Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 17:14:32 -0600
From: car@ctt.bellcore.com
To: Multiple recipients of list <knit@geom.umn.edu>
Subject: Knit: Rowan 


I went to a Rowan weekend workshop last May, so let me put in my
two cents.....  

Bottom line -
Nice people, good food, interesting "field trip," great yarn,
but disappointing workshop contents to me as a very experienced
knitter.

The workshop I went to was 2 1/2 days.  The first day was a
tour of a local mill.  Saw the whole process of getting from
fleece to various types of yarn.  This was followed by a trip
to a dyeing house where much Rowan yarns were dyed.  This
gave me extreme motivation to get enough of one dye lot.  We
saw them dyeing Designer DK.  It was craft, not science.
The dyestuffs and water were measured less carefully than I
measure ingredients for muffins!  Yikes!  The guy used an
old fashioned balance with weights and a plastic bucket of
hot water to mix the dye, which then went into a big vat
of yarn and water.  Rather like you might do in your kitchen.

The first night the group of 12 or so of us met with the
designer who would be our teacher.  We had Louisa Harding.
She was very nice and quite creative, but had certainly
done much less knitting than I (VERY YOUNG!).  On the
following 2 days we were bused to Rowan's site - a big old
stone barn in the countryside near Holmfirth.  

They had big baskets of yarns on the floor (and wonderful
displays of their yarns and knitted garments around).  We
were told to pick a bunch of colors we liked and given a
chart.  We did swatches learning various color techniques -
fairilse, intarsia, and combination of the two.  Then were
were asked to pick a postcard from a large collection
whose design was to be an inspiration.  We picked more
yarns and knitted a swatch in color patterns inspired by
said postcard (fun, but no new skills).  The second day
we knit a hat.  We got the pattern on graph paper the
to take back to the hotel the night before, to design
if so inclined.  The hat was a small cap with the
top decreases done in about 9 sections.  The pattern
is in a recent Rowan mag.  Again, fun, but I was hoping
for more in terms of learning to design.  However, most
of the other folks at the workshop had not done much,
if any, multicolor knitting before, and most of them
were learning a lot.

I did see a kit in Harrod's later in the week to make said
hat, and it cost 29 pounds (almost %50!)  Yikes!

Anyhow, I enjoyed my trip to England to see a friend who
was on a year's sabbatical in Cambridge.  She is also
a skilled knitter, and she had the same reaction to
the workshop.  If I'd flown to England just for the
workshop, I would have been upset, but since I went
to see my friend and have a week away from work (and
my first vacation alone from spouse and 3 kids) it was
fine.  I bought tons of yarn.....just enough to stay
under the duty limit......  Rowan yarn, especially, was
much cheaper than over here.

Well, this was longer than I planned.  Anyone been
on one of those knitting cruises off the cost of Maine,
or other exciting knitting trip?????

Chris 
in New Jersey, where winter is returning, and my confused
bulbs are about to get a rude shock!


************
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 00:25:48 -0500
To: spamily@io.org
From: fletbarr@inforamp.net (Barraclough/Fletcher)
Subject: Rowan Mills Tour

Just Forwarding a response to the Rowan Mills Tour article found through
your magazine.  The author has changed e-mail addresses and maybe you would
like to publish this?
Thanks JB

Subject: rowan mills workshop critique
Cc: knit@geom.umn.edu

Dear Chris,

With regard to your article on the Rowan Mills workshop, I was surprised at the
comments you made about the dyer you visited. I would like to set the
record straight.

This dyer, Michael Barraclough, has been glowingly featured in respected
knitting publications worldwide and also been the subject of BBC
productions on high class yarn dying.  He is known as "The Master Dyer" and
has perfected his craft {or is it a science?} over a period of almost 40
years. He was recently invited to do a special dyeing job for the royal
family.

His "balance with weights" is accurate to one tenth of a gram (Yikes! who
measures muffin ingredients with this kind of accuracy?) and the formulae
for the very special colours that Kaffe Fassett demands are the result of
his years of experience. All of these formulae are trade secrets and would
fetch a pretty penny on the open market! His techniques, which may appear
crude,are the result of centuries of experience, handed down from Master to
Master. Technology isn't always the answer!

You obviously had greater expectations of the workshop than it actually
delivered. This must have been disappointing for you. However,your
asessment of Michael's Dye House was probably less than fair.

Regards,
Judy