Ladies in Blue

Even grownups, grandmotherlys type all, love to play in water and play with colour.   The Calgary Guild of mudpie makers got together for a dye day.  It's more fun than mudpies.

The blue gloves are specially for dyeing, they are quite heat resistant.  I've fished a skein out of boiling water,  very, very quickly.

The blue fibre is mine, and the lady sharing the table was dyeing sock yarn.  She got a lovely grey pink.

Purple dye over blue, using the pour and puddle method.

Not bad results, thanks to Ruth B. expert help.

Thursday morning at my guild

 I am a member of a great group the Heritage Weavers and Spinners of Calgary despite the fact that I don't weave, I do spin and dye, as well as knit.  I am also a very, very lucky spinner.

This morning I was the only spinner and a good thing too, at our informal thursday drop in.  A woman donated  6 huge bags of fibre to the guild.

Here it is on the table and the bookcases, I helped carry it in and unpack it.

The Guild has a tradition of members dropping off stuff they won't use, it gets sold to any member who wants it, on an honor system, somewhere in that picture is a battered can with a coin slot in the top.

Being the only spinner and the unpacker I got first dibs.  This is what I hauled home and my vehicle of choice.

I put in a fair donation though not what it's worth retail,  some of it I might end up giving back, some of it I will share with other spinners,  some of it will be it my stash when I die, I have stash beyond life expectance. And I intend to live a long time.


This RED and the picture doesn't do the redness justice must be about 10 lbs, I don't have a scale that works for that much.  It's going to thrums for mittens. Well, not all of it.

This is 5 lbs 10 ozs of Romney.  The donor left just about everything in the original bags which is good idea, it's much easier to use something when you know what it is.

Lastly this is alpacha.

I feel a bit guilty about this, other guild members urged me to take what I wanted and pay what I could,  and there is still a lot there, though more suitable for felting than spinning.

There are a lot of advantages to guild membership, being part of group of people who understand and the occasional lucky day.

Courageous Crocheters Resources

Books at Calgary Public Library

Ultimate crochet bible : a complete reference with step-by-step techniques

Crowfoot, Jane.

746. 434 CRO

  Crochet : 25 projects for the new stitcher 1st ed.

Meldrum, Carol.

746. 434 MEL

 

     Unexpected crochet for the home : [23 unique designs]

Maikon, Lena.

746. 434 MAI

 Crochet master class : lessons and projects from today's top crocheters

Leinhauser, Jean

746. 434 LEI

Easy to crochet potholders : [over 25 patterns for everyday use, handmade gifts and holiday fun]

Dobiasch, Cornelia.

746. 434 DOB

  The complete photo guide to crochet

Hubert, Margaret.

746. 434 HUB 

Despite how they look the book titles are not hot links, go to the library catalogue and search by title

Good Websites

www.craftyarncouncil.com/  a non-profit organization of big yarn company’s trying to encourage yarn crafts, good tutorials

www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/  good tutorials and free patterns

 And one Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKK7KICyGw

Calgary resources

www.chinooklearningservices.com  has crochet classes

Fibre Week: Short Courses in Fibre Technology: Continuing Education: Olds College

Summer camp for grownups, varied courses in most of the fibre arts

Buying Supplies

ramwools.com/  they do have crochet hooks but not yet on the web site, phone them to order, say hello to Lori for me, great yarns and service based in Winnipeg

www.elann.com wonderful site for vast number of yarns including great bargains, their crochet hooks are expensive though, based in Vancouver

www.customwoolenmills.com north and west of Calgary, lovely yarn in 30 + colours from western Canadian sheep, no crochet hooks, say hello to Fenn for me

There are 4 or 5 yarn stores in Calgary and the Big M box. 

Social Web sites

www.ravelry.com anyone who spins, knits, crochets etc. should join. My Rav user name is janientrelac

http://www.stashlounge.com/Home is a new idea in Calgary.  They might have crochet classes

AND Me blogging at   janientrelac.blogspot.com/  where this handout is April blog.  All the hotlinks are easier to use from my blog and I will be adding stuff.

Teaching yourself to knit part 2

I know of a wonderful website to teach absolute beginners how to use a computer mouse, but if you don't know anything about the internet how would you find it?

There are many, many sites that can teach you to knit, but if you don't know the right words, how do you find them.  And judge how good they are?

Knitting help is the best site I have seen, basics to advanced,  written guides, pictures and video, so it suits different learning styles.

Knit picks also has wonderful tutorials.

All of the knitting stores in Calgary are offering classes, and so is Calgary Board of education.

One of the most interesting places to take a class is Olds, I am teaching there this summer.  It's a summer camp for grownups.

Then there are videos to inspire, world's fastest knitter , the world's biggest and the world oddest.

Teaching Yourself to Knit, You can do it

I am a librarian so I always start with books.  People learn in many different ways so books might not work for you, say "that's not my learning style" and try something else.  Videos will be on the next blog.

Don't run out and buy these books, though they are worth owning, borrow them from the library first and find out if the author's voice and the pictures, drawing etc  work for you.  Some knitters love anything by a certain writer, and some knitters are repelled.

Start with Sally Melvile not just a great knitter but a great teacher.  The Knitting Experience is a three book series that takes a beginner from the knit stitch, adds the purl and then colour work. Like all XRX books they are very well illustrated, have the best drawings of instructions and good glossary/ abbreviations and have good photographs.  I think calling your web site the knitting universe is a bit pompous however, the publisher not Sally.

Next try Priscilla A Gibson Roberts, Knitting in the Old Way is one of the most interesting and empowering books about knitting, everything from Andean hats to putting in zippers.  Not just one way to knit but 3 and then the combinations, yarn, needles, how to decide how much yarn will be needed for a garment.  Roberts doesn't spell out individual patterns, she teaches you how to design your own.   If you could only have one book this would be the one. It's only lack is photos, there are very clear and useful drawings but no colour.

Last but not at all least, EZ whose books I have worn out, given away, read and reread, the first sweaters I ever knit were from the Knitting Workshop, my favorite socks are from Knitter's Almanac.  Zimmermann gives her patterns in two versions, one written to use to design your own version and Pithy Directions for blind followers.  She has a very individual voice, writes about her husband and her cats, gives all kinds of useful advice, reading her books is like sitting with her and knitting.

These are Moccasin socks, I modified the pattern quite a bit.

They should have stuck with Cookbooks

 

Learn to Knit Socks and Learn to Knit in the Round

By Company's Coming

These two books are just not good enough.  They look fairly nice, bright covers, wire bound which works for home use if not for a public library, the project photo's are Okay, the patterns are well written but uninspiring. There are much better books available.

There is no personality or passion for the craft present, they read like they were written by a computer or a committee, there are designer names with each pattern but all the writing is the same, bland.

The sock book has only two types, top down very standard and toe up, and two working methods, double pointed and one sock at a time on magic loop.  The illustrations of how to do these methods are mediocre.  A particular irritation is the positioning of the fingers, in one drawing page 22 the yarn is held continental style in the left hand, a page later on the same sock the yarn is poised to knit in the English way.

Knitting in the round has what might have been a good lesson plan for beginners but the drawing are inadequate, they show mostly the  needles and yarn but not the hands working. What does show is probably English style but there is no mention of there being two or more styles.  Curiously they cover magic loop in the sock book but not in the knitting in the round book.

Either book give information about different types of needles, how can a book about knitting in the round not mention interchangeable needles?

Pull them off the shelf at your local library if you see them but don't waste energy taking them home,  there are much better books.

Happy Dance in the October Leaves

 

I am delighted to say that I am teaching at Olds Fibre Week, the summer camp for grownups, a 8 day long celebration of all things fibre.  Rock bottom beginners can take my one day course on Friday June 24, here's the description that will be in their brochure and on the website, which will be out in January sometime, with registration probably starting early in March.

Learn to knit, cast on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, casting off, creating flat material and knitting  in the round, using the Continental or pic method with circular needles.  For spinners who need to use their yarn, for weavers who want to create with a tool smaller and more portable than a loom.  Make simple fingerless gloves.

It will be similar to the class I have taught at the Calgary Public Library but longer and more intensive,  7 hours instead of 5 1/2  but one day rather than 3 evenings, more time to learn and less time to practise.  It would be good for people who already knit using the English or throw method too.

On Saturday and Sunday I will explicate Entrelac, here's the 50 words or less description.

Entrelac

Entrelac is a mysterious method that creates texture and colour but once you understand it is both easy to do and leads to designing your own patterns.  As a bonus, and because it makes Entrelac easier you will learn to knit backwards and use the tentative cast on.  The class will be making a small bag.

Olds is an agricultural college, in the small town of Olds (surprise, surprise) Fibre Week  is when the gardens are at their best.  Participants can stay quite cheaply in the student accommodation, book early for a townhouse, or at hotels.  For just one day you could drive from Calgary and back, but you'd miss a lot of activities.