Doreen Jeffers on the addition of spinning to KHWS.

Doreen Jeffers on the addition of spinning to KHWS.

Shaelagh Cull

Doreen Jeffers

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Well, after 1970, we added the spinning to the Guild. Ted Carson, he lived in Streetsville and he taught Sylvia Currie how to weave and she came back to Kingston and joined the Guild again with a spinning wheel. So when we said we would like would be interested in learning to weave, she got Ted to come. Well, he came for a week, but he went home during the middle of it. He brought wheels. Some of us knew how to spin, some of us didn't. So we buddy systemed, one would spin, and one would turn the wheel, and then vice versa. So we learned to spin that way. And then we brought the wheels home for a couple of days, and had them there. And we rented wheels, so that people could go home and, and use it on a continuous basis for a while until they got their own wheel and they could try different wheels, which was good because nobody knew exactly what wheel they wanted. And if they had a choice they could try, that would help them. And also, whatever one was available because not many wheels were available at the beginning. There weren't too many to buy. So now there are more, even more with people getting older and wanting to trade their wheels in. But we learned how to spin and then after that, Ted went home and took his wheels with him. So I was a long time getting a wheel, but I finally got one. And we used to meet once a month at people's homes, to keep in touch to make sure we were doing the right thing. We could communicate with each other. We could discuss what we were doing. And that's how the monthly meetings at spinning started. Not through the Guild, by any means, but just through us. And now they do it through the Guild.