October Guild Meeting: Fancoise Danoy of Aroha Knits

Francoise Danoy of Aroha Knits

 Fiber Artist and Knitwear Designer

 

Date: This Saturday, October 9, 2021                          

Time: 10:00am until 12:00pm

Place: Guild Zoom Room (guild members were sent an email with the Zoom info)

 

Francoise is a Franco-Māori Australian-American living in San Antonio, Texas. She started her career as a knitwear designer five years ago while living in Japan and just moved back to the States mid-2020.

Her designs document her journey to connecting with her Māori heritage. She also teaches knitwear design and helps aspiring and beginner knitwear designers feel confident about publishing patterns and establishing a strong foundation in the fibre industry through her signature program, the SWATCH Studio Circle.

 

You don't want to miss this program!

  

Mailed-To-Your-Door-Prize!: A random number generator will be used to choose two members from the membership list. The winner will have the prize mailed to them at the home address on the guild member directory! All members will be included!

You do not have to be present to win!

September Guild Meeting: Shannon Haddock

GBFG September Meeting: Shannon Haddock, Creator and Director of Purl @ the Plaza

Saturday, September 11, 2021

10:00am to 12:00pm

Guild Zoom Room (members received an email announcement that included the Zoom info)

Shannon Haddock has been a Fiction Specialist at the Hoover Library since 2008.  Before coming to the Hoover Library, Shannon worked in corporate libraries, school libraries, academic and, of course, public libraries (Birmingham Public Library downtown).  

At Hoover, she is in charge of outreach and programming for adults, along with heading up monthly Fiction book groups each first and second Thursday of the month.  Beginning in 2010, the library began celebrating World Wide Knit in Public on the second Saturday of June. 

After doing this for two years, a monthly fiber meeting was created called, Purl on the Plaza, always on the second Saturday of each month.  From the start, this friendly, wide-ranging group was a huge success with multitudes of crafters from experienced to novice coming to gather, share projects, learn new skills and share friendships.  

Decades ago, Shannon’s mother-in-law gifted her with a 200-year-old school rug loom, along with a 4-harness table-top loom. Once she started weaving she attended classes at John C. Campbell Folk School under the tutelage of Ruth Truitt. Back then, she became a member of the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild.  It wasn’t until 2010 that she took up her knitting needles and never looked back. 

Thanks in part to In the Making and Knit Happenz and the GBFG, Purl on the Plaza has become a very popular monthly gathering.  Since May 2020, Purl has met virtually on Zoom with hopes of resuming in-person meetings as soon as it is safe to do so.

Shannon will bring us up to date on some of the available craft books and magazines available at our Hoover Library and other items to help us utilize our library resources.

!Mailed-To-Your-Door-Prize!: A random number generator will be used to choose two members from the membership list. The winner will have the prize mailed to them at the home address on the guild member directory! All members will be included!

You do not have to be present to win!

August Guild Meeting: Trunk Show of Crochet Art by Reannon Dorning

Date:   8-14- 2021

Time: 10:00am until 12:00pm 

Place: Zoom Room 2021, see access info in the email sent to guild members

 

Reannon Dorning has been a fiber artist since the age of six. Her great-great grandmother was keen to her granddaughter’s interest in granny-square afghans, and taught her her first few stitches. What followed was a lifelong journey adventuring into cross stitching, needle tatting, crocheting, knitting, dyeing and now, finally, spinning. 

 

Reannon grew up in Birmingham and went to the Alabama School of Fine Arts in their Pilot Math/Science Program. She earned her bachelor's degree in criminal justice from California State University and attended the police academy in Orange County. Reannon began her career in law enforcement as a patrol officer with the City of Leeds and eventually became a detective. She currently serves as a patrol Sergeant for the UAB police department. While working for UAB, she earned her master’s degree in Community health and human services and is currently pursuing a PhD in Community Health Promotion. Her field of study will lead to the development of health education programs focusing on first responders learning to cope with chronic stress. She believes that creativity through fiber art has been a source of relaxation that has reduced the stress of her career and improved her overall health and wellness. 

 

Reannon is developing a business in the form of a fiber arts studio called Harp & Dragon Fiber Arts which offers hand-made finished items - crochet, knit, and woven; hand-dyed yarn, both commercial and hand-spun (eventually), and some crochet patterns for cute little amigurumi creatures.

 

Don't miss this amazing program!

Is there a July guild meeting? Yes, sort of...

Join us this Saturday for some fiber-y company!

Meeting date: Saturday, July 10, 2021

Time: 10:00 to noon

Place: Zoom, see the email sent to guild members for the Zoom numbers

Sit and Knit, Sew, Crochet, Dye, Spin, Weave, Tat, Felt, Hook, Mend, Embroider, Cross-stitch, Needlepoint or other fiber craft and chat with your guild friends online!

In normal years, the guild takes a couple months off during the summer when people are busy with vacations and other summer events. Last year we met and had programs during the summer because we had missed a couple of meetings early in the year while we were all figuring out what "quarantine" meant. This year, we've met all year, so we are going to take July off...sort of. If you are hanging around and would like to visit with fiber-y people, join us online. It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on when to go back to in-person meetings. It would also be interesting to see what you are working on.

Join us!

 Mailed-To-Your-Door-Prize!: A random number generator will be used to choose FOUR members from the membership list. The winner will have the prize mailed to them at the home address on the guild member directory! All members will be included!

You do not have to be present to win!

June's Guild Meeting, Saturday, June 12

 From Llewelyn's email to members...

6- 2021 Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild Meeting Announcement

Meet us on the second Saturday of   June, 2021

Date:   June 12, 2021                          Time: 10:00am until 12:00pm

Place: Zoom Room 2021(See access information below)

Program: Tools and Large Collections Show and Tell

Dust off that large lovely collection of Spindles, Knitting needles, Crochet hooks, Shuttles, Looms, Bobbins, Rug hooks, Wheels and other fiber centric tools and be ready to show off what you've got! We want to see what you use to create with- particularly things you would not be likely to bring to an In-Person meeting!

Keep your presentation down to 5 minutes or less so we can get around to everyone who wants to share, please.

 

! Mailed-To-Your-Door-Prize!: A random number generator will be used to choose two members from the membership list. The winner will have the prize mailed to them at the home address on the guild member directory! All members will be included!

You do not have to be present to win!

Our July meeting will be a Casual Sit and Knit (or crochet, spin, whatever) via Zoom.

Since we do not usually meet in July, there is no planned program.

 

 

Study Groups Meet Monthly (ZoomRoom meetings will replace most of these until further notice)

• 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! Please see Ravelry 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.

 

Membership Dues and Renewal

The Guild’s membership year runs January through December. Annual dues are $25. Please pay your dues yearly before February 28. Thank you! You may pay by cash/check at any meeting or mail (send a message to gbfiberguild@gmail.com and ask for the USPS address). 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

 

The Guild on the Web: https://linktr.ee/GreaterBirminghamFiberGuild or

Blog www.greaterbirminghamfiberguild.blogspot.com,blog@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com

Facebook page www.facebook.com/greaterbirminghamfiberguild,fb@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com

Ravelry www.ravelry.com/groups/greater-birmingham-fiber-guild, rav@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com.

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." You can post to the guild's Facebook page yourself! The page manager shares information and posts what 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

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 p.m. (no meeting in July). Visitors are welcome. The Guild offers programs almost monthly, focused workshops several times a year, and equipment rental.

May Guild Meeting: Mike Lyon, Rocket Scientist Turned Tatting Designer

 

 

We are so excited to host Mike Lyon, a rocket scientist turned tatting designer, at this Saturday's guild meeting. Join us on Zoom (the 2021 numbers, sent to guild members in the email announcing this meeting). If you are a tatter or not, this will be a fascinating presentation!

Meeting: New Zoom room numbers (check your email)

Date:  Saturday, May 8, 2021

Time: 10:00 CDT

The Crochet and Tatting study group is currently doing a tat-along with one of Mike's designs, you can see that discussion on the guild's Ravelry thread for that group.

From Mike Lyon:

I hold both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from the UAH … Yep, a retired PhD rocket scientist (really!) now spending my time tatting original designs and teaching Scottish bagpipes and Irish pennywhistle in Huntsville.

My tatting journey to this point is somewhat out of the ordinary, a combination of coincidence and heredity.

When I was about 6 years old, my mother – a “sometimes” tatter – gave me one or two lessons on how to hold a shuttle and make a double stitch. Like any 6-year old boy, tatting was not a primary interest, and so even the thought of tatting lay dormant for some 60 years. In December of 2015, I received a phone call from my niece who said that she had come across one of my mother’s old tatting shuttles and wanted to know if I wanted it. When the shuttle arrived, my curiosity was piqued – could I still remember how to make a ring? The answer was “not very well”, but with the help of the internet, I was able to recapture the lesson from decades before.

After tatting a dozen or so “conventional” doilies and ditties, I began to design my own pieces. In these past 5 years, I have published numerous Celtic designs, large format doilies, and “Character Pieces” for fun. My current project is a large doily featuring flower motifs that will be available the summer of 2021.

I am the creator of “Mike’s Laws of Tatting” – a compendium of lessons learned during my journey, and am a tatting instructor at both the Palmetto Tatters Tat Days in NC and the Tatting Corner Tat Days in IN.