Meeting:
We meet every 3rd Sunday 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!
Special Speaker – Bette Deputy
Our special speaker this month is a sock-knitter-extraordinaire. She has won many blue ribbons for her sock creations. She will be talking to us about different cast-on techniques and heel tips.
The Next Six Months:
Mar 19th – Let’s Talk Socks - Bette Deputy
Swap Meet, Charity Knitting. Lamb Name Gifts
Apr 9th – The Importance of Swatches (requires homework)
Secret Pal Project
May 21st – Short Row Dishcloth (requires homework)
Not Your Grandma’s Dishcloths (some new patterns)
June 18th – Learn Lace with a Pro – Gloria Reich (tentative date, no homework)
July 16th – Three Casts-on Techniques (no homework but bring materials to try), Build the Guild – Membership Drive
Aug 20th – Felting Fun (no homework)
Announcements
We meet every 3rd Sunday 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!
Special Speaker – Bette Deputy
Our special speaker this month is a sock-knitter-extraordinaire. She has won many blue ribbons for her sock creations. She will be talking to us about different cast-on techniques and heel tips.
The Next Six Months:
Mar 19th – Let’s Talk Socks - Bette Deputy
Swap Meet, Charity Knitting. Lamb Name Gifts
Apr 9th – The Importance of Swatches (requires homework)
Secret Pal Project
May 21st – Short Row Dishcloth (requires homework)
Not Your Grandma’s Dishcloths (some new patterns)
June 18th – Learn Lace with a Pro – Gloria Reich (tentative date, no homework)
July 16th – Three Casts-on Techniques (no homework but bring materials to try), Build the Guild – Membership Drive
Aug 20th – Felting Fun (no homework)
Announcements
Swap Meet
March is swap meet month! Bring magazines, books, yarns, projects, or whatever you have knit related. We’ll set up a table in the back of the room and browse it as the meeting goes along.
Swap rules are as follows: Bring your swap items and put them on the table. After the main program, you can wander back and look at the items you want to swap. Please use your best judgment and take the same amount as you bring. We will be working under the honor system. If there are items left over, we will have a swap box to put them in and either they will go into a permanent Guild collection or we will hold them for the second swap meet in October.
Logos
Lamb names have been announced. The winning submissions will get a little gift at the March meeting. We will be taking donations this month at the meeting for a gift certificate for the logo designer. She would prefer a gift certificate to Michaels. So please bring a small donation (not over $5). This is purely voluntary! No one is keeping track of names or amounts.
Charity Knitting Projects
PLEASE NOTE: We need a volunteer as the chair to coordinate the charity projects. Are you ready to step up to the bat? Thanks!
We will be choosing our charity projects at the March meeting. A poll will be in place before the meeting to narrow down the choices. If you have a favorite local charity, please email the guild so it can be included.
If you have yarn or patterns suitable for charity knitting, please bring them. We will be providing a box of suitable yarn for those who don’t have acrylic in their stashes. You may take as much yarn as you like but it must come back in knitwear for our charity projects.
Guild Newsletter
Janet Stein who has so graciously been editing the newsletter has a new career and no longer will have the time to work on the newsletter. We are looking for a newsletter editor volunteer. If you are interested, please let us know.
BOOK REVIEW
Before you build a house, you need a foundation. The same is true in building a knitting book library. Vogue Knitting, The Ultimate Knitting Book has basic techniques for the beginner knitter as well as more specialized techniques for the more experienced knitter. The book shows various ways to cast-on, decrease, increase, and bind-off using clear illustrations. It also contains pictures showing how each method looks knitted and helpful tips are included at the end of each section.
The book covers the history of knitting, knitting supplies, instructions, correcting errors, circular and double-pointed knitting, color knitting, finishing, and care of your knitwear, a stitch dictionary, and many other topics. This is one book that you will find yourself reaching for over and over. Retail $38.95
YARN REVIEW
Regia Silk Sock Yarn
Review contributed by Keely Stuever, Sealed With A Kiss, (Guthrie)
New from Regia, silk blend sock yarn in solids, stripes, jacquards, andsparkles. Luxuriously soft, and available in beautiful shades.
If even the softest of wool sock yarns have bothered you in the past, you might want to give this one a try. It feels absolutely wonderful. 2 skeins make a pair on size 1-2 needles. Price point ranges from $8.95 - $9.95 a skein, available now at Sealed With a Kiss in Guthrie.
History of Knitting (a short recap)
The earliest definite examples of knitting date from Europe and Egypt in the 14th century, although some claim that the technology dates back into centuries BC. The first knitting trade guild was started in Paris in 1527, establishing the occupation as male-dominated for centuries to come. Knitting became a household occupation with the growing popularity of knitted stockings and by the end of the 1600s, one to two million pairs of stockings were exported from Britain to other parts of Europe.
With the invention of the knitting machine, knitting "by hand" became a useful but nonessential craft, and its practitioners increasingly female. Knitting joined quilting, spinning, needlepoint, and the like as a social activity, performed while the crafters converse among themselves.
Hand-knitting has gone in and out of fashion many times in the last two centuries or so, and at the turn of the 21st century it is enjoying a revival. Modern knitters come from all ages, walks of life, and (increasingly) genders—a social stigma against male knitters has been rapidly disappearing, and most knitting circles now sport at least a few men.
