We started the year with a wonderful social gathering at Mary’s for “Before the Twelfth Night”. Members arrived with delicious festive foods and there was much chatter about family, Christmas as well as all things wool.

January’s meeting was well attended and buzzing with questions on spinning, fleece, drop spindles and spinning wheels. Our first meeting of the year was “Sit and Spin” and we not only welcomed new members but visitors too. Mary brought her Double Drive wheel along and various drop spindles were provided for those without wheels. It was a very busy session and we are looking forward to repeating the process later in the year.

Due to illness the Lucet workshop, programmed for our February meeting, had to be cancelled. So a quieter meeting took place with members bringing a variety of crafting activities to do as well as providing some lovely items for show and tell. Anne sported her wonderful coat, which she had knitted in order to show off her penguin pin; a gift from a friend. Sue showed members the brooch she had made with remnants of woven fabric as well as some Saori weaving on the theme of loops. Juliet brought along her pin loom and the book cover she had made from some of her woven fabric. Maureen was busy preparing for a workshop and working on a mood board.

Jen was able to run her Lucet workshop at the March meeting. She had prepared a wonderful session, which included the history of the Lucet as well as showing a number of different ways to braid using this simple tool. Members were able to have a go at using a Lucet and producing a braid.

For our October meeting Juliet gave a short talk on the Spinning Foundation she completed earlier in the year. She brought along her samples and assessment pieces for members to look at, as well as giving a brief description of the course content. The Spinning Foundation is administered by the AGWSD and information about the course can be found at: www.wsd.org.uk/about/certificates

Anne Dixon gave a demonstration on how to use beads when making a Dorset Button and brought with her a small selection of the beaded buttons she has made. They looked very festive and inspiring. Our thanks to Anne for showing us how to make them.

November was our AGM and this was well attended with current members as well as potential new members. Once our AGM was over, all those who were involved in the fibre swop exchanged their gifts. It was wonderful to see what members had made with their 100 gms of fibre or yarn. Some projects are still a work in progress but on the whole everyone had made something.

Our challenge for next year is to make a hat using any fibre or combination of fibres and using any technique or combination of techniques eg. knitting, crocheting. felting, weaving. Fibres used may be spun / dyed by the maker, commercially spun, or hand spun / dyed by someone else. Dyes used may be natural or chemical. This sounds like an exciting project, so watch this space!

Our next meeting is in January so until then have a very happy festive season.

It has been a very busy month and members of the Guild have been out an about demonstrating their weaving and spinning skills. The month began with a number of Guild members volunteering to weave and spin at the RBST Suffolk Horse Spectacular held at the Food Museum in Stowmarket. We welcomed a member from the Mid Norfolk Guild who joined us for the day. It was a beautiful September day and all visitors to the barn enjoyed seeing us spin and weave.

For Heritage week members of the Guild volunteered to spin and weave at St Mary’s Church, Attleborough. This took place over two weekends and involved participating on both Saturdays. The first Saturday was very well attended, the second less so but members who volunteered had a lovely time and enjoyed spinning and weaving in a wonderful, historic building.

Also during Heritage week a Guild member joined members from Mid Norfolk Guild, Norwich City Guild and Norfolk Countryside Guild for Wymondham Vintage Day. The stand was in the Abbey and despite the rain it was a very busy afternoon. There was a lot of interest from the public in the spinning and weaving taking place.

On the hottest Sunday of the month, three very brave members volunteered to spin at the Langham Walled Garden open day, near Stanton. Fortunately they managed to get some shade under a gazebo. ‘She’ bear resorted to wearing her bikini it was so hot! It was a beautiful setting and a fun day was had by all.

For our September meeting Susan kindly gave a talk and a demonstration on the back-strap weaving she has been doing over the last year. She has been learning the weaving patterns from Peru under the guidance of Abby Franquemont. Susan explained the history behind the woven bands as well as explaining how she weaves using her back strap loom. She showed us how she spins the fibre to make the yarn to weave with. As well as her own weaving Susan also brought along some examples to show us of Peruvian weavings she has collected. Our thanks to Susan for giving such an interesting and inspiring talk; we are all much in awe.

For our July meeting Anne Dixon prepared a workshop on Dorset Buttons. She began with the history of Dorset Buttons followed by instructions on how to make a simple button. Anne kindly provided all the materials and we all had a go, with varying degrees of success. Anne bought with her some wonderful examples of Dorset Buttons from her collection for us to look at. Our thanks to Anne for facilitating such an inspiring workshop. Unfortunately Anne didn’t have time to show us how to include beads and she will demonstrate this at our October meeting.

In July the Guild were invited to spin at the Sheep Day held at Hebron Meadow in Roydon. Two members of the Guild attended and said it was a lovely gentle day. 

In August several members had the opportunity to spin at the Camel Park Oasis near Harleston. The staff generously helped members with their wheels and equipment and fortunately found them a spot under cover as it rained quite heavily in the morning. Despite the weather there were quite a few visitors and children and adults alike were interested in the spinning. The children enjoyed making yarn using the wooly winders Jen and Mary had brought with them. Alpaca, Llama and Camel were the fibres of the day and it was great fun to try them out. Later in the afternoon there was a train ride around the park followed by a photo shoot with one of the camels!

Maureen kindly facilitated a Crewel workshop for our August meeting. Maureen gave a brief history of Crewel work before getting us to try our hand at a few simple stitches. Maureen provided all the materials for the workshop including fabric and embroidery hoops as well a range of resources for us to look at. We all had a go with varying success. We were provided with additional information on infill stitches to try at home. Our thanks to Maureen for a very interesting and inspiring workshop.

Our May meeting was a busy afternoon, Susan having prepared a quiz on different fleeces and fibres. The idea being that members had to work out what type of fleece or fibre it was. There was much scratching of heads, feeling the fibres and looking at books while rapidly filling in the quiz sheet before the results were called out. Our thanks to Susan for preparing such a comprehensive range of fleece and fibre and a wonderfully exciting quiz.

Maureen bought along her weavings for show and tell. These were weft faced weaves she had woven based on Cretan weaves and patterns she saw on her last visit to Crete. 

June saw members volunteering to support the RBST at the Norfolk Show. Diss Guild members joined forces with members from other Norfolk Guilds to demonstrate spinning, weaving and needle felting. Despite the rain on the second day it was great fun and, as always, talking to visitors about spinning, weaving and using wool from native and rare breeds sheep was very rewarding.

Our summer social was held in June, kindly hosted by Pam our Guild secretary. A wonderfully relaxed lunch and afternoon was spent in Pam’s garden, which was enjoyed by those members who could make it. Our thanks to Pam for hosting this enjoyable afternoon.

In April Diss Guild members, along with other Norfolk Guilds and spinners, gathered in Fressingfield to spin hemp produced by the Contemporary Hempery. Hosted by Claire and Kitty from the Contemporary Hempery, it was a wonderful day to meet enthusiastic spinners and those interested in Hemp production. A wonderful lunch and lots of spinning ensued.

For our April meeting, Fay the Woodland Haberdasher gave a presentation on Hedgerow dyeing, which was both fascinating and inspiring. Fay is extremely knowledgeable and brought with her a wonderful collection of samples as well as articles of clothing and accessories she has made. In addition to her dyeing Fay produces hand crafted wood items such as weaving shuttles and lucets. For further information on the Woodland Haberdasher go to: www.thewoodlandhaberdasher.co.uk

Susan brought along her collection of yarn samples for Show and Tell. The yarns were made by blending red, yellow and blue fibres and then carding these with white and black fibres to create an astonishing colour wheel. 

Anne Dixon brought along her Niddy Noddy, made for her by her weaving tutor. She went on to explain how to wind a hank using your elbow and hand as well as describing how to wind a butterfly,

In March the Diss Guild participated in the Makers Festival, joining other Norfolk Guilds to demonstrate the skills of spinning and weaving. It was well attended and all those who volunteered enjoyed engaging with the public and meeting fellow Guild members. The display illustrated the wide range of skills Norfolk Guild members have in spinning, weaving and dyeing.

Susan demonstrated and instructed us in the art of Twist for our March meeting. This involved using a stick and several methods of adding twist to fibre. It was great fun and even experienced spinners found it both a challenge and inspiring.

Early January saw members meet for “Before the Twelfth Night”, a social gathering held at Mary’s house. Plates of delicious food were bought and shared while conversations on projects completed and those still to do reverberated around the room. It was a great occasion to meet with members and to catch up on all sorts of news.

Our first Guild meeting, held at the end of January, was well attended and we welcomed some new members too. Anne Acres and Juliet kindly prepared a needle felting workshop to kick-start the year. Everyone had a choice of either needle felting a flower or a dog. An enjoyable and productive afternoon was had by all.

For our February Guild meeting we welcomed Claire from the “Contemporary Hempery” to give a talk on the hemp project she and her colleague Kitty have undertaken. Claire has become a passionate advocate for hemp and explained the project’s journey so far, as well as giving a brief history on hemp production, its uses and its importance as a crop. It was a fascinating talk, inspiring members to have a go at spinning some of the fibres Claire had bought with her.

We welcomed members from other Guilds in Norfolk to join us for the talk; the room was buzzing with interest and enthusiasm and Claire was inundated with questions when we stopped for tea and cake.

Further information on the “Contemporary Hempery” project can be found at: www.wakelyns.co.uk/contemporaryhempery 

It has been a busy few months and the Autumn has seen us demonstrating at local libraries in Diss and surrounding towns. During half term volunteers visited Eye, Diss, Thetford, and Attleborough libraries to demonstrate spinning and to talk to the public about all things wool, natural dyes, spinning and weaving. A range of spun yarns both natural and dyed were provided for the public to see and this provided a talking point. 

Mary brought her bear to Thetford Library with a wonderful wardrobe of clothes, spun and knitted from the fleece of different breeds of sheep and styled on fashions through the centuries and this too was a great talking point.

In October we were able to invite neighbouring Guilds, with the kind assistance of Norwich City Guild, to a Zoom talk by Amanda Hannaford on “Whorls Around the World”. This was a fascinating talk and Amanda showed us some of her collection of whorls, both ancient and modern as well as demonstrating how to use a supported spindle. Her talk was inspiring and illustrated what an ancient skill spinning is. Our thanks to Amanda for this Zoom talk. Further information on Amanda Hannaford can be found on her website:-  www.mandacrafts.co.uk

Our November Guild meeting was our AGM and the last meeting of the year. Next year we are doing a fibre and yarn challenge. Watch this space for the items produced will be returned at next year’s AGM!

For now we wish you very best wishes for the festive season and our blog will resume in the New Year.

Our September meeting saw Guild members making stitch markers. Many members brought in a range of wonderful beads and equipment and Susan guided us through the process of bending wires and attaching beads to make some very creative and inspiring stitch markers.

The October meeting was all about fashion and accessories and it was lovely to see all the garments, bags, hats and scarves members have made over the years. It really was a celebration of the amazing skills our members have. 

Anne Dixon brought in her beautiful woven waistcoats that she made for her son’s wedding and we thank her for the opportunity to see these at close quarters. Anne Acres kindly modelled her Jacobs jacket, which she had spun and woven. She also brought in one of her felted bags and a knitted scarf to show us. Jen brought in one of her Fair Isle hats she recently knitted as well as a pair of gloves and a scarf, all very seasonal. Mary provided her covid coat and a scarf spun, dyed and woven using Norfolk Horn. This was woven during the Norfolk show as part of a demonstration using fleece from one of the rare breeds. Pam and Karen both sported their wonderful hats and Pam also brought along her Alpaca scarf. Maureen showed us the Kimono she made and talked about how she had dyed parts of the fabric. Jean showed us her work in progress, a beautiful crochet shawl in purple and pinks. Juliet brought in a Saori style scarf she wove on a rigid heddle and a bag made from cloth woven on 3 shafts and finished with a hand woven braid.

It was very interesting to hear members talk about their work and the meeting illustrated the breadth of creativity our members have.

The topic for July’s meeting was “Rosepath Threading Explored” led by Anne Dixon. Anne bought along a marvellous length of different woven designs, which she developed from using the same threading. This was a project she undertook during lockdown. Using her eight shaft loom Anne experimented with different patterns to create a wonderful woven length, which when laid out was nearly the length of the room. For weavers and non-weavers alike it was a fascinating talk and along with the notes provided, to accompany the swatches, there was much to talk about. Our thanks to Anne for sharing and explaining her beautiful weaving.

August saw the members attempting to spin yarn to make boot toppers. Susan kindly demonstrated and supported members to spin a novelty yarn using long wool locks that would be used as part of the decorative boot topper. It was great fun and all those who had bought their spinning wheels had a go. Susan bought some core yarns and long wool locks for members to use and practice with. She also very kindly provided a knitting pattern for the boot toppers. 

The show and tell for this meeting took on a natural dyeing theme. Anne Acres, Juliet and Susan had, by chance, bought a range of natural dyed yarns along to the meeting. Anne showed her hand spun Texel dyed with Purple Basil, Alkanet, Dyers Broom, Madder and Alder Bark as well as some Merino dyed with Turquoise and Indigo. Susan bought along some beautiful natural dyed yarn from Peru. The colours included Cochineal and Buddleia.  Susan also showed us examples of  Peruvian backstop weaving as well as her wax resist fabrics she had recently done.  Juliet showed the yarns she had dyed at a recent workshop using Indigo, Madder, Walnut skins and Dyers Chamomile.