10 December 2009



November 2009 Notes

7 November Book club meeting.

Jackie writes:

Thanks to all who came. A special thanks to Elizabeth and Mitchell who modeled their special garments!

Our topic was focused on knitting for kids.

Here are some of the resources we looked at or heard about. Please add what I did not get. I'm still working on my multi-tasking skills!

-"Baby Surprise Jacket", from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "The Opinionated
Knitter". (pattern is also found online, and in other EZ's books)
- "Rowan Junior", by Kim Hargreaves
- "Alice Starmore's Children's Collection"
- Several other Alice Starmore books include kids patterns
- "Fairy Time Knits", by Amy Carroll and Denise Brown . I loved the
fairy tales.
- "Kid's Crochet", by Kelli Ronci
- "Handknits for Kids", by Lucinda Guy
- "And So to Bed", by Lucinda Guy
- "Animal Knits", by Zoe Millar
(Both the Lucinda Guy and Zoe Millar books have cool motifs kids like)
- "Alligator Mittens" from Stitch n' Bitch, book 1, by Debbie Stoller
- The February project (baby sweater) in The Knitter's Almanac by E.
Zimmerman
- Patons has a collection of Peter Rabbit characters for knitting. (I
don't remember exactly, but I think it is for pictures on sweaters.)
- Encore has a good baby afghans collection
- "The Wonderful Wallabees", pattern by Cottage Creations
- "Threadbare" online group
- Marilyn shared her quick and easy bootee pattern.

Some other tips--
- raglan sweater style is practical -you get longer wear.
- felt an adult sweater. It just might fit your child. It is also a nice way to pass a favorite sweater down, and might even hide carpet beetle holes!

We talked a bit about doing a "knit-a-long" in the future. Bring suggestions to the December meeting. We can decide on a project, then begin after the New Year by devoting the first 15 minutes of each monthly meeting to it. Book club lends itself well to this, I think. I'm in sweater mode at the moment, so I would love to do a sweater, but it could be anything. My other thought was doing anything from one designer, like Jarod Flood. (I like his stuff.)

Looking ahead in book club---
December 5 we'll focus on "Fibery Gifts" - knitted or otherwise. If you bought the Ann Budd "Knitted Gifts", try to work up something from the book to share. If you did not buy the book, bring something else. But come anyway, even if you don't have a little something to share!

January 9 is our "Felting Focus". We are excited to have Cynthia Mollenkopf as our guest artist. Cynthia will be talking about felting, answering questions, and will have some of her own work to show us. I'll be asking for an RSVP for this meeting later on. Our featured book will be "Uniquely Felt" by Christine White, and we'll offer it at the 20% discount.

Finally, a reminder that we have been so fortunate to be able to do this at Quail Ridge Books. The spot is great, and the staff has been very positive, and helpful to us. So, I'd like to encourage us all to remember them when we're shopping for the holidays!

Ok. That's it for now. If anyone is wondering, we lost in the third round of soccer playoffs. Too bad, but my life IS returning to normal!

Enjoy the fibery season!

See you in December,

--Jackie


14 November Second Saturday all fiber arts meeting

Hosted by Carolyn Beasley.  She writes:
"Thanks to those who made Saturday a wonderful time at our house. It is always good to be around such creative women. Hope to see you soon."


Third Thursday Guild Meeting

Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild  met on 19 November at the NCSU Crafts Center with 10 attending. 
Jane introduced the following business items:

    *TTFAG Annual Swap meeting will be held at Elaina's on Dec 11 with a potluck starting at 6pm.

    *Carolyn is organizing the Carolina Fiber Festival to be held 21-23 May at the Holshouser Building at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.  Currently accepting vendor booth reservations; the application is available on the show's web page http://carolinafiberfest.org Ads for the Festival are running in Spin-Off and Handwoven magazines.
Planned exhibits and activities include a shearing demonstration with David Sweeny, a sheep to shawl contest, and workshops for spindling, shifu woven paper fabric, and dyeing.  Anyone interested in the sheep to shawl contest is encouraged to start forming a team now.




Then Judy showed us how to do Indian weaving.  She brought finished examples and yarn and sticks so everyone interested could give it a try!