May Meeting Announcement | The Picnic is Back!

The Annual Guild Picnic is back!

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Date: May 13, 2023

Time: 11am

Location: Maria’s Farm in Leeds, 436 Foster Road, Leeds, (formally Pia’s Farm). Head east on Hwy-280 and turn left onto Hwy-119. Foster Road is about 15 minutes down 119 on the right. There will be a marker on the fence for the long driveway for Maria’s farm, it is the second dirt road down Foster Road. Maria’s house is the first house, the tan one story lovely farmhouse. Park to the left of the house. 

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We had a guild picnic last year at the Oak Mountain State Park and it was wonderful to see everyone, but it was a bit different that pre-Covid guild picnics. This year we will take another step toward our traditional picnic. We’ll be back at Pia’s farm in Leeds, although now it is Maria’s farm. Maria is Pia’s daughter and it is really kind of her to invite us back.

Bring a chair, something to work on, and something for Show and Tell. Bring anything you want to eat and drink. If you run out of time to prepare something, you can always drive through someplace on 280. We’re trying to make this an easy and relaxing day for everyone. The farm is a beautiful peaceful place to sit and knit while chatting with friends. The backyard is shady, but you might want to bring a hat or sunscreen.

In addition to visiting and discussing our work with friends, Yvonne is preparing solar dyeing kits for us to take home. This will be an opportunity to try this interesting dyeing technique using natural dyes quietly and at your own pace at home. We can discuss and help each other online, and post our results. We believe that there will be enough kits for every member attending the picnic, but it will be a first come, first served sort of thing. 

Save the date!

June 10, World Wide Knit In Public Day. The guild will join Shannon at the Hoover Public Library.

Non-Conventional Dyeing You Can Try at Home

Non-conventional Dyes Techniques

Yarn dyeing is a fun and creative way to add color and personality to your knitting and crochet projects. And the best part is, you can use stuff you may already have in the house to do it!

Here are a few ideas for non-conventional yarn dyes:

Ketchup Dye

Ketchup Dye will produce a warm-brown to magenta-colored dye. The cheaper brands tend to add more vinegar to help the taste but also acts as a wonder mordant for protein yarns.

1. Boil some water in a pot.
2. Add a few tablespoons of ketchup to the water.
3. Stir until the ketchup is dissolved.
4. Add your yarn to the pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. Rinse the yarn with cold water and let it dry.

Mustard Dye

Mustard produces a yellow dye. Shocker, right? It can range anywhere from a pale yellow to the bright, almost BigBird-esque color you wish hadn't set into that Fraggle Rock t-shirt when you were in third grade. I am still a little salty about that. I digress...

1. Boil some water in a pot.
2. Add a few tablespoons of mustard to the water.
3. Stir until the mustard is dissolved.
4. Add your yarn to the pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. Rinse the yarn with cold water and let it dry.

Toothpaste Dye

1. Mix together equal parts (gel-type) toothpaste and water in a dye pot.
2. Add your yarn to the mixture and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
3. Rinse the yarn with cold water and let it dry.

Here are a few tips for dyeing:

• Use a mordant to help the dye adhere to the yarn. A mordant is a substance that helps to fix the dye to the yarn. You can use commercial mordants, or you can use natural mordants like alum or vinegar.
• Use a dye pot that is large enough to accommodate the amount of yarn you are dyeing.
• Wear gloves and eye protection when dyeing yarn.
• Work in a well-ventilated area.
• Rinse the yarn thoroughly after dyeing.
• Let the yarn dry completely before using it.
• Don't take this post too seriously. 

If you get some dye on your clothes, say your pants, be sure to wash them thoroughly. Ring as dry as you can get them and then pull the leg. Pull that leg very hard... kinda like I am pulling yours right now.

Also, your shoe is untied. #aprilfools

 

April Meeting Announcement | FARM DAY at the Birmingham Zoo!

 

April Meeting Announcement 

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Date: APRIL 15, 2023
Time: 10am - 2PM (Yes, four hours of fiber fun!)
Location: In person at THE BIRMINGHAM ZOO 

March Meeting Announcement | Who Are You? Who? Who?

We Really Wanna know...

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Date: March 11, 2023
Time: 10am
Location: In person at the Hoover Church of Christ and online on Zoom (see below)

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We are getting back into the swing of things and meeting more in person these days! (Hopefully these will remain permanent) We are going to be making name tags for ourselves during this meeting. It could be embroidered, knitted, or woven. The only limit is your imagination and the law. ...Maybe physicality because it is hard to make a nametag out of a cinderblock, but this is not that kind of guild.

Possible supplies you will need are open! Things like:

• sewing needles
• thread
• felt
• aida cloth, monks cloth, burlap, (something to which your name would be afixed.)
• glue
• yarn
• those little appliqué butterflies patches you bought from that little yarn shop in Tennessee 10 years ago
• a can-do attitude
• scissors
• a name
• a cinderblock

Note: this is NOT an exact supply list.

Just bring something within your skill set that would make a fiber-based name tag. If you are a little short of supplies and/or equiptment come join us anyway. We'll figure it out with you. If you have extra of something that might be helpful to others please bring it whatever you think might be helpful.

Meeting access for those that cannot attend will be the old 2022 Zoom Room: Check your email for details.

As always, our Zoom Room is open 24/7 for any member to practice using it. This is a subscription service provided by the guild for the use of its members for guild activity. Guild meetings and groups will take precedence over individual use. Please do not share the meeting and passcode numbers with non-members for the safety of all members.

Did You Catch that Game?

 The conversation usually goes like this:

"Hey, did you catch that game Saturday?"

"Probably didn't."

"Oh, you're not a <insert the name college football team here> fan?"

Humor has always been my go-to defense mechanism so I follow with, "Yeah, I really don't discuss religion."  

As a big burly white guy from Birmingham, people tend to look at me sideways when I tell them that if every football game on the planet disappeared tomorrow, I would likely not notice.  I realize this isn't the "norm". People REALLY look at me sideways when I tell them I am a fiber artist. 

"Wait, you knit instead of watching football?" This always cracks me up as if the opposite of football is knitting. A recent opinion post was published in the NYT times. It references former First Lady Michelle Obama's Instagram post featuring her fiber art. People find that really strange too as if the opposite of being a successful black woman is being a fiber artist. 

Check it out here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/opinion/sunday/knitting-fabric-michelle-obama.html

But, yeah, it's true, I would rather knit my own eyelashes together than watch a football game. It doesn't interest me. It would be the same as me talking about the joys of warping a loom with a crocheter and watching them glaze over just as quick as a football fan would.

On the flip side of this entire thing, I put off joining the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild for much of the same reason. I don't fit the norm in the group. What if some of the group are opposed to guys joining? What if they think I am a football fan and they are actively avoiding the football fans in their life for a few hours every second Saturday? (Totally kidding here.) 

I followed the Guild's social media channels and was blown away by the artists here. (I still am.) I felt like I would do nothing but tax everyone with my amateur questions. I did not feel like I had a place here because of my level of experience and my gender.  What if I am completely rejected in the one place where I feel like I shouldn't belong?

But I do love fiber arts. Yall... I am not even kidding. I LOVE it. I've bought skeins of yarn just because I like the colors -- Some skeins, I just want to pet. I don't want to make anything with them. Just wanna pet 'em. I could walk into the guild meeting tomorrow and almost everyone there would chuckle out of recognition of that statement. I am fascinated by the way things are made. I have marveled over Shetland knitters that could walk and throw nearly 100 stitches a minute. Weaving was such a part of ancient Egypt that looms and shuttles are found in hieroglyphics. There is magic in finding materials grown from the earth and the animals that live on it and turning them into something that will keep me safe from the elements. It is that love that brought me to this group. It should bring you to this group if it hasn't already. The people that have been here for years are like living libraries. 

That love for fiber was really all I needed to join.  My fears were unfounded because there isn't a norm for fiber artists. Not really. We are all as different as the medium with which we work. I promise this isn't one of those "we are more alike than different posts", but if you are reading this and you are concerned about how you will be received. Stop. Take a deep breath, and come see us. I will tell you we are ALL hopelessly incurable fiber nerds and you being there gives us validity that we are not alone in our love for making pretty things. 

All are welcome here. Roll Tide. 

Have a Little Heart | February Meeting

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Date: February 11, 2023
Time: 10am
Location: In person at the Hoover Church of Christ and online on Zoom (see below)

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What is the best pattern for knitting? The kind when there is no pattern at all; well almost.  Check your email for the actual pattern! Come join us this Saturday to knit a little heart.  

Supplies you will need:

• Yarn of your choice (Should be easy to find for this) 
• Circular needles or DPNs

Note: this is a TINY heart. This is not a stash buster unless you want to make about a million of them, but what they don't have in materials is overloaded by cuteness. ::squeeeeee::

If you have extra circular needles, DPNs, stitch holders, and stitch markers, please bring them in case we have people show up without or may not have these supplies readily available. 

Membership Renewal

It is that time of year again. The Guild’s membership year runs January through December. Annual dues are $25. Deadline is February 28.

Renew My Membership

Meeting access for those that cannot attend will be the same 2022 Zoom Room (we’ll continue to use the 2022 Zoom room until the 2023 dues are paid):

As always, our Zoom Room is open 24/7 for any member to practice using it. This is a subscription service provided by the guild for the use of its members for guild activity. Guild meetings and groups will take precedence over individual use. Please do not share the meeting and passcode numbers with non-members for the safety of all members.

Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild | January Meeting Announcement

Celebrating the Old and Ringing in the New!

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Date: January 14, 2023
Time: 10am
Location: In person at the Hoover Church of Christ and online on Zoom (see below)

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We will celebrate the old with Show and Tell. Show and Tell is the best! So inspiring! Please bring something you’ve made to share. We will also fill out New Year’s resolution cards for what we each hope to do with our fiber work in the coming months. It is always interesting to look at these cards at the end of the year. Sometimes our work follows the paths we anticipated and sometimes we take wild tangents to unplanned places. If you can’t make it in person, join us on Zoom!

Membership Renewal

It is that time of year again. The Guild’s membership year runs January through December. Annual dues are $25. Deadline is February 28.

Renew My Membership

Meeting access for those that cannot attend will be the same 2022 Zoom Room (we’ll continue to use the 2022 Zoom room until the 2023 dues are paid):

As always, our Zoom Room is open 24/7 for any member to practice using it. This is a subscription service provided by the guild for the use of its members for guild activity. Guild meetings and groups will take precedence over individual use. Please do not share the meeting and passcode numbers with non-members for the safety of all members.