About Us
The Blue Ridge Spinners and Weavers Guild started having meetings in the spring of 2002. We have just celebrated our 4th anniversary! We have had one or two workshops per year, both locally and at The Mannings and started participating in local fairs last year. The group was started to provide a forum for sharing all aspects of fiber art with friends...from raising animals to spinning, to felting, knitting and weaving. In the beginning, we combined our meetings with a pot luck lunch to stretch out our social time.
For the first year, there were the faithful of about 8 that attended regularly. The second year brought simplification, as we abandoned the pot luck and had a discussion on what the guild should be: educational, informative and supportive of our fiber friends. Our third year was the move to the Franklin Park Arts Center. This year also brought the formation of the Rockin' Bobbins, the guild's sheep (or fleece) to shawl team. In their first ever endeavor, they were honored with a third place finish at Maryland Sheep and Wool in May of 2005. At the beginning of year four, the guild had jelled into what it wanted to be - an educational informative group, reaching out to the public via demonstrations and sales while still supporting our friends and members. Our membership has grown by leaps and bounds over the past two years - as we began with 8 - 10, we now email to over 50!!!!!!
We have one rule (known to members as "THE rule".) To become a member of BRSWG: You have to Be Nice! You don't have to know anything about weaving, spinning or other fiber arts.....you just need to show up and hang out with a bunch of nice people that like to laugh and have fun!
In May of 2006, we took the first step to becoming a formalized guild by electing officers. Our new officers are working on by-laws and dues to present to the membership at our first few meetings in the fall. The by-laws will be sure to keep the spirit of "be nice" in their content and scope. We make no pretense that our little group will have any impact on world peace, therefore we plan to not take ourselves too seriously. The one thing that we are passionate about is demonstrating and teaching others about fiber arts. We plan to expand on this public outreach in the coming years. Our new web site has been created: www.brswg.org. It just has a bit on it right now, but we will update soon. At this point we are primarily an electronic guild. All our newsletters, etc. will be sent via email unless USPS is specifically requested. The future of Blue Ridge Spinners and Weavers looks very exciting and promising. Fiber arts are alive and well and we welcome all who may be interested in learning more about them.
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Membership Rates
Membership rates set at $25 per year paid by August 31. A Membership Registration Form can be downloaded here.
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