Who we are
Our group was founded in the early 2000s to foster an educational environment. We welcome everyone, regardless of whether you’ve never seen a knitting needle or you’ve been weaving for 20+ years. We’re here to have fun, learn, and grow.
Our Members
Louise Smith
Louise has been working with fabric, yarn and fibre all her life. She joined a weaving guild in 1992, learned to spin and weave and then continued doing the Guild of Canadian Weavers Tests.
She has now completed the Basic, Intermediate and the Senior levels of tests and is working on the Master level. These are self study courses and Louise has studied under many master weavers, and attended many workshops.
In 2010 the Guild of Canadian Weavers chose a tartan that Louise had designed to become their official tartan. Louise teaches some courses when time allows. When a certain colour is desired she can dye fibres and yarns.
She enjoys working with clients to create individual functional art such as table runners, tea towels, rugs, blankets and wearable art such as coats, ruanas and yardage for sewing.
Louise attends a select number of shows and sales through the year.
Her weaving has been sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and internationally in Australia, Costa Rica, England, Norway, Scotland and Switzerland.
Annelle Bradley
Annelle is a lifelong artist who has recently dived headfirst into the world of fibre arts. Traditionally trained in fine art and illustration, Annelle always enjoyed the physical creativity of textiles. She has knit and crocheted for many years, and adores her day-job at a yarn store.
Upon recieving a hand-woven tea towel as a wedding gift, she promptly decided to buy a second hand floor loom and learn how to weave. While she waited for some repair parts to arrive for her loom, Annelle took a spinning lesson with the Monashee Spinners and Weavers, and the rest is history.
Annelle loves to play with colour. The optical illusion of ‘mixing’ colour when spinning, figuring out dye-to-fibre ratios for the perfect shade of warm-toned purple, and balancing warp-and-weft contrasts for the perfect pink plaid is the most exciting part of her day. You’ll often find Annelle staring at her sample board, holding up card after card in different lighting to make sure the vibes are just right.
She looks forward to continuing her education in textiles, aiming to start both the Master Hand Knitting and the CGW Master Weaver programs in the next few years.
Joyce Caines
My grandmother lived on the Atlantic coast and she made all of the socks, toques and long underwear that my grandfather and uncles wore out to sea where they fished for a living.
She did this with the yarn from the sheep she grew, thus taking fleece or roving through the entire process of sheering, scouring, combing, spinning and knitting it. This was a labour-intensive process that demanded heavy physical work, skill, ingenuity ans creativity.
In 2020 when the whole world stopped, I picked up a pair of knitting needles and taught myself how to knit. Unemployed and living with a few strangers in an old house in Vernon, BC I took up knitting and over time it has grown into something much more in my life. Thanks to a welcoming community with the Spinning & weaving groups in the Okanagan Valley I’m creating with fibre and constantly learning new skills and techniques with the all the other women.
Through my efforts today of processing and creating with fibre I honor the legacy of my grandparents - both on my mothers’ and father’ side.
Judith Glibbery
Judith has been an active B.C. spinner and weaver with extensive experience in teaching spinning and enthusiastically promoting sheep and wool to hand spinners for over 40 years. One of her favourite passions is exploring different breeds of sheep and spinning their raw fleece.
In the past, Judith has been an active purebred sheep breeder and advocate for the Canadian sheep and wool industry both on a provincial and federal level.
She is most proud of heading and organizing a project with the BC Purebred Sheep Breeders (2004-2007) to genotype 3,000 purebred BC sheep to determine their resistance to scrapie. Depending on the flock's results, advice was given to each farmer on how best to raise their flock's resistance.
She has been a frequent fleece judge and lecturer at many fleece shows, sheep breeder associations and agricultural fairs throughout BC.
Her spinning and weaving has been exhibited in venues throughout the province and she is still an active member in several guilds.
She is retired now and the sheep are gone, but she remains surrounded with wool and never tires of it.
Contact us
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