Beyond Knitting and Crochet: Other Fiber Arts That Won’t Break the Bank

with Chris Sterling

Tuesday 3/26/24, 7 pm at the Congregational Church in Harvard MA

At this in-person only meeting, Chris will share with the guild her collection of fiber arts related tools most of which can be purchased for under one hundred dollars – sometimes a little bit more, and in some cases a whole lot less. She will start with creating yarn with a drop spindle rather than a spinning wheel, and will move on to creating cords with a lucet, a knitting spool and a kumihimo disk. Tools to create bands include tablets, or cards, inkle looms and bead looms. Stand-alone squares and other shapes can be made by pin looms, turtle looms and pot holder looms. She will include several variations of rigid heddle looms, tapestry looms, and peg looms for larger projects. For non-woven projects there will be a short discussion of wet and needle felting. Should she discover any more neat tools, she will bring them along. Time will be provided at the end for guild members to get a closer look at her collection.

Chris is attempting to create a presentation aimed at non-weavers, which would be a low cost introduction to the weaver’s world. She realizes that many of the guild members know more than she does about some if not all of these tools, and would appreciate feedback.

Chris Sterling
Chris wove her first scarf in 1970 while on a Junior year abroad program in Sweden, the native land of all her grandparents, but it was not until 1978 that she learned how to dress the loom when she took a weaving course and bought her first loom while living outside of Ottawa, Ontario Canada. While in Canada she was a member of the Ottawa Valley Weavers Guild. She moved to Bolton MA in 1987 and discovered that the newly formed Nashoba Valley Weavers Guild was just up the road in Harvard. She considers herself an “almost charter member” having joined the guild in its first year. There were several gaps where she did not attend meetings or pay dues, but she is now very happy to be back in the flock. In addition to weaving, she enjoys beading, paper crafts, and eco-dying silk scarves.