I have produced some notes which I sell at demonstrations and exhibitions, but which are also available to download here as .pdf files (they need Adobe Reader to read them).

Dyeing

In general I demonstrate dyeing with natural (plant) dyes on wool and other animal fibres, and use the resulting yarns for knitting or weaving. If I want cotton or silk dyed for a particular project, or for machine embroidery or tatting, I use chemical dyes. I don't expect to do "production" dyeing - I dye to get small amounts of interesting yarns.

Having been demonstrating dyeing with plants, and hosting dyeing days for many years, I have produced some notes on the basic processes for natural dyeing, and notes on indigo dyeing which are still under revision - I know what I do, and have collected information from other sources, but haven't tried all the processes very much - the last time I used one of the methods, I used too much washing soda, and rotted the wool.

I have also produced instructions for space dyeing using fibre-reactive (procion, Dylon cold)-type dyes - I collect interesting fabrics to experiment with, and use them in the applique/embroidered pictures.

Knitting

I don't remember learning to knit, though my grandmother used to treasure a letter from me aged about 5 saying "Please send me more wool because I like knitting!". I have produced leaflets with instructions for multicoloured entrelac knitting (as the background for this site), and for "scribble lace" knitting, pictured on the right here and also some notes on how to get "knitting in different directions", as on the left, to lie approximately flat.

As Birmingham regional coordinator for the Knitting & Crochet Guild, I produce a newsletter three times a year (about Easter, September, and December). The latest can be downloaded as a pdf file. It gives details of local group meetings (weaving, spinning and dyeing; and tatting as well as knitting & crochet), and news of the latest meetings and exhibition stands which I have organised.