Just returned from the GRAMKC Spring Workshop, as usual it was awesome and inspiring day with Sandee Cheree and Charlene Schafer.   I could only do one day this year because tomorrow I am demonstrating spinning wool into yarn at Wolcott Mill Metropark.  I'm staying up late packing the car.  I got some new shelving units that hopefully make a nice display, and I'm printing labels for the yarn cones I had spun.  Hopefully it will be a tempting display!

It was a challenging morning.  I drove through Flint, Michigan on the way to Grand Rapids and found that I-69 was closed due to flooding- because they had 6 inches of rain last night.  I spent an hour and a half driving around Flint trying to find a way to get back on the highway that wasn't flooded in a low-lying area.  I was disappointed to miss half the morning class.  I feel so sorry for those Flint people, I passed what looked like a lot of flooded basements.

 I've got a little bit of a head cold and my voice is a little rough.  I discovered  this YouTube video  on sock blank dyeing, and thought it might be a good way to save my voice tomorrow, so I asked for electricity for the laptop.  Unfortunately. I  just now realized that I don't have a good way to save a YouTube video to my PC, so if wireless connection to the internet is not available, I won't be able to play it anyway.  Too late to call and check tonight!

GRAMKC Spring Workshop

I received my signup sheet for the Spring Workshop from Grand Rapids Area Machine Knitter's club.  Sandee Cherry and Charlene Shafer will be demonstrating at the two-day session on Friday and Saturday May 4-5 in Byron Center, MI. Note the new location this year, at First Reformed Church.

 If you are interested contact sarasyarn1-at-charter.net. 

Dotee dolls

I'm participating in a Dotee doll exchange on Mary Jane's Farm.  I'd never heard of Store dolls before.  It seems they were created originally by a woman named Dot Christian.  The doll body and head is from 3-5 inches long, it has a "tail", usually made of beads, and is usually made of beads.  There is a ribbon loop sewn into the top for hanging.  Usually the face is blanket-stitch appliqued to the body. The face can be drawn, painted, embroidered, or printed.   The key to success for this doll is embellishment.   You can see a whole slideshow of dolls at Flickr in the Dotee  dolls group, or google For Dotee  doll images.  

 Embroidering the doll's  face was something that I could do on my embroidery machine.  I've been wanting to learn how to use the PE-Design software for a while to do something other than import and change existing designs.

After only about 6 hours, I have figured out the software and created several in-the-hoop designs for Dotee dolls.  They require some refinement, since I need to change the order of sewing.

Moving my laptop closer to the sewing machine might also help, I really got a workout yesterday going up and down the stairs... But at the same time, I am also converting my cassette tape collection to MP3s, and the stereo is downstairs.

I've made a few cloth bodies for the dolls, but I also want to do some knitted dolls. Maybe make the tails out of I-cord.  I'll post photos here when done.

GRAMKC Spring 2011

I was delighted to try on Diana Berns "Flared Jacket" at GRAMKC Spring Seminar and found that it absolutely fit me. I bought the pattern right away. It is a yoked garment with saddle sleeves and side panels. so definitely will fit on my machine. It calls for Diamante yarn. She demonstrated her technique for making a ribbed finish that doesn't pull in, and doesn't roll, but simply lays flat, giving a very elegant, smooth look to the garment. Eileen Montgomery demonstrated a number of techniques. The number of stitch patterns you can obtain using all the machine's capabilities and the #1 (birdseye) card is amazing. She showed us two-color tuck, slip, fairaisle, weaving, elongation, double-width, and so on. There must have been 100 different samples, and none of them involved using a ribber. Everyone was fascinated by the "tea cozy" stitch, which involved slipping 4 rows then knitting 2 rows. I was sad because I only had one day to spend with these two ladies.

Dyeing

I was trying for pink, so dug up a bunch of dandelion roots, washed them, ground them up in the food processor, steeped them in simmering water (very pleasant aroma), mordanted the yarn with alum, then dyed the yarn on the bottom with the strained dandelion root tea. Although the resulting color is quite lovely, it is more of a cocoa brown than a pink.

Since I was disappointed by the dandelion roots , I took some Earth Guild dyes off the shelf and mixed teal and yellow, and actually got the lovely spring green in the middle. I did five skeins in this color

Last weekend I tried the dandelion flowers. First I picked about a quarter-bushel of flowers, then boiled them (smelly house resulted) and strained off the cooked flowers. Again, I mordanted a skein of yarn in alum, but this time I left the alum in the dye pot. It was a horrible shade of baby-poop brown after cooking for an hour. I was really bummed. I poured off the liqid and was miserable for a minute or two. But, miracle of miracles, I was inspired to add a cup of ammonia at the end as a post-mordant. Like magic, the brown went away, and left a beautiful dandelion yellow. Rinsed the yarn and happy again!

More yarn than I can use!

Through my daughter's coaching, I was able to pick up 10 unwashed fleeces for free from Craigslist. I took them to Zeilinger's for processing, and after several months, they have been turned into yarn! Half is double knitting weight and the other half is sock yarn weight.

Next step is to dye some of the wool - I'll have to skein it before dyeing, kind of defeats the purpose of having it put on cones, but oh well.

I have some acid dyes on my shelf, but maybe I'll do some natural dyeing as well. I understand dandelion root makes a lovely pink.

Knitting for health

We have moved to Michigan! In all the stress of new job, packing, unpacking, etc. I have not had much time to knit. But I am reminded by this news clip that I should take the time.

http://www.anniesattic.com/video.html