Blue Mountains Branch Knitters' Guild NSW Inc.

2011 CALENDAR

2011-12-31T08:38:00.005+11:00

Please note this calendar is subject to change

15 January
workshop: colour work / Fair Isle (part I) - Terry

19 February
workshop: colour work / Fair Isle (part II) - Terry

5 March
11am: Knitters' Guild of NSW AGM
Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum, Harris Street, Ultimo

19 March
workshop: garter stitch entrelac - Lynne

26-27 March
weekend workshop: Orenburg lace - Galena
$120.00 for the weekend

16 April
retail: Wooldancer Fibre and Yarn - Michelle Snowdon
workshop: entrelac (part 2) - Lynne

21 May
no workshop this month

18 June
full day workshop: Liz Gemmell
$40 for members; $45 non-members

16 July
retail: The Wool Inn - Anita
workshop: colour theory for knitters - Terry and Lynne

20 August
retail: Rex and Evelyn Reynolds
workshop: no sew grafting - Lynne

17 September
all day workshop: socks - Lynne
Secret swap exchange
Stash sale

15 October
workshop: steeking - Mary-Helen

19 November
retail: Belisa Cashmere - Bev Cooper
Blue Mountains group AGM

17 December
retail: book sale - Keith Ainsworth
Christmas Party

July 2011

2011-08-01T11:00:00.003+10:00

Many compliments have been received for the Darling Harbour dispay in June. Allan Tremain, a past president of the Guild, was responsible.

Friday 5th August: Knit In ant the ABc studio in Ultimo, for Wrap with Love. There will also be a knit-in at Springwood Aquatic Center at 8 am, Everglades (Leura) at 10 am and Penrith library.

The workshop today was on colour theory which is a very broad topic. We were given a a short talk on the colour wheel, colour in culture and society, and how colour influences us.

Today's retail was The Wool Inn. Anita and Bess brought many yarns to tempt us, including some new yarns from Noro. Anita donated two books to be raffled.

The raffle was won by Donna, Stanis and Bev.

Next month

Retail: Rex and Evelyn Reynolds - yarn sales
Evelyn will give a short talk on an aspect of knitting
Workshop: no sew grafting (as demonstrated by Galena Khmeleva). Please bring two small samples of garter stitch, 20 rows on 10 stitches and leave live stitches on separate needles.
afternoon tea: Penny, Yvonne and Ann

June meeting and Liz Gemmell workshop

2011-07-06T10:11:00.001+10:00

A small group gathered for the June meeting; some members were at an all-day workshop with Liz Gemmell and some had gone into the city for the WWKIP (World Wide Knit In Public) Day. Perhaps the cold kept others away?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORKSHOP

The tutor for our all day workshop was Liz Gemmell. We learnt about using colour when knitting Feather and Fan patterns. In the morning we learnt or revised the Feather and Fan (aka Old Shale) pattern and tried some variations. Liz brought some examples to show us and one of our members, Judy, also brought her version.

samples knitted during the workshop

After morning tea, Liz explained how to read the schematic of her "upside down cardigan". This was challenging for many but we got there in the end.

After lunch, Liz showed us some of her knitted "jewellery"

knitted "necklace"

and how to transfer colour to synthetic knitting using disperse dyes, lithopaper and a hot (not steam) iron. She also showed us that we can create any shape we want by heat setting and it will hold its shape, even after washing. This can only be done with synthetic yarns.

transfer paper on left, printed fabric on right

Thank you, Liz, for a most interesting and informative workshop.

May 2011

2011-05-31T17:30:00.000+10:00

Terry thanked all those who showed up for the first meeting of the Knitters Gild of NSW upper Mountains Group . The meeting was a great success with many visitors from the North shore group attending. Donna is the Secretary and the next meeting will be on Saturday June 4th at 1.30 pm. All are welcome.

The annual Back-to-Back Challenge is on at the Turpentine Tree, Bells Line of Road, Kurrajong, on Sunday 5th June, starting at 8am. It is a wonderful day out with great food, kids entertainment and lots of woolly things to see and buy.

The workshop, Colour Theory for Knitters, that should have been held at the May meeting has been postponed until later in the year.

Kate explained that all new members have to pay a $10 joining fee. This is a one-off fee, then the annual fee is $30. The first two meeting that you attend are free then $2 per meeting afterwards. As a paid up member you are able to attend meetings at any number of the 22 branches of the Guild in NSW.

World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP) will be held on Saturday 18th June at Customs House in the city. There will be many raffle and door prizes donated by yarn shops and sellers. Unfortunately this date clashes with our next meeting day.

Those attending the Liz Gemmell workshop in June need to bring yarn in five colours and either dark blue or black. Bring needles to suit the yarn that you have chosen. Please come at 9:30 for a 10am start.

The raffle was won by Pam.

Next month’s afternoon tea is being provided by Janette, Shirley and Rosie.

April 2011

2011-05-11T14:38:00.000+10:00

GUILD NEWS

A new group called Upper Blue Mountains has been formed and sanctioned by the Guild executive. It will hold its first meeting on Saturday May 7th at 1.30pm at the Katoomba Senior Citizens Centre. Merrin will be there to officially open it. Drinks and nibbles will be served. There are already 24 members and the North Shore group is visiting for the opening.
The Senior Citizens rooms are at 30 Katoomba Street next to the library. There are 2 rooms and a fully fitted kitchen. It has heating and lots of natural light.

GROUP NEWS

Terry wishes to encourage all of us to enter upcoming shows (e.g. St Ives, Bathurst)

Congratulations to our president, Merrin, who won a prize at the Castle Hill show with her knitted Dalek and second prize for a pair of socks.

Kate suggested that, if we are attending the Easter show, we look at the knitting because there are new categories. There will be more new categories next year.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sunday 5th June: Back to Back Challenge: The Turpentine Tree, 1665 Bells line of Road, Kurrajong starting at 8am. It is a lovely day out with spinning and knitting activities for the kids, the Back to Back Challenge, good food and lots of fibre related things to buy .

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

Fiona Donovan from the Inner City group will be presenting a workshop on Colour Theory at our meeting in May.
In June, there will be an all day workshop with Liz Gemmell. This is $40 for members and $45 for guests. Please pay Vicki at the next meeting. There will be a maximum of 15 people. Liz Gemmell’s workshops are about stranded colourwork and are very interesting.

WORKSHOP

Entrelac Part 2 was held today. Participants learnt to knit foundation and side triangles for traditional entrelac and "garterlac".

a picture of concentration

completed homework

RETAIL

Michelle from Wooldancer visited with beautiful fibre and yarn to sell. She also had some environmentally-friendly dyes for dyeing fabric and yarn without the use of heavy metals.

some of the goodies from Wooldancer

RAFFLE
Terry won the raffle which was drawn by Michelle.

MAY AFTERNOON TEA
to be provided by Sue, Diane, Jo and Rhonda

SHOW AND TELL
The following is a small selection of the objects at "Show and Tell" at the April meeting.

puppets for Samaritan's Purse by Maree and Yvonne

Noro Tayo striped cardigan by Lois

Noro Silk Garden baby's socks and mitts by Mavis

Diane's sample from Galena's workshop

Diane's Orenburg scarf in progress

Terry's jumper

Clare's sock

Meredith's cardigan

Diane's hat

Orenburg Lace workshop

2011-04-05T16:30:00.001+10:00

Galina Khmeleva

On 26th and 27th March, thirteen members of the Blue Mountains group of the Knitters' Guild of NSW, participated in an Orenburg Lace workshop with Galina Khmeleva, a Russian born knitter now living in the USA.

On Saturday we learnt how to cast on, follow graphs and bind off. The beautiful delicacy of Orenburg Lace belies the fact that it is mostly made up of only knit stitches, with a combination of yarn overs and knitting stitches together. It is deceptively simple.

participants working on their first sample (on Saturday)

We were given homework to knit a border of four "teeth" and two simple garter stitch squares of fifteen stitches and thirty rows each.

a participant's unblocked sample #2 (from Sunday) - borders and corner

On Sunday we learnt how to graft without sewing, how to turn corners and how to block our lace.

Galina demonstrates her method of blocking

pinned out for blocking

Late on Sunday afternoon, Galina also gave us a demonstration of using the Russian support spindle.

Russian support spindle

On both mornings and throughout the lunch break, there were books, magazines and yarns for sale and lots of Galina's knitted items for us to admire.

Look at me!

Galina's quick wit and dry sense of humour made the workshops all the more enjoyable. Her recount of the history of the Orenburg region and the lace making industry were fascinating.

Thank you, Galina; we look forward to your next visit.

March 2011

2011-04-05T15:19:00.000+10:00

GROUP NEWS

Katoomba sheltered workshop requires ponchos. They have people that must wait for the workshop bus in cold conditions. Getting a sweater or coat on and off is time consuming and ponchos are ideal. However after many washings, they are running low. Anyone who wants to help should see Noreen. They are to be knitted in acrylic as it isn't as heavy as wool and will stand up to repeated washing. All sizes are needed.

Patterns for the puppets for Samaritans Purse boxes are again available from Terry.

The Craft Fair was held at Rose Hill for four days. Terry had three sweaters on display which attracted lots of comment and admiration. People were very surprised that a man had designed and knitted them. One woman saw the patchwork sweater and wanted the pattern, however Terry's sweaters are not charted they just evolve. He did offer to sell it to her for $500 but she was not happy to spend that much. More than 200 memberships forms were handed out during the 3 days .

EXECUTIVE NEWS

Our President, Merrin, talked about the AGM and thanked all that made the effort to come. The new constitution was passed and a copy will be sent with the next newsletter. The newsletter has been held up so that all the information from the AGM can be included.

Thanks was given to Clare for her work as the newsletter editor. She is stepping down after several years.

Terry was elected Vice President but will remain our convenor. Merrin was re-elected as President.

A verbal diary project is underway to get memories of the original Guild members explaining the history and background of the Guild in NSW.

A proposal has been put to the guild that group names be location rather than locale so that they are more specific. No changes will be made without extensive consultation with each group as there is a lot involved in a name change.

The new Katoomba group hopes to open May 7th and then be run on the first Saturday of the month from 1.30. It will be held in all new rooms in the Katoomba town centre which has 2 rooms, an exhibition space and a full kitchen.

ORENBURG LACE WORKSHOP: 26th & 27th March
Those attending the Orenburg Lace workshop are reminded to bring $25 to cover yarn, 2.5mm -3.5mm needles, lunch and afternoon tea.

BUS TRIP
On 9th April, the Blue Mountains Bus Company is running a bus trip to the Farmers Markets in Orange and the Yarn Market at Molong. Pickup at Panthers and various places in the Blue Mountains.

WORKSHOP
A workshop was held during today's meeting in which we were introduced to the techniques of entrelac knitting. The goal was a 6" share of garter stitch knitting. Participants voted to have a second workshop covering knitting entrelac "on point", in either garter stitch or stocking stitch.

some of the participants in the workshop

The raffle was won by Rhonda.

NEXT MONTH

Retail – wooldance yarn and fibre
Workshop - part 2 of the entrelac workshop
Afternoon tea – Robyn M, Rosalin, Monica and Lynne

SHOW AND TELL PHOTOS

our capable MC

President Merrin with a piece of her jacket
designed by Jane Slicer-Smith

Kate's White Lies cardigan

Ambassador of Love mitten

Jo's shrug

Denise's crocheted blanket

Venetta's fair isle cardigan

February 2011

2011-03-14T09:01:00.001+11:00

GROUP NEWS

We had an email from Kay McBride of the Imperial Hotal at Mount Victoria . She has a large amount of pure wool in packs of ten that she wishes to sell for as little as $2 per ball. Anyone is welcome to go up and see her.
Sew Beautiful at 1/ 121 Macquarie Rd Springwood is organizing a toy drive for the children of Toowoomba. She is after toys, blankets or gifts by March 1st . phone 47517988 for more details.
Samaritan's purse in Glenbrook is after hand knitted toy puppets for their Christmas Child boxes. Terry has copies of the pattern if you wish to contribute.
Terry also has copies of the Hawkesbury show schedule. Entries close early April.

THIS MONTH’S MEETING
Veronica Moschione, the exhibitions convenor, paid us a visit . She talked about this year’s events. Castle Hill, St. Ives, Darling Harbour and The RAS are all upcoming. Terry is going to be part of the team setting up Darling Harbour and the RAS.

The Guild will have a stand at the Craft Expo to be held at Rosehill Racecourse (10 -13 March). It will be alongside the Handspinners and Weavers, The Embroiderers and the Machine Knitters Guilds. Volunteers needed.
As yet, the Guild has no date for our stall at the RAS. Volunteers will be also be needed for this Show.
Veronica has received over 300 silver leaves for the Guild display at the Darling Harbour Craft Show; many thanks to those who have helped. Each group will need to contribute five articles for display as a sample of the group's work. So far, we have a pair of socks from Rosie. You can contribute anything you have hand knitted or crocheted.
Volunteers will be needed to help people learn to knit at the Darling Harbour Show and to assist with enquiries at the Guild's stand.

raffle
The raffle was won by Diane.

Show and Tell

Show and Tell was conducted very capably by Venetta. Jude Skeers attended our meeting this month and showed as garments made from Lara Downs yarns. Please scroll down to see photos of Jude's work and other items displayed at Show and Tell.

WEEKEND LACE WORKSHOP WITH GALENA

Those who are attending the workshop will need to bring their own lunch and afternoon tea for both days. Needles : 2.5mm to 3.5mm. Yarn will be supplied on the day at a cost of about $25.

NEXT MONTH

Lynne is facilitating a garter stitch entrelac workshop. Those attending will need to bring two yarns of different colours, and needles to suit.
Afternoon tea for March is being provided by Sharon, Susan, Ann R and Helen.

SHOW AND TELL PHOTOS

close up of two of Jude's mobius wraps knitted in Lara Down's Merino laceweight

Yvonne's jacket modelled by Marie

Marie's Mitred Wrap (design by Jane Slicer-Smith)

Ally's Advent Scarf

Mavis' crochet blanket

Lynne's Fair Isle "homework"

January 2011

2011-02-06T13:50:00.001+11:00

EXECUTIVE NEWS

Membership renewals are now due. Whether you pay by cheque or bank deposit, please let Ann know that you have renewed your membership.
The Darling Harbour exhibition requires five articles from each group. They can be five of the same sort or five totally different to showcase our group’s work. There are 19 groups who will have work displayed. The work can be knitting or crocheting. Perhaps some tatting could be included. Please consider what you would want to display. Terry is going to help put up the display so that our work will not be damaged We need to have our display delivered 2 weeks before the Craft Show which will be the 22nd - 26th of June 2011. If anyone can knit a fork, knife, spoon, plate or a wineglass please let Terry know.

GROUP NEWS

If you are interested in a hard plastic badge that pins on please see Monica. They cost $10 each and she would like payment in advance.
The Orenburg Lace workshop will be on Saturday March 26th and Sunday March 27th 10am to 4pm. There is a waiting list for this workshop, but there places still available in the Guild workshops. The requirements for the workshop will be advised by Vicki before March.
The One Skein swap questionnaires have been handed out . If you missed out and want one please see Diane. Could we have them all filled in and returned at the February meeting please.
A reminder that on the first Sunday of every month the Ravelry group, Up the M4, meet upstairs at The Red Cow pub opposite Penrith station. We meet at 12 to eat, drink, laugh and knit until about 3pm. Everyone is welcome.
Terry intends to start an upper mountains group. It will be at the Community Centre in Katoomba at a cost of $2 per meeting. He hopes to start in late February. The group will be a combination of chat and teaching/learning. It will be informal to start with and probably on a Saturday afternoon.
Terry proposed that when the convenor is doing a workshop we should have a stand-in to run the meeting. He has talked to Venetta who is happy to do this.
Merrin was asked about the Guild doing something for Flood Relief. There is talk of collecting yarn and accessories for those in Northern NSW who were affected by the floods. Merrin is monitoring this to see whether donations will be needed. Please let Merrin know if you know of any groups co-ordinating this. Merrin will get back to us id anything is needed.

WORKSHOP
Terry held a beginners’ introduction to Fair Isle workshop. He was very helpful in his instructions and everyone who attended learnt something.
Part two of Terry's Fair Isle workshop will be held at the February meeting.

Lois won the raffle.

2010 calendar

2010-12-27T08:16:00.002+11:00

Please note: This calendar is subject to change.
Please contact the convenor or email the blog author for confirmation.

16 January
Show and Tell and Problem Solving day

20 February
retail: Rex and Evelyn Reynolds Yarns
workshop: Double Knitting - Lynne

20 March
retail: The Wool Inn - Anita, featuring garments from Jo Sharp
workshop: Tunisian Crochet - Vicki

17 April
retail: The Wool Inn - Anita
workshop: crochet a special rug - Anita

15 May
retail: Lush Yarns - Michelle and Marie
workshop: slip stitch colourwork - Lynne

19 June
retail: Viginia Farm Woolworks - Jenny and Phillip Dunn
demonstration: needle felting

17 July
retail: Suzanne's House of Wool (hand dyed yarns and fibre) - Suzanne
all day workshop: colourwork and feral knitting - with Lynn Johnson $40 (members only)

21 August
all day workshop: Moebius Knitting - Jude Skeers $40 (members only)

18 September
retail: Wooldancer (hand-dyed and handspun yarns, and fibre) - Michelle Snowdon
workshop: different cast on techniques - Lynne

16 October
workshop: Colour Theory for Knitting - Fiona Donovan (Inner City group)
members' stash sale

20 November - Annual General Meeting
retail: Belisa Cashmere (yarn) - Bev Cooper

18 December retail: book sale - Keith Ainsworth
Christmas Party

December meeting 2010

2010-12-20T08:50:00.002+11:00

Executive News

Guild will be represented at craft shows at Rose Hill, Darling Harbour and Homebush. Veronica Moschione would like some help for the Rose Hill Craft Expo in March.
Guild is seeking original patterns in knit or crochet for books to be printed by the Guild to celebrate 25 years in 2011.
There are seven Guild Coffee Mugs available for sale and plenty of copies of The Australian Afghan book.
Guest speaker is needed for the AGM in March 2011. Any suggestions, please contact Merrin or Kate.
Guild’s Library list now available online.

Group News

If there are any books you would like purchased for our library please let Joanne know.
Joanne has put our library list on a USB and Kate is going to put it online. It will be available next month on http://www.librarything.com.au/.
Robyn Green, who started our group, has been nominated for lifetime membership. A supporting letter and nomination will be sent to the Guild Executive.
Fees for lace workshop in March (with Galena) must be paid to Vicki at January meeting

Other Knittting News

Scarf competition as part of the Rhythm of Life festival in Geelong in 2011. Contact Clare or visit the website: http://www.nwm.vic.gov.au/

Next Month

Workshop: colour work / Fair Isle Knitting with Terry; bring colours, no white or cream, 5ply is best and appropriate needles; part two of this workshop will be held in February

Reminder:

NSW Knitters' Guild Membership fees are due in January; membership forms can be downloaded from the Guild website.
Blue Mountains Group members: please let Ann (treasurer) know if you have renewed.

November meeting 2010

2010-11-30T09:20:00.001+11:00

The AGM of the Blue Mountains Group

All positions declared vacant and the of last AGM accepted.

Group Annual Report:

Merrin stepped down as convenor when elected President of the Guild.
Alison stepped in as convenor even though she was a new member.
We had workshops by Lynne on Double Knitting, Slip stitch Colourwork and Cast on Techniques; Vicki gave a workshop on Tunisian crochet. Many thanks, Lynne and Vicki. Anita and Bess from the wool Inn held a workshop on the Hungarian “stash eater” Rug .
We had two all day workshops. One from Jude Skeers on Moebius Knitting and one from Lynne Johnson on Feral Knitting and colorwork.
We had retail visits from The Wool Inn, Evelyn and Rex Reynolds, Lush Yarns, Virginia Farm Woolworks, Suzanne’s House of Wool, Wooldancer and Belisa Cashmere .
We held a stash sale and had many wonderful show and tell sessions.
Our member won prizes and exhibited at the RAS, Hawkesbury , St Ives , Blacktown and Castle Hill Shows.
Members participated in the Kurrajong Back-to-Back Challenge, Wrap with Love and WWKIP Day .

Group Executive

Convenor - Terry
Secretary - Diane
Treasurer - Ann

Other organisational volunteers

Workshop convenor - Vicki
Blog - Lynne
“Meet and Greet” - Rosie
Afternoon tea roster - Yvonne
Library - Jo

General Business

Jo will ring people to remind them that their library book is late; fee will be charged if book is more than two months late.
Our library will buy the 2 Loani Prior tea cosy books. As a group we will also buy a subscription to Rowan magazine and the English version of Burda magazine for our library.

Guild 25th anniversary

Knitted Leaves needed - Alison has pattern and silver yarn from which they are to be knitted.
There will be a display of the Guild members projects at the Craft and Quilt Show in June at Darling Harbour. The display will be in a glass front cabinet and silver leaves will connect all the displays. Leaves need to be done by March.
We need to enter a group photo and five examples of our group’s work to represent us. Terry volunteered to be our group representative. Display items need to be in by April. All members are invited to submit entries in February, the five items will be chosen by popular vote.

Membership Fees

Merrin has asked if at all possible we pay out annual subscription membership renewals by direct deposit or sending to Knitters Guild head office . The accounting shows us doubling up on income if we give them to Ann. If you do so please let Ann know that you have renewed.

Retail guest

Bev Cooper from Belisa Cashmere came to sell us her lovely yarns and patterns.
Bev has organized a visit to Australia by Galena, an expert in Orenburg Lace. We have accepted an offer to have Galena with us for the weekend 26th - 27th March 2011. The cost for the weekend will be $120 plus about $25 for materials. The group will cover the cost of rent.

Next month

Keith Ainsworth book sale - cash only
Please bring small plate of food for Christmas party

Reminder: Knitters' Guild of NSW Annual General Meeting

Saturday, 5th March, 2012, 11am: Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum, Harris Street, Ultimo.
Nominations are hereby called for the following positions and should be submitted in writing to the Returning Officer on the Nomination form, no later than Friday, January 28th, 2011.
President (1)

Vice President (2)

Secretary (1)
Treasurer (1)
Executive Committee Members (4)

October 2010 meeting

2010-10-31T11:51:00.001+11:00

Guild News

The second Guild crochet group will now be meeting at Epping on the 2nd Monday of the month from 12.30- 2.30 .

There will be a Lace Workshop on November 7th Sunday , from 10-4 with Smila Smithers. $40 for members $50 non-members . Contact Yvonne for details, which can also be found on the Guild website.

Next year’s camp at Kurri Kurri has been booked for the October long weekend. Helpers are needed by the executive for many tasks such as general administration and workshops. Please contact Eleanor if you can help.

St Ives Show approached the Guild and asked if a Guild group could take on some of the work for the show in May 2010. The group would help with work on the schedule, judging, be on-site for receipt of entries and displaying . We will contact Penrith show to see whether they would like this sort of collaboration with our group. Most people at the meeting agreed that they would like to be involved at this level. Alison will make the necessary contact

A member of the Guild has shown an interest to set up a new group in Castle Hill . Please contact Merrin if you know of interested people or possible venues.

The Guild requires tutors for workshops to various groups. Please contact the Standards Committee if you wish to teach a workshop.

The Guild requires a CPA with the expertise to audit their accounts . This will be an unpaid job for someone outside of the Guild. If you know of anyone who may volunteer, please contact Merrin.

Our Meeting

Merrin was welcomed on her official visit as Guild President.

Welcome to our visitors, Fiona, Rhonda and Diane. We hope you had a good time and will join us again.

It was a fairly quiet meeting as snow had been falling on the Mountains.

Fiona Donovan was to give a workshop on Colour Theory in Knitting but was unable to attend. Her hard drive was corrupted and all her notes and presentation were lost. She will reschedule for next year.

If you have any suggestions for workshops please contact Vicki Hughes as we need to finalize the 2011 workshop list next meeting so that it can be printed up and handed out for the December meeting.

Dates for your Diary

The Red Cow group meets on the 1st Sunday of the month at 1.30 upstairs at the Red Cow pub opposite Penrith station. Nice lunch and lots of laughs.

Emu Plains craft group meets on the 2nd and the 4th Wednesday at Emu Plains Community Centre opposite the Lennox Centre . Morning tea is provided.

Next month
AGM and a retail visit from Belisa Cashmere.
We have to finish early as the room is booked after us.
Afternoon tea roster is Shirley, Lois, Lynne and Meredith .

Vicki Hughes won the raffle.

September 2010 meeting

2010-09-30T11:23:00.018+10:00

Guild News

The meeting with the Easter Show Arts Committee has resulted in changes to the schedule to include new categories such as Intarsia, Young People, Tea Cosies and Accessories. The Guild will now work with the Arts Committee to continue work on the schedule and to help with the displays. There were complaints after some articles were damaged in this year’s show. A proposal was put up to have an after show meeting with feedback from Guild members about the Show.

The Guild’s Standards Committee are doing an in-house publication of hints and tips for the show.

There will be a second crochet group meeting on the 4th Monday of every month from 12.30 to 2.30 at Epping.

We have been advised that the Australian Defence Force no longer needs helmet liners . Alison will know more at the next meeting.

Our Meeting

Welcome to the visitors (Julie and Therese) from the West Ryde group. We hope you enjoyed our visit.

Alison will start a suggestion book that will be kept near the sign in book. Please write in any workshops or changes that you would like to see happen. One suggestion was to purchase more books for the group especially the two Loani Prior tea cosy books. Another was to get-together and make tea cosies to enter in the Morpeth show.

Congratulations to Joanne who won a prize at the Penrith Show. Joanne urged us all to enter next year .

Retail: We welcomed Michelle from Wooldancer who came to talk about her lovely spinning fiber and yarns. Her young daughter Alia showed us her handknits that won a prize at the Bendigo show. She made a hat a bag and a scarf from yarn that she spun herself.

Workshop: Our workshop was cast-on techniques with Lynne. Her guide was Montse Stanley's fabulous The Hand Knitter's Handbook. Lynne talked about the loop cast-on , two-stranded (long tail) cast-on and tubular cast on, and how to choose the right cast-on for your project. Thank you for another workshop Lynne. (Written by Diane)

Dates for your Diary

25th and 26th September: Alpaca show at Hawkesbury Race Course. There will be a spinning and knitting competition that Suzanne and Alison will be involved in. Petlins, Virginia Farm , Kurrajong and Springwood Spinning groups will all be there.

Next Month

For our October meeting we will have a stash sale and a talk from Fiona Donovan of the Inner City group on colour. We will also have an Official Visit from the Guild President. For the stash sale please bring your unwanted books and yarn to sell or give away.

The raffle was won by Janette. First Prize was a $25 gift voucher from The Wool Inn. Three balls of yarn were won by Vicki , Robyn and Clare.

Jude Skeers Workshop

2010-08-31T11:22:00.000+10:00

An all day workshop with Jude Skeers was held on Saturday 21st August. Jude was very gererous with his knowledge, expertise and gifts of "Moda Vera" yarn from Spotlight - thanks Jude.

We worked very hard learning all the techniques to create mobius knitting. The cast on proved very difficult for some but we all mastered it in the end. In the first part of the workshop we knitted a sample piece so that we could learn the techniques. After morning tea we cast on for the "real thing". Keeping an eye on increases and decreases was a challenge so there wasn't a lot of chatter in the room. No one finished their wrap before the end of the workshop so we look forward to seeing wraps in future meetings.

Thank you, Jude, for pushing us to to what we thought was impossible!

August 2010 meeting

2010-08-31T11:14:00.001+10:00

Guild News

There will be a lace knitting workshop held at the Epping Centre on a yet to be determined date. The tutor will be Smila Smithers. Please keep an eye on your newsletter or contact Yvonne (NSW Knitters' Guild) for further details.

Sally Ogilvie has been appointed as Publicity Officer for the Knitters' Guild of NSW. She will be responsible for promoting the Guild and its activities at craft shows and will handle media enquiries.

A new Guild group called South Village is being established in the Bundanoon area. New groups are looking at being set up in the Blacktown and Campbelltown areas. To start a new group you need 10 members. Anyone interested can contact Merrin. There is some discussion of this on the NSW Knitters Group on Ravelry.

In the last newsletter there was a pattern for caps for Australian Armed Forces. The Guild is in discussions at present as to whether these are suitable.

Camp organizers are required for next year’s Guild Camp at Kurri Kurri.

Please contact Kris at the Guild if you have any information for the Guild website such as patterns, workshops or charity knitting details.

Dates for your Diary
28 – 29 August: Signatur Knits open day; 99 Ballyshannon Rd Killarney Heights
Hours: Sat - 10am to 4pm; Sun - 1pm - 4pm
Up to 40% OFF - Discontinued Designs - Colours - Yarns - All sizes! All lengths! And a Guild discount.

"Show and Tell" was a big hit this month with Venetta as "Master pf Ceremonies". Those of us who missed it are very disappointed - please do it again Venetta!

Next Month

Lynne will be giving a workshop on different cast-on techniques. Please bring needles and 2 different coloured yarns as well as a crochet hook.
Michelle Snowdon from WoolDancer will be here to sell us fibre and yarn and talk about her business.
Afternoon tea will be provided by Monica, Alison , Sharne and Helen

The raffle was won by Shirley and three balls of Yarn Barn yarn were won by Lesley , Helen and Shirley .

Feral Knitting Workshop - Lynne Johnson

2010-07-31T11:01:00.000+10:00

On Saturday 17th July an all day Feral Knitting Workshop was held with Lynne Johnson as guest tutor. Everyone who attended had a fun time. Lynne has a way of drawing people to use skills they didn't realise they had and everyone produce a work of art without a pattern!

Thank you, Lynne, for your patience and inspiration.

July 2010 meeting

2010-07-31T10:37:00.044+10:00

Dates for your diary

24 July: Spotlight knitting party
7 August (9am - 3pm): private sale of knitting, cross-stitch, patchwork and dressmaking supplies in Castle Hill; email pamhoy@bigpond.com for more details
30 October: lace workshop with Smila Smithers at the West Ryde group - see Ally for more details

Kurrajong Back to Back Challenge raised $10,700 for breast cancer research.

Terry is teaching Knitting Level One at Katoomba, Tuesdays 10am-noon, for 8 weeks. Cost $164. Lessons at his home can be arranged.

We received an email from The Yarn Barn in Victoria offering us a sample pack of 27 balls of yarn (9 x 3 balls of each). These will be offered as raffle prizes. A response has been sent thanking them for the offer.

Retail: We welcomed Suzanne's House of Wool today. She had hand-dyed and handspun yarn and fibres for spinning available.

Next month
Afternoon tea roster: Margaret P, Meera V, Bev C, Marilyn B.
More volunteers are needed for coming months. Please speak to Ally.

All day workshop on Mobius knitting with Jude Skeers. Please bring interchangeable circular needles, 8, 10 or 12 ply yarn and 3 or 4 ply yarn. Bring your own lunch.

June 2010

2010-07-07T11:37:00.000+10:00

GUILD NEWS

Direct Deposit has now been approved for payment of membership fees. Please a copy of the deposit form with your membership form and put a reference of some sort, e.g. your name or member number, on the deposit form.

The Guild Ravlery Group now has 73 members.

Members of the Guild have access to advice from a professional conservator, Tamara Lavrencic, who works for The Historic House Trust of NSW and was the guest speaker at the 2101 AGM. Questions to her can be sent either via Ravelry or the Guild Website or via the post addressed to The Secretary Kate Venn at the Knitters Guild.

The Guild will appoint a Publicity Officer in the next few months. The PO will be responsible for all Guild publicity and to assist with media enquiries.

2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the Knitters’ Guild of NSW. There will be a double page spread regarding this in the next newsletter.

The display at next year's Stitches and Craft Show (June 2011) will be “Christmas in July”. A knitted Xmas dinner, including a turkey, will be featured. Volunteers are needed to knit silver leaves for this display. Yarn will be supplied. please leave your name with Ally if you can help. Members are also asked to supply objects of interest to display.

Because The Knitters’ Guild of NSW has a reciprocal agreement with The Spinners and Weavers Guild of NSW, members of one can attend the workshops of the other for member price. A list of workshops of the Spinners and Weavers Guild van be found at http://nsweave.org.au/

DEMONSTRATION

Jenny and Phil Dunne from Virginia Farm Woolworks were our guest retailers. Jenny gave a talk on needle felting, showing three different gauges of needles .The needles have small barbs at the end that tangle the fibres. The meanings of terms like roving and wool top were explained. Jenny recommends wool top as the best for needle felting .The coarser the fleece the easier and quicker the results will be. Needle felting is quick but not as fine as wet felting. You can make balls, teddies and flowers for brooches. Knitted garments can be decorated with needle felting. The longer you work it the more solid and finer the felt will be. Start with a coarse needle and slowly work your way down to a finer one.

Instructions for making a ball
Put a bell into a pill bottle and wrap the bottle in wool and start poking it with the needle to felt it. Be careful not to hit the bottle as the tips of the needle break easily. Work your way around so as to keep it a sphere. These can then be embellished by felting different coloured tops or commercial wool onto it. These balls are great for cats and small children as they tinkle when they roll.

Items available from Virginia Farm Woolworks
many coloured tops
needles in different gauges
a Wooden Needle Felting Handle which holds five needles ($29.95)
books on needle felting

RETAIL (Jenny Dunne in pink, Phil in background)

BACK TO BACK CHALLENGE
The teams at the Back to Back Challenge at Kurrajong didn't do as well as last year. From sheep’s back to finished jumper took 7 ½ hours this year as the fleece was very sticky from all the rain that we have had. Over $10,000 was raised for Breast Cancer research. The raffle prize was a hand-painted spinning wheel and was won by our convenor, Alison.

ADDITION TO THE LIBRARY
The NSW Knitters Guild Website Made Easy

SHOW AND TELL
This intarsia blanket was made after being inspired by a Liz Gemmell workshop . Judy brought this to show newcomerswhat the Guild can do for you.

RAFFLE
The raffle was won by Denise.

NEXT MONTH
All day workshop with Lynne Johnson on feral knitting and colour work starting at 9.30am. $40 per member and $50 for non-members. Please bring your own lunch. Morning and afternoon tea supplied.

Retail : Susanne's House of Wool selling hand dyed roving and yarns.

Afternoon tea: Robyn G, Robyn C, Denise and Stanis.
PLEASE NOTE: We need more volunteers for the next six month's roster

photo of our second youngest "member"

May meeting

2010-05-22T10:01:00.004+10:00

Executive Business:

A Ravelry Group is being set up for the Knitters Guild of NSW. It will have threads discussing events but not Guild business, please use the Guild website member login for that.

Next year the Guild is 25 years old. Ideas are being formulated as to celebrations. There will be a competition with prizes. There will be a formal dinner table presentation with all items hand knitted including a turkey. We will need volunteers to knit silver leaves by August. Alison will have more details at the June meeting as nothing is finalized yet.

Group News
A wool winder and a swift are now available during meetings. You are more than welcome to bring your skeins to the group and wind them.

Alison and Kris are setting up an email group for our group; please make sure that Alison has your correct email details.

Diary Dates

Sunday 6th June - Back to Back Challenge - 1665 Bells Line of Roads, Kurrajong from 8am till finished. One of our group, Suzanne, will be in the team again. It is a really good family day with exhibits, and items for sale.

Monday 7th June - annual ABC - "Wrap with Love" Knit In - ABC, Harris Street, Ultimo, from 7am Details can be found here. Other Knit In venues on 7th June are:
* Penrith Library 9.30am - 3pm (tea and coffee supplied). Bring 8 ply wool and needles.
* Springwood and Katoomba libraries 10am-noon
* Springwood Pool

Saturday 12th June - World Wide Knit In Public (WWKIP) Day - Abraham Mott Hall, The Rocks from 1.30 - 5.30 with loads of fun and raffles.

Thursday 17th June - WWKIP - Epping Library, 9am - noon.

16th - 20th June - Craft and Quilt Fair - Darling Harbour.
The theme for this year's Guild exhibit is "Christmas in July". If you want to contribute or help contact Veronica Moschione.

knitting for charity

Guardian Angel Knitting is a partnership between Guardian pharmacies and the Salvos. Spotlight is selling discount yarn to use in the making of sweaters for the charity. Details in a Guardian pharmacy or here. Knitting must be finished by 31st July 2010.

Local events:

The Red Cow group meets upstairs at The Red Cow Hotel opposite Penrith station from 1.30 - 4.00 on the first Sunday every month.

Penrith library has a Knit In on the first Monday of the month from 10 am.

Retail: Lush Yarn

Marie from Lush Yarn had a large selection of merino and merino/silk and cashmere blends. She was also selling buttons, shawl pins and books. Sadly, Marie will no longer be part of the Lush team; she has chosen to to spend more time with her boys. We wish her well.

Michelle from Lush Yarn will continue the website and clubs.

Workshop (written by Diane)

Lynne Byass gave a workshop on slip stitch colour work; another technique new to me. It is quite simple and effective once you get the hang of it. Lynne brought books and samples for us to look at. Very interesting, thank you Lynne.

Show and Tell

Forthcoming meetings and workshops

Next meeting Jenny Dunne from Virginia Farm Woolworks will give us a demonstration of needle felting. She will also have fibre, yarn and spinning tools for sale.

Vicki needs the money now for the Jude Skeers workshop in August and the Lynne Johnson workshop in July; $40 each please.

The raffle was won by Yvonne.

April meeting

2010-04-22T16:20:00.003+10:00

GUILD NEWS
The executive has asked that convenors all get a copy of each month’s minutes so that all groups will know what is happening in all the other groups in their Guild.

An official Knitters Guild Ravelry group, moderated by Redambition (Isabel) and KatieV (Kate), is to be established. It will be for discussion and announcements only. To join Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/, it is free and fun to use.

All official Guild business only be available (members only) on the Guild website http://www.knittersguild.org.au/. To join, email Kris Howard through the website who will email you a password.

The Secretary is seeking information about workshops that are being held throughout the Guild.

The Guild is holding a Moebius workshop 22 May and a baby jacket workshop May 29-30 at the Epping Community Centre.

Tutors are required for country groups. If you can help, please contact Kate Venn.

Free patterns are needed for the Guild website; if you have one that isn't a breach of copyright please contact Kris.

Sally Ogilvie has put together a list of charities and their requirements for knitting. This list is available on the Guild website. If you know of one that isn't listed, please let Sally or Kris know.

Epping Group is holding “the Biggest Morning Tea” on May 17th Monday at 10 am and will include a tea cosy competition.

Please check the Guild website for events held by other groups and feel free to visit them.

If you do not or have not received a newsletter, hardcopy or email, please contact the newsletter editor.

The largest Guild group is the Inner City with 61 members, we are second.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
National Alpaca week: 1-9 May. Many farms will be open to the public. Details are here www.hbmalpaca.com.au. Please contact Deb on 0408 868494 if you want to display alpaca garments or fibre or demonstrate knitting or spinning with alpaca.

Entries for the St Ives show will close on 7 May.

The Lawson Quilt and Fibre Arts Show is on 15-19 September. If you wish to enter items for sale or display, please contact Cheryl Adams 47591823.

GROUP NEWS
Our July workshop is with Lynn Johnson on feral knitting/colour work. Those attending need to pay Vicki $40 next month.

Merrin stood down as Group Convenor. She was thanked for all her hard work. Alison was nominated by Kate and seconded by Donna and elected unanimously as our new Convenor and will take over from next month.

OTHER NEWS
Sally Olgivie, PomPom on Ravelry and the face behind Winterwarm in Sydney and Sydney's Knit in Public Day, is in hospital having broken her hip in a fall. You can send get well wishes via her blog or Ravelry .

TODAY’S WORKSHOP

Bess and Anita from The Wool Inn tutored a workshop on crocheting the Hungarian rug. It is a great way to use up a stash of wool. The pattern is on Ravelry as the Wool Eater Blanket but it is easier if shown the techniques. Anita and Bess are happy for anyone to drop in at the shop if they need help. Quite a few of us made it to the 4th round and got the hang of it. Thank you both for your time and patience.

NEXT MONTH AT BLUE MOUNTAINS GROUP

Retail – Lush Yarns

Workshop - slip-stitch colour work; will be facilitated by Lynne. Please bring two balls of different coloured yarn and needles to go with that ply.

Afternoon tea will be provided by Maree, Vicki, Anne and Laurel.

RAFFLE

Two prizes:

Wool Inn Voucher won by Clair C

Lantern Moon Needles won by Marta (visitor)

March meeting

2010-03-26T17:45:00.008+11:00

Visitors, Angie, Kay and Laurel, were welcomed.
GUILD NEWS
Merrin is now president of The Knitters Guild of NSW
GROUP NEWS
Merrin is stepping down as our convenor. We wish to thank her for her years as convenor and secretary and wish her well in her new role.
Merrin visited the Southern Highlands group and has a copy of a very clever one piece slipper pattern from them. If you would like a copy please see Merrin.
There are two extra raffle prizes this month as Evelyn and Rex Reynolds donated two balls of wool at the last meeting.
More names are needed on the afternoon tea roster.

SHOW RESULTS
Blacktown Show
1st prize – Shawl – Merrin
Castle Hill Show
1st prize – Aran – Merrin

2nd prize – Handspun other than wool – bamboo – Suzanne

1st prize – Garment made of alpaca fiber – Suzanne
1st prize – Specimen of handspun alpaca – Suzanne
1st prize – Handmade article made from handspun yarn – Suzanne
1st prize – Specimen of fine handspun wool – Suzanne
Annual Show champion Spinning K1-K5 – Suzanne
Well done to the both of you.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

11 April – Up the M4 Ravelry knitting group are meeting at upstairs The Red Cow, Jane St Penrith, 1:30pm.
CANCELLED 14-18 April – The Stitches and Craft Show; Technology Park, Redfern. Sally will be collecting for Winter Warmers (hats for children in Afghanistan) at the Show Sunday 14th April only. Sally will also represent Winter Warmers at the in Show August at the Rosehill Racecourse.
17 July – workshop – Lynne Johnson – Feral knitting – all day; $40 for members; money must be paid at the April meeting.
21 August – workshop – Jude Skeers – Moebius knitting – all day; $40 for members; money must be paid at the April meeting.
17 September – The Lawson Public School P&C Art and Craft Show; submissions of work in knitting, crocheting, quilting and/or felting for exhibition and sale are invited. Please contact Cheryl Adams 47591823 if interested.
16 October – Members’ Annual Stash Sale; clean out your cupboards and bring unwanted fibre, yarn and books.

RETAIL VISIT
Anita from The Wool Inn showed us this year’s Jo Sharp designs. They are quite versatile. Cardigans that can be worn two ways, bustiers and coats. We can try them on and look at them in her store until the end of March.

WORKSHOP

Vicki taught us how to use our strange-looking Tunisian crochet hooks. They look like a crocket hook on the ned of a straight knitting needle. Each participant was given individual attention so that we got the hang of this strange technique. It makes quite a thick fabric that would be ideal for towels and face washers. Thank you Vicki for an interesting and informative workshop.

NEXT MONTH

Anita will be teaching us how to make a very special Hungarian rug. You need to bring 5 different colours of 8 ply yarn and a 5mm crochet hook . To finish the rug you need approx 20 balls of yarn. Anita recommends yarn made of wool for this rug and has kits of colourways in the store for $80.

Afternoon tea will be provided by Lynne, Susan, Merrin and Rosalin.

SHOW AND TELL

RAFFLE RESULTS

Wool Inn voucher - Annette

skein of wool - Merrin and Judy

We start them young at the Blue Mountains group!

February 2010

2010-03-08T23:50:00.002+11:00

GUILD NEWS

Merrin circulated copies of Guild correspondence relating to the AGM and elections. Included was the letter of resignation from Jenny Chioatto in protest of the way the Executive treated nominations. Nominations were called for last year to be with the returning officer by January 28 2010. On the form it stated that nominator and nominee must be full financial members. The dispute is about WHEN you must be financial. It states at the date of nomination on the form. When the nominations were put to the executive it was decided that four were not valid due to lack of membership renewal by January 29th. The returning officer is entitled by law to notify those with irregularities so that they may be fixed. This did not happen. The Executive voting on this matter is considered to be a conflict of interest. We have submitted as a group a letter of our concern over this matter. It is hoped that 2010 will be one of review to clear up any anomalies so that this will not happen again. All are welcome to come to the AGM.

The Knitters' Guild of NSW AGM will be held on March 6th 2010 at the Target Theatre in The Powerhouse Museum at 11.00.

All members of the Guild are encouraged to use the official Knitters Guild website. To access all forums contact Kris Howard and she will get straight back to you with a password. The address for the website is http://www.knittersguildnsw.org.au/

GROUP NEWS
Congratulations to Susan and Damien on the birth of their son, Benjamin.

Vicki is taking names for the July and August workshops. Monies will have to be paid in advance. Limit for Jude Skeers workshop is 10 and the Feral Knitting workshop is 15.

Suzanne will purchase a ball winder and swift for members; use at group meetings.

Additions to the library: Knitting Fashion and Glorious Knitting.

The Blacktown Show was on the same weekend as the February meeting and Merrin entered knitting.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Castle Hill show entries close Friday 26th February , the show is on 12th-14th March.
The Stitches and Craft show which was to have been held in February has been postponed. It will now be held 14th-16th April at the Technology Park at Redfern.
The Craft Expo will be on at The Dome, Olympic Park; 11th-14th March.
Textile Fibre Forum; Orange; 11th-17th April. Many retail stalls will be there. Fleece and yarn, books and buttons, etc. 9-5 each day. There are still vacancies in Liz Gemmell's class if anyone is interested.
Berry Muster - first weekend in July

AT THE FEBRUARY MEETING

We had a visit from Rex and Evelyn Reynolds. They showed us the latest in sock wool. Evelyn showed many of the hand knitted blankets she had made over the years. She has the yarn and pattern to make log cabin square blankets on which she is now working.

Lynne presented a workshop in Double Knitting that was fun and educational. As always Lynne explained it all very clearly. Many of us had never heard of this technique before. (report from Diane)

There was a great variety in Show and Tell - socks, blankets, lace in progress, scarves and garments from mitred squares.

The raffle was won by Robyn.

NEXT MONTH

Anita from The Wool Inn will visit and will bring some garments from Jo Sharp.
Vicki will conduct a workshop in Tunisian crochet. Please bring a Tunisian crochet hook and yarn. The hook will need to be a couple of sizes bigger than you would normally use for that yarn. That is, for 8ply bring a 6mm hook. Tunisian crochet hooks are avaialbe from The Wool Inn.

January 2010

2010-01-27T08:43:00.003+11:00

GUILD NEWS

Membership is due by 28 February 2010. Blue Mountains group members are invited to pay the convenor who will then write a cheque for the Guild.
Some groups are trialling Direct Deposit to the Guild account, if it goes well then it will be implemented across all groups.
The Knitters' Guild of NSW Annual General Meeting will be held in the Target Theatre at the Powerhouse Museum on Saturday 6 March at 11am. Nominations have been received for executive positions and members are reminded that they must be financial members and present at the AGM to vote.

GROUP NEWS

A swift and a wool winder are to be purchased for use at meetings only.
If anyone is doing the Guild Achievement Certificates, please bring your work to future meetings so it can be seen and admired.
If you need assistance with any knitting problem, please don't hesistate to ask. There is very likely to be someone here who can help.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

3 February: online entries for the RAS Easter Show close. Entry fee is $10 per item.
10-14 February 2010: The Rosehill Craft Fair. Winterwarmers (Sally) will be at the Fair on the top level on Sunday only. You can donate to Winterwarm or just knit something at the knit bar. All items for Winterwarm must be wool.
Please note that this event has been postponed and will now be held 17-18 April at Sydney Technology Park.
19-21 February: Blacktown Show Entry fee is $2 per item and if you enter 5 items you can get into the show for free. Items can be deposited at the show on the Monday and Tuesday (16th and 17th) between 5 and 8pm. The show is held at Blacktown Showground on the corner of Richmond and Balmoral Road. Merrin has entry forms. They didn't have many entries in last years show so please consider entering.
12-14 March: Castle Hill Show
23-25 April: Hawkesbury Show

NEXT MONTH

afternoon tea - Margaret S, Noreen, Venetta and Lesley
printed copies of our calendar will be available
workshop: double knitting - please bring two different colours of yarn in the same weight (eg 8ply) and the appropriate straight or circular needles for your yarn. Yarn may be natural or synthetic fibres.

2009 Calendar

2009-12-31T15:52:00.002+11:00

Please note: This calendar is subject to change.
Please contact the convenor or email the blog author for confirmation.

21 February
crochet workshop [Mavis]

21 March
display: knitted and crochet quilts [Ruth]
talk: the National Quilt Register [guest: Tracey Greenway]

18 April
retail: The Wool Inn [Anita]
workshop: perspective in quilts [Ruth]

16 May
retail: Rex and Evelyn Reynolds
talk: Evelyn Reynolds

20 June
retail: Virginia Farm Woolworks [Jenny]
talk: the 'knitternet' with Kris Howard [Guild webmaster]

18 July
Signatur Knits with Jane Spicer-Smith

15 August
workshop: special guest Jenny Dowde - freeform style knitting
all day workshop, $40 head [members]

19 September
talk: judging and Guild certificates [Faye Elsworthy & another Guild member]
Stash sale: bring any yarn, books or accessories you want to sell or swap

17 October
workshop: knitting socks [Lynne]
all day workshop

21 November
retail: Belissa Cashmere
talk: Bev Cooper [guest]

19 December
retail: Ainsworth books [cash only]
One Skein challenge
Christmas party

December meeting

2009-12-28T12:53:00.003+11:00

We welcomed visitors from Ainsworth books and Annemarie Huttermann selling handspun yarn and spinning fibre.
The one skein challenge was held with many great entries. The prize, a $50 Wool Inn voucher was won by Rosie Phillips for her fingerless mitts.

GUILD NEWS

Reminder: The AGM will be held in March at the Powerhouse Museum.
Whether members can postal vote has not yet been decided.
The Corporations Act, which has meant some changes to our Constitution, may not be changed in time for changes to the Constitution to be voted at during 2010 AGM.
Members have been invited to submit an entry to a Tea Cosy Garden Exhibition to be held at Bundora Homestead (Victoria) from 6-30 May 2010. Enquiries 0411 604 435

GROUP NEWS

Merrin has copies of a document on storing collections in high bushfire risk areas. Please see Merrin if you want a copy.
Four books have been donated to the library. They are:
Easy Beaded Knits
Crochet for Baby Dolls
Luxury Knits
Knitted Trims
The purchase of a swift and ball winder and blocking wires for the use of our group is still being pursued.

The raffle was won by Merrin.

Our next meeting is 16th January, 2010.
Afternoon Tea will be provided by Diane, Suzanne, Joanne and Meredith.

Enjoy this photo of newest "member": Chiara.

November meeting

2009-11-28T12:22:00.022+11:00

We welcomed visitors: Sally, from the Inner City Group; Bev Cooper from Belisa Cashmere and the ladies of the Uniting Church.

GUILD NEWS

From 2010 a membership fee of $30 will apply to all members, city or country. Junior membership $15 and family $45.
Credit card payments have not been sorted out yet. Blue Mountains members can pay individually by cheque, make a direct deposit to the Guild account (Merrin has the details) or pay The Treasurer who will then write a cheque for a bulk payment from the group. In any case, members will need to complete the renewal form from the next newsletter. If paying through the group or by direct deposit, please give it to Merrin.
To enable The Guild to save money, please consider receiving your newsletter online. To do this, please email the email the newsletter editor and let her know.
Submissions for the Guild AGM (March 2010) must be received no later than two months before the meeting.
All nominations for Executive positions must be made by January 29th 2010.
The AGM will be held at the Target Theatre at the Powerhouse Museum at 11am on Saturday 6 March 2010 . The guest speaker will be Tamara Lavrencic, a conservation expert from the Historic Houses Trust of NSW . She will be discussing the care and conservation of treasured items such as photographs, silverware and documents .

GROUP NEWS

Welcome to new members to the Blue Mountains Group: Helen, June and Mark.
Merrin and Diane attended the Love Lawson Festival on November 14th and manned a stall for the Guild. We had many enquiries about our group and learning to knit classes. The Festival was small this year as it clashed with the Kurrajong Small Farms Day and the Glenbrook Festival.
We would like to start a beginners group and introduce a help session at each meeting . If you have a problem mention it at the beginning of our meeting and then if someone there knows the answer they will come and help you.

BLUE MOUNTAINS GROUP ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The minutes from last year were taken as read .
All positions were declared vacant and descriptions of the positions given.
Convenor's Report:
We have approximately 65 members.
We have had workshops this year on perspective with Ruth, crochet with Mavis, sock knitting with Lynne and freeform knitting with Jenny Dowd.
We held a stash sale, a one skein challenge and had many wonderful Show and Tell sessions.
We have had many special visitors including Tracey Greenaway who talked to us about quilts, Kris Howard who gave us insight into the Knitternet, Jenny Dowde who taught freeform knitting and Faye Elsworthy who talked us through the requirement for achievement certificates and show judging.
We have had visits from the following retailers, Anita from the Wool Inn, Rex and Evelyn Reynolds, Jenny Dunn from Virginia Farm Woolworks, Jane Slicer-Smith from Signatur knits and Bev Cooper from Belissa Cashmere.
Many of our members contributed charity knitting to Wrap with Love and the Winterwarm project.
Our members have entered and won prizes at the Hawkesbury, St. Ives, Castle Hill and Royal Easter shows.
Some of the Blue Mountains members represented the Guild at the World Record Knitting with channel 7, the Love Lawson Festival, the Darling Harbour show, the Kurrajong Back-to-Back Challenge, World Wide Knit In Public (WWKIP) Day, the Stitches and Craft show at Rosehill, the Mudgee Muster, The 702 Knit-In and the Small Farms Expo.
Elections
Convenor: Merrin
Secretary: Diane
Treasurer: Ann
Volunteers
Workshops: Vicki
Library: Jo
Afternoon Tea: Yvonne
Blog: Lynne

A huge thank you to Marie for our delicions chocolate 10th Birthday cake which was cut by the founding members and enjoyed by members and visitors.

Raffle winner: Ann D.

Next month

Please bring a small plate of food to share for our Christmas party.

Ainsworth books will be here – strictly cash only.

Don’t forget the one skein challenge.

Sock Workshop, October 2009

2009-10-25T09:19:00.000+11:00

text and photos contributed by Diane

The sock knitting workshop was a great success in the hands of a very capable teacher, Lynne (pictured here with the sock we were going to knit). We had visitors from the Up the M4 Ravelry group and the West Ryde group, about twenty-five participants in all. Marie from Lush Yarn supplied yummy candy for us all. We learned how to do a tubular or invisible cast on, knit in the round on our choice of needles, create a heel flap using slipped stitches, turn a heel, create a heel gusset, create a toe and graft using Kitchener stitch. Most finished one small sock and everyone learned something new. There was a lot of laughter and everyone thought it a success. Shown here is a photo of Diane's completed sock as a Christmas ornament.

October 2009

2009-10-25T09:01:00.007+11:00

EDITED TO CHANGE SOME INFORMATION RE DIARY DATES - apologies to Stitches and Craft Show for publishing misinformation.

Visitors were welcomed; those from the West Ryde group acknowledged by name.

Two new members of the Blue Mountains group were acknowledged – welcome Olga and Karen.

BABY NEWS
Clare has given birth to a baby girl, born two months early, named Ciara (pronounced Keera).

NEWS FROM THE GUILD

Renewal forms will be in the next newsletter. The form is slightly changed. The next executive meeting will decide on the new fees format; that is, whether fees will remain split between city and country members or whether a flat fee will be charged. The final decision will be announced in the next newsletter.
The workshop convenor would like to know who is available in each group to teach and what they can teach. She wants to set up a group of people that can travel to various groups to do workshops. Travel expenses will be paid.
The changes to the constitution have been delayed. This is due to changes being made by the Office of Fair Trading. The changes will now be voted on at the 2011 AGM.
The Friendship Book of Knitting was originally published by the Ku-Ring-Gai group. It is now out of print and will not be reprinted. The Guild library owns one copy.
The President's report sends a thank you to our group for the hospitality shown to our Executive visitors at the last meeting.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

26 October 2009 entry forms for Sydney Royal Agricultural Show available
13 – 14 November 2009: Small Farms Expo Clarendon; the Black and Coloured Sheep Society will be there selling fleeces and hand dyed yarn. Suzanne’s House of Wool will be there.
14 November 2009: Love Lawson Festival will be held at the Lawson Community Centre; 10am – 3pm. We will have a stall to promote the Guild and chat to interested people about what we do. Volunteers (Diane, Kate, Denise, Rosie and Merrin) are asked to bring a chair and be there at 9am. Thank you for volunteering. Other members will be welcome.
10 - 14 February 2010: Stitches and Craft Show at Rosehill. "Winterwarmers" will be there. Anyone wanting to contribute hand-knitted woollen clothing for the children of Afghanistan can donate there or at Rosehill in August.
11 - 14 March 2010: Craft Expo at Olympic Park.
16-20 June 2010: Quilt and Craft Fair at Darling Harbour
18 - 22 August 2010: Stitches andCraft Show at Rosehill. Winterwarmers will be at this show - donations of woollen clothing for children in Afghanistan gratefully accepted.

Members are once again encouraged to find out when your local agricultural Show is held and submit knitted or crochet items for exhibition. In this way we help to keep our craft in the public eye.

We have a few ideas for spending our surplus this year they include a wool winder, a swift and a blocking kit. All items will be kept in the library cupboard for use here; that is they may not be taken home.

Monica has offered to help anyone doing their achievement certificates as she has completed hers.

FUTURE MEETINGS
November:
Annual General Meeting and our group’s 10th birthday with a cake by Marie from Lush Yarns.
Retail: Belisa Cashmere will be here to tempt us with yarns and kits.

December: one skein challenge – knit or crochet anything from one skein [any size]; members will vote for their choice and the winner of the most votes will be given a $50 gift certificate from The Wool Inn (Penrith).
Ainsworth Books will be here with a selection of knitting books – cash only.
No afternoon tea roster that month; members are asked bring a small plate of food to share for our Christmas party.

The raffle was won by Kate (BM group).

September 2009

2009-09-27T09:32:00.005+10:00

We welcomed visitors from the Executive of the Knitters' Guild of NSW: Carolynn Murtagh [president], Fay Elsworthy and Eleanor Goldfinch; Marie from Lush Yarns; and guests Meredith, Shirley and Helen. We hope we will be seeing you again soon.

NEWS FROM THE GUILD

There are proposed changes to the fee structure for membership to the Guild. The current structure stands at anyone having a phone number starting with 8 or 9 pays city rates; everyone else pays country rates. Input is requested from all members as to what they consider to be a fair system. You can reply to the Secretary at this address: PO Box 460 Epping NSW or on the website. Members are encouraged to have their say.
A list of the changes to the constitution will appear in the next newsletter. They can also be viewed at our meetings. Please speak to Merrin. We are waiting on details from the Department of Fair Trading before the changes can be finalised. They will not affect the general day to day running of the Guild.
We still require many more hints and tips for the Guild anniversary book, please see Merrin .
There are still places available for the Guild camp in October, three days of eating, sleeping and knitting plus some great workshops. Look at your newsletter for further details.

KNITTING NEWS

We received a letter from Sally Olgivie to thank our group for its donation to the Winterwarm Project. 191 items were collected in Sydney this year. The organisers of the Rosehill Craft show paid for these items to be transported to Melbourne from where they will be shipped to the children in Afghanistan.

The Love Lawson Fair will be held Saturday 14th November, 9am-3pm. This year it does not clash with our meeting. We will be having a stall to show people what we do and interest them in knitting and crochet. Please see Merrin if you would like to help.

Rubi and Lana knitting shop has moved to Berry on the south coast.

Fairfield City Museum is holding a textile exhibition from 29th September to 11th October at the Horsley Drive Fairfield.

17th October - all day sock workshop, 10am-4pm. Blaxland Neighbourhood Centre/Library. Please bring your own lunch. Morning tea is provided and the workshop is free. You will learn how to knit in the round including invisible cast on, knitting tubes with two circulars or dpns or magic loop or straight needles, turning a flap heel and grafting a toe (kitchener stitch). You will need to bring some 8 ply yarn, needles of your choice, a wool sewing needle, scissors, lunch and a sense of adventure. If you are a non-member and would like to attend, please contact the blog author at ellebee57@hotmail.com.

Next month afternoon tea roster: Claire, Dorothy, Desley and Judy.

The raffle was won by Suzanne.

JUDGING AND ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATES
After the formal meeting, Fay Elsworthy gave an interesting talk on judging at shows and the Guild achievement certificates. Thank you Fay, your talk so was interesting and informative; we all enjoyed it very much, Here is some of what she told us:

Did you know that the word clue is derived from the word clew which means a ball of yarn?

EXHIBITING AT SHOWS
If your item makes it to the showcase, even if it has not won a prize at least it was not discarded. If you want to be a judge you should have experience in entering things in a show. Fay encouraged everyone to enter our local shows to get that experience and to keep our craft alive. Many judges will write a comment on your entry. This is not to criticise but to encourage you to look at different techniques and/or to join the Guild. Judges may take an observer who wishes to learn to be a judge; that person must have successfully completed the achievement certificates.

Judges and entrants will receive the Show Schedule weeks before the show. Read it and become familiar with it.

The RAS is different to country shows, in that there are two knitting judges and a crochet judge. There are usually two stewards to assist with the judging, they remove all entered items that are not to schedule before the judging starts. The RAS will not allow entries made more than 2 years ago, or entries that that have been worn or that have been washed.

You can wet block an item but you may not use any detergent product on the garment. This is why it is very important for both entrants and judges to read the schedule carefully.

Sometimes at a smaller show the head steward will allow you to move an item if you think that it should have been entered in another category but this will not happen at the RAS. When judging at the RAS the steward will bring one class at a time for judging. Items are looked at inside and out and divided into three piles: probable, possible and reject. The judges then go through the possible and probable piles again to recheck. Then finally the judges go through the probable items one more time. What will stand out will be the tension and the finishing off. The judges have no time limit and will take their time because careful judging is important. Personal preferences in colour and style must be left aside. If judges consider that nothing entered is worthy of a first then no first prize needs to be awarded. Judges are looking for something that you could not purchase but doesn't look home made. Handmade NOT homemade.

What are judges looking for?

the item is in the right category
the techniques* used such as: picking up stitches, shoulder shaping (hint: use a three needle bind off)are suitable and well done
the seams are checked at the neck, sides and sleeves. All loose threads must be darned in.
whether the material used is suitable for the pattern and that the trimmings used are suitable; this is particularly so in baby garments.
evenness of tension
buttonholes and button bands are checked for evenness
The judges are always looking for something different, the WOW factor.

*Techniques such as: picking up stitches, shoulder shaping (hint: use a three needle bind off), seaming (use mattress stitch and match all patterns), blocking

blocking
Block all your pieces before assembling the garment, spray with water and pin the pieces, never iron them, and then leave them to dry naturally. This will make the stitch definition much better.
dealing with ends
Make sure that you sew or weave in all your threads or Russian splice when knitting to avoid more threads.
entering an original design
If you are entering an original design then you must enter your graph and all design workings with the garment. Do not modify someone else's pattern a call it your own.

Finally always attach a label with your entry.

ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATES:
Cost $7.50 each for Certificate I and Certificate II and $15 for Certificate III, this covers the photocopying and postage. Merrin has a sheet with all the details . You can ring or write to Fay with a cheque or money order and the certificate syllabus will be sent to you. A certificate and a pass level (pass, credit, distinction) are awarded at the end of each syllabus.
Stage I - Tension ladders and squares using different yarn weights and needle sizes. One garment is completed and the techniques covered include short row shaping, picking up stitches and casting on and off.
Stage II - more research required at this level. Samples are required but it is not as structured as stage one. A pair of socks or gloves will be completed.
Stage III - History research, you can do all techniques or just one in the categories of Aran, Fair Isle, Gansey, Traditional or Shetland Lace.

August meeting

2009-08-26T16:10:00.003+10:00

Knitters' Guild of NSW Executive Business

A bus trip to Morpeth (an historic town near Maitland) will be held on August 30th to see the Morpeth Tea Cosy challenge. Cost is $40 including lunch. For more information email elaindewey@optusnet.com.au
The Guild constitution is being amended. Please see Merrin if you have any ideas or suggestions.
The Guild is in the process of setting up a merchant account.
The Guild Camp to be held on Oct long weekend still has some vacancies. The Prudence Mapstone elective is booked out.
A list of knitting hints and tips for the Guild's book is still being compiled. Please give your contributions to Merrin
The Guild website has an open letter written by the president Carolyn Murtagh regarding membership costs and amending the fee structure. Please have a look.
If you have not yet set up a logon and would like one, please contact Kris Howard.

Blue Mountains group

The emergency contact list is being compiled by Merrin. Please give her the necessary details if you have not already done so.
Five new members welcomed to the Blue Mountains group: Natalie N., Carolyn A., Michelle C., Iris S. and Rosalin D.
The Blue Mountains Group submitted 29 squares to the ABC Knit-In ,they were taken in by Merrin. Many members donated at various venues. Suzanne did a blanket of 35 squares. Lynne donated four full wraps [a total of 112 squares] to the Western Sydney Institute of TAFE collection for Wrap with Love.
The afternoon tea roster needs volunteers, please give your name to Merrin.
We have spare funds; the suggestion was made by Donna that we buy a swift and ball winder for the use of the group. This will be kept in the library cupboard and will not be made available to be taken home.
Merrin has all the archives of our group organised into yearly folders. We started in 2000 so this year is our 10th birthday. The first meeting November 1999 at Robyn Green's house. The first official meeting was February 2000. We will have a birthday cake for our November meeting.
Vicki has 2 copies of Spin Control for $24 each from Interweave. She also has the brochure for the new Jane Slicer-Smith book.
The raffle was won by Karen.

Dates of Upcoming Events

19-23 August - Stitches and Craft Show - Rosehill Gardens; Winterwarm items are being collected on Sunday August 23rd.
30 August - bus trip to Morpeth to see the Morpeth Tea Cosy challenge. Cost is $40 including lunch. For more information email elaindewey@optusnet.com.au
until 11 October - exhibition of Silk Ikats - the Art Gallery of NSW

Next month

stash sale: please bring in any yarn or books that you want to sell or donate.
Fay Elsworthy will be here to talk to us about achievement certificates and judging at shows.
Afternoon tea roster: Janette S, Rosie, Michelle and Natalie.

Workshop
A wonderful all-day workshop in freeform (also known as scrumbling) was held by Jenny Dowde. Jenny has published three books and was a very generous in sharing her knowledge and experience with the workshop participants. She also very generously made several samples of her work available for us to admire and touch and encouraged us at intervals to refer to them. Unfortunately no photos were taken as all participants were too engrossed in knitting and/or crocheting to take photos. Thank you Jenny for a fun, well-taught and inspiring workshop.

July meeting

2009-07-26T15:26:00.002+10:00

Welcome to visitors to our meeting this month.

Knitters' Guild of NSW news

The Guild's constitution is being rewritten to bring it into line with the Corporations Act. Any submissions/comments are to be made to the covennor [Merrin] or contact Sally Ogilvie. All changes will be made at the AGM next March.
Please give your emergency contact details to Merrin. An energency contact list for all Blue Mountains members will be kept at the back of the sign on book.
Please also check your contact details - phone number and email address - are current.
The Guild is in the final stages of setting up a merchant account for credit card payments to the Guild.
More knitting hints and tips are needed for the anniversary book. Please leave them with Merrin.
An asset register is to be compiled so that the Guild will know what all groups hold, this way groups may be able to borrow from each other for exhibitions.
The Guild website has a log on members only section . To join email Kris Howard and she will give you a password. Merrin puts up information for our group at this site.

Dates of upcoming events

July 25th - Spinners and Weavers Guild NSW annual open day - St Pauls Burwood; 9.30-3.30
August 5th - Knit In for Wrap with Love - Penrith: in the empty shop opposite The Wool Inn 9.30 - 1.30 (coffee and tea supplied)
August 7th - Knit In for Wrap with Love - ABC building in Ultimo from 7am; also 10 am at Penrith, Windsor and Blackheath libraries.
August 15th and 16th - Moebius workshop at Epping. Contact June Maddick at the Guild
August 19-23Stitches and Craft Show Rosehill Racecourse; admission $10

Winterwarmers - Stitches and Craft Show; donations of warm children's clothing for Afghanistan*

September 20th - Hornsby Bushland Festival - Fagan Park Galston: organic produce, quality arts and crafts

October long weekend - Guild camp at Kurri Kurri

*If you can't make it and want to donate please bring your finished articles to the August meeting and Merrin will pass them on.

Blue Mountains group

More names for the afternoon tea roster for the next 4 months. Volunteers please.
Next month's workshop with Jenny Dowde will go ahead as planned. It is an all day workshop in Room B and starts at 9.30. Morning tea is provided. $40 fee, bring your own lunch. Vicki has space for another two or three so please contact her if you are interested. Bring as many colors as you want and needles to suit your yarn. DK or lighter is preferable. Any questions to Vicki Hughes.

Presentation

Jane Slicer-Smith was our guest retailer. She gave a slide presentation about her company, Signatur Knits, which sells knitting kits and finished garments. It was a very interesting talk about how she got started at art school in the U.K., how she ended up in Australia and started her business at a stall in Paddington markets. She has a background in design working with many of the U.K. woollen mills. She has a team of knitters who produce the finished goods for her. We saw a sneak preview of her new book due to be released later this year. She modelled many of her designs and explained how she designed to suit a figure. Jane showed us many design tricks that make the finished garment much more flattering. We then had a chance to try on garments for ourselves and buy finished or kits and yarns.

The raffle was won by Lynne and Vicki.

Afternoon tea next month: Monica, Anne, Yvonne and Marie.

June 2009

2009-06-27T10:16:00.006+10:00

We had a visit from members of The Inner City Group including Lyn, Margarita, Lee, Rose, Fran and Kris. They invited us to join them at their meetings at Customs House library 2nd floor, 11am 2nd Saturday every month. A special welcome was given to Kris, the Guild Webgoddess,who came to talk to us about the internet and its knitting uses. We also had two local visitors, Sue and Elizabeth.

Our retail guest was Virginia Farm Woolworks who brought many lovely yarns and spinning goodies to tempt us.

Guild News

The new membership forms are green. If you have any that are another color they are out of date so please dispose of them. New forms are available from Merrin or at the Knitters Guild website.

A Special General Meeting of the Guild was held last month to discuss the changes to the constitution put forward by Vishna to deal with the Guild collection. 43 people attended. After much debate the motion was lost, 28 votes to 15.

The constitution will be looked at during the next Executive meeting as changes to the Act under which the Guild operates will be enacted this year. Any input to the process should be addressed to the Guild. Information on how to do this will be in the next newsletter and on the website.

The last Executive meeting discussed the possibility of the use of credit cards to pay for membership, as yet nothing has been decided. Merrin will do a bulk Blue Mountains membership at the end of the year. Anyone who wishes to do so may pay our treasurer then a group cheque will be sent to the Guild with all our renewal forms.

Hints and Tips for knitting and crochet are still needed by the Guild for their 25 year anniversary book . Please pass on any ideas to Merrin.

If you want to chat on the Guild website message board please contact Kris and she will organise a password for you.

Clare Hacker, the newsletter editor, would like to know if anyone wishes to receive the newsletter via email rather than post. Please email Clare to let her know you want to have an electronic newsletter. Her address is newsletter@knittersguildnsw.org.au.

There is an ad in the latest newsletter for a workshop convener. Anyone who is interested please see Merrin or the Guild website.

The Knitters Guild Annual camp will be held at Kurri Kurri on the long weekend in October. Places are available for the whole weekend or just one day. There are many workshops to choose from including socks on two circulars. Details will be in the newsletter or you can see Merrin.

Dates of interest:

Fairfield City Museum has an exhibition called A Conversation With Rain which features new and innovative textile artworks that address environmental issues. It runs until July 5.

June 24 - 28: The North Shore Craft group are holding an exhibition and sale at the Kuring-gai Town Hall

20 September: The Hornsby Bushland Festival - lots of stalls

Events past

Suzanne reported on the Back-to-Back Challenge held last month at Kurrajong. Monica has all the press releases if anyone wants to read them. A team of seven plus one shearer have to shear, spin and knit a sweater for a man in less than 8 hours. Fourteen teams worldwide compete every year. Tocal won this year in 6 hours, 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Suzanne said they had a good turnout and a good day was had by all.
A fast knitter is required by one of the teams. Please see Monica for further information.

Jo-anne went on The Mudgee Muster bus trip. It was not what she expected, she thought that it would be lots of animals, but it was lots of local fiber and crafts in a hall. She said that it was great and they all had dinner with the Mudgee group. A very enjoyable weekend.

WWKIP Day was held at Lawson with about 7 knitters at the 2FD Cafe, a lovely afternoon. The Inner City held theirs at Darling Harbour with about 80 people attending.

The first World Knitting record was held in Martin Place. New Idea organized 256 knitters, gave them all a bag of goodies including pink wool and bamboo needles and they all sat and knitted for twenty minutes. The squares that were knitted are to be donated to the Prince of Wales Hospital to be made into rugs for patients. Pictures to be in the next New Idea.

Upcoming meetings

Please volunteer for the afternoon tea roster - spaces exist from August to the end of the year. Afternoon tea for next month will be provided by Vicki, Donna, Penny and Kate.

Next month Jenny Spicer-Smith will be visiting. She has a presentation and amazing sweater kits for sale.

In September we will be holding our stash sale. Bring in any yarn or books that you want to sell or give away.

August's all day workshop with Jenny Dowde is short on numbers, please contact Vicki if you want to participate $40 per person. Non-members please contact the convenor for information or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Workshop
Our talk from Kris, the Webgoddess, was relaxed and very informative. It included security issues when buying online, the basics of blogs and how to use Ravelry. She explained RSS feeds [helpful if there are blogs you wish to read regularly] and how to set up a Ravelry page. We were given a handout listing internet sites of interest to knitters.

The meeting concluded with Show and Tell with many varied and interesting items finished or in progress.

A voucher from The Wool Inn [Penrith] was won by Lynne and a pack of wool [donated by Evelyn and Rex Reynolds] was won by Mavis.

May 2009

2009-05-24T16:14:00.004+10:00

Visitors and an new member, Carol, were warmly welcomed to the group.

Evelyn and Rex Reynolds visited us to show us new patterns and trends and tempt us to buy yarn. It was their 50th wedding anniversary and they were celebrating by visiting us and then having a family dinner in Canberra. Evelyn showed us what is new and interesting in yarn. She had a hat pattern made on the diagonal from multi-colored yarn that was really lovely.

She also brought along a felted shawl that she had purchased at the Bega Wool Festival. It was knitted and felted [technically this is known as fulling].

Upcoming Events:
The Back to Back Challenge is on May 31st at the Turpentine Tree at Kurrajong. Suzanne is seeking sponsorship, all money raised is for children’s cancer research. Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown will be there judging the apple pie contest.

The Craft and Quilt Fair is on June 10-14 at Darling Harbor. The Guild is collecting new women’s undies and knitted squares for the women’s charity in Ethiopia that runs the Fistula Hospital. The squares will be sewn into blankets for the women. Veronica still needs help running the children’s activities. She will be running a workshop 10.30-11.30 daily 1 to 15 kids per class and needs 5 volunteers per day. They will be knitting little dolls with all materials provided. She would like some people to start the dolls. If you can help you get free admission to the Fair. This year’s theme is “warm in winter”.

Worldwide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP day) will be conducted at several venues:

Darling Harbour on June 13th outside the Craft Fair
at the 2FD Cafe at Lawson 287 Great Western Highway from 11am onwards
at Martin Place in Sydney, where New Idea will be doing a charity World Record Attempt, 8am sharp. This will be sponsored by Spotlight who will supply a bag with needles and yarn to knit squares for charity. More details in New Idea magazine or on their website.

The Nundle Knit-In is on from Monday May 25th to Friday May 29th with Loani Prior at Nundle.

The Rylstone winter warmer competition is on June 6th and 7th.

Jude Skeers will be conducting a workshop at the Guild [Epping] June 15th and 16th.

Members are reminded that there are still vacancies for the Guild Camp at Kurri Kurri on the October long weekend.

Knitting groups
The knitting group, Up the M4meets upstairs at the Red Cow Hotel in Penrith (opposite Penrith station) from 1-3pm on the first Sunday of the month. Good food and knitting company. Another group meets at the 2FD Cafe at Lawson in the morning of the 2nd Friday of the month and on the 1st Sunday of the month.

Congratulations to Monica whose white Shetland shawl received a first place at the Hawkesbury show and her colored shawl a second place.

A teacher from Wilmot public school contacted Merrin asking for a tutor to teach parents how to knit. It will be 9.30 – 11.30 Thursdays and you will be paid. Please contact the school.

June meeting

Jenny Dunn from Virginia Farm Woolworks showing us some yarns and fibres.

Kris, the Guild’s very own Web goddess, will show us how to use the knitternet. She will show us how to find groups, buy things and find patterns. She will also show us how to use Ravelry and how to use the Knitter’s Guild website and sign in feature. If you want to learn how to use Ravelry and have not yet joined, please join before the next meeting.

Anyone intending to attend the Freeform knitting and crochet workshop with Jenny Dowde in August, is asked to pay next month [cash only] $40 per head [members].

The raffle was won by Vicki.

Next month afternoon tea roster is Robyn, Denise and Robyn. A roster for the second half of the year will be sent around at the next meeting.

April 2009 meeting

2009-04-25T21:16:00.003+10:00

Guild Business

Volunteers are are still needed for the Craft Fair at Darling Harbour 10-14 June. If you help for a 3 hour shift your admission to the Fair is free. Contact Merrin for the details
Workshops [Epping]

May – Aran knitting
August – Moebius
Details are in the latest newsletter.

Faye Ellesworthy from the Standards Committee would like contributions for a book to mark the 25th anniversary of the Knitter’s Guild. The book will be Hints and How-to’s. Please pass on any contributions to Merrin.
Congratulations to Kate [one of group members] who is now the Guild Secretary - we wish her well in this executive position. Clare [also from our group] continues as editor of the newsletter.
The biannual Guild camp will be at Kurri Kurri on the October Long weekend, detail are in the newsletter.
Pam North from the Southern Group will be holding a fair-isle workshop, one day per month over two months, 10am–4pm, Saturday May 16th and Saturday June 20th. maximum participants: 15; cost $70 [members only] includes morning and afternoon tea. To be held at Kogarah at the Old Schoolhouse, contact June Maddick on 9533 2064 for more information.
The Northern Group is organising a bus trip to the Mudgee Muster 29-31 May. Cost: $250 includes dinner and accommodation at the Best Western. Maximum numbers 30.
The Guild website now has a chat room for members only. Email Kris and get a password. There are only two websites for branches of the Guild and they are the Inner City Group and Blue Mountains Group. The Inner City Group has a members only section that we may discuss setting up with Kris.

Changes to calendar

June - Kris Howard will visit us to talk about the "Knitternet", show us what is available and how to use the Guild website.
September - "Stash Sale": Please bring along any yarn, books or accessories that you want to sell or swap.

knitters wanted
Nick from Nundle Woollen Mill is after people to knit and write patterns, see Merrin.

other events

The "Back to Back Challenge" is on at Kurrajong at The Turpentine Tree Sunday 31 May.
Spinning classes are available at the Springwood Arts Centre in Ferguson Road. Contact Suzanne for details on 47587049. Classes are held every Tuesday afternoon from 1.30 – 4 and every Wednesday night from 6.30 – 9. Enrolments and a spinning demonstration on Saturday May 2 at the Arts Centre.
The Hawkesbury Show is on at the Clarendon Showground the first weekend in May. Entries for the show have closed.

Next month

retail visit - Evelyn and Rex Reynolds

Afternoon Tea will be provided by Chesne Jones, Ruth, Lynne and Janette

Anita from The Wool Inn visited and lots of shopping was enjoyed.

Show and Tell revealed an interesting array of articles.

Ruth gave a short talk about getting perspective right when quilting and designing pictures for knitting.

The raffle was won by Janette and a second prize was won by Susan. The first prize winner had the choice of a book or a gift voucher donated by The Wool Inn.

March meeting

2009-04-04T09:59:00.004+11:00

We had a very interesting meeting with an fascinating talk from our guest speaker, Tracey Greenway, regarding the National Quilt Register.

Visitors were welcomed to the meeting. The use of a karaoke machine was introduced as some members were having difficulty hearing at previous meetings.

AGRICULTURAL SHOWS AND OTHER RELATED EVENTS

Catalogues for the Hawkesbury Show are now available. The Show will be held at Clarendon 1-3 May.

The Blacktown show had very little knitting on display this year. A suggestion was put forward that if members are considering entering Shows, this may be a good place to start. The categories are fairly basic and entry fee is about $3 . Merrin will get a copy of the schedule for 2010.

The annual Back to Back Challenge is on Sunday 31 May at the Turpentine Tree: 1665 Bells Line of Road, Kurrajong Heights. Starting at 8am till they are finished . Suzanne will be part of a team. It is a great day out with stalls and entertainment and things for children to do . Details of how to sponsor a team member will be supplied by Suzanne next month. This year there will be an apple pie bake off as well.

NEWS FROM THE KNITTERS’ GUILD OF NSW

Kate Venn is now a member of the Knitters’ Guild of NSW Committee.

Clare continues in her role as editor of the newsletter.

Reverend Bill Crewes was unable to appear at the AGM as the guest speaker due to unforseen circumstances but is happy to appear to talk to any branch if requested.

The Guild camp will be at Kurri Kurri in October, more information will be in the next newsletter.

The Executive has not met since the AGM. The Secretary, has resigned since the AGM. A meeting will be held next weekend to elect a new Secretary.

A special general meeting will be held to deal with the archives motion. This is a formality to include the archives in the constitution.

The Inner City Guild has a new meeting place at Customs House library [2nd floor] at Circular Quay 2nd floor. Meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month from 11am; please feel free to drop in.

The Guild will be at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on the last Saturday of the show.

COMPETITIONS
Patons are running a competition until April 30. Spend $30 on Patons yarn and go in the running to win $5000 stash. I have the entry form .

RAVELRY, KNITTING and CRAFT GROUPS

Ravelry is an online community of Knitters with a worldwide membership.

The Up the M4 group on Ravelry has changed its meeting location to the Red Cow at Penrith on the 1st Sunday of each month from 1.30 to 3.30 All are welcome.

A second group is being formed to meet at Two Doors Cafe at Lawson . Details are being finalised.

A craft group meets fortnightly on Wednesdays from 10 am to 2pm at St. Aidan's Anglican Church Hall on the corner of the Great Western Highway and Hat Hill Rd, Blackheath. The next meeting is 1 April. For additional information, contact Carole 4757 1334.

MOVIE DEAL
There will be a special showing of the movie Young at Heart at the Dendy cinema at Circular Quay at 10am on Sunday 22 March. All knitters are invited, entry fee is $3. There will be more showings of special movies, see Kate for details.

Treasurer’s report tabled.

Kate Venn won the raffle.

GUEST SPEAKER:
TRACEY GREENWAY and THE NATIONAL QUILT REGISTER

Tracey Greenaway talked to us for an hour about quilts and the National Quilt Register. She talked on the history of quilts from the earliest examples, through the Middle Ages and finally to the Australian “Waggas”. Her knowledge and enthusiasm were infectious. Tracey brought many examples with her and many members found it very interesting.

Ruth then showed us many example of handmade knitted and crocheted rugs. Merrin had one her mother had made and an unfinished one from the 70's. Tracey encouraged us all to put any quilts that we may have, old or new, on the National Quilt Register for future generations.

NEXT MONTH

Ruth will talk on perspective in quilts and asks that we bring pencil, ruler and paper.

Retail member: Anita from The Wool Inn.

Afternoon tea to be supplied by Carole, Rosie, Penny and Sheila.

February 2009 meeting

2009-03-12T21:09:00.004+11:00

New members and visitors were welcomed to the February meeting which was followed by a crochet workshop given by Mavis.

Margaret showed us the results of a workshop on dyeing that she did at Virginia Farm with Jenny Dunn.

News from the Knitters' Guild of NSW:

two new retail members: The Tuncurry Craft Shop in Manning St Tuncurry and Eaglewood Alpaca at Murrumbateman [between Yass and Canberra], who will soon have an online shop.
Brenda Horne is having a woven knitting workshop at Epping. This is full but the Guild is taking expressions of interest to hold a second. Please contact the Executive.
There is an Aran workshop with Brenda Horne at Epping on March 29
The Guild's October Camp is at Kurri Kurri and is approx $375 per head. It will be held on the long weekend in October. Day rates are available. Applications close in June. Some of the workshops are:
* Buttons with Phil Bullock
* Advanced Irish Crochet with Yvonne Fazzolari
* Turkish Socks with Brenda Horne
* Socks on 2 Circular Needles with Kris Howard
* Achievement Certificates with June Maddock
* Designing Gloves that Fit with Clare Hacker
Craft Show dates for 2009:
* Craftfest: Homebush Bay, March 6-9.
* The Guild will be at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Sunday 12 April.
* Craft and Quilt Fair: Darling Harbour 10-14 June
* Stitches and Craft Show: Rose Hill Racecourse, 19-23 August
The Guild AGM is on Saturday 7 March at 11.00 in the Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum. All members are invited to attend.
The Inner City Group now meets at the Custom House library every second Saturday of the month.

We are going to ask the Guild what we as a group can do for the bushfire victims. Chesne suggested that Wrap with Love would be looking for donations as they have sent many blankets and their yearly needs may not be met. They require a 10 inch square. On Ravelry there is a group called Packages Downunder that is making up blankets as well as collecting handknits such as socks and beanies.

Donna is still collecting for a bulk order from Woolganics, an Australian organic merino company. They have lovely 8ply yarn in many colours.

Our group's list of events will be handed out at the next meeting.

Afternoon tea roster: March - Margaret, Merilyn, Bev and Mirra.

The raffle was won by Carole H.

At our meeting on 21st March, we will have a guest speaker to talk to us about the National Quilt Register. Visitors are welcome.

January 2009

2009-02-12T14:49:00.005+11:00

A quiet meeting - lots of knitting and chatting.

Donna has organised a bulk sale with Woolganics to save us money. Australian grown organic wool 8 ply available through Donna a $6 per ball. 50 grams 104 metres. This will be available in February as well, cash up front please.

Vicki to organise 2009 calendar [still under production].

Members are reminded that membership must be renewed by February 20th or a late fee will be incurred.

February 6 is the closing date for the next newsletter.

Please see Ruth if you have some antique or new knitted or crocheted quilts to display. Ruth is putting together a display with the Salvation Army with a view to put these quilts on the National Quilt Register.

Dates of interest:
Craftfest, Sydney Olympic Park: 6-8 March
Castle Hill Show: - 20-22 March
Hawkesbury Show: 1-3 May

The raffle was won by Carol H.

December meeting

2008-12-31T15:32:00.000+11:00

The final meeting for the year was attended by Ainsworth Books - distributors for Interweave Press and other publishers of knitting books. There was a great deal of interest in the stock on show and many happy purchases made.

A Christmas party was held with more than enough delicious goodies for everyone to share.

Members are reminded that annual renewal fees are due now. If fees are not paid before February then a rejoining fee will also be charged.

Dates for 2009

Bill Crews

Exodus Foundation

Craftfest

Craft and Quilt Fair

The Craft and Quilt Fair

WorldWide Knit in Public

Day

Stitches and Craft Show

Opera in the Domain

The Blue Mountains Group Workshop calendar will be finalised at the meeting on 17 January. One suggestion was a workshop on the unspoken rules of RAS judging with some one from the Guild standards committee.

More names are needed for the Afternoon Tea Roster for 2009, especially for the second half of the year.

The Guild Standard's Committee is seeking hints for knitting and crochet to be published in a book - further details in the latest newsletter.

Springwood School of Arts in Ferguson Road runs a spinning class on Tuesday afternoons for all levels. They will be running them again in 2009 and are seeking expressions of interest for a night class.

If you have any suggestions for books for the library please let Lesley know.

There is an anonymous survey on the Guild website seeking feedback on what is wanted on the website. All comments will be made anonymously. Click here to go directly to the survey.

The raffle was won by Anne.

November meeting

2008-12-06T16:21:00.004+11:00

November's meeting was once again well attended.

The branch AGM was conducted and the new positions are as follows:
Convenor - Merrin re-elected
Treasurer – Rosie re-elected
Secretary - Diane
Hospitality (meet and greet) - Lesley, Vernetta and Lois
Workshop Co-ordinator - Vicki
Afternoon Tea - Yvonne
Blog/Web mistress - Lynne
Library - Lesley

The Library will now be open from 3pm to 4pm only, to try and prevent books being mislaid. About 60 are still missing. There is a new book borrowing register as well.

Our Retail Guest was Bev from Belisa Cashmere and she sold many scarf kits and cones of her lovely Cashmere fibre.
She mentioned that her lace knitting cones have lubricant on them (part of the industrial processing) so for anything knitted for the Easter Show the fibre should be wound into skeins and washed before being made into garments. This would resolve any queries as to its content and fulfil requirements that the item not be washed before display.

The next meeting on the 20th December is the Xmas party and the Ainsworth Book sale. Please bring plenty of small change for books as it is cash only.

Membership is due by February or you will be charged a $10 renewal.

The raffle was won by Robyn, a first time visitor, and a second prize, donated by Belisa Cashmere, was won by Anne.

Kate Venn is nominating for a position in the Guild Executive.
East Timor Sisters project is having a sale at Mid Mountains Community Center of Weaving on Sunday Nov 23.
High Tea at Maggie and Al's Restaurant Dec 6 , booking essential.
Welcome to Mavis who is now a member.
Laminated signs, saying “Blue Mountains Knitter's Guild” with the Logo, have been made for us to hang when exhibiting. They were used at the “Love Lawson Festival”

Made in the Mid Mountains Stall

2008-11-16T11:06:00.004+11:00

On the morning of Saturday 15th members of the Blue Mountains Branch represented the Guild at the I Love Lawson Festival "Made in the Mid Mountains" Craft & Info Marquee.

Merrin, (r) Denise (c) and Mavis (l) along with Kate and Diane, handed out information leaflets and showed off their skills to the many visitors to the stall. The star of the morning was the woven Crochet rug Denise had created - it attracted many comments and inquiries about its construction.

The Lawson Festival is an annual event that first began in 2006. It is held on the third weekend in November.

September meeting

2008-09-27T08:41:00.002+10:00

A small gathering of people attended the September meeting. The all day lace workshop was small in numbers but our tutor, Raelene, was wonderful [as usual] - nothing was too much trouble and she was incredibly patient. Thanks Raelene.

One of our members, Clare, is now the editor of the Guild newsletter, a demanding but interesting job. Congratulations Clare.

Members are reminded of the Guild exhibition to be held at Dence Park on the long weekend. Items for the exhibition must be taken to Beverley Hills or Epping. See the latest Guild newsletter for more details.

The latest contact list of the members of the Knitters Guild of NSW has been published. Only members who ticked the box on the membership form allowing details to be published are on the list. That is, non-publication of details is the norm unless permission is granted for publication. Fees next year are divided into metropolitan and country members; metropolitan are those who reside within the Sydney telephone district [numbers starting with 8 or 9].

The Annual General Meeting of the NSW Knitters' Guild will be held at the Powerhouse Museum on Saturday 7 March 2009. The guest speaker for the day will be the Reverend Bill Crewes of the Exodus Foundation, a charity supported by the Guild.

The Annual General Meeting of the Blue Mountains branch of the Knitters' Guild will be held on Saturday 15 November.

Next month members are invited to try their hand at spinning. Members who own spinning wheels are encouraged to bring them to the meeting so that non-spinners can try them out. A retail display by Virginia Woolworks will also be held at the October meeting. Afternoon tea will be provided by Lindsay, Michelle and Rhonda.

The Love Lawson Festival will be held on 15 November; many thanks to the members who volunteered to assist on the stall on the day.

The raffle was won by Kate.

July meeting

2008-08-02T09:33:00.005+10:00

A small group this month. Welcome to Lindsay who joined at the recent Craft Show in Darling Harbour.

A crochet workshop was held - thank you Mavis for your helpful tutorial.

The ABC Knit-In [supporting Wrap with Love] for the Hawkesbury area is to be held on Friday 1 August at the Windsor Library 10am-noon; all welcome. There will also be a Knit-In at the Springwood Pool [time unknown].

A new group has formed on Ravelry. It is called "Up the M4". The group meets outside the new Spotlight Penrith store on the first Sunday of the month and every third Friday at 10am.

Spun Out , a studio selling fibre and handspun yarn is owned by Pat Glenhill and located at 14 Flirtation Hill Lane, Gulgong, Ph 6374 1170. Workshops are occasionally held at the studio.

A member moved that the quilt made by the group be added to the Australian Quilt Register.

The Love Lawson Festival will be held on Saturday 15 November at the Mid Mountains Community Centre. This is the same day as our Annual General Meeting; however we will be having an information stall and volunteers are required.

charity knitting
Australian Interior Ministries [formerly known as Australian Inland Mission] and The Samaritan's Purse "Operation Christmas Child" projects have so far collected 198 sweaters, 100 beanies,80 scarves and 60 small patchwork bags. A big thank you to all contributors,including those from the online group: Knit4Charities. Items will be collected until September; more small cuddly items like teddies are needed.

Library News
new book - Noah's Ark
Patons has released some new patterns for knitted toys.

AUGUST MEETING

Members involved in the Scarf Exchange are reminded that scarves are overdue - please bring them to the next meeting.
The One Skein Challenge will be adjudicated [by popular vote] at the August meeting. To enter: knit any item from any one skein of yarn.
Members are invited to bring yarn from their stash to the August meeting for a yarn sale/swap.
workshop: intarsia - please bring scraps of yarn in various colours and appropriate needles.

Much thanks to Diane for taking notes at the July meeting during Lynne's absence.

May meeting

2008-05-20T19:48:00.004+10:00

A quiet meeting this month. Eighteen members took advantage of the chance to do an all day stranded colour work workshop with the fabulous Liz Gemmell. David brought Henry who won second prize in the 2008 Sydney Royal Easter Show. Merrin brought her entry from a previous Show, a first prize winner. Both were duly admired but the biggest accolades were for Liz's beautiful floor rug, knitted in 12ply on 4.00mm needles - absolutely gorgeous.

Members are reminded to ensure that their membership is up-to-date. A $10 re-joining fee will now be charged on top of yearly membership. Non-members are not eligible to vote at meetings nor are they covered by insurance should anything happen to them during a meeting.

A Basic Skills Workshop is to be held at the Epping Creative Centre on Saturday 21st June.

The "Back to Back" Challenge will be held this year at The Turpentine Tree on Sunday 1 June.

Spotlight Penrith will open in its new location on the June long weekend - keep your eyes open for sales.

The scarf exchange is to happen at the July meeting as is the one-skein challenge. Members and guests are invited to knit anything they want from only one skein of yarn of any size. Knitting will be displayed and the winner decided by popular vote.

The raffle this month, with a prize of a $25 voucher from The Wool Inn [Penrith] was won by Mira.

Finally, congratulations to Susan who announced her engagement recently.

April meeting

2008-04-26T10:13:00.003+10:00

A large number of people were in attendance at this meeting.

A coordinator has been appointed to take over the newsletter for the Knitters' Guild of NSW.

The exhibition that was to be held at Dence Park has been cancelled. No word yet on what is expected for the exhibition to be held at Darling Harbour in June.

The Scarf Exchange details were handed out; finished scarves are to be ready for the July meeting.

A list of charities supported by our members was made and will be forwarded to the state executive. This included the Salvation Army, CANTEEN, Operation Christmas Child, Australian Inland Mission and Wrap with Love.

Payment of $25 was taken from those who wish to participate in the workshop with Liz Gemmell next month. The workshop will commence at 10am. Morning tea will be provided; bring your own lunch.

The second of our workshops on entrelac was held; this time involving the use of triangles as a foundation, knitting on the bias and using stocking stitch. Thanks again to our wonderful tutor, Raelene, for making what looks so difficult easy to understand. An informal discussion was held regarding the need for a workshop on casting on/off techniques. We wish Raelene all the best as she travels north for the next few months - have a great trip.

A large range of knitted and some crocheted items were displayed during Show-n-Tell.

The raffle this month was won by Lesley.

Entrelac workshop

2008-03-16T09:37:00.004+11:00

There were so many people at this month's meeting that it was hard for late-comers to find a place to sit! A big welcome to all our visitors; we hope to see you again next month.

Congratulations to Raelene on being made a life member of the Guild for services rendered. It is a well-deserved accolade. Raelene was presented with a certificate of recognition from the Blue Mountains group by our convenor, Merrin.

Our workshop, taught by the competent and, as always, well-prepared Raelene was on entrelac knitting using a method devised by Brenda Horne. It is made entirely of garter stitch and is not knit on the bias, therefore no starting triangles are needed. Raelene showed us many examples of entrelac, ranging from the ubiquitous colourwork [on the bias] to a beautiful shawl knitted in combination of stocking stitch and lace knitting. We then learnt the thumb method of cast-on and knitted out first square. Using the easy-to-follow notes prepared byRaelene, we moved on the second and third squares. By the end of the workshop, some had completed more than half the sample piece and by the end of the afternoon had completed it entirely.

A second workshop in entrelac will be held next month; this time using stocking stitch on the bias.

Anita and her helpers from The Wool Inn in Penrith were at the meeting to tempt us with all sorts of interesting goodies.

The raffle this month had three prizes; these were won by Diane, Yvonne and Lesly.

Members are reminded that the closing date for articles for the Exhibition in Friday 11th April.

February 2008 meeting

2008-02-18T11:42:00.003+11:00

Some important points arose during the meeting:

membership fees are now due - if you have not already done so, please forward this year's fees to the membership secretary

the annual general meeting of the Knitters' Guild of NSW will be held at the Powerhouse Museum on Saturday 1st March; all members are invited to attend; only financial members will be eligible to vote

a cloth badge was attached to the most recent newsletter for members who have paid their fees; the cloth badge is to be attached to a shirt which has a collar if representing the Guild [e.g. at the Easter Show or at the Craft Fair]

an exhibition of members' work will be on display at the Epping Creative Centre in April, all members are invited to exhibit; refer to the centre pages of the latest newsletter for further information

a scarf exchange is to be held at the Blue Mountains Knitters' group; interested persons should complete the form and give it to Rosemary by the March meeting; the finished scarves will be due at the July meeting

We will be having a workshop on Fair Isle Techniques presented by Liz Gemmel in May. The workshop will run all day and lunch will be provided. The cost of the workshop will be $25. Only those who pay in advance will be able to attend the workshop. Places are limited so get in early. See David for more details.

No workshop was held this month. "Show and Tell" continues to offer a wide variety of knitted objects, from fingerless gloves to lace knitting.

This month the raffle prize of a $25 gift voucher from The Wool Inn [Penrith] was won by Mira.

A delicious afternoon tea was provided by Margaret, Vernetta, Lesley and Mira - thank you. The members rostered for afternoon tea next month are Yvonne, Ann, Alison and Margaret.

Calendar 2008

2008-01-01T08:47:00.000+11:00

Please note: This schedule may change. Please check back regularly.

19 JANUARY
workshop: Judging – What does it take to win a competition?
bring: your best piece of knitting

16 FEBRUARY
Workshop: Raelene’s 'No Pattern' Cardigan
bring: the cardigan project from 2006

15 MARCH
Retail: Display from Wool Inn
Workshop: Entrelac Part 1
bring: 8 ply yarns + suitable needles. Leftover lengths of yarn are fine.

19 APRIL
Workshop: Entrelac Part 2
bring: 8 ply yarn + suitable needles and your work from last month

17 MAY
Retail: Display from Evelyn & Rex Reynolds Yarn
Workshop: Fair Isle techniques with Liz Gemmel.
bring: 4 ply yarns, suitable needles. Leftover lengths of yarn are fine.
Please note: This is a full day workshop commencing at 10am, there is an additional charge of $25 for the whole day portion, BYO lunch.

21 JUNE
Workshop: Natural Dyeing
bring: Uncoloured yarn [natural, not synthetic]. We’ll dye small batches. A plastic bag to take dyed yarn home in as it will not be dry.

19 JULY
Workshop: Crochet
bring: 8 ply yarn + suitable crochet hook

16 AUGUST
Retail: Members "Stash Busting" Sale
Workshop: Intarsia
bring: 8 ply yarns + suitable needles. Leftover lengths of yarn are fine.

20 SEPTEMBER
Workshop: Lace Knitting
bring: Lace weight yarns, 3mm – 5mm needles
This is a full day workshop commencing at 10am.

18 OCTOBER
Retail: Display from Virginia Farm
Workshop: Spinning
bring: If you spin, bring some fibre and your spindle or wheel. Today is very hands on, everyone gets to try it.

15 NOVEMBER
Annual General Meeting
Retail: Display from Belissa Cashmere
Workshop: Finishing
bring: things you haven’t finished along with suitable yarn and needles.

20 DECEMBER
Christmas Party
Retail: Display from Ainsworth's Books
bring: A small amount of food to share.

November meeting and AGM

2007-11-22T09:47:00.000+11:00

Our new executive:
Convener - Merrin
Secretary - Cheyne
Treasurer - Rosemary

Volunteers
Workshops - David
P.R. - Rosemary
Hospitality - Yvonne
Library - Lesley
Blog - Lynne

Congratulations to all incoming executive and volunteers, thanks for taking on these roles. A big thank you to the outgoing treasurer [Merrin] and convener [Kate] - you both did a tremendous job in your respective roles, thank you.

After the official business was ended, a workshop on grafting [Kitchener stitch] for stocking stitch and garter stitch was held - thanks, Raelene, as usual you were helpful, thorough and easy to understand.

Show and Tell brought many beautiful items from knitted lace to a colourful no-pattern cardigan.

The raffle was won by Merrin, second prize by Cheyne.

The December meeting will be a Christmas party; everyone is asked to bring a small plate of food. Ainsworth Books will also be present for some retail therapy - please bring cash only as Ainsworth Books does not take debit/credit cards.

October meeting

2007-11-03T11:03:00.000+11:00

We had a visit from Jenny Dunn from Virginia Farm Wool Works - some retail therapy was involved! Jenny also gave us an inspirational talk on needle felting and dyeing.

Some lovely items were displayed in Show'n'Tell: David's "Henry VIII" is progressing well. Perhaps some photos at the next meeting! Lynne's lace wrap was much admired. The surprise jacket from the front of the last Guild newsletter was shown by Jo - very cute and so small!

The raffle of a gift voucher from The Wool Inn [Penrith] was won by Lois.

Members and guests are reminded that next month's workshop will be on grafting [Kitchener stitch]. Please bring two samples of stocking stitch [2in x 2in - 5cm x 5cm] and two samples of garter stitch to the workshop with you. Make sure all four samples are still on the needles [i.e. four needles - one for each sample]. You will also needs a wool sewing needle and some yarn.

Members are also reminded that next month is our annual general meeting - the position of treasurer is vacant; please consider putting yourself forward - it is not a time consuming task but some mathematical acumen and computer skills would be helpful!

September meeting and lace workshop

2007-09-17T20:03:00.000+10:00

It was a long but fruitful day for those who attended Raelene's workshop on lace. Is that knitted lace or lace knitting? Is there a difference? Yes, but you had to be at the workshop to find out! We learnt a provisional cast on and a crocheted cast on. We then knitted several repeats of Feather and Fan before beginning the knitted-on border - a six row pattern that kept increasing and decreasing in stitch numbers - concentration was definitely required! A sample was blocked - it's amazing how big that handful of knitting becomes! And the best thing about traditional lace (apart from it's beauty) - little or no sewing!

The long-awaited scarf exchange took place - some beautiful, interesting and colourful scarves were swapped and admired.

Diane Schebli won the raffle: a $25 gift voucher from the Wool Inn - thanks Anita.

David's work in progress - Alice Starmore's fair isle pattern: Henry VIII - was much admired! Has he really only been knitting again for just over a year?

There has been a change to the calendar: the November meeting will have a workshop on grafting - both stocking stitch and garter stitch; thanks, Raelene, we are all looking forward to it so that we can join our lace pieces together! Members wishing to attend the workshop are asked to bring two small pieces of garter stitch and two small pieces of stocking stitch on the needles; please do not cast off! You will also need a wool needle and a length of the yarn that was used to knit the samples.

The October meeting will feature a talk on dry felting by Jenny Dunn and a display from Virginia Farm Woolworks.

July meeting

2007-07-29T10:27:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to Merrin on a well-run meeting in the absence of our leader, Kate, who was sick at home.

Members were reminded that the Begleys in Victoria are not accepting any more donations of jumpers for AIDS orphans; however, Denise, who represents Operation Christmas Child, is accepting the jumpers for inclusion in the shoe-boxes.

After the general business of the meeting, some members offered their favourite knitting tips. One, learnt from Liz Gemmell, is to weigh a finished article if you need to knit a second article and can't remember how much yarn you actually used. Of course, this only works if knitting in a similar yarn; one can't compare 8ply mohair with 8ply pure wool. An extension of this idea would be to weigh the first sleeve to determine if you have enough yarn to complete the second sleeve. Also, if knitting small items, like babies' jumpers, using odd balls, weigh the original garment to determine if you have enough yarn to complete another! You can mix and match odd balls of yarn to create the right weight! Digital kitchen scales are ideal for weighing yarn as they weigh as little as 1 gram.

Another tip: use corks from wine bottle (some non-alcoholic wines also use corks) as point protectors for your needles and to keep the knitting from sliding off the needles while travelling. One member has been using the same cork for over 30 years!

A workshop was held on the use of two circulars for knitting in the round. Each participant who didn't bring two circulars was given two to practice with - great preparation, Margaret. The technique, while relatively simple, was much easier to understand when practised rather than observed. Margaret also gave a demonstration and practical help to anyone wanting to try knitting in the round on one circular, also known as the magic loop method. Thank you, Margaret, for simple and clear instructions on both methods.

Many interesting items were shown during Show 'n' Tell, including a pair of knee high socks knitted on two needles that have been on the needles for over thirty years! No raffle was held due to unforeseen circumstances.

Our condolences to Merrin on the recent loss of her father.

June meeting

2007-06-26T14:45:00.000+10:00

We had a very inspirational talk from Wendy Townsend - the work she showed us inspired us and amazed us!

Wendy used to knit and crochet. She designed her own jumpers although she didn't always knit them - she had a team of knitters working for her (as many designers do). Here is a jumper she designed for one of her daughters. And this is what you do with those dozens of tension swatches you've made over the years.

Wendy has now turned to felting - this lovely summer blanket is made from felt.
Wendy's felt is made from roving, not knitted items which are then felted. After the afternoon tea break, Wendy gave a demonstration of felting - the blanket must have taken hundreds of hours because it is not a quick technique!

More of Wendy's work can be seen at this webpage.

Show and Tell revealed the usual array of style and items, including Diane's steeked fingerless gloves.

The raffle winner for this month was Janette Strong. Her prize was a voucher from The Wool Inn, Penrith.

Thanks to Susan for taking photos at this meeting.

Members reminders:
* if interested, please register for the camp (long weekend Sept/Oct)
* bring your favourite knitting hint/tool to the meeting next month to share with other members

May meeting

2007-05-19T20:36:00.000+10:00

This month, we had a visit from Evelyn and Rex from Reynolds Yarn (Austinmere).
There were lots of goodies to purchase - book, patterns and yarn, in synthetics, natural fibres and blends. Evelyn gave us some helpful hints on knitting ponchos - many members went away intending to look through their stash or use newly purchased yarn to make a poncho.

Judy's workshop gave further ideas for making ponchos and other garments from diagonal squares. Such a simple concept with some amazing possibilities.

The "one-skein challenge" was a great success. We had several entries ranging from bedsocks, gloves and scarves to ipod covers. Congratulations to Anne Davison for her winning entry - a Bundanoon cashmere scarf. Anne will be rewarded with a pair of Lantern Moon knitting needles of her choice kindly donated by The Wool Inn

During Show and Tell there was an audible gasp when Ruth showed this beautiful embroidered waistcoat.
Congratulations to Merrin on her award winning Aran jumper.

The raffle this month was won by Diane Schnebli.

Members reminders:
**Please complete the sheet regarding contact details and retutrn to Guild HQ.
**If interested, please register for the Camp to be held on the October long weekend at Kurri Kurri.

For more photos from this and other meetings/events, click here

A quiet but productive meeting

2007-04-22T13:19:00.000+10:00

This month's meeting was quiet with several members away at the TAFTA Fibre Forum in Orange. The planned workshop was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances and was substituted with a Q&A session.

We were pleased to welcome one visitor; Lois, we trust you enjoyed yourself and hope that we will see you at future meetings.

The raffle was won by Joanne, a fitting (if coincidental) thanks for putting all the tables and half the chairs out unaided before the meeting. Her prize was a gift voucher from The Wool Inn.

Many beautiful items were displayed during Show and Tell. Three ladies were or had been knitting for the Aids babies in Malawi. Janette had a whole pile of finished jumpers - they were so cute. The pattern has now been revised to include longer sleeves, and there are also patterns for a larger size and for an orphan's comfort doll. The links to these patterns and the story of the couple organising the project are now in the sidebar. Also, because it was requested by several members, the link to the online group, Knit4Charities, is also in the side bar.

Rosemary told us of a woman who spins her own yarn and sells it at the Blue Gum Markets, which are held at Springwood Public School on the 4th Saturday of every month. Rosemary also bought a handmade 'Knitting Nancy' (for French knitting) at the same markets.

Entries for the Scarf Exchange have now closed and participants will soon be notified about the knitting requirements of their recipient.

Congratulations to Merrin for running the meeting so well in Kate's absence.

Members are reminded that 19 May is the end of our one skein challenge, and that items will be "showed and told" at the next meeting.

Knitting at Windsor Library

2007-03-20T14:16:00.000+11:00

Those who live in the Hawkesbury or surrounding areas and are free on Friday mornings are invited to join a group of knitters who will be knitting for Wrap With Love. The group will meet on the Friday 30 March, Friday 27 April, Friday 25 May, Friday 29 June and every Friday in July from 10:00am till noon. Morning tea will be provided.

Beginners are welcome so take the opportunity to come and learn a great new hobby. For more experienced knitters there will be the opportunity to knit for Wrap With Love. And, for those who don't knit but can sew, there will be opportunity to sew squares together to make the wraps.

BRING : 8 ply yarn & No. 8 needles (4mm); Some wool and needles available

for further information, see the Windsor library website

March meeting

2007-03-20T12:59:00.000+11:00

The March meeting of the Blue Mountains Branch had a lot happening. Firstly, there was retail therapy with Anita from The Wool Inn, one of our local yarn stores. Bev, Anita's assistant, is wearing a capelet created from a kit available at the shop.

Anita brought many goodies to choose from, including some enormous 400g skeins (of Sirdar Yoyo) for our one skein challenge! The biggest challenge for many was choosing what to buy (or what not to buy).

The One Skein Challenge was launched with projects to be completed by the meeting on 19 May. The skein can be any size and any fibre, and the finished project can be as whimsical or practical as the knitter desires. The only stipulation is that it be knitted from one skein (or less); which, of course, means no colour work or stranded knitting.

Kate, our convener, reminded us that our preferences for the scarf swap must be completed and handed in at the next meeting, with finished projects due at the meeting on 15 September. Knitting angels are also needed in case someone has to drop out of the swap after it starts.

Our workshop this month, conducted by Raelene, was short row shaping. About twenty five people were taught how to shape their knitting, particularly good for sock knitting, adding shaping over curves or for shaping shoulders smoothly.

The lucky winner of this weeks raffle - a $25 gift voucher from the Wool Inn - was Judi; congratulations.

Our thanks to Mark for taking photos at this meeting.

Feral and Oddball Knitting Workshop

2007-02-26T09:00:00.000+11:00

On Saturday, several members of our knitters' group met at Blaxland Community Centre
for a full-day workshop with Lynne Johnson.

Lynne's work is very colourful and highly textured.
Yet, by the end of the day, we realised that we could knit like that too!!
The basic shape for the day's workshop was a diamond and all the garments Lynne showed us were made without patterns. One of her secrets: lots of knitted samples (swatches, tension squares). And a time-saving tip: Lynne often leaves the ends of her work hanging out making a feature of them.
Lynne is writing a book so we can't publish photos of her finished works but here are some snippets to whet your appetite. The first photo shows three different projects: a vest in autumn tonings in the background, a red shawl in the foreground and an item in super garter stitch peeking in from the right. The second photo shows more of the item in super garter stitch, a technique which Lynne taught at the workshop.
Lynne has been invited back for another workshop in winter 2008 so book in early!

Thanks to Donna and her team for organising such a wonderful day.

Prize winners, glove orders, young blood, fabulous knitting and the very talented Inga Hunter!

2007-02-21T17:53:00.000+11:00

This month's meeting had them all!

Firstly, congratulations to Janette who showed her entries to the Penrith Show - a (1st) prize winning afghan and cushion
and her adorable ladybug blanket which won an Honorable Mention at the same show.

And further congratulations - this time to Dianne Greenaway who has received orders for a large number of her fabulous fingerless gloves.

And speaking of prizes - congratulations to David who won this month's raffle prize: a $25 gift voucher from The Wool Inn, Penrith's only specialised yarn store. David also gets 10% discount because he is a member of the Guild, so it's a great prize. And, if he can wait that long, he doesn't even have to drive to Penrith - Anita from the Wool Inn will be at our meeting next month with lots of goodies with which to entice us!

Here is a picture of the lovely Vicki and her beautiful grand-daughter Saoirse, one of our youngest members.
This month Saoirse was knitting for the AIDS orphans in Africa. Saoirse's mum, Donna, is also a member of the Guild but she was too busy organising this weekend's workshop with Lynne Johnson to stop and have her photo taken! That's three generations in the same knitting group - does anyone else share this record?

Show and Tell is always interesting - and this month was no exception. From tiny baby garments to full jumpers and the most amazing lace shawl. Not to mention the lady who has sewed in 1600+ ends on her afghan made up of tiny patches of colour!

Our workshop for the day was a talk from Inga Hunter, a Blue Mountains artist who is very talented and has a wide variety art/craft skills. Inga is incredibly interesting to listen to yet down to earth and aware of what's happening in craft areas outside her own expertise. Several of our members have done workshops with Inga and quite a few more showed interest in upcoming workshops which are held at Inga's Katoomba studio. Inga will even conduct workshops for one person - what a wonderful woman.

Inga's speciality is bead embroidery but she also does workshops in drawing, collage, lino printing and journalling in altered books. Inga can be contacted on ingairvanhunter@bigpond.com

Calendar 2007

2007-01-01T08:37:00.000+11:00

20 JANUARY
Workshop: Raelene's Cardigan - Sleeves
Theme Day: I Need Inspiration, Ideas, Advice

17 FEBRUARY
Workshop: Inga Hunter Beading Demonstration

17 MARCH
Workshop: Short Row Shaping – Raelene
Retail: Display from Wool Inn
• Anita will bring yarn for One Skein Challenge

21 APRIL
Workshop: Diagonal Squares - Judy Stringer

19 MAY
Retail: Display from Evelyn & Rex Reynolds Yarn
Workshop: Evelyn will share a knitting tip
Theme Day: One Skein Showcase

16 JUNE
Inspirational Talk with Wendy Townsend

21 JULY
Workshop: Knitting on two circulars
Theme Day: My Most Helpful Knitting Hint

18 AUGUST
Retail: Display from Belissa Cashmere
Workshop: Continental Knitting - Vicki Hughes

15 SEPTEMBER
Workshop: All day Lace Workshop
(10:00 am start; break for meeting; continue with workshop)
Workshop: Frogging - Judy Stringer

20 OCTOBER
Retail: Display from Virginia Farm
Workshop: Jenny Dunn will discuss Needle felting
Scarf Exchange Display

17 NOVEMBER
Annual General Meeting
Workshop: grafting [Kitchener stitch] - Raelene

15 DECEMBER
Christmas Party
Retail: Display from Ainsworth's Books

Theme Days: These days give us the chance to focus on a topic, to share our ideas and knowledge about the topic and to show any completed or 'in progress' work related to the topic.