A bit of a chaotic meeting last night!

Technical difficulties caused some havoc at our meeting last night but we ultimately prevailed. Getting connected to the school's WiFi was essential to our self-taught workshop but that was not so easily accomplished. After half an hour and numerous trips conferring with teacher Mr. Watt in the computer lab, that difficulty was overcome. 

We had the meeting while munching on bread, apples and cheese, and sipping hot cocoa, Kris with one hand in a tub of warm water holding down the wheat that needed to be soaked for 30 minutes before weaving. 

It was so good to see Nori and Jim at the meeting, and getting caught up with them was so enjoyable that the technical difficulties were overlooked (I hope!). 

Officers were elected and a signup sheet for the holiday potluck was circulated. 

Then we set to teaching ourselves the fine art of wheat weaving. After viewing the YouTube videos, we realized it would have been wiser to trim the stems of leaves before soaking them. It would have made the soaking part easier too!! 

The wheat was of two varieties, ND wheat and black bearded durum. We picked a simple project called a love knot. According to the video, these were made in Sweden by young men wanting to court a young woman. If she accepted his love knot and wore it on her belt, they were officially courting. 

This project involved only three stems and about 8 or so inches of braiding. Still, it was not so easy to get a nice even braid. We had hoped to work on some other projects as well but time ran out. 

Extra wheat stems were distributed among members for arrangements and perhaps more attempts at weaving.

We ordered our wheat from Black Beards in North Dakota. They specialize in growing wheat for weaving and for dried floral arranging.