Bell, Hook & Spindle, Berlin Braids and Spinning Forth

The 2013 ANWG NW Weavers Conference Marketplace Mall will be June 20-22, Carver Gym, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA.  During the next few weeks we will continue to feature some of our outstanding merchants on our blog. 

This week we are featuring our three Marketplace Mall merchants  -- Bell, Hook & Spindle and Berlin Braids along with Spinning Forth.

Bell, Hook & Spindle

At Bell, Hook & Spindle, Rick and Lindy Weber believe in dreams. And in following those dreams have found themselves on a woolly road. 

Lindy began by dyeing some fleece in quart jars and Kool Aid*. That was fun, so she needed more wool. An acquaintance offered several wool batts that had returned from commercial processing with a lot of vegetable matter still intact. Ignorance is truly bliss when you say “yes” to free wool without knowing what vegetable matter is...

Dye, dye, dye became Lindy’s mantra. Rick found a 1940's era drum carder online. After hours carding and picking the wool clean Lindy signed up as a vendor at an Art in the Park. The wool was a hit!

At this show a dedicated spinner chatted with Lindy and was appalled to find a vendor of wool who did not know how to spin! This generous person went straight home and brought back a bag of spindles and lessons began!

The woolly bug had irrevocably bitten. Rick searched online for antique spinning wheels. They started arriving in boxes from Lithuania, Estonia, and Idaho. These were the abandoned in barns, forgotten in attics, tossed into chicken coops variety of spinning wheels, so very in need of TLC. He put together his dream wood working shop, restoring the wheels, and manufacturing missing parts as authentically as possible, after historical research.

History, wool, wood… that’s Bell, Hook & Spindle. Dyed by hand. Crafted by hand. Restored to use and beauty, by hand! Lindy Weber, Bell, Hook & Spindle

Berlin Braids & Spinning Forth

Berlin Braids.

Shirley learned kumihimo in England in the 1980s.  When she began teaching kumihimo, there were very few instructions in English; so she wrote her first booklet presenting eighteen patterns for kongo gumi.  Her second book went further, introducing eight different braid structures, also for braiding on a card without extra adjustment moves.  She produces a wide range of affordable kits to help people dive whole-heartedly into braiding. 

Since 1990, she and her husband Peter have divided their time between houses in England and Victoria, B.C.  When she needed equipment for workshops, her woodturning husband applied his skills to the task.  Their beautiful marudais are made of fine hardwoods:  purpleheart, maple, walnut and more. 

 

 Spinning Forth.

Ruth started spinning in 1981.  Shirley introduced her to braiding and tablet weaving, and when classic weave structures beckoned, she learned to weave with multiple heddles on a rigid heddle loom.  A natural tool-maker with a passion for small looms, she dreamed of a frame loom with TexSolv heddles, and consequently developed her Semi-Rigid Heddle.  More recently, the Squared Circle spindles were born.  Her living room is home to 9 spinning wheels, a drill press, a belt sander, dyed silk, looms, and a plethora of cat toys.  

 

When you visit our stand, make sure you meet Mary – a longtime weaver with a strong practical streak.  Besides her unquestionable depth of knowledge in both weaving and braiding, she provides essential troubleshooting to both Shirley and Ruth when they get stuck in whatever they are trying to do.

  

The public is invited to shop during all Marketplace Mall open hours.  The Marketplace Mall open hours will be:

• Thursday, June 20 - 12 noon—6 p.m.
• Friday, June 21 - 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, June 22 - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.