Meeting Notes

The Machine Knitters of Pensacola, Florida met at Susan Spencer's house, with Ann Odom, Bob & Franki Roswold, Paige Petty, Karen Hughes, Dianne Bayless, Von deLoach, Barbara Meloy and Susan Spencer in attendance.

Barbara Meloy presented a wonderful program of dyeing for machine knitters. Everyone brought fabric that had been knitted up on our knitting machines to make the dyeing process easier. The fabrics were either cotton or wool, as acrylic doesn't dye well. Some, like Dianne, had knit wool sock yarn into a giant swatch. Others, like Ann, brought an entire cone of cotton knitted into several pieces to approximate the amount of yarn that will later be knitted into the front, back and sleeves of a sweater.

Barbara brought Cushing Dyes to use on the cotton. To use the Cushing Dyes, bring a very large pot of water almost to boiling. Add a double handful of kosher salt and the dye concentrate. If you measure the amount of dye concentrate before adding it, you'll be able to duplicate the color later. Some of us dyed the entire swatch one color, but others dip-dyed to created striped yarn. To create a solid color, just toss the fabric in the pot and stir until the water is clear. To creat the striped fabric, dip one end of the fabric into the dye-pot until the water runs clear; add another color of dye concentrate then dip the fabric in farther to make the next stripe. Continue until you've dyed the entire fabric. After you're satisfied with the color of your fabric, remove from the pot using heat-resistant rubber gloves, and rinse with cold water.

Wilton Cake Dyes is what Barbara brought to use on the wool. To use the Wilton Dyes, heat 1 part vinegar with 6 parts water and add dabs of dye until desired color is reached. Add the fabric and agitate until uniformly dyed. Wrap in plastic wrap and place on a microwaveable plate. Microwave on high for 2 minutes; turn over and microwave another 2 minutes. Unroll and let fabric cool completely, then rinse. If you change temperatures too quickly, the yarn will felt, so be careful. Use only wool - we used waste yarn at top and bottom of our fabric swatches, and when microwaved the acrylic will run and bleed the colors onto the wool.

We will have an addition meeting April 17 at Barbara's house to prepare the yarn for kntting our garments. The fabric should we washed and ready to be unwound.

Starting in May our meetings will be SECOND Saturdays instead of first. Also in May, the new Bond Club will start meeting at 1:00 after the big meeting. We'll be inviting the Bonders to come to our meetings when it would teach them something, and, of course, anyone is welcome to stay after the big meeting for the Bond Club.

May's meeting is May 12, 10:00 a.m. at the Milton Library. Everyone come prepared to demonstrate one technique for joining afghan strips together, or edging afghans!

HAPPY KNITTING!

Susan

Dip-Dyeing