The secret guild

Now I don't know about you lot, but my image of a guild is either one of a bunch of blue-rinsed old biddies munching on custard creams and knitting nasty acrylic layettes or a deadly assasin's group meeting under cover of darkness, all sporting one rolled trouser leg.

How wrong could I be?

Last Tuesday I sought out The Ulster Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers for their monthly meeting at the Ulster Folk Museum.
I was met with warmth and smiles by about 25 women of various ages and nationalities. Some had their spinning wheels with them, others brought split braid work, felting or current projects.
Not a custard-cream crumb-encrusted layette, or a rolled trouser was in sight!

I found myself surrounded with a wealth of knowledge covering several generations; a cupboard filled with the guild's small but invaluable library (available to borrow at £1- a month); and enough fibre inspiration to feed my yarn obssession for many years to come.

As young (ehem, I mean late thirties) women, we seem to have cast off the guilds and all that they can offer us and I reckon it's time we did something about this.
A week ago I would never had thought of making a circular loom from a hulahoop and a few screws.

But the guild had been donated one that evening and they lent it to me along with a book explaining how to use it.
So now I can add circular weaving to my long list of fibre-related addictions. I was up until 3am with it that night and have a long list of ideas to try on it.

My first attempts might be a bit ropey, but the resulting anemone form isn't that bad.
And can't help thinking it's a brilliant way to introduce kids to weaving, too. It's cheap, easy and very hard to mess up.

So grab your hula hoops and find your guild. You never know what's waiting for you. Just don't roll your trouser legs up.