Blog Will No Longer Be Used/Updated

Due to a number of changes to media and this site in particular, this blog will no longer be used or updated. Please find us at the following locations:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mkgmn/
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/mkgm
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Machine-Knitters-Guild-of-Minnesota/

Those sites are updated regularly with our schedule and activities.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

We're All Over Social Media

You may have noticed that this blog isn't being updated regularly, anymore. That's because BlogSpot is really cumbersome to use, and doesn't allow for full-sized photos, which makes it difficult for our followers to see. However, we are still a very active group, and we're all over social media. Like it or not, social media is here to stay, and is the wave of the future. It is also an ideal way for us to reach a worldwide audience, and younger people in order to get them interested in machine knitting.

For the most up-to-date posts about what we've been up to and to find our upcoming schedule, please follow us on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mkgmn/ and https://www.facebook.com/mkgmn/

Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/mkgm

Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Machine-Knitters-Guild-of-Minnesota/

As soon as I can figure out how to create a group on Twitter, I will be creating an account there as well.

Christmas Stocking Class by Ellen

Learn to knit a particular Christmas Stocking on Saturday, January 25, 2014 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm at The Crossings.

The cost is $10.00, payable to MKGM. A half hour will be taken for lunch, so you may want to brown bag it. You will want to be there sooner so you can set up your table, machine, etc. and be ready to knit at 9:30 a.m.

You need to bring 3 colors of yarn, red, green & white or since it’s a learning tool any 3 colors will work. (not dark colors). The yarn should not be thinner than 3/15. Sport or up to 3/11 will work. The thinner the yarn, the smaller the stocking.

Bring a table, machine, tools and a light. If you don’t have a portable table let Ellen know. She may have access to a couple, if necessary. Any punch card machine or electronic will work. We will not be using any patterning on the machines. A bulky machine or mid-gauge machine will work, although the stocking will be quite large and you will need to bring appropriate yarn for that machine. The ribber will NOT be needed for this project.
Bring graph paper and a permanent marker for charting a name.
She will bring the pattern to the class on Saturday.

TECHNIQUES IN THIS PROJECT:
• Hand pull needles for inserting a name
• Wrapping around a single motif
• Hanging a hem
• Knitting in stripes
• Shaping
• Short rowing
• Kitchener edges together
• Sewing stripes to match in seam

We're on Facebook!

In order to keep up with changing times and changing trends, the Machine Knitters Guild of Minnesota now has a group page on Facebook. It is a closed group (to keep the spammers/scammers at a minimum), but you can send a request and the group administrator will approve your request. This group's purpose is to keep you informed of upcoming events, share projects, ask questions or just chit-chat! It's also the place for past and present MKGM members to reconnect with each other.

In case you didn't know this, either, we're also on Ravelry, the premier forum-based site for fiber enthusiasts. This is an excellent site with groups for different fiber (or non-fiber) interests, and a place to look up paid and free patterns, buy and sell yarn stash, show off your finished projects, and ask questions about your unfinished projects. Have a certain amount of yarn, but don't know what to make from it? Put in the yardage of the weight yarn you have, and up will pop pattern ideas that use the same amount of yarn.

It is hoped that by embracing technology that MKGM can attract some new, and younger members to ensure the continuation of the guild for the future, and to keep the craft of machine knitting alive and healthy.

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2013

 

 The Machine Knitters Guild of Minnesota plans on participating in this annual event for the first time ever this year. Hopefully we can generate enough interest to make it an annual event for the guild to help raise awareness of our machine knitting craft!

 

WWKiP is a fairly new tradition, and is actually a week-long event, although most clubs, yarn stores and other organizations host a one day event at some point during the week. MKGM will be doing the same (details at end of this post).

 

From the official website:

 

World Wide Knit in Public Day was started in 2005 by Danielle Landes. It began as a way for knitters to come together and enjoy each other’s company. Knitting is such a solitary act that it’s easy to knit alone somewhere and sink into your work without thinking about all the other knitters out there. Neighbors could spend all their lives never knowing that the other knits. This a specific day ...to get out of your house and go to a local event (with your knitting in tow) just for you and people like you. Who knows you might even bump into your neighbor! Consider this a spark, to ignite a fire; getting all of the closeted knitters out into fresh air.

 

WWKiP Day is unique, in that it's the largest knitter run event in the world. Each local event is put together by a volunteer or a group of volunteers. They each organize an event because they want to, not because they have to. They bring their own fresh ideas into planning where the event should be held, and what people would like to do. If it weren't for these volunteer hosts, WWKiP Day would still just be an idea. So when you go to your local event, make sure you thank your host(s) and if you're inclined, bring along some yummy treats to share.

 

In the past some people have used this event as a means to show the general public that ‘not only grannies knit!’ and while that’s great and all, keep in mind that without those ‘grannies’ we wouldn’t have the wealth of knitting knowledge that we do.

 

WWKiP Day is really about showing the general public that knitting can be a community activity in a very distinct way. In some places there are many different knitting groups that never interact with each other, on WWKiP Day they come together in one place, making them hard to miss.

 

2005 there were about 25 local events around the world. In 2006 there were about 70 local events. 2007 there were almost 200. In 2008 there were 800 events, and in 2009 there were 751.

      
Over the years there have been local events in Australia, China, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, United States… and so many more countries.

       
WWKiP Day takes now takes place from the second Saturday to the third Sunday of June each year; making it a week long celebration of knitting and other fiber arts.

 

World Wide Knit In Public Day spreads the word that knitting is COOL! While all of us know that, many people in the world aren’t aware of knitting or knitting machines. By knitting (by hand or with machine) in a busy public place, we raise awareness among the general public.

 

We’ll have some large sandwich-board signs made to help you find the group.

 

You are welcome to bring your machine. Just remember that there aren’t any tables, so you’ll need a stand, chair, and your supplies. Bring a picnic lunch and make a day of it!

 

You can also knit by hand; OR just show up and do some seaming.

 

In case of rain (which is all it has seemed to do this spring), we will cancel and shoot for a sunny day in 2014!

 

World Wide Knit in Public Day
Saturday, June 15, 2013
10:30 a.m.
Minnehaha Park: 4801 South Minnehaha Park Dr., Minneapolis, MN 55417 (We’ll be between the Sea Salts Cafe and Minnehaha Pavilion.)

Building an Ark

Glub, glub, glub…that’s the sound we’re making as we try to keep our heads above water. So far the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul for you non-locals) metro area of Minnesota has received more rain than Seattle, Washington! That’s saying a LOT. Out of 31 days in May, 23 of them were cold, cloudy and rainy. We even had measurable snow on the first few days! Where’s our spring? The state’s annual fishing opener was a bust in some locations due to the lakes still being iced over! One thing’s for sure: We still need our sweaters.

 

A knit-in was held on May 25th, but there were very few knitters that showed. It could be that we’re all grumpy and depressed from lack of sunlight and warmth, or it could be that it was Memorial Day weekend. Your author stands with the incessant rain and gloom.

 

As part of our ongoing drive to get ourselves out in the public arena, we’ve been looking into demonstration times at the different local county fairs. Nothing concrete was planned at the May meeting, however, but it was noted that this year we do not have a demo slot at the State Fair. It’s unfortunate, but there’s still hope that we might get in due to a cancellation. That being said, just because we don’t have a demo slot does NOT mean that we cannot show our knit items, so get those machines humming, and get something made for the Fair! This is our greatest opportunity of the year to show off what we can do! There could be a blue ribbon in your future!

 

We now have more information on our big 50th anniversary extravaganza! We already know it will be held on Saturday, October 5th (this is a change from the original post stating it would be held the same day as the knit-in), but the time has been narrowed down to be held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.. It is being presented as an afternoon tea. We will be having a vintage style show, so get out those items you might have knit 50, 40 or 30 years ago. Even if you haven’t been knitting that long, bring along something you’ve made, and wear it. Don’t worry if it no longer fits (because it’s too big, right?) We will have “models” there to wear those items for the show! It’s shaping up to be a wonderful celebration of 50 years of knitting. Save the date, and plan to be there!

 

Ellen knit this really pretty afghan at the May knit-in.

 

She shows off some more of her knit/fleece hats. Isn't the pattern on the blue one on the left gorgeous?

 

She also made some Norwegian dish towels.

 

Carol knit this lovely blanket as a wedding gift. It says "Bless This House" at the top, and has the date and names at the bottom. The middle is a pattern of a house in dollhouse form.

 

Carol shows off her first baby hat knit on her circular sock machine (CSM) that she just refurbished.

 

Diane knit this one baby bootie as a sample. Pretty tuck stitching! Nice and thick to keep little toes warm.

 

Karen was also working on baby booties.

 

MKGM members don't just knit. Karen is also a weaver and made this really cool table runner!

 

Carole shows off a summer top with "bedazzled" jewels stuck to it. Very pretty and "bling"-y.

 

Carole shared a really nifty idea for making sock blanks. Knit two separate cones or balls of yarn together...

 

...then dye the sock blank. When dry, unravel the blank, and wind the two balls of yarn back into separate balls...

 

...and your socks will knit up perfectly matched each time! No more pulling through the ball of yarn to try to match the pattern! Thanks for the awesome idea, Carole!

 

Carole also showed a cool way to use up odds and ends of sock yarn. Knit them into a hat as a contrasting color! It looks like complicated colorwork, but it's just self-patterning yarn bits. They don't even have to come from the same ball of yarn or dye lot! Isn't that pretty?

 

Sue knit this cute girl's summer top.

 

And using the weaving technique of the machine was able to make these potholders/trivets.

 

She had made a few of these circular baby blankets at the May knit-in.

 

Mar shows off a different technique for making pom-poms. Wind the yarn with a yarn winder until you have about a half inch thick ball of yarn. Carefully remove it, keeping your finger in the center hole. Tie yarn around the edge tightly, cut, and you get this great big fuzzy pom-pom!

 

Mar also tried knitting a hat with two different yarns together. Didn't the striping come out really cool looking? It looks like one strand of yarn that was dyed to self-pattern!

 

Mar also knit a baby sweater that was a pattern provided for one of the classes at this year's Purls of Joy seminar.

Knitter’s “College”

Okay, now really. Enough with the snow already! We just broke our old record for snowfall on a single date in April. Usually by now the tulips and daffodils are at least coming up, if not actually in bloom. Ha, ha. Joke’s on us.

 

Spring (ha!) is usually the time to start thinking about graduations, but here at MKGM we’re thinking of starting college. Knitting college, that is! We have taken on quite a few new members over the past year, and many of those new members are also brand new machine knitters. With resources limited or almost non-existent for learning how to use our machines and to actually knit something with them, it was suggested that perhaps a more experienced knitter could sit with some of the newbies at a knit-in and show them some things. Well, it was decided that perhaps we could go one better. Perhaps we could hold formal classes. A committee will be formed to come up with a plan for this nifty idea. It was suggested that a fee be charged (with the funds going to the guild) to those students interested in order to help cement their commitment to the class, otherwise it won’t be worthwhile teaching, or fair to the other students. Stay tuned for details as a committee is formed and comes up with a plan! Your author plans on attending any potential classes, as well, because everybody can always learn something new. Buttonholes, anyone?

 

This knitter had to miss the April meeting to attend her son’s final college jazz concert of the school year, and she wishes his band had set a different date. This sounds like it was the meeting to attend; if not for ideas, at least for the belly laughs! Remember my post talking about those slipper patterns Judy passed out? Well, this was the meeting in which they were supposed to be knit, and then shared.

As it was reported in the newsletter:

 

We had everything from Barbie doll sized slippers to ones that would fit Bigfoot. Some older patterns were so poorly written, that they were almost impossible to decipher. The newer knitters especially thought they learned a lot even if their slippers weren’t fantastic looking. All agreed that this format was a great idea and would work for lots of other items. Thanks, Judy!

 

There were also slippers with two heels in one slipper! That’s what can happen sometimes when you’re relaxed, enjoying short-rowing, and your mind wanders!

 

Don’t forget: Our next knit-in will be held Saturday, May 25th at the Crossings! Hope to see you there!