Thursday, December 10, 2015

Happy Holiday!

Image result for christmas spinning wheel
Let's not critique the technique of Father Christmas...

Sunday, December 13, is our annual Holiday Celebration.  Please bring a dish to pass - savory or sweet - your choice.  You have plenty of time to diet after the New Year so let's enjoy the talents of our many good cooks.

Liz will be bringing a list and checking it twice.  No, not Santa's Naughty List!  You will be asked to check off the program idea(s) from the list we generated in the fall that you most wish to see in the upcoming year.

Were you participating in "The BIG One?"  This is the meeting to shine like the 'roc' star you are!  Bring in whatever you have to show.  In my case lots of full bobbins.  Thankfully, no one will be deducting points or fining you late fees.  Everyone is welcome to show their progress as they continue to meet their personal goals.

Our Roc Day celebration will be held at our January meeting.  Our guest speaker, Benjamin Streeter, will be giving us a short demo and lecture on the drop spindle.  You are going to love this guy!  He has an infectious smile and laugh that is sure to get your spinning mojo back to the max!  Ben is a relatively new spinner, but I know you are going to be thoroughly impressed with the quality of his work.  Please e-mail specific questions you have about drop spindles to me at commonthreadsspinningguild@gmail.com so that Ben may address your needs.  Yes, he just that kind of accommodating guy!
Image result for jingle bells
So, we will see you Sunday with bells on to end another year of Common Threads!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Upcoming Holiday Sale Events

Buy Local and Handmade this Holiday Season!


November 20-22
Knox Farm Holiday Art Festival 

Please consider supporting venues our members participate in. Monica is participating.


Sandy Long's Annual Open House
























December 5

For some reason, the blog will not let me upload the sale flyer.

Waldorf School Holiday Sale

Please consider supporting venues our members participate in. Mary is participating.


December 4-6

Holiday Open Artist Gift Sale at the BPAC


If you know of any others, please email me the information and I will post them.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Spinning Samples

Sunday November 8, 2015

This program will be based on a FB post from C. Wood, whom some of you may know. This is probably what we should do before starting any project, but most of us probably don't.  When I saw her post, I asked her about it and this is her reply: 
"I've done this in a few workshops taught by others, but basically it's using the different pulleys, braking & fiber quantity to modify your "default" drafting & letting in. Start with largest pulley & lightest brake, spin a sample. Tighten the brake a bit but stay on the same pulley & repeat. Go to the next pulley, loosen the brake, etc. My wheel has 3 pulleys, so I once did 9 variations. The braking influences the amount of fiber that gets drafted, and it's important to let that take place without fighting it."
We will be spinning our own fiber, roving or top are probably best. Bring any fiber you wish, something you've been indecisive about, left overs, doesn't matter, but we should probably stick to animal fibers. Sorry there is no picture, but the variety of yarns she produced were amazing.

December is our annual Holiday party and pot luck, show & tell, and hopefully we will see a few sweaters finished for our year's challenge!

Thursday, October 8, 2015





Dyeing Cellulose Fibers

Sunday, October 11

© Monica Artwear

© Monica Artwear




















Cotton, linen, ramie, rayon, tencel (and a few more) are all part of our spinning arsenal. We tend to use them less than protein fibers, and they generally aren't as available. Roving is often limited to bleached and unbleached, and we all know how we love color.

Monica will be showing us how to fix that. She is an amazing dyer, and will be showing you some examples of her work. She will present an overview of dyeing with Procion MX dyes that are used for cotton, linen, rayon and silk, with the emphasis on cotton. Samples will include cotton fiber–both lint and roving, and already spun yarn, and small pieces of fabric. She will will discuss the chemicals used, safety and the process, demonstrating examples for low water immersion and hand painting dyeing. 

© Monica Artwear

© Monica Artwear

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Dyeing with Indigo 9.13.15

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Annual Potluck Picnic and Show & Tell
Sunday, August 9

Bring a dish to share, your wheel for open spin, and if you have something for Show-and-Tell, bring that too! Should be warm and sunny!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Thistle Creek Alpaca Farm Field Trip

Many thanks to Jeanne and Brad for a great afternoon and to everyone who came out to join us! The alpaca were so sweet and loved the carrots we gave them.

Thanks to Karen V. for the photos!





Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Thistle Creek Alpaca Farm Field Trip

Thistle Creek Alpaca Farm Field Trip

Sunday July 12, 2015
Photo from Thistle Creek Farms FB page

Please join us this Sunday, July 12 for our annual field trip. This year we will be visiting these adorable alpacas at Thistle Creek Alpacas in East Aurora. Bring a snack to share, a chair, and your spinning, from 1-4 pm.

Hope to see you all there! We truly appreciate our members who raise animals for sharing their farms and homes with us!


From Jeanne: 
I am so excited to welcome the Common Threads members to our Thistle Creek Alpaca Farm.  We are located at 1091 Ostrander Rd, East Aurora (Elma), New York 14052.  The easiest way to get to our farm is to take Rt 400 to Jameson Road, head towards Marilla (east) when you get off of Rt 400.  Our road, Ostrander crosses Jameson Road.  You will turn to your left from Jameson Road.  Ostrander is approx. 2.5 miles from the Rt 400 exit.  If you cross over Buffalo Creek, you have gone too far.  Our road is just before the bridge.  Once you turn onto Ostrander Road, we are midway down the street on the right hand side.  We are the only farm on the street, and you should see the big red barn.  My house is the one under construction and covered with Tyvek!.  Pull into the driveway and we will be waiting for you!

We have fifty alpacas on the property with three crias (babies). 

If you have any questions, or get lost along the way; please feel free to call me at 716-725-8238.

Jeanne L. MacLeod-Lang
Bradley R. Lang, Sr
Thistle Creek Alpaca Farm
1091 Ostrander Rd  (click on address for map)
East Aurora, NY 14052
(716) 725-8199


Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Using Combs & Hackles

As we now have two sets of combs, and a hackle, it seems timely to demonstrate how to use them. Members are encouraged to participate, either by demonstrating how and what you use them for, or you can bring you're own combs in.

Members are welcome to bring some fiber and try them out. Combs can be used to prepare shorn, washed fiber or for blending colors. Hackles can be used to blend color, so bring in a few colors if you would like to try this.

If you signed any of this equipment out, please make sure they get to the meeting!