February is here, and we’re all getting cabin fever. Winter is a long, grueling ordeal in Minnesota, lasting anywhere up to seven months. With over half of the calendar year spent buried under snow, slipping on the ice and dealing with slush, as the days start to get noticeably longer Minnesotans get antsy. MKGM guild members are no different. Sure, we can knit to pass the time until spring finally arrives, and we knit a lot (as evidenced by the plethora of photos below), but there are other things we can do, too…like bring our 50th anniversary plans to fruition!
Our February meeting was a productive one. Our microphone and speaker were purchased! We can now hear much easier! The business cards we discussed were finished and passed out to members, who in turn are to pass them on to prospective members. Don’t forget to write your name and your own phone number on the back before giving them out because the guild doesn’t have its own number, and we want our potential new friends to have a contact person! The brochures are ready to go to the printer, and will be available at the March meeting.
We have a date for our big 50th anniversary soiree! It will be held on Saturday, October 5th. It will be held in the building and room where we have our bi-monthly knit-ins. Details are being hammered out by the 50th anniversary committee, but save the date! It should be an evening to remember!
Even more ideas were passed around at this meeting as to how we can spread the machine-knitting word and get ourselves “out there”. There are any number of fiber fairs, county fairs, and, of course, the State Fair, which we’ve always been a part of, but it was also suggested that perhaps we become a part of World Wide Knit in Public Week. WWKiP is an annual event held specifically to raise awareness of knitting, and we figured why should the hand-knitters get all the notoriety? Your author participated in the event last year held at her friend’s yarn shop, and as the only machine knitter there, people were naturally drawn to see just what that thing was. Talk about your perfect PR moment! The hand-knitters at the event were also extremely jealous of how fast your author could whip out a pair of socks (half an hour vs. several days)!
Ellen did a presentation of a really nifty ear flap hat, which demonstrated how machine sewing and knitting can be used together. The outside of the hat was knit, but the lining was a piece of fleece fabric that was sewn to the knitted portion of the hat. Talk about warm and cozy, and still usable at this time of year in Minnesota, as some of our coldest weather can come in February!
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| With yarn he was given by Mar, Bruce knits up a gorgeous afghan! |
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| And has enough left over to knit a small shawl or scarf. |
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| Marilyn made this cute charity hat. |
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| And has moved on to yet another sock. |
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| Karen introduces Sponge Bob Square Hat! He's from a kit that Polly passed out at a previous meeting with her demo on squares and rectangles and what to do with them. |
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| Karen has been busy meeting her quota of charity hats for the year. |
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| As has Ellen. Lots of cute hats in all sorts of sizes, and all in double thickness over the ears for added warmth. |
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| More hats knit with really neat tonal yarns! |
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| Amanda's husband knit up this sweater for himself. |
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| Amanda has been working on baby items. |
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| She also knit up this shawl, which is super easy knit with short rowing. |
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| And another of those popular circular baby blankets. |
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| Polly made this pretty drape front cardigan. |
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| And a bag. Doesn't the pattern almost look like entrelac? |
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| Carol made this cute baby sweater. |
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| It's really hard to make out, but this is a baby blanket with a cat pattern in it. |
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| Pretty blue cardigan. |
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| Felted cardigan. After her husband passed away, Carol took some of his old wool sweaters and felted them down to fit her. Reduce, reuse, recycle! |
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| Mar came up with this little baby sweater. |
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| And matching hat. |
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| Cute felted mittens! |
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| Easy-peasy stuffed bear toys! |
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| Pretty scarf. |
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| Mar's famous Estonian headbands with fun colors and patterns. |
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| And loads of different headbands with knit flower trim. |
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| Donna made this cowl/neckwarmer. |
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| And a pretty lacy scarf. |
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| Leg warmers! Who knew they'd come back and give us something new to knit? |
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| Cindy is proud of having learned to do fair-isle. |
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| Mar made this neck warmer quite some time ago, but it was too beautiful not to photograph. The colors match her shirt perfectly! |
