Volume 32, Number 2 Newsletter of the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild Summer 2016 From the President Greetings, everyone! tributed via email in a SurveyMonkey. Since the Minnesota Thanks again to all of you that volunteer to make Knitters’ Guild started in the Guild what it is and to all of you future volun- 1985, we've been fortu- teers that will keep our tradition alive! nate to have volunteers to keep the Guild running. After over 30 years, we MKG Board Sheri Braun President Sheri Braun, are still 100% volunteer- President led even though many Jessica LaVigne Secretary MN Knitters’ Guild other things have changed Mona Phaff Treasurer such as where we meet, how we communi- Karen Cyson Member-At-Large cate and the number of members we have. Shelley Hermanson Yarnover Director Betty Hanna Service Director I want to personally thank everyone who has Linnea Geiger Hill Membership Director been on the board, in an appointed position Kate Westlund Technology & Social or on a committee--you are all what makes Media Director the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild great! I’d par- ticularly like to thank outgoing board volun- teers Linnea Geiger for her service as Mem- Appointed Positions bership Director, and Barb Lind for her ser- Rebecca Anspach Librarian vice as Web Infomaster. Elizabeth Watkins Cable Gram Editor Barb Lind Web Infomaster We will have upcoming board elections this summer, with vacancies in the Programming and Membership positions. Keep your eyes out for voting information, which will be dis- (Continued on page 2) INSIDE Thank you Volunteers! ............................................. 2 MKG Donation Procedure ....................................... 6 Paperless Payment Survey ....................................... 2 Knitting in the News: The Rocking Knit ................... 7 As Seen on Ravelry: Rocking Horse Farm’s Tribute The Library Corner: Knitlandia –A Knitter Sees the to Prince ................................................................... 3 World........................................................................ 7 At a Recent Meeting: Lucy Neatby ........................... 4 Knitting Around: TwinSets Designs’ Podcasters ...... 8 At a Recent Meeting: The Great Yarn Ends Chal- Yarnover 2016 ........................................................ 10 lenge ......................................................................... 4 Charting the Future ................................................ 11 Knitting in the Northland: Save me a seat ............... 5 NLA Meeting Schedule .......................................... 11 Service Committee ................................................... 6 Coming Up at MKG ............................................... 11 2 Cable Gram - Summer 2016 Thank you to all the volunteers for making MKG great! (Continued from page 1) Programming Committee Sheri Braun, Chair Social Media Committee Shelley Hermanson Kate Westlund, Chair Cable Gram Committee Diane Mountford Jeanne Burns Elizabeth Watkins, Editor Kathy Lewinski Nancy Adomeit Retreat Diane Mountford Annette Babione Sheri Braun, Chair Rebecca Rogers Caitlin Norris Karen Cyson Elizabeth Watkins Catherine Muenich Finance Committee Anne Ross Yarnover Committee Mona Phaff, Chair Kate Westlund Shelley Hermanson, Chair Rebecca Anspach Tracy Barrett Sheri Braun Service Committee Anna Blomster Brigid Brindley Betty Hanna, Chair Sheri Braun Jean Anderson Bonnie Esplie Governance Committee Laura Halfpenny Barb Lind Sheri Braun, Chair Connie Iverson Shari O' Flanagan Brigid Brindley Paula Knutzen Sue Traczyk Karen Lehman Sandra Kollman Kate Westlund Sandra Merrill Cynthia Morrissey Ellen Reeher Anna Smegal Rose Tobelmann Shirley Unger We are looking into adding phone and web conferencing ability to make being a part of a committee more accessible. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to the committee’s chair. Contact information for each chair can be found on the Members' section of www.knitters.org. Paperless Payment Survey In the past four years, the number of members has Our current policy of accepting cash and more than doubled to over 700 members. While this checks has made our treasurer’s position, as a growth is exciting, it brings some challenges as well. volunteer, unsustainable. At the May board meeting a motion was passed to Using online registration and payment greatly start 100% paperless payment starting on September reduces the volunteer hours required. 1, 2016. We understand that this is a big change that will im- When making this decision, we considered the fol- pact how our members pay for membership and it lowing points: was not a decision that was taken lightly. We are con- Currently, the Guild is staffed 100% with vol- ducting a survey to gauge how much of the member- unteers. ship would experience a hardship from this change. Please take a few minutes to fill it out. Thank you! Acceptance of cash and checks is a very man- ual process that takes hours of work to meet The survey is online at bit.ly/MKGPaperlessSurvey proper nonprofit financial rules and regula- tions. Cable Gram - Summer 2016 3 As Seen on Ravelry: Rocking Horse Farm’s Prince Portrait by Caitlin Norris The hand and machine knit portrait was Carole Wurst, left, and Lily Chin at Yarnover completed in time to display at Yarnover: a mere two days after Prince’s death! While tributes poured into Paisley Park from sota roots, Jason notes that Prince “stayed here” around the globe after superstar Prince’s passing, and continued to call Minnesota home. The su- one of the most genuine came locally from perstar was also known to have provided musical Rocking Horse Farm’s Jason Wurst. Jason de- instruments and support for schools throughout signed a knit portrait of Prince with an intricate the Twin Cities metro area. paisley border. Jason’s mother, longtime Minne- The knit portrait was displayed at Yarnover, sota Knitters’ Guild member Carole, helped Purls of Joy, and Shepherd’s Harvest. Those of quickly knit the portrait to have it completed in us who missed seeing it in person may be out of time to display at Yarnover a mere two days af- luck as a florist contacted Jason and borrowed ter Prince’s death. Carole and Jason created the the piece to use in an arrangement at Prince’s piece with sport weight yarn knit by hand and memorial service. with a knitting machine. For more projects designed or created by fellow The portrait was created using DesignaKnit™ members, be sure to join the Minnesota Knitters’ software, which allows users to draft patterns Guild Ravelry group and check out the recently and turn photographs or other graphics into knit- shared projects section! ting charts. Users can alter shading, detail, and size to create personalized patterns. Jason im- ported a photo of Prince and spent approximate- ly three hours perfecting the details of the pat- tern. In the future, Jason would like to create charts for Minnesota landmarks such as the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis and the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth. Jason has a Ph.D. in composition, teaches music, and has many ties with the Minnesota music community. A diverse population of musicians came to Minnesota to collaborate with Prince and Jason feels that “Prince helped put Minneso- ta on the map for the music world.” While there Close-up of the intricate paisley border pattern. have been other famous musicians with Minne- 4 Cable Gram - Summer 2016 At Recent Meetings: Lucy Neatby by Elizabeth Watkins Yarnover instructor Lucy Neatby stayed in the tions as the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica and the Twin Cities and spoke at a Tuesday evening meet- St. Lawrence River. Next year, she will teach ing on April 28. Boats and water were the overall double-knitting during a cruise from Buenos theme of her talk, which she began by saying that Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. it would be the “strangest knitting talk you’ve ever Halifax is located on an island, but Lucy fell in heard.” love with an even smaller island that is only acces- Lucy spoke about her history as a knitter and de- sible via a pedestrian ferry and purchased a cot- signer in the context of her love of water and tage there. Cat Bordhi, who lives on an island in boats. She served in the British merchant marine, the Pacific Northwest, has visited Lucy’s home on working on commercial ships that circled the Tancook island and was stranded there when bad globe. Her voyages always began with a trip to a weather prevented the ferry from making the re- yarn shop to get enough materials for up to six turn trip. Lucy has taught some of her island months at sea. Some of her designs were inspired neighbors to knit and several of them have served by things she saw while traveling, such as a wall- as models for her designs. More recently, she has hanging that was inspired by West African tex- started offering a summer knitting camp on Tan- tiles. cook Island. Lucy met her husband while they both worked on Her talk was bittersweet, since Lucy explained a car carrier. He was offered a job with a boat that this was her last teaching tour of the United manufacturer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and she fol- States. Lucy’s husband recently retired, and they lowed him after first checking into the local yarn plan to spend more time exploring the British ca- supply. She met someone who organized knitting nal system on rented “narrow boats.” Guild mem- trips, and realized that she could combine her love bers visiting the UK should keep an eye out for a of the sea by teaching knitting on cruise ships. woman with colorful hair and a drop spindle, She has taught knitting in such diverse destina- floating by on a canal. The Great Yarn Ends Challenge Ever wonder what to do with your odds and ends of yarn? This was the focus of a recent Guild knit-off, which was the brainchild of member Diane Mountford. At the March monthly meeting, mem- bers were asked to bring in their leftovers, which were sorted into color families. Members dove into the bins in search of treasures, Elizabeth Watkins’ bird house with which they were challenged to use for a project.