Connect with the methods of the past at the 12th Annual Holiday Show and Sale from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at Grace M. Sparkes Activity Center (Prescott Armory), 824 E. Gurley Street, Prescott.

The Mountain Spinners and Weavers Guild and the Prescott Area Woodturners will offer a wide variety of exceptional artwork and gifts at this free event.

The fiber creations provided by the spinners and weavers will include wearable art of all kinds, fashion accessories, household décor, jewelry, basketry, children’s wear, pet items and handspun, hand-dyed yarns and fibers.

Meet the artists as the spinners and weavers demonstrate various aspects of the fiber arts.

Publicity Chair Diane Braun explained that spinning and weaving are pre-industrial ways of creating cloth.

“For spinning, you take raw fiber, whether it’s wool from sheep or cotton or silk, and using a spinning wheel, you actually spin it into yarn,” Braun said “For weaving, we have looms that we weave cloth. So the cloth can then be made into anywhere from scarves and purses, clothing, towels, rugs, stuffed animals, anything you want to make from cloth. So, we create the cloth itself.”

The annual Holiday Show and Sale is a rare opportunity for members of the Mountain Spinners and Weavers Guild to sell their items and let the public see what is involved in the process of creating the items.

“It’s primarily a sale of items made by members,” Braun said. “We also have demonstrations of spinning and weaving going on during the event so that people can see the spinning wheels and looms in action.”

The event also gives the Prescott Area Woodturners an opportunity to showcase their work. The woodturners will display beautifully crafted works in exotic woods including decorative boxes, turned bowls, vases, ornaments, carvings and sculptures.

“All 12 years that we’ve been doing this, we’ve partnered with the Prescott Area Woodturners,” Braun said. “They also will be there with many of the examples for sale of items that they’ve made, bowls, flutes, all sorts of amazing things.”

The event will feature a raffle for the chance to win handmade treasurers.

“The tickets are like a dollar or two each, and the baskets are usually worth about $150 to $200 with handmade items in them,” Braun said. “There are different themes for the raffle baskets. One might be babies, another might be kitchen items and another might be just a piece of clothing that’s been handwoven.”

According to Braun the real value of the items that weavers and spinners create is in the connection with the past.

“Until industrialization, fabric was considered incredibly valuable because it took so long to create it and so often it was passed down from generation to generation, whereas today we can go out and just buy whatever we want,” Braun said. “We have lost touch with a lot of the items that we use every day. We take them for granted, whether it’s the food that we can buy easily at the grocery store or the clothing we can just go out and buy wherever.”

For more information, visit mtnspinweave.org.

Jesse Bertel is a reporter/videographer for the Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter @ JesseBertel, email him at jbertel@prescottaz.com, or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2043.