Welcome to 2026, I hope it will be a better year than 2025 was.

So far this year, I have been busy with the local guild (grant reports data from the library), and considering projects for the new year (including cottage) and shopping options. I will also have to put in an order for more needles soon.

At this time of year, Guild activities, including programs and workshops, can be thwarted by weather or the fear of weather. With presenters thin on the ground for January, the program team had a creative solution for a last-minute program topic. We would interview ourselves and find out a bit more about each other. They had 3 questions to answer.

1. What was the first fibre pursuit you learned, and who taught you? (Feel free to ignore sewing.)
2. What was the first full piece you wove, felted, or used your own handspun for? (Bonus points: bring it to show off if you still have it.) Or feel free to tell us about the first-ever piece you made using your very first fibre art.
3. What is the (or a) most useful fibre-arts related tip that you learned directly from another practitioner?

The weather on Monday had been lightly snowing when I left home, pretty decorative light snow… it kept snowing…… all day. I was alone working on the library until another guild member dropped in to consult the library around 11, but left by 12:30.  I was starting to fear that I might be the only one attending the meeting. Much later than usual, we had others brave the snow. There were so few of us that we had the meeting in the studio, rather than the Unitarians’ room. I am sure we were doing quality over quantity! (Those who stayed home were smarter, since it was a slippery, slow, snow-filled drive home.)

It was an interesting meeting. If you are in a guild and need an emergency fill-in for a meeting, with a few tweaks to the questions, this may be helpful for your group, too. I will show you what my answers were.

 1) 07-12-2025 Jan Demo, Glengarry Museum

Answers to January program questions (Jan Scott).

1. What was the first fibre pursuit you learned, and who taught you? (Feel free to ignore sewing.)

– We will not discuss my attempts trying to learn to knit. Mom was patent but it did not go well. My talents then were more in the acquisition of frogs, turtles and snakes, none of which she let me keep.

– ~1982, I started to seriously pursue my interest in fibre/textiles with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). My goal was to weave, then sew (post-weaving) by hand, my own Icelandic Viking clothing.

– ~1989 I joined the guild, became the librarian and then took my first weaving lessons with Donna Gerrarden in Cumberland (in 1989 or 1990). She had the guild’s old 100-inch loom and the guild table looms in her massive basement.

– One of my strongest memories about learning to weave was not just the magic as cloth formed from mere threads at the fell line, but the sound the heddles made as they jingled at every bump driving back and forth to Cumberland.

 

2. What was the first full piece you wove, felted, or used your own handspun for? (Bonus points: bring it to show off if you still have it.) Or feel free to tell us about the first-ever piece you made using your very first fibre art.

• Weaving:

– Donna taught me the 4-day beginner weaving workshop, then immediately continued with the 2-day Intermediate Weaving workshop. She then set me off to weave on my own. My first piece was not well met by some of the older weavers in the guild. I was still allergic to wool, so I had woven in cotton. I wanted a drapy hand to the fabric, not a stiff coverlet. I was attracted to pattern but was not sure I wanted the full intensity of that pattern. So I wove, I think it was called Ancient Rose, an overshot pattern, with a light and dark blue cotton, the pattern weft being slub. I set it at 12 EPI, not 24. I was fascinated by the pattern emerging and disappearing as the slub appeared and disappeared. It was exactly the drapy, shawl-like cloth I wanted. (It did not look like a stiff colonial coverlet that overshot is usually used to weave).

2.1) The sample piece was used as a basket cover for demos, one of my felt hats to the Left of the basket

 

• Spinning:

– My first spinning was at an SCA event (war in Pennsylvania). I was still allergic to wool, so I was handed a drop spindle and a handful of cotton. I was not told this might be harder to spin, just “here, spin this”. I had to put a “bit more twist” than the students with wool. I spun it just fine; it was fun, but cotton was not a fibre I wanted to use to make that Viking outfit. When I eventually lost most of my wool reaction, I discovered that “a bit more twist” is very hard to stop doing!

 

• Felting:

– I did my first felting with Maggie Glossip in the early part of the 90’s. It was a small vessel project using a resist in wet felting, then needle felting embellishments on it. I was not as fond of the wetness of wet felting, but the concept was intriguing. I did enjoy the dry felting, but it took a while until I got to try it again.

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2.2–2.4) wet felted Vessel with Needle felted decorations

• Others Fiber Arts:

– I have also tried my hand at dyeing, basketry, fibre prep, tapestry, kumihimo, and historical sewing.

 

3. What is the (or a) most useful fibre-arts related tip that you learned directly from another practitioner?

 

• Weaving:

– Jack Lane –was a fabulous weaver of tartan coverlets in 3 matching panels. He taught me how to lash on to the front beam rather than tie. And the secret of lay in 3 picks, then beat to start off. Jack was very generous with his knowledge and time to all guild members.

3.1) Jack Lain teaching how to weave a reversing border for a folded hem.

3.2) Jack showing one of his Overshot coverlets (he also did tartan coverlets, three panels wide)

 

• Spinning:

– The most memorable suggestion for spinning came from a twist workshop on art yarn with Esther Rodgers. At one point, we were making beehives in our yarn, and she went around the class enthusiastically declaring, “Shove it up the Orifice!!!” You just don’t hear that every day.

3.3) 08-23-2014 Twist Saturday Art Yarn with Esther Rodgers

3.4) art yarn with Esther close up

 

• Felting:

– Sara Razzulie – online purveyor of info on (mostly sculptural) needle felting and on-line felt-along-s. “Try it”. At the start of the pandemic, I was perfectly happy to stay at home and putter in the garden, watch YouTube and listen to audiobooks. But I also enjoyed the online camaraderie of every live felt-along, including the mermaid Sara made. She did it over quite a few weeks and included wet felting for the tail’s top layer. I like the concept, but wanted a mer-man, so I scaled up her measurements from her mer-woman. Then scaled them down to make Mer-kids. I had to make my own guesses for the mer-pets, “Try it”. I made samples of wire gauges and types to better understand my options. I am still working on my Mer-project, but some parts of the family and pets are done and they had lots of fun playing at the Almonte textile museum during the guild exhibit.

3.5) Sarafina Fiber Art, Mermaid Felt Along 1: Armature, May 9, 2020, keeping us sane during the pandemic.

3.6) The mermaid she made during the felt along.

– Ann McElroy – water can be used carefully so wet felting isn’t as horrible and can be fun, if your vary carful. (though I do feel safer when supervised by Ann)

3.7) Ann McElroy teaching wet felting

3.8- 3.9) careful use of water in wet felting

 

It was interesting to hear the answers from others. Here are a couple of shots from the meeting. I think there were 15 people who made it through the snow (a couple took over an hour to get in, much, much longer than usual). During the program, we took turns between the Zoom participants and those in the studio. I had Rachel of the Program Team read my answers since I had already written and printed them out.

4.1) OVWSG January Meeting, the Zoom attendees outnumbered the in-person people

4.2-4.3) participating  in the studio and online

 

If you don’t have a local fibre arts guild near you, maybe you can start a group, a get-together at the local library, fibre store, or felt in? It is really nice to have others who get equally excited about fibre and felting!

Now I have to get back to work, I have a workshop on needle felted landscape on Saturday (my calendar was sure it was originally on the following Saturday). Have Fun and Keep Felting!!