It has been a busy summer for Diss Guild as events and shows have re-emerged following the pandemic.

Members were invited to support the Rare Breeds Animal Farm at the Norfolk Show at the end of June. Members from the Diss Guild joined members from other Norfolk Guilds to demonstrate spinning, weaving and knitting using yarns from the rare breeds on show. The fleece from Norfolk Horn, Devon Close wool and Welsh Mountain sheep (to name a few) were either spun to use in weaving and knitting, or used in peg loom weaving. Great fun was had by all and it was wonderful to interact with the public and share and demonstrate traditional skills using fleece from the Rare breeds.

Members from Diss Guild were also invited to demonstrate with the Norwich City Guild at the Strumpshaw Tree Fair in July. This was a very enjoyable event and despite the heat, there was a lot of spinning, weaving and discussion with the public, whilst seeking the shade of a nearby tree. The Fair has a lovely relaxed atmosphere and it was a great opportunity to sit and spin.

Norfolk Day on the 27th July saw members from the Diss Guild at Diss Mere. Norfolk Day was introduced in 2018 to celebrate the history and culture of the great county of Norfolk. Several members bought their spinning wheels and spun yarn to represent the history of textiles in South Norfolk, which was noted for growing hemp and flax. The textiles produced would have been a cottage industry, with communities involved in the growing, harvesting, retting and spinning yarn to make linen; by the 1600’s Diss was shown to produce sizeable quantities of linen. There was a lot of interest from people passing by. They were not only interested in spinning and the Guild but also to learn about the history of textiles in Diss.

For the April Guild meeting Susan did a talk on “How to look after your Spinning Wheel”. Susan began the talk by giving a brief description on how spinning began. She demonstrated how spinning would have been done using a stick and then how spinning developed when a whorl was added. This progressed to the stick and whorl being attached to a wheel followed by the development of the treadle and flywheel.

Guild members bought their spinning wheels in for Susan to look at. She explained that different wheels required different attention. Different oils were discussed for different spinning wheels as well as the use of polish to nourish the wood.

Although a small meeting, everyone appreciated Susan’s expertise and felt more confident about looking after their spinning wheels.

In May the Guild welcomed Christine Sanderson to the meeting to talk to both Guild members and visitors about her wonderful needle felted figures. Christine’s life size needle felted figures were much admired when Doris and Rosie were exhibited at the Norwich Makers Festival earlier this year. For the Guild meeting Christine bought grandparents Doris and Arthur as well as granddaughter Rosie and Pip, the Jack Russell. They graced the meeting with their presence, reclining in the comfort of armchairs, with Rosie perched on Doris’s knee and Pip sitting on Arthurs lap. With cups of tea and a packed lunch they really looked the part. The figures are so life like that for a moment you might mistake them for real people.

Christine did an informal talk and lots of questions were asked. The photos, passed around, of the figures in their underwear were fantastic and had many members in a fit of giggles. The expression on the faces of Doris and Arthur looks different from every angle and everything from the clothes, shoes and hair styles down to the lunch box with the packed lunch is so authentic.

February saw Guild members meeting in person at the Methodist Church in Diss after a period of two years, due to the pandemic. During this time Guild members participated in Zoom meetings, met up in various members’ gardens during the summer months and have kept in touch via the wonderful, monthly newsletter that Pam and her daughter Kathryn produced.

However resuming our monthly meetings again in February was wonderful and we were pleased to see current and new members. Everyone who attended bought something to the ‘show and tell’ that they had been doing during the last few months. These items included knitted and woven items, hand spun yarns, felted bags as well as embroidery using threads dyed at the Indigo workshop held last Autumn. Members were particularly interested in the hand spun yarn, dyed using purple basil, which Karen showed us.

March has seen Diss Guild participating at the Makers Festival along with five other regional Guilds. The Norfolk Spinners Weavers and Dyers had a stand for three days at the Forum in Norwich and volunteers from the Norfolk Guilds helped to man the stand and demonstrate a variety of skills. Members from our Guild demonstrated back strap weaving, Inkle weaving, weaving on a four-shaft loom, stick weaving and spinning. Mary’s Covid coat was exhibited at the stand along with Pam’s hand spun, hand knitted angora scarf and Anne’s hand spun, natural dyed, knitted and felted bag.

Mary’s coat, which used hand spun, natural dyes and different knitted patterns, was much admired. Mary gave an interesting talk to the Guild at the March meeting on the different knitting techniques used, the natural dyes and mordents she used to dye the fleece and hand spun yarn. She went on to describe how she assembled the coat once she had knitted her samples. Mary bought a wonderful array of knitting pattern books to show us and to explain where the patterns came from.

This month we moved venue to Mary’s garden so some members could enjoy a natural dyeing workshop run by Kally Davidson. Kally brought along samples of yarn she had dyed from plants she found in Mary’s garden on a earlier visit, as well as some other examples of her work.

Those of us participating in the workshop were given small pre-mordanted skeins of yarn and were told to go around the garden collecting plant matter to layer in the jar with our yarn. Once we were finished, the jar was filled with boiling water, and we were told to leave it in a warm place for as long as we can manage before we get impatient and want to peek!

We also did some more instant gratification dyeing, and made dyebaths from ivy and applewood from the garden, as well as flowers brought along by participants, including daffodils, dandelions, and marigolds. We experimented with removing the green parts of the flower to see if it made a difference, and Kally explained how colour can be modified by using iron or copper. We all had a wonderful day and learned so much.

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Those not participating in the workshop also had a great time. They stayed inside out of the rain and learned about the Bugs and Blossoms project, which is part of the Waveney and Blyth Festival, and aims to promote awareness of our native insects and plants, many of which are under threat and in decline, and to encourage people to notice, care and take positive action. Diss Guild members will be creating a textile based exhibit, making bugs and blossoms encompassing a variety of media and techniques. Work was started on making needle felted bugs and blossoms.

Members shared their ideas on fibre preparation, including opinions on scouring and/ or washing fleece prior to spinning. Some members preferred to spin “in the grease”, but it was generally agreed that excess dirt and
chemicals needed to be removed. Some of us like to use washing up liquid, others use anitbacterial handwash.
Mary had attended an AGWSD Summer school on fibre preparation, and had a comprehensive file of tips and techniques. Mary ran briefly through what to look for when choosing a fleece. The “Ping” test is most revealing.
Various methods for opening up fibres were looked at, flick carding, combing with a dog comb or dog brush etc.

The first half of the meeting was spent discussing proposals for the Association AGM. After this was dealt with, we moved on to fibre!

First we discussed cables; different ways to work them, including without a cable needle, and mock cables, and how working cables at the selvedge of a piece of work gives a nice neat edge. We also talked about converting celtic knots into cable patterns. Slightly unrelated to cables, but still on the theme of threads crossing over one another, we discussed sprang and looked at a wonderfully stretchy bonnet that had been made from handspun using sprang.

After this, conversation moved on to colourwork. Two colour knitting using two hands was discussed, as well as different ways of dealing with floats in knitted colourwork. Then we talked about different ways of using colour in our knitting, pairing a very colourful space dyed yarn with a neutral to showcase the colours, samples of all these techniques were passed around.

We spent the meeting working on our display for the upcoming R34 airship exhibition. The banner is now finished and has been handed over. Pictures will be forthcoming once the exhibition opens.