Dyeing Demonstration
Jackie hosted the fourth Tuesday Alternate Lapwork night on 23 June 2009. Glenda brought materials for several yellow dye pots: fresh picked Queen Anne's lace, osage orange wood dust, and tansy.
The fiber (white wool in the lock, white wool roving and grey wool roving) was pre-mordanted with cream of tartar and pickling alum before being added to the dye pots.
The pots used ranged from enameled, aluminum and cast iron and were heated by an outdoor fire. The type of pot can influence the results, for instance the cast iron pot will act as an iron mordant and darken the wool.The dyeing finished after dark so we will have to wait to see the colors produced later.*******************************
Photos of the dyeing results, finally! We are really grateful to Glenda, who shared her expertise with natural dyeing with us last month. The fiber stayed in the dye pots all night, and were taken out to air dry the next day. The Border Leicester roving (I think that's the breed) is from Glenda's own sheep. The colors in the photos are fairly true to actual, except that the osage orange and tansy show a bit pale in the photos. They are actually a little more vibrant. I like them. The Corriedale fleece has sticky tips, which come off when I process. I don't expect they will affect the color in the spinnning/knitting. I couldn't resist including the cat - a real "neb-nose" (Pennsylvania talk!)Jackie
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Knit night at Jane's 1 July 2009Jane shared her experience in knitting a well-fit sock. To get good fit, measure the foot in question 1) around the ball of the foot (where toes start), 2) length of the foot heel to toe, 3) ankle and 4) around instep and heel. The general recommendation is for socks to have about 10-20% negative ease, i.e. smaller than actual size of the foot being fitted. Then make a gauge swatch, which usually involves starting to knit the sock pattern, far enough along to get measurements which can be compared to the actual foot measurements, then adjust needle size or stitch count (if the pattern allows) as needed. Multiply your gauge by foot measurements to check fit. Ask questions on the list for more information!
11 July book club had a discussion of dyeing books. The featured pre-ordered and discounted book was R. Buchanan, A Dyer's Garden.
11 July Second Saturday afternoon meeting was hosted by Lynn in New Hill. Thank you for hosting!
Third Thursday Guild meeting
There were 20 in attendance at the 16 July 2009 meeting held at the NCSU Crafts Center.
A business meeting was led by Jane. Nominations are needed for officers to run the guild in 2010. Elections will be held at the December Swap. Currently Jane is president, Elaina is volunteer treasurer, Judy is volunteer vice president, Emily is librarian, Jame is volunteer recording secretary, and Jackie is book club president. Emily will be stepping down, as will Jane.
Special Presentation
Elaina gave a special presentation about Jacob sheep and brought in fleeces and samples from Gary's flock. The breed is unimproved and is ranked critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Featured Projects
Mel's sweater was nominated by all present to be the featured project of the evening. It is her own design using yarn from Sanguine Gryphon
