T in The Pot @ Galgael

Alison, the group facilitator, writes:

The whole aim of the starting the group on a Tuesday was to make a comfortable place for woman to get together, chat, laugh, relax and make something with their hands.  It was of most importance to create a nurturing place for woman first of all then give the materials to be creative.  In the Tuesday Group they get a warm and nutritious lunch, soup and salad then a sweet afterwards.  The group runs from 11am to 2pm.  Alison comes in around 9 - 9.30 to help prepare the materials and go shopping and make the lunch for the woman.

The Tuesday Group consisted of Women from the local Govan area, they came through a local charity in Govan that supports woman either through crisis or gives some moral support.  The charity is called "T in The Pot" who Alison got in touch with and who runs the group on a Tuesday.  Initially the main plan with running the group was short term.  Running from 3 to 5 weeks depending on the response we where getting.  I'm happy to say that the Woolcraft group is getting a great reputation.  2 women came in to Glagael to find out about the Tuesday Group.  Not only had they heard about us through T in The Pot but also through a mental health charity called Car Gomm.  This is evidence that the Woolcraft group as a whole is making an impact and starting up the Tuesday group makes it more accessible for women who can't make it any other day. 

The initial plan for running the Tuesday group was to teach an introduction to felting.  This was to include making our famous but very easy felted flowers and then move on to a bigger project individually.  After the first week the woman decided they would like to make a banner for T in The Pot.  Rather than just each woman making individual projects they now wanted to work as a team.  And so to make a basis for the banner we mended and felted a Hebridean fleece, this was a great introduction for the woman in getting involved with the more traditional crafts.  Afterwards we started dry felting the logo of T in The pot. This is still ongoing and I'm happy to say that the group is growing more in strength.  Unfortunately the only barrier to the group is the number of women that can be taken, it's 5 maximum.  

For more pictures see http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/TeaInThePotGalgael#

what a lovely heart warming event: our Imbolc Coffee morning

Verene said:

Our coffee morning was a very special event in the history of the Woolcraft group at GalGael. Four new people were introduced to the magic of felting but it’s the warmth of our hospitality – many of us baked cakes or sweets –, the sacredness of our small candle lightening ceremony and the care with which we collectively prepared the event that moved me most. That morning we truly embodied the spirit of GalGael by creating beauty & friendship as well as giving everyone an opportunity to work with their hands & learn a new skill. 

Please visit
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/ImbolcCoffeeMorning#
to see and hear more about this wonderful inspirational occasion

 

 
 

 

Invitation to an Imbolc Coffee morning

February is coming again - the month of new beginnings for woolly lambs, and a woolcraft@galgael event:

'Imbolc' is a name for on old Celtic country festival, where the women, and men!, gathered to celebrate womanhood, and all the good nurturing qualities that we like to see to come with it: skills in making garments and food, tools and decorations, giving birth, and also protecting the family or clan. The patroness for that has always been 'BRIGHID', a figure mythical and divine in all times and for all ages, and at this time of the year especially for the young woman.

Somewhere there is in all of us a young woman, an eager to learn, bright and fresh part of our self. Now is the time to remember her clear vision, keen senses and clean hope, and to recommit to her. Around us here in the Northern hemnispshere the little snowdrop is a symbol of that cold withstanding fire of life, as well as the fire in the hearth. In the Outer Hebrideans Imbolc (1st of February) was the day when the hearth was cleaned and for the one and only time in the year it had no fire in it so it could be freshly lit. Later traditions placed the candles instead of the heartfire as the centre of celebrations.

 
One ancient craft symbol, the woven reed cross, Bridghid's Cross, symbolising the balance and perfect movement of all things, also still remains a much loved staple of making and saning at this time of the year, Imbolc, or Oimelc, 'the first flow of ewe's milk'.

slow in catching up

 
To all our dear readers -
a very happy New Year to you all!
time has just flown this last half year - and also some dear 'old' members have flown away to new work and other countries, and the new members are still learning how to weave on the blog loom here, being very busy with getting down to woolocrafting first of all. You can see that also from the picture above, our new bothy cupboard - a very inviting sight to encourage the many Galgael visitors to stop and dream (and to buy maybe too :-)?), and the newcomers of our growing group to get hands on. You can always see more up to date updates on our famous picasa site
 http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael  

And soon there will be more catching-up-posts here about the happenings of the past months, such as the Christmas Fayre, - see here :

Home education input

 Laryna wrote: 

In November I enjoyed teaching a group of home educated kids and their mums about wool craft. We had 4 afternoons, 2 hours each.
At first they learned about and practised the processing of sheep's wool, and made lilttle gnomes and angels or fairies out of the carded wool. In the 2nd session the children tried spinning with a hand spindle and the spinning wheel, and they were using threads for finger knitting and crocheting. In the 3 rd session a simple weaving frame out of cardboard was made and then prepared for weaving a bracelet or bookmark with different coloured threads of wool.
Last but not least the children and mums enjoyed the amacing processes of felting with sheep's wool. They made balls or beads, and heat and other flat felted pieces using coloured wool. We had a very good and busy and  time the children and their mums experienced the unique creative advantages and possibilities sheep's wool is giving us.

For more pics look amongst the albums here and here

With ABREEF in Dunoon

Laryna writes:
This autumn I had the chance to bring wool craft to schoolchildren between 6 and 12 years in two different occasions.

At the end of September I went again to Dunoon, to the Hunters Quay Holiday park, where we had already been in August.  It was a 2 days ABREEF environmental fayre for schoolchildren in the Argyll and Bute area with many lovely stalls and ideas to introduce the kids into environmentally interesting activities and teach them about how to care more for their environment.

In periods of 25 min I was showing the different kinds of sheep’s wool, the processing of wool and the magical process of wet felting to each group of about 10 kids and their teachers.  Standing around a big round table the kids could touch and feel the natural, undyed wool and in the centre was standing a basket with wool for felting in all colours of the rainbow in their different shades. Girls and boys enjoyed making either felted beads for a key ring or necklace or a piece of flat felt.  We had two busy days with lots of kids around looking, asking and enjoying using their hands to make something beautiful and useful.  

for more pix look here

Full Clan Action: Portsoy, Riverfest, Hunters Quay

The video above lets you see not only the woolcrafters but the whole of the Galgael Clan in action at the Riverfest this year, plus some more of community action in Govan, such as Radio Govan. If the link above did not work -> click here is a video should give you a wee glimpse of some of all the above or go directly to Hammy's video: http://www.archive.org/details/MadeInGovan.

This year the Glasgow Riverfest saw again the usual or unusual sight of the Galgael Clan in full gear here at the banks of the Clyde. This year it was a particular fabulous time for the woolcraft group, great for team growth, for interaction with the public, teaching and demonstrating woolcraft (you will here about it all from Laryna soon!), and for attracting the precious gift of a spinning wheel. Plus we had Sgioba Luaidh doing the waulking song here, too!

Caught you, Alison! (Alison teaching spinning at the Riverfest)

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/Riverfest2009#

By the way, if you are interested to hear and see more the Galgael Clan, why they are in Govan, and so on - have a browse through the media files here . If you like, also check for more pictures on http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/urban.clansman and for videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/urbanclansman and http://www.youtube.com/user/woolcraftatgalgael as well as http://www.youtube.com/user/GalGael

Earlier in June: The sun was shining for the whole of the Galgael Clan gang going up to the Traditional Boat Festival in Portsoy. Lynsey, Sarah-Jane, and Naomi with Emma were representing the wool craft part of the clan,

and can be seen here amongst the larger picture of action: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/Portsoy#

To be able to have the seawind and sun blow and shine through you is such a gift!

Later, in August, the Clan went to an event at Hunters Quay, Dunoon, and you can see some it here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/urban.clansman/GalgaelAtHunterSQuayAugust2009# engaging with lots of public, too...: