The third Sock Club mailing is complete. 'Marine' is on its way! Be sure to sign up for the January Club . The first yarn will be in the mail on January 15, 2011. This is a great stocking stuffer!

Gail Callahan Announces

Kangaroo Dyer Basic Workshop
January 22-23 2011: 9-3
278 Main Street Suite 307
Greenfield, Mass 01301

Course Content

Fibers
What to expect from Protein fibers.

The elements that affect dye color.
Preparing Fiber for Dyeing

Skeining

Scouring

Soaking

Dyes

Safety

Types

Mixing

Stock Solution

Storing Dyes
Color

Study the color grid and discuss the components of successful composition.

Mixing colors using the pure primaries: red, yellow and blue.
Tuition
$200 - $50 is required at registration and is non-refundable. Materials list will be supplied as well as homework requirements. All details will be available mid December 2010 by contacting me at kangaroodyer@comcast.net.

Sock Club

I have opened up the sign ups for the January 2011 Sock club today because of popular demand. In my defense, I can categorically state that at least I waited till after Thanksgiving to become enmeshed in the Holiday Frenzy! I will not, however, let Black Friday spoil my view of what Thanksgiving and the upcoming Christmas Season means and I shall continue to practice random acts of kindness and delight in the responses of my fellow travellers in this realm we occupy.
I hope yesterday brought you all a sense of comfort and thanksgiving for the many blessings afforded each of us. Whether you celebrated quietly or in a large gathering, I hope you found the tranquility and inner peace that you needed.
The best is yet to come......
Best, Gail

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!! I hope you all have time for yourselves to think about all the wonderful blessings you've received this past year and in your own way to give thanks for them. For anyone who thinks it wasn't such a great year - remember you can always be thankful that things weren't worse.

WOW !!!

I received a link to Amazon’s “Best Books of 2010: Crafts:” http://tinyurl.com/3xrbw93 I was delighted to learn that my book Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece was selected third in Best of Books of 2010: Crafts Top 10 by the editors of Amazon. You can read their comments and see the other recipients by following the link. None of this would have happened if my editor Gwen Steege had not encouraged me to write about Dyeing and Storey Publishing hadn’t provided me with an excellent support group including photographer John Polak, art director Mary Velgos and photo stylist Lisa Newman. Thanks also go the contributors and friends at Webs, America’s Yarn Store.

RANDOM MUSINGS

In order to make my Silk Yardage more available, I have priced it per yard for the individual who wishes to make smaller pieces or accessories. Multi-yard orders will have a 20% discount returned to them through PayPal.

This past year, I introduced two new yarn lines to provide you with a greater fiber choice – Poet Seat Yarns and New England Yarns. The Poet Seat Yarn Line started with a 50/50 blend of Superwash Merino and Silk, then 75/25 Superwash Merino and Nylon, and added a DK weight 50/50 and most recently Superwash Merino, Cashmere and Nylon (80/10/10) and finally Baby Alpaca, Silk and Cashmere (70/20/10). The New England Yarns are my entry into the heavier weight fibers – BFL/Alpaca 50/50 and 100% BFL. Your response to these entries has been very gratifying.

I will continue with the other fibers as they become available in a reliable fashion and I hope to experiment with plant fibers as time allows.

I am always interested in hearing about your ideas for colorways, combinations, names and what inspired them. That helps to keep me from getting into a color rut! What's your FANCY!

Gail

Hand Dyeing Silks

Hand dyeing is not just for yarn and fleece, despite the fact that is the name of my book. If you have any protein fiber, one which comes from animals, you can dye it with the formulas in my book Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece. I have been dyeing silk yardage for several years.

One of my silks was featured last summer in Elle Décor Magazine, and we received orders for silk yardage to be used for dress making. Many people use this yardage for a type of felting called Nuno felt. If you look at Chris White’s web site, New England Felting Supply, (http://www.feltingsupply.com/) you can see samples of this technique and listings of her classes.

If you are interested in learning how to dye silk, check out the Webs (http://www.yarn.com/) listing for my upcoming class in Northampton, Mass. I will also be offering a class at a location here in Greenfield, Mass. after the first of the year. I will keep you posted once the details are finalized.

One of my customers, Heather, purchased silk for a class she took using this felting technique. She sent along some pictures of her results (see below). I like the outcome so much, maybe I should ask her to return the silks??