About the Guild

We are on Facebook now. Visit us at Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild. The Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild is open to anyone interested in knitting at any level. Our mission is to promote interest, appreciation, and skill in knitting. The Meetings are always the second Tuesday of every month except January and August. Social Hour begins at 6:15 pm. Our “Knitting Doctors” are also available at that time for advice and consultation on your knitting problems. The meeting begins at 7:oo pm followed by the Monthly Program. email us at gmkg@prodigy.net

Monday, March 7, 2011

GMKG Newsletter March 2011 --Auction info

7p on Tuesday March 8th, 2011 – Mount Mary College This Auction helps to support the different programs we offer as part of the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild Items that may be featured at this year’s Auction:
Beautiful skeins of yarn!
Bath and Beauty things!
Knitting Books full of creative ideas!
Household objects!Fabulous Knitting Accessories!
Stunning Needles!
Attractive Stationary!

Don’t be the only person to miss the great deals and items at this year’s Auction!
Meet us in the North Dining Room of Mount Mary College!
Bid early and Bid often!!

GMKG Newsletter March 2011

PURLS OF WISDOM A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD

March 2011
No treasurers report. Pat had a Community meeting regarding flooding to attend.Membership-no new members. One visitor attended.

The February Program was presented by Sue Forbes and Jenny from Knitch Yarn Shop of Delafield. They brought tables full of Noroyarn and explained the different blends and when best to use them. They also had knitted items so that you could see how they knit up. They also had various types of kits available for sale. We all got 10% off and had a great time.Meeting adjourned.

March is our annual fund raiser Auction. Monies raised will be used toward speaker fees throughout the upcoming year. (No Rummage items please)- Please pass the word around- guests are most definitely welcome!

Mary G-F has offered to be the Auctioneer. We will also need spotters to make sure everyone’s paddle is seen. We will need a few peopleto record and tally the totals of the winning bidders. We will have a registration table where youwill be given a paddle with your number. Please havean index card filled out with the name of the item, theasking price, a description of the item, and whodonated it. We will have extra index cards available.Come early so you can have plenty of time to check it all out.

In April, Jan Massie from Just4ewe will be our guest speaker. Jan recycles sweaters, re-spins the yarn, and then knits into new! She will talk to the guild abouther technique. We look forward to having her!

As always- Happy KnittingPeg

You are cordiallyinvited to the 1st annual Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild’s Baby Shower!!For: Christ Child Society
Date: May 10, 2011(the May meeting)
Time: 7:00pm
Place: Mount Mary College
Baby Shower Games will be played and refreshments served Please bring your baby sweaters and any other knitted items for donation to this worthy cause (remember that non-knitted new baby items will also be graciously accepted!!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

GMKG Newsletter February 2011

PURLS OF WISDOM
A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD
February 2011

There were no membership or treasury reports as those members were absent.
Give any scarves, hats or mittens to Jackie H for the Red Scarf Project.
A reminder to keep working on baby sweaters for the May Baby Shower!
We tabled the discussion to not have meetings in January and February until the fall when more of the membership is present.

The Program Committee presented their Round Robin. The skills they taught us were The German Cast On, The Braided Cast On, The Norwegian Purl and How to wind your yarn so that you can pull from the center of the ball. All were very interesting and as always well presented.

This month we're going to have the Knitch Yarn Store from Delafield come to our meeting. They're bringing out their entire line of Noro yarns and books for us to shop! You'll be able to see all of their Noro samples, which are gorgeous, by the way. And as a special Valentine's Day treat, they've even made up a few simple patterns for you that when knit up show off how pretty the Noro yarns can be. So don't miss the program! Join your friends at the meeting and let the Knitch bring their yarn store to you!

March is our annual fund raiser Auction. Monies raised will be used toward speaker fees throughout the upcoming year. So start planning your donation towards the Auction!

In April, Jan Massie from Just4ewe will be our guest speaker. Jan recycles sweaters, re-spins the yarn, and then knits into new! She will talk to the guild about her technique. We look forward to having her!

May is the anticipated "Baby Shower". Keep working on your baby sweaters! They are all so adorable! What a fun charitable events. More details will come in the near future.

This Month’s feature Member:
Susan Forbes
From time to time the newsletter features a guild member. This month we are chatting with Sue Forbes. She has been a member of the guild for about 10 year and has served the guild in a variety of ways. She has been membership and program chairs and has served as both vice president and president. She is serving as member of the program committee this year. Her favorite part of the guild is seeing what everyone is knitting. Sue learned to knit from her older sister when she was 8 but a baby sister taught her that there was much more than plain straight knitting. She loves texture and cables. Her favorite knitting book is Principles of Knitting by June Hiatt which is now out of print. She is a hand and machine knitter. She also spins and dyes yarns. For many years she thought about owning a business while she continued to work as an environmentalist for the truck division of GM at Janesville. When the plant closed she decided to take the plunge 3 years ago and start a yarn business. She sells custom yarns, sock blanks, and her own soaps. She is also designs patterns and teaches classes. She is currently knitting shawls which are being sold in an art gallery in Fish Creek. She is expanding her business each year by
going to more fiber shows and will have booths at the national Knit & Crochet Show and Stitches Midwest. Check out her websites: Fairy Yarnmother and Fiber Art Café to see what great products Sue has available.

As always- Happy Knitting
Peg

2011 Midwest Knitting Events:

Janesville Knit-in
http://jakg.org/id18.html
February 19 at Milton

Sheep In The City Get Away
http://web.mac.com/jmassie1/Sheep_in_the_City/Welcome.html
February 25-27 at the Best Western
Milwaukee Airport

Madison Knit-in
http://www.madisonknittersguild.org/knitin.html
March 19 in Madison

Wisconsin Spin-in
http://www.wispinin.org/
April 7-9 in Pewaukee

Midwest Fiber & Folk Art
http://www.fiberandfolk.com/
June 24-26 in Grayslake, IL

Knit & Crochet Show
http://www.knitandcrochetshow.com/
July 28-31 in Minneapolis

Stitches Midwest
http://www.knittinguniverse.com
August 24-28 in Schaumburg, IL

WI Sheep and Wool Festival
http://wisconsinsheepandwoolfestival.com/
Sept 9-11 in Jefferson

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

GMKG Newsletter- JAN 2011

A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD
January 2011

It’s a NEW YEAR

Resolutions, reflections and always time to try something new…..

January is the annual Round Robin. Please make sure you bring extra scrap yarn and needles so you can learn and practice the techniques taught. The Round Robin will consist of 3-4 stations set up in the room. At each station, a technique will be taught to the members of the guild. Each station will be allowed 10-15 minutes to allow member to practice the new skill. Guild members then rotate to the next station. It's a great learning opportunity to increase our knitting skills. This year we will learn "the Norwegian Pul", "the Twisted German Cast-on" and a "cord Cast-on".

February: TBD

March is our annual fund raiser Auction. Monies raised will be used toward speaker fees throughout the upcoming year. So start planning your donation towards the Auction!

In April, Jan Massie from Just4ewe will be our guest speaker. Jan recycles sweaters, respins the yarn, and then knits into new! She will talk to the guild about her technique. We look forward to having her!

May is the anticipated "Baby Shower". Keep working on your baby sweaters! They are all so adorable! What a fun charitable events. More details will come in the near future.

And now a warm welcome to our new members……
Diane K and Rieke D.
Diane has been knitting for about 25 years and has done a variety of projects from scarves to sweaters. She likes to use circular needles. She is retired and also likes to read and golf. Yes she has knit golf club covers.
Rieke has been knitting since she was a small girl in Germany. She knits whenever she can, including on the bus as she commutes to and from work. She loves color and texture. She uses the yarn as her guide on how a project should be knit and often does not use a pattern.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

GMKG Newsletter for December 2010

PURLS OF WISDOM, A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD December 2010

Giving the gifts of…..

The Holidays are bursting out all over and with that brings memories of sleigh rides, snow men and the awesome hand knit sweaters we all(at least the kids in my family) thought were the coolest gifts Mom could give us (she always let us pick the colors)…..may the spirit and good tidings carry over to others…

Minutes of last meeting:

Amy H.- co president opened the meeting asking for confirmation of minutes from the last meeting.

Minimal minutes as I did not receive any so I am going by what few I took:
Treasurers report – 3717.19 in account as of tonight.

Guild members decided on Knit Socks, Shawls and New Knitter Item for the 3 awards the guild wouldsponsor this year for the State Fair. Good news here- the folks in the sheep barn are willing to let us come and do knitting presentations this year……………….details to follow!

December’s Pot Luck/M eeting will be in Helfare Hall- look for everyone there and let’s hope itdoesn’t snow us out!

What’s coming up:

December- Show and Telland the annual Potluck
January- Round Robin
February- Stay tuned for Meg Swanson

Membership:
We have 2 new members and 1 returning member who joined the guild last month. Please welcome Deb P., Carol T. and Troy Y. Deb has been knitting since she was a girl and knits every chance shegets-on the bus, breaks at work, watching TV, and even on her exercise bike. Shelearned to do cables this year and loves the texture that cables bring to aknitting project. She is interested in learning entrelac. Carol also learned to knit when she was young. She likes classicstyles and texture projects, has done lots of scarves and now that she is workingpart time has more time for sweater projects. Troy is re-joining after a few years absence. At the October meetingsomeone mentioned that they were a “Born-Again Knitter” which Troy says describes herself. She has been knitting off and on for about 20 years and has re-connected with knitting again. She loves to knit with color and the newer fibersand uses Ravelry for inspiration. Troy is also a quilter and is retired. With the addition of these three new members- that puts us at 46 on the roster.

November’s guest was Shirley Grade from the Yarn house who gave a “how to” on double knitting and shared a bit of her experiences over the years…..we wish her the best of luck in her retirement.

Happy Knitting, Peg

Monday, October 11, 2010

GMKG Newsletter- OCT 10

PURLS OF WISDOM

A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD

October 2010

The program for Oct will be a demonstration on how to hand paint yarn and sock blanks.


October 2010 Knitting Guild Newsletter

Fall is upon us

It’s that time of year that we all think of sweaters, mittens, hats and all other knitterly things to keep ourselves and others warm. Sorry for the limited minutes- I did not receive any again this month- so I am using what few I took at the meeting:


Amy Hiley- co president opened the meeting asking for confirmation of minutes from the last meeting.


No minutes due to arriving after newsletter sent out.

Treasurers report – Pat- 3281.03 in account as of tonight- awards have been mailed for state fair prizes

Charity- hats and scarves…yarn in back at each meeting has been donated for charity usage

Hope house as possibility for charity for this year as well as
Christ Child society-( willing to attend meeting in November/December for baby sweaters/hats/booties)

Red Scarf project - orphan.org packages to kids in foster care that are now college students (website has free patterns) the directions are as follows:

HOW TO MAKE AN OFA RED SCARF:

Scarf Size: Approximately 60_ long and 5_ to 8_ wide. Scarves should be long enough to be

wrapped around the neck, with tails long enough to be tied in the front.

Style: Think unisex collegiate. The scarves go to both male and female students, so they

shouldn’t be gender specific. Fringes are optional. Your scarf should be 60-70 inches by 6-8

inches.

Yarn: Preferably DK, double fingering-weight, worsted weight, or light bulky yarns. No lace

weight, super-chunky, or mohair yarns as there are many people who find mohair too itchy. The

yarn should be soft.

Color: Red! However, this could mean burgundy, cherry, russet, red stripes with other colors, or

multicolor hues including red.

Finished and tagged: Yarn ends should be securely sewn in. For a personal touch, attach a tag

saying “Handmade for You” with your first name, city, and group affiliation, if any. We also

suggest that you include washing instructions and personal messages of encouragement.


Scarves are accepted from September 1 to December 15 each year and can be sent to:

OFA

The Red Scarf Project

21351 Gentry Drive

Suite 130

Sterling, VA 20166


More detailed directions can be found at- http://orphan.org/what-we-do/programs/red-scarf-project/

Scarves should not be in a quantity of more than 5 per person (unless we are going to gather them and send them as a guild donation) and should be sent to:

OFA
The Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive
Suite 130
Sterling, VA 20166

More detailed directions can be found at- http://orphan.org/what-we-do/programs/red-scarf-project/

No old business-



The “work down your stash” contest winners were- Honorable mention- Dee B
Darleen H- pair of socks
Cristel M- Aran waist coat knit from stash 1400yds (¾ of a mile)- gift card
Jeanie G, total of 3 miles of yarn from stash- Winner


“Pick the pattern you have always wanted to knit and commit to it”- idea for next year’s challenge

New business:

Sue N- project on October 23rd at the Central Library (700 W Wisconsin Avenue) during the afternoon- looking for volunteers to knit/instruct/participate….she is taking names to offer to staff person at the library she knows.

Dana Root was presenter for knitting ergonomics.

It’s time to renew your Guild membership. Dues are $ 25.00 or $ 5.00 if you are a junior member. Please make checks payable to the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild or GMKG. A membership form is included in the newsletter. Please complete the information completely, even if you are renewing your membership. If you wish to receive your newsletter by regular mail, please provide us with 12 business size, self addressed stamped envelopes. If you have any questions please feel free to contact :

Mary K

Remember- this is your newsletter-please don’t hesitate to send articles, information, questions or suggestions to me, but please do so by the 20th of each month so that I can try and each done and sent by month’s end.

Thanks and I look forward to a great year!

Happy Knitting
Thanks

Mary

Sunday, September 12, 2010

GMKG Newsletter- SEPT 2010

PURLS OF WISDOM

A NEWSLETTER OF THE GREATER MILWAUKEE KNITTING GUILD

September 2010

September 2010 Knitting Guild Newsletter
Greetings one and all-

Here’s hoping that you all had a wonderful summer and are now gearing up for the mad dash that is fall (in knitters terms I am sure that is the “pre- holiday knitting frenzy”). Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Peggy and for those of you who don’t know me (or read the last newsletter) I am the new “editor in chief” of the GMKG newsletter. I have been a guild member for around 3 years, consider myself an “adventuresome beginner”, have grown quite a stash and have too many projects on needles to speak of. Three furbabies, a husband and one stepson round out my family picture and any one of those separately is a handful, let alone when you put them all together! I look forward to this next year and getting to know many of you.

I apologize that I have included no minutes from the last meeting- but alas I didn’t receive any so I will try and do better this next time around. The next meeting is Tuesday, September 13th in the dining room of Berstrom Hall, Mount Mary College. Social hour begins at 6:15pm and our “knitting doctors” are available at that time for advise and consultation on any knitting projects. The meeting itself starts at 7:00pm followed by the monthly program.



This month’s program is:
An Ergonomics Class for Knitters:
Avoiding Aches and Pains

Do you love to knit? Do you experience aches and pains while knitting? Do you want to learn how to reduce this discomfort? With a little knowledge and new discoveries, some easy changes will keep you knitting happily forever.

Dana Root, an ergonomist and physical therapist, will share her passion for ergonomics and her love of knitting while the knitter will learn how to avoid those knitting aches and pains.

This class is an excellent learning opportunity for every new and seasoned knitter.

The knitter will learn:
Why the body is at risk for knitting aches and pains.
What knitting methods may cause soreness.
Solutions for reducing knitting discomfort.
Exercises to interrupt knitting movements.

A self assessment ergonomics questionnaire will enable the knitter to focus on techniques that may cause discomfort.

The two hour session will involve active discussion, demonstration, and group participation. The knitter should bring an easy WIP. A power point presentation to compliment the session is optional.




It’s time to renew your Guild membership. Dues are $ 25.00 or $ 5.00 if you are a junior member. Please make checks payable to the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild or GMKG. A membership form is included in the newsletter. Please complete the information completely, even if you are renewing your membership. If you wish to receive your newsletter by regular mail, please provide us with 12 business size, self addressed stamped envelopes. If you have any questions please feel free to contact :
kaems@sbcglobal.net




Remember- this is your newsletter-please don’t hesitate to send articles, information, questions or suggestions to me, but please do so by the 20th of each month so that I can try and each done and sent by month’s end.

Thanks and I look forward to a great year!

Happy Knitting

Peg