Thursday 22 September 2016

September Meeting

August came and went . . . several members made a trip over to Mapua to catch up with our colleagues from over the hill. I escaped to Wanaka for R & R.

September brought back some members who had travelled further afield; Joan and Chris having separately visited Scotland's Outer Hebrides with emphasis on the Isles of Harris and Lewis, among other geographically interesting places.
More about that in the next post.

The topic for the month was braiding and Joan and Chris had set up a variety of hands-on techniques for people to try.
 Jan uses her foot to assist in making a "walking" or "slentre" with loops on her fingers.

 Here are two different braids made with this technique.
 This is a lucet, an ancient lace-making tool. It makes variations of a square braid.
 A multitude of various plaits and twists can be made on warp ends.
 Joan weaves a narrow warp-faced braid on a table loom with the reed removed.
 Win, Chris and Jan all tried braiding with a clipboard as an anchor.