Last Day of the Livestock Show

It is the last day of the livestock show and demos for the guild. It is one of the hardest days to find volunteers--after 20 days of non stop action, it is time to end the event. It's a beautiful spring day. We are packed and ready to take off for the arena. At our previous volunteer day, the draw band broke on the guild wheel, so this day, we decide to take our own wheel.
And to make it easy to bring, it is placed on its own little traveling wheels. There is a short walk from the car park to the tram, which travels to the entrance of the livestock site and then another walk into the center. Of course, the spinners/weavers booth is in hall A, which is at the opposite end of where you enter. We travel with our sun roof open and country music blaring--yew haw!!
Let's meet some of the people who drop by the booth. We were happy to see this young lady, who comes knitting as she enjoys the sights and sounds of the Ag center! And she just learned to knit and she's doing socks!! She told us she recently bought a drop spindle and is looking for a wheel--yippee! We tell her--'next year, you can be on this side of the fence'!
This father and son lingered for several minutes as they inspected the loom and wheels in action.
A crowd gathers around the loom as Kathy takes it through its paces.
Connie, our faithful leader for the day, is spinning away on cotton that she pulled from the cotton bale located down from our booth space.
When she's not on the wheel she demonstrates on the spindle.
She also shows how to card the cotton in preparation for spinning.
One of our volunteers decided to show her talent at needle felting--using these sharp little barbs, she creates some unique characters and designs.
Here she shows her needle felted heart in hand pillow and Santa Claus.
Let's take a look around the booth space to see what woven items gain attention. Some of these items have been designed and woven at this event during years past.
Brightly colored batts await the spinners hand.
Tapestry from the talented hands of Blaine.
Here is a woven coverlet and hand spun knitted scarf.
And of course, we must have our mascots close at hand.
Kathy keeps up the beat even as she converses with the crowd.
It is difficult to calcuate how long the warp should be for these three weeks of weaving. No one wants to warp during the last week. Luckily, the loom is on its last couple of yards. Thank goodness--this calcuation was right on target!
Some of the yardage from last three weeks rest on the split rail fence for the handle of interested parties.
We are happy to show our craft and educate. One of the best parts of being there is the people you meet. Oh, you can guess what they will ask--usually the same question time and a time again; but, it doesn't matter--you always enjoy seeing those light bulbs going off when everything clicks and they get it!!

Spinning & Sharing

It was the third Tuesday of the month and time for spinners! Yes!! An always enjoyable day with sharing of thoughts, projects, techniques and along the way we discuss a way to achieve an unique yarn. Today we are talking core yarn--a designer yarn that uses a simple core thread like this crochet cotton.
And a colorful batt--some of these batts were made at the February meeting.
You begin (under the guidance of Penny) with the attachment of the core yarn--seen in her right hand. And the strip from the batting in her left hand.
The core yarn is held than tautly with your left hand as the right hand guides the loose fiber around the core--you are in control--loosely, bumpy, spiral, push up the yarn--whatever your hand wants to do.
And you get wonderful unique designer yarn, like this skein spun by Kate.
These were spun by newest spinner, Susan. She didn't use a core yarn but spun her batts--and being a new spinner--she gets those lumps and bumps without trying!! Spinners of years need to take workshop to learn how to put those 'designer' qualities back into the yarn.........
We move onto show and tell with Olga giving us a brief encounter with her weekend workshop with Kerr Grabowski on deconstructed silk screening. Olga has such enthusiasm with the technique and we can see she will take this into her world of felting for unusual results. Here are some of her samples.
The above is on silk fabric while the below piece is on cotton.
One of the highlights of the workshop was to interview a partner and then have that person do a portrait of the interviewee. Here is how Olga was seen through her interviewer's eyes........
Dottie showed her latest addiction--Victorian stitching using wool scraps on cotton batting.
The back shows off the stitching.
Antje was spinning mohair on her support spindle.
She showed a pair of sandals that her husband had made from fabric scraps--just a few tweeks and he'll have a wearable pair of shoes.
Antje has another interesting piece at hand--she combines a little felting with stitching.
And with the collaboration with her hubby, the design is evolving into another one of her works of art.
Kate is knitting away on her entrelac scarf--it's growing nicely. Entrelac Tutorial If you are so inclined.
A Happy Tuesday gets the creative juices boiling!

VOLUNTEER!

The simple act of giving of one's time is so valuable--there is no monetary price that can be placed on that. Volunteers are the life blood of any organization and so this Sunday it is our chance to give of our time and talents to a worthy event. We are heading to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. But, first we attend Cowboy Church, led by Christian Cowboys.
We are all cowboys or cowgirls here. The service is filled with lively music, hand clapping, praise, prayers of thanksgiving and a brief message.
We are off down the hall to fulfill our volunteer time at CHH Contemporary Handweavers of Houston location in the large hall. We pass numerous FFA members who are practicing their speech for competition. We also pass tablescapes, set up by FFA members in another competition.
In the large arena you can watch as chicks hatch from their eggs.
See and pat rabbits of all breeds.
Walk through the breed barn.
And since it is Tejano day, we hear the music of various Mariachi bands--this one a woman's group.
In the hallway, waiting and practicing is another group--their music floats through the air with uplifting trumpets.
Ahh, we finally arrive at our destination--the spinners and weavers area. This organization is dedicated to showing their craft and to educate the public about weaving and spinning. Someone is in attendance every day, three weeks the livestock is ongoing. It takes the dedication of volunteers to make this happen.
This stash of brightly dyed wool brings many questions about how you do that....
On another table is the happenings from Alicia's wheel efforts.
Blaine, our faithful leader for today, is wearing his handwoven vest--up close and personal view of the pattern.
On the right is Blaine at the loom chatting with a visitor. Alicia is at her wheel, up front and center. In the background is the table laden with handwoven and spun items for display.
Denise is trying her hand at the tapestry loom.
The basket of wool sits at her side.
Blaine assists Beth as she learns how to begin a new shed to inlay the wool weft.
The curious crowds lean in for a closer view or understanding of what is happening. During the week, hundreds of school children will walk pass and receive a brief glimpse into the world of spinning and weaving.
It is only one way we as volunteers educate the world. The Houston Livestock and Rodeo show is totally run on volunteer time and talents--where do you volunteer?