portland, I would be there without a doubt!

Haiku, Fiber Style

We’re fiberholics
I don’t think it’s a problem
Do husbands agree??

-Janet Drozd

Sharp felting needle
In and out, shaping the wool
Pass me the band-aids

Too much, you make mud
Too little, and it's pastels
Just right, a rainbow

Humming spinning wheel
and gently snoring felines
they make me sleepy

-Amy Shannon

Knitting along and
oh my goodness, I dropped one.
when did I do that?

-Jen Overby

I find the hard part
Is my anticipating
Muse Inspiration

-Allison Judge

Black like the night
laced with silver starlight
twinkles the soft alpaca
thru my fingers spinning

-Annabelle Younger

Musings from Sage Creek - Sharon Campbell

At this time of year I think of Pete Seeger’s song, sung by the Byrds: “To everything there is a season; turn, turn, turn.” The fountain is covered and the rocking chairs from the front porch are stashed away where they will remain until Spring. The woodstove has been put back to work and it’s time to turn back our clocks. Turn, turn, turn.

Retirement is another turn of season. Rumors of early buyouts and incentives had been leaked and batted around for six months. Then suddenly, in April I learned that my bid for early retirement had been accepted. I saw my contract just days before I signed it and then following a flurry of last minute activity, my life as a working stiff came to a close. By the end of June, I was a free woman. After a lifetime of scheduling my life around my job, I was finally free to start scheduling my life around me, but my head was swimming from the suddenness of it all.

People said, oh – you are going to love retirement and wonder how you ever had time to work. That just doesn’t make any sense, but I kept hearing it, and now I find myself saying it too. I can’t imagine stuffing a 40-hour work week into my life at this point, and I wonder how I did it before. While I was working I found time to do the things that I really enjoy, so it seemed logical that more time for me meant more time for my hobbies, but that hasn’t been the case. I thought I’d feel like I have all the time in the world. I don’t. But I also don’t have to hurry through everything. It’s more like I have time to walk the dogs every day, time to have lunch with friends, and of course, out here we always have to add drive time onto engagements. It also means time to catch grandkids soccer and football games - so often they played while I was working. It means having time to spend with people, to stop and chat with neighbors and not worry that there’s still more laundry to do, to babysit or visit a classroom, to greet a plane so someone else doesn’t have to take time off work, to watch a late baseball game on a week night, to travel without struggling to coordinate leave times between my job and Ian’s.

I admit to wondering how I would fill my days after the 11 hours of a work day were subtracted. I needn’t have worried. My time is filled and I am busy all day long. I think the real change is that I chose what I’m busy with it. “And a time for every purpose, under heaven, turn, turn, turn.”

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Loom for Sale: For Sale like new, Kromski Rigid Heddle Loom 24 inches $200.00 firm. Call Vivian Olds, 575-5516 (7/09)

Loom for Sale: 8 Harness Gilmore 42" Loom. Includes Bench, Removable top tray, shuttles, raddle & clamp and 12 yard warping board. I purchased this loom new, a few years ago from Gilmore. It is beautiful and in excellent condition. Original cost was $2187.00 not including the bench and other accessories. Need to sell, will consider all reasonable offers. You can reach me via Email. 1960bndonohue@msn.com Nancy Donohue (7/09)

Spinning Wheel: Ashford Traditional spinning wheel for sale. Spins perfectly. Single treadle, single drive, scotch tension. $250. Contact Allison Judge, fiberist@sbcglobal.net

Wheel and Loom for Sale: Single treadle Ashford Traditional with Jumbo flyer, $250. Eight-harness Gilmore floor loom with extras, like premeasured warps and plenty of shuttles, $450. Contact Gina Caudillo ginamonster@yahoo.com