President's Column
Inspiritus, the root for
the word inspiration, actually means breath or the breath of
God. The life that was breathed into us from the beginning is what
continues to inspire us to explore new ideas, finish old endeavors, and
look around for all the amazing wonders that can motivate us to
create.
As the new year begins, I hope you’ll take a deep breath and be inspired
to find new joy in your fiber work. Should you need a little help
with that, make a New Year’s Resolution to join the Guild for all our
activities this year. We have a fantastic Board with wonderful ideas
for the coming year. Hope to see you all soon and often!!
For the benefit of all members,
we're sharing our President's letter to new members:
Dear new member of the Birmingham Fiber
Guild,
Welcome! We are a vibrant, growing group of fiber enthusiasts in
the greater Birmingham area. We’ve been going strong since the
mid-1970’s and are delighted to include new members who love to knit,
crochet, weave, spin, dye, stitch and any other crafts that involve
fiber.
Not long ago, I was not only new to the Fiber Guild, I was completely new
to Alabama. As so often happens, work brought my family to a new
city and I definitely felt like a stranger in a strange land. But,
as so often happens as well, I soon remembered that home isn’t always
about the house or state where you reside, it is about the people you
connect with. Finding myself in the Fiber Guild among such talented
and giving friends was truly finding my new “home”. We hope that
you’ll find the same warm and welcoming community of fiber enthusiasts as
you start your relationship with us.
We meet on the second Saturday of each month for an informative program
and for sharing our latest projects. At least once a year we invite
a nationally-known fiber artist to give a workshop to our members, and we
get together for an annual May picnic and December holiday party.
In addition, we have an annual exhibit of our work at the Homewood
Public Library every September, and we take part in other demonstration
opportunities in the area such as Farm Day at the zoo or Earth Day at the
Botanical Gardens.
Our membership includes professional fiber artists and expert
craftspeople, as well as enthusiastic amateurs, and those who want to
learn a new craft. Often, we have expanded our skills by learning
from other members of the guild in our study groups, which meet monthly.
These include two Knitting Study Groups, the Spinning Study Group,
the Spinning/Weaving Study Group, and the Crochet/Tatting Study Group.
In the next few months, when you are invited to help out by giving a
program or joining the board, please consider becoming involved.
It’s very rewarding to take an active part in building our group.
Best wishes for happy fiber pursuits,
Jennifer Lackey, President
Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild
January Meeting
January 13, 2018
10 a.m.
Rescheduled Holiday
Party (Potluck)
January 13, 2018
Hoover Church of Christ
10:00 a.m.
Our annual Holiday Party was cancelled in December due to inclement
weather. It has been rescheduled for our normal January meeting (usual
time and place)! We will still be having the potluck, so please bring
something to share with everyone. The gift exchange will be a
"bag" with maximum value of $15. Place your bag in a
brown grocery bag. There will be no "Dirty Santa"
activity.
We will
also have your 2017 Resolutions available and 2018 cards to fill out if
you're interested. There will be some announcements about all the
study groups and "(insert fiber art here)-a-longs" that
are happening in 2018!
We hope you had wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing everyone for
our rescheduled Holiday Party!
Membership
Dues & Renewal
The new membership
year starts in January. Annual dues are $25. Please pay your 2018 dues
by February 28. Thank you! You may pay by cash/check at the meeting,
or mail your check to Jennifer Lackey, 1907 Saulter Road, Birmingham, AL
35209, or send it to the PO BOX still in use: GBFG, PO Box 660723,
Birmingham, AL 35266.
Dues also can be paid using PayPal. Mark it “friends/family”
and NOT “goods/services”. Use this
link: paypal.me/GBFiberGuild or use our gmail account gbfiberguild@gmail.com
We want to know about you! If you haven't
completed a new Membership Form this year, please do so. Your answers to
a few simple questions help the Board keep track of all our members to
make sure you receive the newsletter and other communications. This form
of information sharing also gives us an idea of what fiber arts you're
interested in, so we can plan workshops and programs accordingly. Please
submit the form with your check to Nancy Lavender when you renew your
membership for 2018. You can also copy, paste and email the form to membership@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com.
Member information form 2018
Name:
Email address:
Ravelry name:
Phone number:
Address:
Fiber crafts you do: ☐
Spinning ☐ Knitting
☐
Weaving ☐ Crochet
☐
Sewing ☐ Tatting
☐
Quilting ☐
Embroidery ☐ Other
(please describe):
Are there any programs or workshops you would like to
give?
Are there any programs or workshops you would like take?
Guild
Goings-on
Knit Night in the
Forest
First Monday of the month, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Vestavia Hills Public Library, Treehouse Room
We are thrilled to announce a new night time knitting group has been
created in conjunction with the Vestavia Hills Public Library! This is a
pilot program that will run from February 2018 to May 2018 (with the
option to extend depending on turn out). Knit Night in the Forest will be
held the first Monday of the month from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm in the
Treehouse of the Vestavia Library (this room is downstairs and has the
best view of the forest behind the library). While it is listed as a knit
night, any and all fiber arts are welcome! Find our Ravelry thread for
Knit Night here.
This Knit Night is posted on the Vestavia Library events calendar: https://vestavialibrary.org/events/
The Vestavia Hills Public Library is located at:
1221 Montgomery Highway
Vestavia Hills AL 35216
Upcoming (insert
fiber art here)-a-longs:
We have a full schedule of CAL/KAL/TAL/WAL/etc. planned for 2018! We’d
love for you to join us for any and all of them! Often, more details and
group discussion can be found on the GBFG discussion page on Ravelry
located at https://www.ravelry.com/groups/greater-birmingham-fiber-guild
(And here's a little reminder of what the acronyms mean:
KAL - knit along
TAL - tat along
CAL - crochet along
WAL - weave along
SAL - spin along
FAL - finish along)
KAL - Sweet
Dreams by Boo Knits (or any Boo Knits pattern)
Start Date: Janurary 1, 2018
Pattern can be bought on Ravelry at https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweet-dreams-17
The new Knit Night in the Forest group will be working on this beaded
lace shawl starting in January 2018. We’d love for you to join us for the
KAL or just come hang out at Knit Night!
CAL – Sophie’s
Garden by Dedri Uys
Start Date: Spring 2018
Free pattern can be found at https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sophies-garden and https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sophies-universe-cal
You’re invited to a garden party!
The Crochet and Tatting Study Group will be
hosting a crochet-a-long. The CAL will be taking a stroll through Sophie’s Garden. If you want to continue past Sophie’s
Garden, you can expand into Sophie’s Universe!
Attendance at the Tuesday Crochet and Tatting gatherings is not required.
Expected start date is Spring 2018. We’d love for any and all to join us!
WAL
Start Date: undetermined
Weavers, often (due to the combersome nature of their equipment)
independent in their work, find a WAL awkward. We hope that sharing
progress and questions, photos and milestones on Ravelry will improve the
experience. At the moment, we are finishing up a fall WAL using
overshot. Watch for news of at least one new WAL for 2018!
FAL
Start Date: January 3, 2018
With all of life's distractions, not to mention the siren call of new
projects, sometimes we forget about the put-aside-just-for-a-minute
projects. Our Ravelry group will host a FAL (Finish-along) or two
this year, giving those who want it a period of time to focus on clearing
out at least a few unfinished pieces. One starts immediately, to
last 6 weeks. The other will be showing up in June.
Tour de Fleece
Dates: July 7 - July 29, 2018
The Guild forms a wildcard team for the Tour de Fleece called Team Vulcan
Spinners. The goal is to challenge yourself and spin every day the Tour
de France rides, if possible. We share our progress and encourage each
other along the way! More details can be found on the Guild's Ravelry
page closer to July.
The
Guild on the Web
Between
newsletters and meetings, keep up with the guild on the web at:
If
you don't want to miss new posts to the guild blog, you can choose to
receive new posts by email. Go to the blog and look for "Follow by
Email" on the right hand side of the page. Type your email address
in the window and click "Submit." If you want to have something
posted on the blog, send it to blog@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com.
You
can post to the guild's Facebook page yourself! The page manager shares
information and posts that she receives on the guild's Facebook group
page and keeps Facebook users up to date on what is going on in the
guild.
Ravelry isn't just
for knitters anymore. Crocheters, weavers, and spinners all upload
photos, project information, and patterns. Find helpful information
on participating in the Ravelry guild group on the blog, http://greaterbirminghamfiberguild.blogspot.com/2015/04/gbfg-on-ravelry.html
Study Groups Meet Monthly
- First Thursday Spinning and Weaving Group: Spin
& Weave Night, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at St. Peter’s Catholic Church
in Hoover (on Patton Chapel Rd, across from Hoover Church of
Christ). Park behind the church, come in the large glass doors, walk
toward the happy, loud voices. Everyone is welcome! Contact
Kathryn Pitt at kjpitt@gmail.com for
details.
- Spinning Study Group: 4th Wednesday
of the month, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at St. Peter’s Church in
Hoover. Please check out the GBFG Blog for cancellations
or schedule changes.
- Knit Night in the Forest: 1st Monday
of the month, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Vestavia Hills Public
Library. Please see Ravelry for more
details.
- Trish Raczynski is hosting a tatting and
crochet group. Please check the group discussion thread
on Ravelry for more information.
Newsletter
News
Hi! This is Betsy
Lowery, new for 2018 on the task of newsletter editing and sending.
Thanks for welcoming me to this responsibility and for working with me on
it.
If there's
something you'd like to share in the monthly newsletter, let me know.
Suggestions:
- book reviews
- fiber-related articles or web pages we can attach
or link (within copyright allowances)
- your fiber questions to which you would love
answers or suggestions from other guild members
- tips you've discovered and used that make your fiber art
a little bit easier
For example, just this week I discovered it
was simple to knit into the front and
the back of a picked-up stitch for better spacing right
off the bat when I was adding the final ribbing to the leg openings
of a baby diaper cover or "soaker." (Pattern was a
freebie and appears to be designed much like this one.)
Please
send your newsletter submissions -- and corrections,
please!!
-- to me. Content should be submitted by the 15th of the
month to go into the following month's newsletter. Email me at betsy@vhbc.com and put GBFG
Newsletter in the subject line. Thanks!
Greater
Birmingham Fiber Guild
The
Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild is comprised of individuals dedicated to
the dissemination and preservation of fiber arts. Meetings are the second
Saturday of the month, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon (no meeting in July).
Visitors are welcome. The Guild offers programs almost monthly, focused
workshops several times a year, and equipment rental (see below).
2018
Officers and Board
Jennifer
Lackey, President
Rekha Drwiega,
Programs
Mary Spanos &
Mary Margaret Gray, Workshops
Chloe
Hope, Membership
Nancy Lavender,
Treasurer
Shira
Robinowich-Miller, Secretary
Barbara Gower with
Kathryn Pitt & Janna Ford, Social Media/Blog
Betsy
Lowery, Newsletter
Rental
of Guild Equipment & Materials
The Guild has
available, for rental to members, the following:
- Lucy Neatby's DVD knitting collection (more info on this
resource)
- Drum Carder
- Laura Fry's Magic
in the Water book and DVD
- 4-harness
table loom (Jennifer Lackey)
There will be a $30
deposit per DVD (Lucy Neatby) and $100 deposit for the drum carder.
Deposit for Laura Fry's materials still to be determined. The rental
fee for all items is $5 per month rented. Equipment can be
checked out at Fiber Guild monthly meetings; please check with Jennifer
Lackey. Deposit checks will be held by Nancy Lavender, treasurer, until
checked-out items are returned in original condition.
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