Volume I Issue IV - April Newsletter

President’s Corner:
April’s meeting was a great success! I’m pleased to report we were able to send the logo designer a Michael’s gift certificate for $60. We had two more new knitters join us and our charity knitting is going great guns. In fact, Anna Hester, the chair for our charity knitting, has graciously volunteered to wash the knitted items for us. This will leave us much more time to knit hats, buntings, layettes, and blankets. THANK YOU ANNA!

We were very fortunate to be gifted by Tracy Terrill with a box of wonderful books and magazines to start our guild library! If any of you would like to volunteer to be the guild librarian, please let me know. We are still working out how to handle checking out the books.

This month come prepared to learn some different kinds of cast-ons. There is no homework but bring extra needles and two different colors of yarn to experiment with the cast-ons.

We had the biggest turnout yet at the March meeting – 29 people!

Where We Meet
We meet the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Belle Isle Library from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in a downstairs conference room. We are allowed to bring food and drinks as long as we don’t take them into the book area.We are on a 6 month trial period to see if library patrons are interested in the Guild. There will be a sign up sheet at the reference desk and the library will be keeping a head count to see how many people actually show up. Please remember to call ahead or go sign up just to show there is interest – thanks!

Upcoming Programs
May 21st –Cast-On Techniques (no homework but bring materials to try)
Guild Library

June 18th – Handy Knitting Tips and Techniques (no homework)
Show and Tell

July 16th – How to do Enterlac with Kathy Knox

Aug 20th – Advanced Socks with Ginny Queior

Sep 17th – Learn Lace with a Pro – Gloria Reich (no homework)
Build the Guild – Membership Drive


More Options
By Emily Schaubl – Guild Scribe

When I picked up two sticks and yarn for the first time in my life, I had no idea MATH was going to be involved.

When I started reading patterns in magazine, there was always some little blurb about "take time to save time--make a gauge swatch." What was that all about?

Guild President Susan Barrington led us through some basic knitting math and the joys of making a gauge swatch at our April meeting.

(Who ever knew taking up knitting would involve homework? And math? And that it could be fun?)

Susan showed us that by making a gauge swatch, we could test our yarn, figure out how many stitches per inch a particular yarn was on a given size needle—and then plug in that number to a pattern's dimensions and
use any yarn we want for any pattern we want, assuming that yarn gave us the right feel and drape for what we wanted to make.

So we don't have to fret when yarns get discontinued. Or when we have that little loss of impulse control in a yarn shop, but we're not quite sure what we're going to make with that yarn that somehow found its way into a shopping bag and out the door with us.

Hmm, that opens up a whole new world of possibilities for this (ahem) little stash I have up here in the closet. . .

Kids…a Knitter’s Dozen
Book Review
By Margaret Bauer Gourmet Yarns
Just like all the other books in the Knitter’s Dozen series – this one is a keeper. The patterns were selected from more than two decades of Knitter’s Magazine. There are 19 patterns and hundreds of possibilities. There are cute sweaters along with more practical patterns. Some of these patterns have been unavailable since they were first published.

Ranging in skill from beginner to intermediate; there are not only patterns for some unusual sweaters, but also for a pair of socks, cap, pillow, and many other items. This book is for children sized two through ten. Photos are clear and detailed illustrations help guide knitters through each part of the more complicated steps. There is also a very informative technique section at the back. At only $15.95, this book is well worth it.