April Black Sheep Knitting Guild Meeting Reminder

Hello Sheepies!

Just a quick reminder that we are meeting next Tuesday, April 9. Doors open at 6:30 and the meeting will begin at 7:00. There are a few special things happening this month, so be prepared and bring your pennies!

• Sneaky Sheep - all of our sneaky sheep swap efforts will be revealed! If you have ever participated in Sneaky Sheep in the past and didn't have the opportunity to give your gift, now is the time - bring it in and present it to the person it was originally intended for.
• Swag will be passed out - if you ordered swag, payment on that will be due.
• For those going on Retreat with us in May, the final Retreat payment will also be due.  If you paid the $75 deposit and are in a twin room, you owe $110.  If you paid the $75 deposit and are in a single room, you owe $145.
• We will be holding our last special Raffle for a Retreat registration. Raffle tickets will be $5.
• We will be kicking off our Charity knit for the year - kits will be available to pick up at the meeting. 

Guests are invited to attend 2 meetings to try us on for size.  All BSKG meetings and events are for those 18 and over, unless otherwise stated, so please leave children at home.

Happy Spring, everyone - I'm looking forward to seeing all of you next week!

Going to Bowling Green, OH

Hello all you Black Sheep!

This is my first attempt at posting on the blog.  Just wanted to let everyone know how great a time we had at the Black Swamp Spinners Guild Market Day in Bowling Green, OH yesterday.  We had an extremely large group of Black Sheep who ventured south - 17 in total!  We had a wonderful time there, going from vendor to vendor, trying not to spend our entire bank accounts.

We chatted with Amy of Bad Amy Knits - bought her yarn and lots of her bags.

Across the aisle from Bad Amy was one of our favorites - Briar Rose.

 I got to show Chris (Briar Rose) the lovely sweater I made from her yarn and pattern.  Her yarn is so lovely.

And finally, we had our yearly group photo taken by a friendly knitter.

I know , I know.  The number of Black Sheep in this picture is only 15.  Wylie and Judith had left before we took it.

Oh, and Michele won a beautiful knitting book in one of the raffles they had.

We did manage to hook up with Wylie and Judith when we all drove into downtown Bowling Green and ate at the Easystreet Cafe.  It's a great bar/restaurant with wonderful food.

Some of us then drove to Perrysburg, OH to visit a great yarn shop - Yarn Cravin.  It's a wonderful little shop in an old house.  Yarn in every room.  We manage to visit every year. (and purchase more yarn, of course!)

The drive home was uneventful.  It was a lovely day and we all had a great time.  Some also went over to Kim T.'s house afterwards to knit and help her celebrate her birthday.  Happy Birthday Kim!

...out like a lamb

Here it is again two months past. Spring is bounding towards us and Black Sheep have been busy!

Our February meeting was extending your craft: non-knitting activities that extend or complement our love of fiber and stitches. Have you ever made a sweater and had trouble finding the perfect button? Make your own Dorset buttons with leftover yarn. Other activities included needlefelting on thick industrial felt to create a little sheep keychain, and making a pipe cleaner and roving sheep mascot to guard your yarn stash.

Harriet's trunk show featured shawl after lovely shawl...I'm sure she inspired some people to sign up for the Anne Hanson beginners lace class in March.

Feeling the love, the February meeting also gave us time to socialize and visit while enjoying a lovely black sheep decorated cake--yellow cake with a lovely raspberry filling. Rita, who is that baker? It was delicious!

Door prizes donated by Kim T, Joan D, Noreen S and Kate P. were a great variety of items: Rowan magazines (Karen S), Divé yarn and pattern (Anne R), Ella Rae yarn and pattern (Dawn J), American Red Cross Knit kit (Kim W), Koigu, beads and pattern (Linda L), Namaste Oh Snap bags (Mary M), Butterfly cotton yarn (Linda F) and Simply Chic by Jill Eaton (Ann T). Whew!

And on top of all that abundance, a special raffle of a kit for the Euclid sweater generously donated by Philosopher's Wool was won by our vice president Harriet A. If you have not heard of Philosopher's Wool take a look at their website...it is a lovely company and makes one heck of a field trip...I've visited once and would do it again. Field trip plan, Wylie?

March into spring: We were so, so lucky to have Anne Hanson of Knitspot come to teach three workshops over the weekend prior to our March meeting. Saturday was beginning lace — we have a group who are now fearlessly searching out lace yarn and patterns. I see a lace KAL and mention of other lace projects popping up in our Ravelry group. Sunday was a project oriented workshop featuring Anne's Bittersweet Vines cowl and mitts pattern. Imagine the delight of working on a pattern with the designer right there over your shoulder! At least six of the students already finished their cowls. Monday evening was a Designing off the cuff workshop -- on taking your basic go-to sock pattern and understanding how to add stitch patterns, and understanding how stitch textures and yarn varieties will play out.

Our guild meeting on Tuesday night was one last chance to rub shoulders with Anne — she presented her story and thoughts on knitting and design as well as offered up a trunk show with an opportunity to see and touch so many of her lovely samples.

Anne donated a special raffle item of a subscription to her 2013 Bare Naked Knitspot 2013 eBook. Lucky winner was Noreen S.

Our guild raffle included items donated by Erika P, Kathy P.: Road to China yarn (alpaca, cashmere, camel and silk blend!) with a pattern in a lovely handmade bag (Cheryl L), Simply Felt book (Vangie A), Manos del Uroguay yarn (Michele D), lovely purple handspun by Kathy P and Knit: Mittens book (Mary C), a skein of our beloved Yarn Hollow yarn (Terry S -- new member luck!) and Knitting Beyond the Edge (Patti N -- lucky guest!)

Oh! AND another special raffle for spot at the retreat won by Linda D. So excited to have you joining us again for the retreat weekend...it's going to be a great weekend.

Be sure to check our group on Ravelry for upcoming events info and carpooling plans. Also the events page here for other events to consider.

The new year: Cast on...Bind off.

Our January meeting had special guests and special moments...

Special guests Rita, Laura and Maureen shared with us their enthusiasm for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Detroit and the fight against breast cancer. A heartwarming video, presentation and a great Q and A period made their visit with us an inspiring opening to the meeting. Race for the Cure is May 18.

Pat K. followed by speaking about Knit Michigan, the fundraising annual event dedicated to bringing awareness and support to local cancer patients, their families and the organizations that support them. Under the guidance of Judith D. the guild has long supported the event with volunteers at the Learn to Knit table. Knit Michigan is coming up fast...the first Saturday of February.

The program in January ushers in the new year by welcoming the new president and vice president and ends the current president's term, allowing us the opportunity to thank them for all they have brought to the guild in that position.

The new president teaches a cast on at this meeting, and Charli shared with us the i-cord cast on—great for at the hem of a sweater, it prevents curling and creates a clean edge. Our new vice president, Harriet, stepped up in the middle to share a couple of joining techniques. First, the tried and true favorite when knitting with wool or other feltable fibers—the spit join. Harriet also shared the russian join for fibers that won't felt, such as cotton. Ending the program, Kelley stood in front of us for one last time. She led us in a bind off technique that creates a stretchy—great for lace—bind off, called appropriately, the lace bind off.

Raffle this month was donated by Helga, Tanya and Joan. An impressive array of items included a Be Sweet Sweetie Pie pattern and yarn kit (won by Marie), a couple of great books including The Knitter's Handy Book of Top-down Sweaters (won by Wiley). Eileen won the Artful yarns and handmade project bag, Donna won the prize she knew she would win: Kollage yarn in a lovely Bermuda Green with a Little Iris Shawl pattern. Oh and did I mention that I won the prize that I wanted so much that I doubled my ticket buy? Five cones of Habu Textiles Gima yarn with a cocoknits pattern, Paulina. Thanks so much, Joan, Helga and Tanya!

The final special moment: a group of sneaky sheep had been busy at work, each knitting squares that were pieced together into a lovely afghan and presented to Kelley. The beautiful hand dyed yarn was donated from our very own Rose, of Cakewalk Yarns. Nice work, knitters! (photos coming soon)

November and December....K2TOG

Time flew by between the November and December meetings!

In November...

...there were numerous lovely items in the member show and share. The Honey Cowl (Tracey K's. KAL-of-the-month pattern pick) had already been completed by a member or two. Harriet A. also shared a Daybreak made with Miss Babs and Happy Fuzzy yarn and Vangie had a great sweater with a 'scrunched' cable pattern that was really eye-catching.


Raffle prizes were donated by Marie W., Linda M. and Kim W. Books, yarn (can knitters ever have too much yarn?!), a needle case and bags were among the prizes...as well as a Lamb Shoppe Yarn and Coffee Bar travel coffee mug with stitch markers tucked inside. Kate P. won the special raffle of a spot in the upcoming Anne Hanson classes in March. (Anne Hanson in March?! yee-haw)

Voting for the new vice president took place...with the results to be announced in December.

For the November program we were lucky to have the wonderful Jillian Moreno as a guest speaker. Jillian shared tips about knitting to fit — looking at patterns and sweaters and how to decide what is a good pattern for you and changes you can make to the pattern to improve fit. She shared some great resources and websites to use and showed us the proper method for stalking a sweater. :)

Jillian talked about short rows to modify a sweater to fit, about mixing sizes in one pattern and so many more helpful tips!

A Jillian tip: start a pinterest bulletin board (make it a private board) and pin fashions that you like to it, without looking at the board, for one month. Then review the board, and you will see a clear picture of your style and color trends.

A few of Jillian's suggestions of online resources:
Color inspiration: design-seeds.com
Style boards: polyvore.com and pinterest.com
Fit charts and useful information: threadsmagazine.com, craftyarncouncil.com and ysolda.com


The weekend following our November guild meeting, a group of members participated in a Knitting to Fit class with Jillian...they learned enough about what type of sweater would be good for their body shape that numerous members are casting on for a new sweaters!

And then, in a blink, it was already December!

In December......we found out that our next vice president is...Harriet A! We look forward to the next two years...Harriet has a wealth of experience and will bring wonderful ideas the guild as vice president and then president. Her vice presidency begins in January 2013. (if we make it past the end of the world)

Raffle items for December were donated by Kelley A., Chris H. and Kim W. Books, yarn (yes! more yarn!) and some lovely handmade notions and project bags (really nice!). Thank you all for donating, and thank you guild members for buying tickets! Raffle proceeds helps support our guild activities...

Vangie presented a member trunk show. An impressive assortment of sweaters and shells...with great stitch details and shaping. Many of the patterns were Vogue and Vangie explained her modifications on some of them to improve the fit.

Then we ate cake. :)

Social knitting and visiting, the ordering of swag (microfleece vests!) and more about the Anne Hanson classes in March. If you missed the meeting, be sure to get sign up info for both—don't miss out!

And then we ate more cake. :)

A lovely day out

Up bright and early on this crisp, fall Saturday...a group of Black Sheep met at 8 a.m. to drive over to Saline, Michigan for the sixth annual Fiber Expo. There were a few more Black Sheep at the event—both shopping and vending!

The Fiber Expo was full of great yarns, colors, critters (including a camel!), baubles and bits. We came away three hours later with a bit less cash (okay, probably a lot less) but happy and excited by our individual finds. I can't wait to see the items that start to get knit up...wonder how many of us are casting on tonight?!  

After Max & Erma's for lunch, chatter and warm chocolate chip cookies, a group of us headed to Northville to stop in at Center Street Knits and browse a few shops before calling it a day.

And what a day it was!

Brown bags and blankets!

Our October meeting was a busy evening. We have two nominees for Vice President: Harriet A. and Tanya T. Voting will take place at the November meeting.

Drew gave our first trunk show of the year...hope the Honey Cowl and Slouch hat made it back to his table...they looked lovely on Kelley and Charli!

Raffle items were donated by Donna and Merritt — thank you! Winners: Claudia — 4 skeins of Knit Picks 'Bare' and a copy of Yarns to Dye For; Judith — Schaefer Anne yarn and beads; Chris H. — Misti Alpaca lace weight and Best of Knitters Shawls and Scarves; Kathy P. — Black Sheep Irish Collection magnet and Tracey — Swallow Studios Woolly Sheep pin and Zen and the Art of Knitting.

Brown Bags: and green bags, pink and polka dot bags...it was the annual brown bag swap, where bringing a knitting-related $10-$15 item in a brown bag entitles you to join in the fun. Bags were selected from the table and opened...or sheep could decide to 'steal' one that someone else already opened! There were over 30 participants and a close eye was kept on numerous items as stealing was only allowed twice per item.

Blankets: It was the evening to turn in the charity project. The Davis blankets (pattern by Tanya) kits were prepared and distributed last spring by Judith. With a fun meet up at her house over the summer to keep us on task, there was a table overflowing with finished blankets of all colors. After washing, the blankets, along with a stack of books Judith has collected, will be donated to Project Night Night. Thank you Judith, for all your hard work and keeping us all inspired!