Columbia Fibre Guild
Contact
Nancy R. Skakel, living in The Dalles, Oregon, has been involved with fiber arts for about 40 years. I am a retired (in theory) RN and currently work part time at our community Art Center. Raising Romney sheep, angora rabbits, and alpacas while working in the medical field all led to the lifelong question, “What do I do with all of this?” I tried weaving, which I enjoyed but sadly have no place for a loom at this point in my life. I taught myself to knit, which again I enjoy even though I know I will never be really good at it. Yarn was expensive and I had those sheep, so I learned to spin – absolutely mesmerizing. But then, one day, a friend introduced me to felting and I found my passion. Needle felting, wet felting, nuno – anything to turn fiber into objets d’art. I have added ecoprinting, natural dyeing, and some batik work to my list of things I do not have as much time as I wish I could spend doing, so I volunteered to take on producing the newsletter for ANWG. I am the past vice president and then president of the Columbia Fibres Guild here in the beautiful Columbia Gorge, and am now the ANWG representative for our guild.