March Clubs - Holi Hai!

A belated series of posts catching up with sock and fibre clubs! Beginning with March....

March is the Hindu festival of colour, Holi, celebrated at the end of winter on the last full moon of the lunar month of Phalguna. It has many mythical associations and heralds the arrival of Spring, bringing hope of fertility and a good year to come. 

Participants  throw coloured, scented powders at each other and social strictures are cast aside in an abundant, joyful celebration. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you to find out that I think this is the most awesome festival tradition and I loved creating a colourway to reflect such colourful exuberance. Holi Hai!

For a taste of the sheer joy of Holi see it beautifully captured by photojournalist Poras Chaudary

Arts for Health and Wellbeing - Our Exhibition of Work

May and June have certainly been busy months here at Tomkies Towers! One of the things that's been keeping me out of mischief is a fantastic new course being run by Bolton University. The course is all about the benefits of art on health and wellbeing. I'll be writing more on the course itself, but for the moment I'll hand over to our course tutors, Sarah and Anne, who can put it much better than me!

"The University of Bolton would be delighted to invite you to a preview Arts & Health exhibition on Tuesday, 3^rd July. 

This will be your opportunity to sample the reflective work of artists, who participated in the pilot course, 'Arts for Health and Wellbeing: Becoming a Practitioner'. The course was designed in conjunction with Bolton Primary Care Trust, Bolton Council and Bolton at Home for professional artists who were experienced in running workshops and who wanted to gain an insight into working with people in health, mental health, community, or social care contexts.

The artists have chosen a variety of media such as painting, poetry, polymer clay, video and craft to explore the impact that creativity and reflective practice have on health and wellbeing. They were asked to use their medium as a tool to explore their own sense of well being over a period of a few weeks. This process has allowed the artists to gain an insight into what a participant on an arts and health initiative may experience as they begin to use arts as a tool for self-discovery.

The exhibition will take place on the 3^rd floor of Senate House (textiles room) at 4pm – 6pm on Tuesday 3^rd July. Refreshments will be provided and artists will be available to discuss their work. The show will remain open until noon on Friday 6^th July. (Please refer to zone E on the campus map: http://www.bolton.ac.uk/AboutUs/CampusMap.aspx.) 

So, if you're in the Bolton area between tomorrow and Friday, do stop by and have a look at our work. And if you are interested in the course, I'd definitely recommend it :-)

All sewn up! Professional finishing techniques

...at Spun in Huddersfield. Choosing the right seams, picking up stitches, necklines and bands, bind-offs, cast-ons and grafting amongst other things. Lots to do!

A lovely group of ladies as always and lots of banter.



It was exciting to see Lydia's progress on her knitted wedding dress (which is fantastic).(No photos of course in case the groom should see them!).

What was interesting was the first sample. These swatches are all knitted with the same yarn, same stitches and same needles, just 3 different knitters. Even tho' I am, at best, a reluctant swatcher, it certainly makes you appreciate why it's important!

Conferences weren't like this in accountancy!

Julia and I were the lucky delegates from our Guild at the Association of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers (or AGWSD!) Conference and AGM in April.

 

It was in a beautiful setting at York University - student accommodation is a bit more plush than I remember it!

We squeezed in a trip into York sampling some very nice local ale at the Yorkshire Terrier, one of the oldest hostelries in York and a visit and chat with the lovely ladies at Ramshambles.
 


We also did a spot of shopping, the highlight of which had to be the Fudge Kitchen - without question the nicest fudge I have ever tasted.


The food at the University was lovely (I stopped counting the calories after the first full veggie brekkie!), the lectures were great. I didn't manage to take pictures of everyone's work but here are some fascinating mudcloths with emotive names such as "the jealous husband's teeth"

And, not to be outdone, there is also a print representing the jealous woman's teeth!









The Conference dinner was fab.
 

The evening was concluded with the absolutely charming Abbey Belles ladies a cappella singers.


And a nice surprise was a pair of socks knitted with yarn dyed on my Summmer School course in Edinburgh - how cool are these?


The Association does a great job promoting our crafts and the AGM and Conference are well worth attending if you have the opportunity.

And not forgetting a huge thank you to the members of York & District Guild for organising the event :-)

Felting fun with friends :-)

What could be nicer? A lovely day of felting, chatter (and cake!) at Guild. Julia, Vicky and I got stuck into making some felted purses,

 

 Vicky did some fab spinning (her bag has a matching handspun strap)
 

and Julia was doing some weaving courtesy of Janice, for her to felt later.


I "may" have become the lucky new owner of a loom - an 8-shaft Harris no less! Thank you to Vicky and Lisa (and to Julia for an awesome piece of sneakery as we manoeuvred it into the workshop without Pete noticing!). I'm looking forward to getting it up and running as soon as decorating and shows are out of the way. Piccies to follow when I get it set up!