This month our meeting was in a different location – the Old Barn Hall in Bookham, it was quite cosy as the venue was smaller than our normal hall. However it was as lively as ever, one member bought a large range of pattern books and booklets as she had decided to downsize her machine knitting stock. There was much interest as members were able to take the ones they wanted for a small donation.
After the usual notices given by committee members, Brenda introduced our speaker of the night – Susan Holtam who makes and sells garments she has designed and dyed. There was a colourful display of dyed yarn hanging up along with a rail containing some of the garments she made. There were eagerly examined and admired by club members during the coffee break.
Susan has been knitting since the early 1980’s and is completely self-taught, she talked about being a designer and carrying a notebook and sketchbook when she went out to make notes and drawings of things that interested her.
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She showed us some swatches from her current projects which she had dyed herself, describing the different effects the same dye has on different yarns, depending on the type of yarn whether is is silk, cotton etc. and how it is created. Some garments she dyes after knitting while others are painted with dye to create special effects.
Many of her designs used partial knitting – a favourite technique of hers. Along with mixing different weights of yarn to make stunning scarves and jackets.
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