Wishing you lovely holidays with family and friends,

Wishing you time to sip a hot beverage by the fireplace

and think about all the good things that have happened this year,

Wishing you a New Year filled with weaving, spinning, dyeing,

basketry, felting, braiding, needlework, knitting and more,

Take a moment to make a promise to yourself to allow time for the things you love in 2012.

From the entire CNCH 2012 committee.

The entry deadlines are March 31 for the Fashion Show and April 1 for the Galleries, so now is the time to do the planning, order your yarns and other materials and be ready to warp up the loom right after the holidays!

The Fashion Show accepts woven, felted, knitted or manipulated fabric wearables. The Show theme is that same as the conference:  Tradition/Innovation.  How do you plan to interpret that idea through fashion?  You may enter up to three items in the show (ensembles are considered one entry).  Entry forms are downloadable from this website.

Fashions will be modeled at the Friday evening Fashion show and then hung in the Fashion Show Gallery Saturday and Sunday.

The Galleries in 2012 are varied and exciting.  You may enter up to three items in the galleries.  Choose from:

• Tradition/Innovation Gallery – the general gallery of home décor, functional and decorative fiber arts including towels, rugs, blankets, wall hangings,  table fashions, curtains, and etc.  Handspun items may be woven, knitted or felted.
• Baskets, Vessels and Sculpture Gallery – a three dimensional shape – utilitarian or decorative from traditional or innovative materials
• Yardage Gallery – Handwoven yardage
• Fashion Gallery –  a gallery for neckware, accessories and garments that will not be modeled in the Fashion Show.

Entry forms are downloadable from this website.

And the Return to Sender Gallery – a rainbow gallery of handspun yarns made from the luxury fibers dyed in the Conference colors and sent out to participants in the fall. If you received a batt – now is the time to start your spinning!

Anyone who is a member of a CNCH member guild or anyone registered for CNCH 2012 is eligible to enter these shows. More details under CNCH 2012 conference info at this site.

And last, but not least there will be a Teacher’s Gallery showcasing the skills and talents of the instructors in the classes at the conference.

Here is a list of the beginner classes at the conference:  Full class details and registration info is available on this site at 2012 Oakland.

Beginning Spinning with Stephenie Gaustad

Cedar Pockets Basketry with Kay Harradine

Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics with Syne Mitchell

Tablet Weaving Basics with John Mullarkey

Needlefelted Flowers and Other Embellishments with Carin Engen

Passementerie – Tassels with Robyn Spady

REMEMBER:  We also have a Facebook page – CNCH 2012 OAKLAND – which will help you spread the word to friends and fiber artisans outside of the CNCH family.

What do you want to learn at CNCH 2012?  Who do you want to meet?  What teachers have you always wanted a class from?  Now is your opportunity!  Learn a new skill, brush up an old one.  Refine a technique, add pizzazz – have fun.

All of the information about classes, teachers and the conference schedule is online at www.cnch.org. Just click on the conference logo or on 2012 Oakland for all the details.  Your guild liaison has conference brochures if you prefer a hard copy.  The conference is May 18 – 20, 2012.

Online registration opens on November 1, 2011.  Watch the CNCH website for the exact time of opening.  Mail registrations will also be accepted this year, but you will get immediate feedback about your class selections if you use online registration.

Organizers recommend that you download the mail-in form and fill it out before beginning online registration so you are sure to have all your information with you when you go to the computer.  All costs are listed under the registration link on the website as well as on the registration form.

Click on the facilities link for information about the Oakland Marriott City Center and Conference Center and how to reserve your room.  The hotel is conveniently located next to a BART stop and easy to get to from the highways.  The hotel and convention center are all one complex – so it will be easy to get from your room to all the conference activities.  Many nice restaurants and quick eat places are close to the hotel as well as a restaurant, lounge and coffee shop within the hotel complex.

And remember there will be a full vendor hall, galleries, a fashion show and much, much more at CNCH 2012 Oakland.

October 8, 10 am to 2 pm

Forest Home Farms Historic Park, 19953 San Ramon Valley Blvd. San Ramon

[just north of the Alcosta Blvd. exit off HWY 680]

Forest Home Farms is holding a special event on Saturday, Oct. 8th. There will be free admission to tours and free tractor rides. Treadles will be there demonstrating spinning to the general public, and invites you bring your wheel and spin along for a few hours. Hopefully the weather will be great for this relaxing out-door event. Bring a lunch and spend the day celebrating Spinning & Weaving Week. Don’t come if its raining! The poster above is courtesy of the Handweavers Guild of America. You can get a copy on their website.

Kay Harradine has been weaving for nearly twenty-five years and has been a serious student of basketry during that time, pursuing both contemporary and indigenous forms of the craft. She specializes in working with plant fibers harvested responsibly from forest, wetlands and her garden

In her own words: “Basket weaving blends many of my interests including textiles, handwork, and ethnobotany, never tiring of the variety and always discovering new techniques and skills to practice and master.  I appreciate the lore, handed down orally and by patient demonstration.  I marvel at the centuries of problem-solving, distilled into such elegant solutions, using such rude and simple materials.  When I gather plant fibers in a responsible manner from forest, wetlands, desert and garden it ties me to the land and to the seasons.”

See some of Kay’s work at:

http://www.nwbasketweavers.org/portfolio/Kay/index.html

Charlie will show us a wide variety of baskets he has made using central California Indian coiling and twining techniques and designs, as well as other baskets employing European techniques, all using local plants. He will discuss the challenges of creating patterns while increasing stitch and warp counts, and the gathering and preparation of weaving materials.Charlie is a long-time student of California Indian basketry, as well as of several European techniques, including bee-hive weaving. He has been giving presentations and workshops on traditional uses of native plants throughout the Bay Area for adults andyouth for more than a decade, and is developing a basketry plant garden at the top of the MAGC property. Full-size tule boats built in his workshops are in the collections of the Oakland Museum, the Academy of Sciences, and Lake County Museum. Charlie is active in habitat restoration with Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed in Marin County, and is also a professional photographer.

Baskets and cordage in a sedge bed, photograph and handiwork by Charles Kennard

The purpose of judging by jury is to enhance the quality of the work being done by the individuals and groups, and to provide exhibitors with an evaluation by impartial experts which might otherwise be unavailable within guilds. Items submitted to be judged for awards shall have been designed and created by the exhibitor. Only work not previously shown at a CNCH conference may be submitted for judging. All entrants must be members of CNCH, Inc., Guilds or affiliate groups such as ANWG or a Southern California weaving, spinning or basketry guild.

The Standing Rules of CNCH, Inc. stipulate the following criteria for a judge’s scoring for awards:
Craftsmanship [including technique]
Aesthetic use of color
Design
Suitable use of material
Creative expression

A work submitted for judging shall be scored for each of the criteria.

Ribbons are then awarded according to a point range determined by the Jury Chair. Blue ribbons are awarded for “Outstanding” individual work as indicated by the highest judging totals. White ribbons are awarded for “Meritorious” individual work as indicated by the next highest point range. Other ribbons or awards can be awarded at the discretion of the Annual Conference Jury Chair.

In other words, the piece is judged against itself, not against other pieces and multiple outstanding and meritorious ribbons may be awarded. So, don’t be intimidated by more experienced weavers, just weave your best and enter it proudly!

Anyone who is a member of a CNCH guild may enter items in the Gallery shows.  If a conference registrant is not a member of CNCH or affiliate groups, an additional fee of $30 will be added and they will become a member of CNCH.

Fiber source

September is almost here and it’s time to gear up for some of those projects you want to try this Fall.  It is also a good time to consider buying supplies locally.

Check out the article on the Arcata Natural Fiber Fair taking place on September 9& 10th.  It’s also a good time to review The Fibershed Project.

Go directly to the Arcata Fiber Fair by clicking here.