St. Michael's Spinning Guild, Carpe Ovis (Seize the Sheep)

One Saturday, a group of interested lady-parishioners came to a Spinning & Weaving Demonstration given by the Bennett Family, one of the many talented & wonderful families at St. Michael’s.  That memorable day was “spun” with fun, learning, and many intriguing displays (of spinning and weaving, of course!) including sheep shearing and many home-made articles (“which”, we were told, “we could be able to make someday…”)!  By the end of the demonstration, everyone was ready to start St. Michael’s own Spinning and Weaving Guild.  We did.  On every first Saturday of each month we meet to practice spinning and to learn something new, i.e., one day we learned to dye wool and another day we learned about flax (the plant from which we get linen).
            Once we organized ourselves and selected officers, we decided on the name Carpe Ovis (meaning Seize the Sheep) for our Guild.  As we progress in spinning – and soon weaving – we hope to do several things with our new talents. First, we hope to take a team to compete in the Sheep-to-Shawl competition at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show. Second, we hope to learn to spin and weave beautiful altar cloths for our parish.
 

Matt helps a "lady" with her coat. 

Mrs. Bennett has the ladies' complete attention (no, they are not hypnotized by the spinning wheel!!).

A sampling of the Bennett's fab-ewe-lous handiwork!

The ladies of the parish try their hands at weaving.

Some of the fashionable Guild members of Carpe Ovis.