QWSG at the Fair

blue ribbon pickles

The Qualicum Weavers and Spinners went to the Lighthouse Country Fall Fair and brought home ribbons, visited with old friends and made some new ones.  We also ate pie, bought yarn, watched the kloggers dance and pretended to be kids at Fred Penner's concert.

We always put on a large display as well as demonstrations at this event.  This year our theme was "starting with wool".  The items displayed all involved wool in some form. 







We are often asked how long it takes to produce a skein of yarn and of course the answer varies depending on where you start in the process.  The beautiful hand dyed roving in the photograph started life as something less appealing and there is considerable time and effort involved long before the wool arrives at the wheel (or spindle).

from raw wool to finished textile

We decided to tell the background story in our display which includes fleece "in the grease", washed fleece, dyed fleece, roving and hand spun yarns.  Hopefully visitors came away with a better understand of the back story to a beautiful skein of yarn.  Our demonstrations including carding and blending of wool fibres.

blending silk and wool fibres

We also wanted to illustrated various ways of using wool to create a textile so we included examples of weaving, knitting and felting.  We are lucky to have some creative felters among our members.  The examples included knitted and felted items, wet felted items and needle felted items. 

wool felting examples

lace scarf wool/silk

handspinning category

The Lighthouse Country Fall Fair includes competitions for various handicrafts including a textile category.  This year our members participated in some of the competitions and came home with ribbons.  Check the Member's Works section to see more prize winners.

handwoven clothing

Now we are focused on getting ready for our GIGANTIC YARNS & MORE SALE.  We hope to see you at Qualicum Commons, 744 Primrose St in downtown Qualicum Beach on  September 20 and 21st doors open at 10 am.  We have a huge selection of knitting & weaving yarns, weaving equipment and books and we are what they call "motivated sellers".  We want to get back to working in our studio and so these items MUST GO!!!!