Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Latvian Style Wristlets

We are lucky enough to have Anne Reaves teach us about Latvian mittens and will make wristlets at the January meeting on the 13th.




Supplies: two strongly contrasting colors or shades of worsted wool (the label should read 20 stitches by 24 rows on size 7 needles for 4 inches square) and size 5 or 6 needles (double point or magic loop). You can definitely use leftovers from wool hats.

No, you won’t be able to complete an entire wristlet during the workshop, but you will be able to accomplish enough to be able to finish the wristlets at home. There are two different designs: one for those less experienced in stranded knitting and one for the more adventurous. The easier version is a wristlet made of different bands of typical Latvian geometric designs, and the second is made of alternating braids but is only for those who are already comfortable with stranded knitting. (A third version could be one braid, then other chart—if you decide braids are not a technique you enjoy!)


In case of cancellation due to weather:  We will make every attempt to let everyone know.  It will be posted here, and on the facebook page, as well as direct email.  

Monday, August 11, 2014

Sweet Tomato Heel KAL

IKG is having a KAL of the lovely Sweet Tomato Heel (you can choose any of the many versions, it's the heel we are focusing on).

Shown in Feather and Foliage
 
We will meet one Wednesday evening every month starting in September (9/17, 10/22, 11/19) at the Panera in Glendale, about 6-8, but please come even if you will be late.

You do not need to be an IKG member to attend.

We will be meeting at the Panera Bread in Glendale: 
6055 N Keystone Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana 46220

Friday, August 8, 2014

August Meeting

At this month's meeting (on Tuesday August 12th) 3 members who attended Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp in July will be talking about camp, what they learned, and what they brought home.

We will also be discussing some upcoming programming ideas, including a trip to Turkey Creek Alpacas and having Andrea Wong teach Portuguese Knitting.  Click for more info on Andrea. and sign ups for a dye workshop hosted by president Ann Wright.

Pre-meeting dinner will be at the Keystone McAllister's, 8487 Union Chapel Road
Indianapolis, IN 46240.

Also, a reminder that election of officers and dues are due in September.

Looking forward to seeing you all there.  Happy Knitting!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

June Meeting moved

Our regular meeting location at Epworth Church will be unavailable for the June meeting.   Instead we will meet at our vice president's home. 

Please contact the guild for the address.  IndianapolisKnittingGuild@gmail.com. 


Monday, March 24, 2014

March Minutes

The March meeting was led by Beth Soper (Vice President).    Beth asked for Shop News.

Susan Brennan announced several upcoming events at Mass Ave.    They are (currently) selling some of the shop samples.    Upcoming dates:

In store overnighter April 12th
In store retreat April 24-26th.  $25 plus dinner $7.50
Malabrigo trunk show May 2nd.   5-7 pm,  $5
Check for more info on the blog

Carol Powers  mentioned that Broad Ripple Knits is moving in early April to a bigger location just down the street.

Mandie Harrington announced that she is teaching dyeing at Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival this summer.   

Lana Holden announced that Small Knits Symposium would like to offer Indianapolis Knitting Guild members $15 off a la carte classes at the event, April 25-27th. please email registration@knitsymposium.com or the guild for the promo code.

The February Minutes were voted on and approved.

Carol (Treasurer) reported the guild has $4859.  She gave $200 to the church that evening as voted on in February.

The Cat Bordhi event was discussed briefly.  Everything is coming together nicely. The event should pay for itself without guild funds.  As of right now the Cowl class is full with 2 people waiting, and there are 2 spaces in the sock class.  Due to a slight scheduling conflict it was announced that the lecture would be moved from 7 to 7:30 to give the preceding event time to get out of the space.

Barb Bettegnies also announced that she would be talking to Lucy Neatby soon about coming in mid 2015. 

Beth announced that the board wants the membership to know that scholarships to events such as these can be made available for members who cannot afford to attend for whatever reason.  If you would like to request one for yourself or another member please speak privately to a board member.

Susan gave our guest presentation.  She showed a project that will be a knit along at Mass Ave in April, the River Run shawl by Mango Moon, and then she demonstrated arm knitting.  She also mentioned Berroco gives a good video tutorial.  This is a great use for silk ribbon or other big unusual yarns. 

There are several examples of arm knitting on Ravelry here  

Monday, March 3, 2014

IKG hosts Cat Bordhi in April

We're so happy to have the opportunity to have Cat Bordhi here with us this April 27-29th, just before TNNA.  Classes will take place at the Broad Ripple United Methodist Church


Cat Bordhi’s mission, according to Stephanie Pearl McPhee, “is to make you a more creative, freethinking knitter who problem-solves and experiments with vigor and fearlessness. The best part? She can.” Cat teaches and inspires more than a thousand knitters each year in classes all over the world. Her YouTube knitting tutorials have nearly three million views, and her innovative books, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, New Pathways For Sock Knitters, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters, Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks, and an award-winning novel, Treasure Forest, have reached hundreds of thousands of readers. For more information, visit www.catbordhi.com.



Cat will give a lecture on Sunday evening: Time Travel to PerĂº—when modern and indigenous knitters join as one.

She will teach Seven Super Skills Cowl on Monday, a class which teaches what she calls her 7 most appreciated techniques in 1 project.

New Pathways for Sock Knitters will be on Tuesday, probably her most well known sock innovations.  Learn to think about socks in a whole new way and stretch the way you think about knitting in general.

Full information on classes and registration can be found here. Please note that priority registration goes to IKG members until March 15th. 



Monday, February 17, 2014

February Minutes

Beth Soper, our Vice President, led the February meeting. 

We discussed our charity knitting projects.  Members brought yarn to share for charity projects.   The contact person for Wishard who had been collected knitted breasts has let us know that they don’t need any more (yay!) but they would really appreciate lap sized blankets and chemo caps.  It was agreed that we could collect 9” squares for the lapghans, and chemo caps should be made with very soft yarn.

It was agreed that we would make a $200 donation to Epworth Church as a thank you for allowing us to hold our meetings there.

We discussed the Cat Bordhi workshops, which will be held from 9-4:30 on April 28th and 29th (Monday and Tuesday).  We are aware that these are not ideal times for some members, but it was quite literally the only time that we could have Cat teach here at all, and we hope that many of you can attend.  There was an email sent out earlier with the sock class choices, please vote for those this week if you are interested.  The other class that was chosen was the 7 Super Skills Cowl, which was a clear winner in our initial poll.

Please look for specific details and registration information to come next week.  Members will have time to sign up exclusively until a few days after the next guild meeting, and then we will open it up to non members. 

Paula Winnig gave a book report on the Knitter’s Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes.  She also brought the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook to share. 

Mary Ellen Lohr gave the main presentation on Mosaic Knitting.  Barbara Walker’s excellent book is here. There is a good Knitty article on the subject if you missed it or would like more information.  You can also find some mosaic knitting patterns on Ravelry.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

January Minutes

This month’s meeting was led by Vice President Beth Soper as our fearless leader has flown south.

Mandie Harrington (secretary) reported that the Membership Directory was in progress but not everyone had responded.  The draft was passed around for additions and corrections.  If you have not responded to the directory survey please do so here or email me with that information.

Barb Bettegnies (Special Programming Committee Chair) asked for additional members to help with the Cat Bordhi committee and Peg Alexander joined.  Barb reports that Cat will split her travel expenses between us, TNNA, and the Small Knits Symposium in Bloomington.  She has asked Cat to extend her stay at the hotel she is staying at for TNNA, and we are making headway toward choosing a location. 

Barb passed around a list of classes Cat offers and asked people to vote.  If you did not get to the meeting but plan to attend the workshop in April, Titles are:

Lecture 
Twenty Misleading Knitting Myths-Uncovered and set right
Time Travel to Peru - When modern and indigenous knitters join as one
Classes
Seven Super Skills Cowl
Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks
New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters
Personal Footprints for Rebellious Sock Knitters
Carefree Moebius Knitting
Advanced Moebius Knitting and Designing
Engineering New Stitch Patterns
Finding the Fountain of Fresh Knitting Ideas

Please let Barb or I know your preferences if you have them or if you need more information about any of the classes.

Guild members were asked to come to a decision on this year’s charity knitting.  Mary Ellen Lohr suggested the Tit-a-long for breast cancer survivors.  Beth brought up the orphanage in Zimbabwe which we knit sweaters for last year has 60 more children newborn-12 in need of sweaters.  Marsha Callahan suggested Craine House, A halfway house on Michigan Road where non-violent offenders can serve out their sentences with their children, and the kids have a need of sweaters.

The options were discussed and it was agreed that we would have two charity knitting projects, one small and one larger.  The small project is the knitted breasts.  Sweaters will be collected for Zimbabwe until June when they can be delivered, and sweaters after that will be for Craine House. 

The pattern for the knitted breasts is here
They have a need for sizes C and larger, especially sets.  Please Please go ahead and fill them with polyester fiberfill and leave a tail, but don’t close them.  They will add a weight and close them up.  There is no need for the icord or buttons. 

We will get more information about the sweaters for Zimbabwe and Craine house, but all sizes from newborn to youth large are needed.

At February’s meeting anyone who wants can bring yarn (preferably worsted and washable) for sharing or swapping for these projects.

Barb also announced that we are tentatively scheduling Lucy Neatby for Spring 2015.  She will call her to make more specific plans.

Mandie did the Tip of the Month, about weaving in ends of yarn as you knit.  I have a blog post about that here.

Paula Winnig also mentioned the “helpful notes” on Ravelry projects.  So, if you are looking at a pattern and you click the projects tab, you can sort by people who have marked the project notes as helpful (they have a little life preserver on them).  This is useful if you’re stuck, or if you’re altering a pattern in a way someone else may have done before you.

Alice Bell did the Book Report this month on Nicky Epstein’s Knitted EmbellishmentsShe also brought in some beautiful examples of her work from this book, including a gorgeous tree skirt with various knitted trees all over it.

Laurie Hagans mentioned the yarn crawl Roving IndianaYou buy a passport for $5 from any of the 8 participating yarn shops.  You get a 10% discount at each participating shop during the crawl, a chance to win the shop prize at each shop you visit, a portion of the pattern for the crawl (visit all 8 to get the full pattern), and if you make it to all 8 shops you leave the completed section of your passport to be entered in a prize drawing for the overall prize.
Participating shops are

The Clay Purl - Nashville
In a Yarn Basket - Bloomington,
Mass Ave - Indianapolis, Nomad Yarns – Plainfield
Scotland Yarn - Shelbyville
Shabby Sheep and Ewe - Columbus
Sheep Street - Martinsville, and Starstruck Cat Studio - Greenwood.

The event takes place from February 21st to March 2nd.

Joyce Mallette gave the program on attached i-cord.  A tutorial can be found hereShe gave a tip to start the i-cord with 1 stitch instead of 3 and yo twice on the first row to make a nicer beginning, and then S2KP at the end to 1 stitch instead of binding off 3. 

Lastly, we need more volunteers for Tip of the Month.  Please let me know if you’d be willing to do one of these for us. 

Sunday, January 12, 2014

January Meeting

I hope everyone is warm and dry after last week's storm!  

Joyce Mallette will be doing a program on attached i-cord.  People who want to participate should knit a rectangular swatch of garter or stockinette stitch, and bring 2 DPNs about 2 sizes smaller than used for the swatch, and contrast yarn.  Time is 7:00 at the Epworth United Methodist Church as usual, 6450 Allisonville Road

Pre-meeting dinner will be at 5:15 at Logan's Roadhouse, 4825 E. 82nd Street.  598-1347
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/C5gNM

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
 
Mandie