As previously mentioned I was hosting the 2021 Scenic Valley Handweaver’s Guild Christmas Party this year. I was initially worried by an adverse weather forecast, but that turned out to not be a problem as we had a very uncharacteristic 70 degree warm partly sunny afternoon – perfect for the 12 PM start. Preparations had been underway for the last two weeks and in the last few days before the 4th we swapped to the cooking of our contributions to the ‘finger food’ plate(s) that everyone was to supply. Plus some straightening up and come ‘game day’ we were well and truly ready on the morning of the 4th.
My goal was to have as many looms up and running so everyone could see what they could be used for. That had been the main work as I had 5 looms to dress and then some weaving done on each.
The pictures are clockwise from top left: The Paua (Abalone) scarf Mk II, Tablet weaving, Tufted rug, Tartan throw, and Solid color towels. Having five projects underway at once is an absolute first – I think the most previously was two.
Our food contributions were: sausage rolls, cheese rolls, a fruit plate and chips/dip – so technically more than our two ‘plates’ – but we were the hosts. Anne made a Christmas wreath (with kiwi) and strung some decorations and lights to brighten the studio and Fairly Large Room.
The guests started flowing in a little before midday and in all we had 15 attend (according to our guest book). I hit them as soon as they arrived (and had dropped off their food) with game number 1: guess the loom names. On a sheet they had to decide which loom name belonged to the labels a-f I had prefixed to the looms in random order. There were hints to make it easy(er) and while I thought most would breeze through, in the end only two had 100% – most of the rest had one or two swapped. With a random spinning app on the tablet the single winner was chosen and awarded the prize of a handwoven Christmas towel. We then started eating and after a suitable time game two “Name that Yarn’ was played – with the object of identifying the yarn in use (warp and weft) on each of the five dressed looms. Given the skill levels I expected some high scores as there were fairly obvious yarns like 8/2 cotton, 3/2 mercerised cotton, etc. As it turns out the best scores were only 5.5 out of 10 as most players only achieved partial answers and hence only got 1/2 points for that. Still, there was another tie for first place so after a random spin the winner walked away with a hand spun skein of Clun Forest wool.
More eating and chatting and talking looms/studios etc and the guests started drifting away around 2 with the last heading out nearer 3. All in all a successful afternoon and we now have a mountain of finger food in fridges and freezers – to keep us going for a week or two.