Two months and counting

Two months and counting, plus notes from Midwest Weavers Conference

Today marks two months until the due date for the I Made It on My Schacht Contest. I’ve been hearing from all over that people are excited about our contest and are working away on their entries. This is the time to focus on completing your projects and entering our contest. It’s easy to do. Just visit our web site at www.schachtspindle.com and click on the contest for entry details! Also, don’t forget the You Tube challenge!

We have fabulous prizes, including a cherry Wolf Pup and a Cherry double Treadle Matchless. The show opens during spinning and weaving week, the first full week in October. We’ll have a 40th anniversary celebration and show opening on Thursday, October 8th. So get your wheels and looms going. There’s no time to waste.

Midwest Report
This year’s conference was held on the beautiful Grinnell College campus in Grinnell, Iowa with about 300 attendees. I had fabulous students in both my rigid heddle patterns and textures class and my beginning inkle weaving workshop. Madelyn VanderHoogt, editor of Handwoven magazine, presented the keynote address which was both entertaining and informative.

A reoccurring message throughout the conference was urging guilds to reach out to younger crafters to encourage them in weaving and spinning, as well as to join their guild. Guilds, generally, are aging, and without new members and younger weavers and spinners, it won’t be too long before membership will dwindle and with it our weaving and spinning traditions.