April 2013 Meeting

Hello Spring! (maybe) seeing as the weather is being downright ornery in some places.  We had a nice meeting Saturday April 27th with 5 members in attendance.  Reba, BJ, Alysha, Melody and Kim.  As always we had lunch and social time :-) Melody brought her Studio 360 carriage that was locked up so we fired up the blow dryer and oil bottles.  We got one drum to spin, but the other one is locked solid.  Alysha volunteered her husband to look at it further! Reba, BJ and Kim had been to the Spring Fling in Peru, IN and told how much fun they had and lots of new things that were learned.  Kim was very smitten with the wire knitting class we took and brought samples to show us!

 

She found the perfect wire to use online

 

Alysha showed us her ruffled scarves and explained the difference in the ways they can be made.

Then gave us a demonstration on how to do these on the machine using the garter bar.  It looks very easy once you get a good rhythm going :-)

We sure did miss our members who were unable to make it.  It was an awesome meeting and I can't wait till our next meeting on June 1st!

March 2013 Meeting

Although the meeting was small in attendance it was still big on fun!  Melody, Reba and BJ were the small but industrious group.  After our normal sack lunch and "catch up" chit chat, we organized and passed out the club orders we had received for sponge bars and other supplies.  That is the best way to order and save on shipping costs!

Reba had been knitting socks on her Passap, aren't they cute!

and a beautiful SOFT shell. also on the Passap!

Reba brought in her SK700 and several flat bed sock patterns and gave Melody a sock lesson.

BJ worked on the surprise chick pattern from Knitten Buds on her Brother 400 travel machine. She got 3 done! 6 more to go!

We agreed on our usual date for the April Meeting.  The 4th Saturday in April, on the 27th. It doesn't interfere with any seminar traveling :-)

February 2013 Meeting

It's been almost a year! Oh, my!  We have had several members unable to attend regular meetings for numerous reasons for several months.  There have been some mini meetings, but not enough to actually report on. We were almost giddy this month to have a meeting :-) We have a new member this year, Kim, and she is also a brand new machine knitter!

After lunch and much chit chat, we had show and tell.  Our new member Kim showed off her monkey sock hat with face mask she made on her bulky from the babyjane's pattern.  How cute is that?!?!

Alysha has been trying the owl cable, looking good....

a very pretty butterfly tuck baby blanket.....

and a darling poncho.............

Reba was working with the yarn twister her husband made, and as the club librarian she is a busy girl!

Melody and Kim watched Alysha while she made a Easter egg chick cover on her Bond machine. Cute and fast pattern!  We were coming up with lots of ideas for this pattern.

We had a short business meeting to collect 2013 dues and decide on the March meeting date.  We are hoping to invite the local hand knitting club and demo some fast and easy patterns to get them hooked!  Pun intended ;-) Until next time.........

March 2012 Meeting

After lunch and socialization time, our meeting on March 31st was called to order. There were 5 members present. Our treasurer, BJ, reported our present bank balance as $123.37. Last meeting’s minutes were reported by Reba to show that we had made decisions on the following monthly demonstrations: March – Decreases and Increases, April – Edgings, May – Lace, June – punchcards, and July – measuring session. The programs for the rest of this year will be decided on at a later meeting. The business meeting was then adjourned. (aren't we getting so fancy and organized!!)

Next was Show and Tell (which is one of our favorite parts of the meeting!) Margie brought two beautiful sweaters, one sideways knit in wool ...........

and a rayon top done with 4 very thin strands.  Margie said it is her most comfortable "go to" top, often putting it back on as soon as it is washed!

 Reba showed a baby sacque done on the standard punchcard machine.

Beth wore a lovely sweater made on her Passap and showed lots of pictures of the adorable items she made her granddaughter at Christmas! 

Two door prizes were drawn – General Housekeeping Cookbook won by Melody and donated by BJ. One ball of Italian Cotton won by BJ (of course-haha) and donated by Margie.  Thanks Gals for the donations!

Our demonstration of decreases was done by Margie on the Brother 350 mid gauge.  Handouts were also provided giving explicit instructions on 6 different decreases. – thank you, Margie!

An unexpected demonstration was done on a garter carriage which Beth had recently acquired when she purchased an entire knitting room of items an older woman had to give up. She brought the garter carriage, Brother 260 and Brother 950e with bunches of tools and extras.  As Beth was previously only a Passap knitter we all dug in and helped look through and sort out Beth’s new toys and accessories.  Some of the accessories were found to be for Silver Reed machines and those went home with Melody (we are such enablers and have so much fun). 

Our next meeting should be right on schedule April 28th.  Hope you can visit us!!

February 2012 Meeting

We opened this month with our first ever "business" meeting.  We are slowly growing so we need to get a tiny bit organized :-) Reba was named our Secretary, and she got every one's information (name, address, phone and email).  For anyone who was not attending this month's meeting, please send Reba your info by email or the club's yahoo site.  BJ is remaining the Treasurer and she gave an update on our financial standing.  Small but steady!  Sandi paid her 2012 dues.  It was determined that we would rather have the club run by a board consisting of all the paid members, rather than a President.  We discussed looking for local venues to demonstrate and promote machine knitting (hopefully this year).  We planned our meeting demos for this year's theme of Education. 

Then on to the fun!  We looked at yarn.......

Got a neat idea for storing cord in a coffee jar with a hold in the lid......

Sandi got Bond instruction and was making her 1st scarf!

Melody received cast on instruction on her SK700.  Amber and Melody both got mattress stitch lessons.

Amber enjoyed Library time..........

First up for Show and Tell was Alysha.  All of her items this month were in cotton, so we also had an informative talk about knitting with cotton and blocking and caring for the items.  She had two lovely baby blankets............

 and she has perfected her Market Bag!

Second was Amber, who has been very busy on her "new" to her bulky she just got last month!  There was the always popular over sized sock (who hasn't done that?!?!?)

Then came her sweater attempt, she is fearless!!! There were some gauge issues and we offered advise.

She did the circular blanket from Diana Sullivan's videos.....once again FEARLESS!

Next up Melody showed her lovely hand knit bolero style vest in the softest yarn ever!

Margie closed out show and tell with a very professional looking garter carriage swatch, and also her cast on rags.

Margie once again gave away a door prize (she is so generous!)  Amber won some beautiful purple sparkle carry along thread.  She had just mentioned how she loved sparkly yarn!  BJ brought a guest, Nancy (who we hope to eventually get over to the MK side of knitting!) hint, hint :-)

Next month we will be demonstrating Increases and Decreases on March 31st.  Hope to see everyone there!