March meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.