This week, I am heading over to Victoria, BC, to take a three-day pre-conference workshop at ANWG (Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds) that will be taking place on the University of Victoria campus in downtown Victoria. It also happens to be Canada’s 150th Birthday this weekend, which will make the capital of our province incredibly busy! That said, I am really excited to be travelling over, and my brother and his family happen to live there so I am planning on spending some good quality time with them! As part of the conference, guilds who are members of ANWG are invited to put together a guild booth display to showcase their guild’s talents based on a theme given to them by the organizers of ANWG. This year, the theme was West Coast Natural Wonders.
I thought about this theme extensively over the course of the year, as I was preparing to put together our booth to represent my guild: the Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild. Our guild is full of incredibly talented people who regularly share their learning, insights and thoughts about their crafts with their fellow guild members. I thought that this was such an amazing opportunity to showcase our natural talents (or wonders) – particularly of those who are often not highlighted: The sheep and alpaca and llamas who are raised in and around Langley, BC, whose fibre we regularly use. Many of us in our guild are committed to using local fibre, from our local shepardesses, many of whom are guild members and bring their fibre and yarns to meetings for us to oooh and aaaah over. It is such an amazing opportunity to not only see these animals when we are driving around Langley, but to know that we can work with the producers and use their fleeces.
In an effort to give a voice to those who are raising and shearing the animals we so often take for granted, I recorded two interviews with fellow guild members, which will be playing in our booth throughout the weekend. In an effort to include you in this project that has been near and dear to my heart for the past 10 months, I wanted to share the interview snippets that I put together here with you while I am away at the conference. I hope you enjoy listening!
These interviews will be released in their entirety in upcoming episodes of Wool n’ Spinning Radio. For more, please have a look here for the monthly audio podcast I produce as a result of the support from our Patrons.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Happy Birthday to the country I love so much, am proud to be raised in and have high hopes for in the future!
Until next time,
-rach
Happy birthday Canada. Rachel, I hope you have a lovely time with your family and quality time with other guilds. Look forward to hearing about it.
Johanna