February 2009 meeting

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

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

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

The Knitters Guild of NSW will hold its AGM on 7 March at the Powerhouse Museum with Bill Crews from the Exodus Foundation as the guest speaker.

Craftfest is 6-8 March at Sydney Olympic Park.

The Craft and Quilt Fair is on 20-22 February in Newcastle.

The Craft and Quilt Fair is on 10-14 June at Darling Harbour.

WorldWide Knit in Public [WWKIP] Day will be held in Darling Harbour on 14 June.

The Stitches and Craft Show will be held on 19-23 August at Rosehill Gardens.

Opera in the Domain is on 31 January and there will be a knitting group present from midday until the opera is finished.

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

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

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

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

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.