TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

Hello from our new president Hi Everyone,

I’m so excited about being your next Guild president! I look forward to adventure and fun with all of you. I have some big shoes to fill because Debbie has created and done so many won-derful things for all of us within our Guild. She has been a won-derful help to me with answering all my many questions and con-cerns. Thank you so much, Debbie.

I am quite sad that I will not be at our first meeting together. Please forgive me, but on Nov. 3 I will be cruising to Cozumel, Mexico, with my wonderful spouse and very dear friends. This cruise is our anniversary gift to each other because we will be cel-ebrating 20 years of marriage together! He’s still my “Mr. Won-derful.”

Some of you may not know much about me, so I’d like to share a bit about myself regarding my background in needlework.When I was a little girl, my great-grandmother and mother taught me to

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NEXT MEETING

Monday, November 3

• 7 p.m., Meet & Greet

• 7:15 p.m., Meeting

WE MEET AT:

Penthouse Westminster Canterbury 3100 Shore Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23451

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE

Submissions for the December issue of the newsletter are due Nov. 15. Email Editor Sonja Barisic at snbarisic@gmail.com.

INSIDE

• 2 Calendar, Treasurer’s Report, Birthdays, Holiday Party

• 3 Volunteer Openings, Chari-ty Knitting

• 4 Meeting Minutes, Ravelry, Illusion Knitting

• 5 Friends & Knitting, Photos

• 6 LYS ads

Purls of Wisdom

TKGV members elected officers at the October meeting. Beverly Boler, left, will remain treasurer. Marilyn Estrada, second from left, is the new vice president. Incoming President Cheryl Moore, second from right, accepted a gavel from Immediate Past President Debbie Henderson, far right. (Not pictured: Debbie Goodman will continue as secretary.)

TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

President’s message, continued from page 1embroider and do crewel work. My grandmother taught me to crochet and sew. This was during a time when idle hands were considered “the devil’s plaything.”

I enjoy all of these crafts, but I always wanted to learn how to knit. No one in my family, nor any of my friends, knew how to knit, so I was on my own. I tried as a young girl and could not do it. Just like my grandma, I couldn’t seem to manage working with two needles. I tried again when I was a teenager and became frus-trated again. When I was in my very late 20s, I tried knitting again. This time I was so determined that I even learned how to “knit” with a crochet hook! It really did look like knitting, by the way. I finally got it, after so many attempts, working with two needles. All without YouTube or computers!

Anyway, I did eventually find a woman within our church who knit. We became friends and I remember her guiding me along. It was such a comfort to knit with her and chat about so many dif-ferent things in our lives. You might say that we were knitted to-gether in friendship and love for each other. She has long since moved away, the same as I did, and our paths do not cross each other anymore but I will never forget Diane. A true friend — as warm as a cozy knitted sweater that you snuggle up in on a cold wintery day.

That’s part of the joy I wish to bring to the Guild. There really is a bond among knitters. You’ve felt it when you’ve traveled else-where and gone into a yarn shop. It’s cozy and warm and as famil-iar as that long-lost friend. This is our Guild together, and I’m so looking forward to each moment spent with my friends.

Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts, questions or concerns you may have about the guild. My email address is: purlingbythebay@gmail.com.

Holiday party reminder By Debbie Henderson

Just a reminder to everyone that our Dec. 1 meeting will be our holiday party, at Lynnhaven Colony Congregational Church, 2217 West Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach. It is just a couple of miles down the road from Westminster Canterbury.

There will be a signup sheet at the November meeting for food and decorations. The church hall will be opened at 6 p.m. for us to begin our setup. A kitchen is available.

Our charity focus this year is Samaritan House, which shelters and helps women and children fleeing domestic violence. Items requested are hats and scarves for women and children of all ages.

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EVENT CALENDAR

NOVEMBER 3 Help Clinic, 6:30 p.m. Guild Meeting, 7 p.m.

NOVEMBER 7-9 Open House Retreat Weekend, Verdant Gryphon Studio, Easton, Md., http://verdantgryphon.com

DECEMBER 1 Guild Meeting and Holiday Party, 7 p.m. (see article this page for more information)

Rae Struebing Nov. 2

Barbara Wool Nov. 2

Marcy Lindblad Nov. 6

Cheryl Cauthen-Bond Nov. 13

Nancy Curles-Quintilone Nov. 13

Molly Larson Nov. 13

Brenda Bunting Nov. 14

Mary Stephens Nov. 18

Barbara Wright Nov. 23

Cindy Call Nov. 26

Melanie Perez-Lopez Nov. 27

Sue Von Ohlsen Nov. 28

TREASURER’S REPORT The Guild’s bank account balance is $4,670.57. Bev Boler

MEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Cheryl Moore

TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

Our Guild needs YOU: Please volunteer By Cheryl Moore

Calling all Guild members!We are looking for people to fill several volunteer positions. The following are available:

Welcoming Guests - This position requires greeting new guests at Guild meetings, making them feel welcome and answering any questions about the Guild they may have. You also would make sure they receive one free raffle ticket for their first visit to the Guild.Raffle and Door Prize Enthusiast - This position requires

selling of raffle tickets at each monthly meeting and using the pro-ceeds to obtain the following month’s items to be raffled off. The items for raffles/door prizes may be gathered through the LYS or other entities. Newsletter Editor - This position requires soliciting and editing

content (articles, photos, ads, etc.) for the Guild’s monthly news-letter, creating original content for the newsletter as needed, de-

signing each issue and formatting it as a PDF, emailing the PDF of each issue to most Guild members, printing and mailing hard copies of each issue to a few Guild members without email access, posting the PDF to the Guild’s Facebook page and/or to issuu.com, and attending Board planning sessions as needed.

If you’re interested in volunteering for any of these positions, please let an officer know at a meeting, or contact me at purlingbythebay@gmail.com. Thank you.

Samaritan House, others benefit from your knitting By Chris Goudeau

Our December holiday meeting will be spotlighting items for women and children at Samaritan House. Items needed are hats and scarves that are appropriate for them. We will set up a table with all of your creations for all to see.

Here’s a recap of the local organizations asking for knitted/crocheted items:SPCA – Pet blankets (must be at least 14” square)Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society – Baby blanketsSamaritan House – Hats and scarves for women and childrenBirthright of Norfolk – Preemie-sized blankets, sweaters, hats, booties, etc.Chesapeake City Jail – Prayer shawls for women who are incarcerated Lighthouse Center – Hats, scarves, blankets for the homeless. Also, please save travel-sized toi-

letries for them as well.I have a bunch of hats and scarves for the Lighthouse Center and have been waiting for the weather

to change before I make a delivery. If you have items for the Lighthouse Center, please bring them to the meeting and I will include them with what I already have collected.

Please remember those in need when you are looking for a project to start. Hats and scarves are all projects you can make with your leftover yarns as well. I will bring in charity yarn for you each month from Navy/Marine Relief Society for blankets.

Please bring your items to be donated locally to the next meeting and we’ll see that they are dis-tributed. If you have items that you have given to an out-of-town charity, you should note that on the charity log. Remember to sign the charity knitting log each month when you attend our meetings or email me at chrisgoudeau64@gmail.com.

To date,we have created 361 items for charity. As always, thank you to all who knit/crochet for charity.

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TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

October 2014 TKGV Meeting MinutesThe president opened the October 2014 meeting at 7:15 p.m. by welcoming one new visitor.The treasurer reported a balance of $3,350 and also noted that $1,000 had been spent on items for the retreat.

This money will be replaced as people pay to attend the retreat..Charity Knitting - There is yarn available for charity knitting.The weather is changing and items are needed for

women in the Chesapeake City Jail, Birthright, Samaritan House and the animal shelter. Be sure to log all charity knitting on the charity log. Marilyn Estrada discussed a charity knitting opportunity. She met a woman at the Mont-pelier Fiber Festival who told her about KnitItKnockers. These are knitted bra inserts that can be used by women with breast cancer who have had a mastectomy. There is a free pattern available on Ravelry and at www.knititknock-ers.com.

Newsletter - Submit your reviews on yarns, patterns, techniques and yarn to Sonja Barisic by the 15th of the month for the monthly newsletter.

Baa Baa Sheep - Anzula Trunk Show Oct. 5-8. Check out the new classes for October.The Yarn Club - New Western Sky Knits yarn has arrived. Restocking Tosh, as well as Meow and Woof. Check

out classes for October.New Business - The Waterway Heritage Festival will be held Oct. 11-12. A signup sheet is available.  The 2015 Retreat that will be held March 3-8 at the Hampton Inn in Corolla was discussed. Prices are: $140 for

the retreat with classes, and $115 for the retreat without classes. Hotel reservations need to be made by the attendee. Classes were discussed, with the caveat that space is limited in each class. Signup sheets were made available.

The 2014 holiday party will be held at the Lynnhaven Colony Presbyterian Church, and there will be a signup sheet coming.

The knitting contest was held with winners for best use of scrap yarn, biggest gauge mistake, "What was I thinking?,” oldest finished and unfinished projects and favorite project.

The new board was installed and welcomed: Cheryl Moore, president; Marilyn Estrada, vice president; Debbie Goodman, secretary; Beverly Boler, treasurer.

The president recognized and thanked everyone who had helped her while she was in office.Guild members participated in show and tell.There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m.Respectfully submitted by Terry Swindell in the absence of Secretary Debbie Goodman

Ravelry is fun for sharing projects, so don’t forget to update By Chris Goudeau

I’m compiling a list of members’ Ravelry ID’s. At the October meeting, I passed around a sheet of paper asking for your name and ID. I’ve compared this list with the ID’s that our treasurer is collecting on your membership forms.

As I’ve gone through the list and checked the ID’s on Ravelry to make sure I have transcribed them correctly, I’ve noticed that some of you have not photographed or listed your wonderful projects. Inquir-ing minds want to know about your beautiful creations, so please try to update your projects from time to time.

Once Bev and I compare our information, we’ll share the list with you. Thanks in advance.

Discover the magic of illusion knitting at the Guild retreat Denise Call will be teaching a class on

illusion knitting at the Guild retreat (see details in the October issue of the news-letter). Discover what simple stripes of knits and purls can reveal when viewed at an angle! Also, illusion knitting gives a nice picture from the back.

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TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

On friendship, Tinkertoys and knitting By Nancy Curles-Quintilone My best friend recently came to visit me for a weekend. We went to a local yarn store, collecting yarn and patterns for future ideas. I reached the conclusion after reflecting upon my inventory of my yarn stash that I really needed and wanted to find a pattern to make. Scrolling through Ravelry, we decided upon the Candy Hat by Chiaki Knit, which used Be Sweet and another worsted weight yarn. I thought that I had a couple of Be Sweet balls of yarn, but behold: We were actually able to find a better-suited worsted weight yarn to go with it.

It was time to wind up the yarn. I have a Tinkertoy swift and a traditional ball winder, which I have to put together if I choose to use. We knew that in all probability, we would have to wind by hand the Be Sweet ball, so I found a nostepinne and I wound the two balls by hand that way, using my girlfriend’s arms/hands as a “human swift.”

While talking, we managed to get the Be Sweet ball of yarn tangled around both of her wrists (not necessarily at the same time). We couldn’t find both ends of the yarn. After the small ball was completed, we decided we might as well work up the other one too, so we did.

During our talk, I said this would make a cute story of a human swift/ball winder for our knitting guild newsletter. We laughed over it, but I thought, why not? I hadn’t written anything for the newsletter in a few months, and it was about time. I did decide to use yarn from stash, and a pattern I bought from Ravelry. Now, to see about casting on — that will be the next challenge this week.

My human swift has had to go home for now, but we shall see each other again in about another month or so.

If you would like more information regarding a Tinkertoy swift, Google it. I did, found a box of Tin-kertoys for about $20 from Toys “R” Us and then played around with making the swift. It’s cheaper than one of the fancier ones, and if it falls apart, so what? You can always put it back together and re-set it for another skein of yarn to wind. They are also easy to take with you on vacation, or retreats, etc.

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Marilyn Estrada, Kathy Cassada and Debbie Hender-son at the Guild’s booth at the Chesapeake Water-ways Heritage Festival on Oct. 12. (photo by Molly Larson)

Nancy Curles-Quintilone, right, received her multiple gifts and card from from members of the TKGV with much joy! (photo by Z. Ann Hurt)

A happy knitter Festive knitters

TIDEWATER KNITTING GUILD OF VIRGINIA November 2014

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November brings you a Yarn Tasting that fits your busy schedule. Come in any time between Nov. 4 and 8 to get a sampling of nine of this season’s new yarns. The weights include fingering, DK, worsted and bulky.  Lines include Louisa Harding, Knit One Crochet Too, Filatura Di Crosa, Viking of Norway, Noro, Queensland and Ply-mouth. Each three-yard sample will allow you to test the hand and stitch definition of the yarn. Pattern ideas will be available also. Folly and Nonsense patterns will be the focus of a

trunk show from Nov. 17 to 29.  Heidi Haywood is the local designer behind Folly and Nonsense.  Her patterns include socks, scarves, wraps and cowls. Save time for a Saturday workshop to create delightful knitted holiday balls. The workshop includes instruction in simple Fair Isle, working in the round and the kit.  The kit includes the patterns and enough Anzula Nebula to create two balls. Check the Baa Baa Sheep newsletter and/or Facebook page for the date. On Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, we will honor our Veterans, active duty military and their spouses by giving them a 15 percent discount on all purchases.

Please support your local yarn shops

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