Speaker: Sharon Mcmahon Three Irish Girls
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Speaker: Sharon McMahon Upcoming Events Three Irish Girls 2/11: MKG February Meeting Neighborhood Knits Our February speaker is Sharon McMahon, 3/9: MKG Knit-In the founder and creative director of Three 3/11: MKG March Meeting Irish Girls, one of the largest independent 4/8: MKG April Meeting dyeing companies in the world. When she's not busy dyeing award-winning colorways, she blogs at Yarnista.com and travels the country teaching at shops and events. Sharon’s presentation to the Guild is “Beyond Coffee and Chocolate.” In this hilarious discussion, she will trace her journey from a preteen girl who took the bus to a knitting class, through her twelve years teaching some of the most challenging high school students in America, and arriving at her current destination: a full time Yarnista of one of the country’s largest hand-dyeing studios. How did Three Irish Girls get its start? Learn how it grew from a pair of size 7 knitting needles to a 15,000- square-foot studio with ten employees, dozens of exclusive patterns created by some of the top designers in the world, and a blog following of more than 50,000 people per month. Sharon McMahon Her yarns will be available for purchase from one of our vendors that evening, The Cat and Crow. ~ Kate Findley Parking Reminder Please leave the few non-disabled parking spots that are next to the disabled parking spots in front of the Bishop O’Connor Center for our members who may not have a disabled permit but find it difficult to navigate the snow-covered parking lot from further away. If you are able to drop off your riders at the end of the sidewalk, just a few feet to the left of the main entrance, that will also free up space for our vendors to unload. Thank you for your cooperation! MKG Knitters News 02/2013 1 Vogue Knitting Spotlights the Center for Knit and Crochet The November symposium that brought stars and enthusiasts of the fiber arts world together in Madison and resulted in the formation of the Center for Knit and Crochet (CKC) is spotlighted with an article in the Winter 2012/13 issue of Vogue Knitting. The article recaps the activities and vibrant energy of those three days and identifies some of the eminent attendees, which included Vogue Knitting’s own vice president and editorial director Trish Malcolm. Karen Kendrick-Hands was inspired to explore preservation of knitted and crocheted objects by a visit to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, and received invaluable assistance from the Wisconsin Historical Society and The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA) to bring her inspiration to life. As the article goes on to say, it’s likely that the CKC will begin as a virtual entity. To “read more about it”, pick up the Winter 2012/13 issue of Vogue Knitting. The CKC’s working board of directors has been busy getting the organization off the ground. To date we have: Incorporated in Wisconsin as Center for Knit and Crochet, Inc., obtained a federal tax number and set up a bank account. Next up: applying to the IRS for non-profit tax exempt status. Polished up our website, www.knitcrochetcenter.org, and added a PayPal button for donations. Please note, because we are in the process of preparing our application for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, donations to the CKC are not tax deductible at this time. Donations are still needed and greatly appreciated so that we can continue to move our work forward. Businesses may be able to write off gifts to the CKC as business expenses (check with your tax advisor). Begun to develop a comprehensive knitting and crochet taxonomy that will form the basis to develop and structure a digital collection. Consistent terminology for knit and crochet will serve as the basis as the basis for creating information about online items, that will be used to catalog digital images as we create and gather them and allow them to be searchable. Our work is ongoing, so please keep checking our website and this newsletter for updates. ~ Marilyn Huset MKG Knitters News 02/2013 2 Community Projects Donations for the Road Home and Porchlight, Inc. A big thank you to Carole Ayres and Jane Newman for delivering the knitted projects and more thanks to Betty Ulanski for taking donated yarn to give to Taycheedah. Mittens 8 Gloves 1 Hats 41 Socks 14 Scarves 35 Grand Total 99 This is an incredible amount of knitting! The projects were beautiful. We counted head warmers in with the hats and cowls went in with the scarves. We also received toiletries which were much appreciated. Donations for February Go To: Agrace Hospice Care and Bayview Center Bayview Center has requested hats, mittens and scarves for adults and children. If you aren't familiar with the Bayview Center and Foundation, you should read about them at bayviewfoundation.org. This agency provides support to low- and middle-income families in a racially diverse neighborhood with 87% of the heads of families born outside the U.S. Bayview Center also includes a large number of adults with developmental disabilities in their programs. Services include housing, arts, gardens, summer programs for youth and an evening program for teens. Agrace Hospice Care is a community-based hospice dedicated to providing expert physical, emotional and spiritual support to patients and families dealing with life-limiting conditions. They would like lap robes and tactile stimulation balls. The lap robes are self-explanatory. Tactile stimulation balls are small baseball sized balls used with patients with dementia to keep their hands busy. They use them to hold, squeeze, grip and stretch. Picture a ball with attached wings or big ruffles for pulling and stretching. In order to make the ball stretchy, it may have to be knit loosely. When stuffing the ball, if you use whole soft fabric or quilt batting instead of little pieces of foam that would help to keep the stuffing from coming out. If you have old nylons, they would make a good stuffing. I asked Hospice if they had a pattern or a sample, but they had given all the balls out. I looked in Ravelry for a pattern for a tactile stimulation ball, without any luck. There are plenty of patterns for regular balls online. Another easier idea is a tactile washcloth, rather than a ball. You could make a ruffly washcloth sized piece that might work just as well. My daughter has a small blanket she uses to entertain my grand daughter while she is in her car seat. It has different textures on it, made with appliques and tabs of different fabrics. You could use different weights and textures of left-over yarn and knit it in a washcloth size–worth a try! MKG Knitters News 02/2013 3 600 Monsters for Connnecticut Thank you to Garrett Carlisle for being the contact person for 600 Monsters for Connecticut. I understand that Newtown has received way too many donated gifts, but the website that Garrett is working with already has plans for other places to send the monsters. Pledge forms for Monona Library Critters We are hoping to provide at least 500 small to medium knitted/crocheted critters to use as incentives and 20 to 30 larger objects for special prizes. Guild members interested in making critters are asked to “pledge” how many critters they will be willing to make by our May 15, meeting. We are asking for pledges so we can let Karen Wendt know by March what to expect, since she will have to buy or solicit donations from others to ensure she has more than 1,000 objects by summer. How to pledge: We'll have small and medium sticky notes available at the next few meetings. Simply print your name on one note for each small critter you plan to make by May 15. If you plan to make six, then print your name on six notes. These will be taped securely to a tagboard with blank squares for each of the 500 critters we hope members will make. ~ Lynn Levin, Monona Library Critter Coordinator We’ve collected a variety of free patterns—follow these links: Mouse: http://media.wendyknits.net/knit/mousepat4.htm Bunny, monster and bird: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-nuggets (Tip: 6- stitch I-cords for the ears are much easier!) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chubby-chirps http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/monster-chunks If you’re not a Ravelry member – the patterns are available on her blog: http://www.rebeccadanger.typepad.com/ Pencil toppers: http://flutterbypatch.blogspot.com/2011/04/pencil-dolls.html Fairies: http://flutterbypatch.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-knitted-fairy-pattern.html Angry Birds: http://knitterbees.blogspot.com/2011/10/yellow-bird-plush-toy-pattern.html A coiling snake: http://marymck.blogspot.com/2009/10/meey-sydney-stash-busting-snake.html Some cute little snakes: http://justonewip.blogspot.com/2010/02/snakes-adders.html http://www.the-byrds-nest.com/2011/04/24/small-sssssnake/ And a knitted fish to knit in the round: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80764AD.html Kate Findley spoke to Coventry Independent Living Residents in January. They are forming a Knitting Group and and wanted information about our Guild. WHERE THE YARN WENT People stayed home and knit. There were no requests for yarn! Must be a mid-winter lull. - Bonnie Dill, Community Projects Chair, [email protected] MKG Knitters News 02/2013 4 Board Member Opportunities Three-year board terms for the Madison Knitters’ Guild are staggered so that each year a third of the positions are open.