February Meeting

February’s meeting was a fun, informative and crafty meeting. We had two guests and one new member joining us.

 

Events/field trip coordinator Charli Osborne is gearing up for the fiber show spring season. Be sure to check out the signup sheets for carpooling at the meetings and the blog for more information. Hope you join us for the first trip to Black Swamp Spinners Guild Market Day & Fiber Fair in Bowling Green Ohio. Carpooling is a really great way get acquainted with other members of the flock, not to mention a ton of fun. Oh, and did I say lunch; we all meet up in town for lunch.

Retreat committee is busy planning yet another fun packed event. The flock will be at MacMullan Conference Center the second weekend in May, a weekend of knitting with other Black Sheep, fabulous door prizes, a bonfire, walks to the lake and in the woods and a ton of fiber fun. Another way to bond with fellow sheep while having a great relaxing time.

Raffle chair, Chris Hamel, had many lovely prizes to raffle off.

 

 

Prizes were donated by Linda Doros, Donna Mrozek, Katy Koelb, Mary Moylan, Helga McCann, and Pat Kreiling. The happy winners were Sue Sullivan, Kelley Glancy, Kim Whelen, Ann Tomlinson, Valerie Koyl, Karen Sanders, Mary Jo Pilat, and Joan Koelsch.

Judging Knitting at the State Fair was the topic of the talk given by Pat Kreiling. Pat judged the knitted items at the Michigan State Fair before it was closed. She explained what a knit judge did and did not do and had some very quirky stories about some of her experiences. Thanks Pat, you did a terrific job!

 

 

 

To wrap up the evening there were crafts stations, always a fun thing

 

needle felting



beaded markers



knitted pins

 

Of course there was Show and Share

 

 

 

Next month, we will learn more about Ravelry and have a trunk show by Erica Owens. 

A Very Frigid January BSKG Meeting

January 2015 -  The flock came out in droves on a very bitter cold evening for a very busy, entertaining and informative meeting.  Our flock is the best, ever! 

The Cast Off of the former president, Harriet Atlas, and Cast On of the new president, Donna Mrozek, started off the night.  

Joan Sheridon, chair for Knit Michigan and owner of Heritage Spinning and Weaving gave an informative talk about Knit Michigan. The charity provides support to Michigan cancer patients and their families.

Tanya Thomann, one of the founding members of our guild, gave a  fun packed quiz utilizing our I-phones.  The Q&A's were about the history of the guild.

Both speakers did a fabulous job.

Charity head, Judith Davis, reported that 138 newborn and a few preemie hats were delivered to Providence Hospital and greatly appreciated.  Thank you everyone.

To all the sheep who made the cure little hats,
thank you!

Sneaky Sheep Swap, S3.7, a secret gift exchange, is up and running. The theme is Winter Woolies.  Let the fun begin. Check your email for the link to Elfster and sign up!

The retreat committee will be forming to plot the fun and games for 2015 BSKG Retreat. The retreat will be held at The Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center, May 15 - 17. 

Not to mention fabulous door prizes,
did we say fabulous door prizes
(door prizes from a previous retreat)

The raffle was put together by Chris Hamel:  The prizes were donated by  Mary Moylan.  And the winners were Charli Osborne, Noreen Slank, Ann Tomlinson, Karen Zwicker, Sue Wade, Karen Sanders, Michele Dagenais and Audrey Helou.

Our next meeting will be held on February 10th.  Our speaker, Pat Kreiling, will speak about judging knitting at the State Fair.

Hope to see you all on February 10th.

December Meeting

a flock of sheep showed up
for the December meeting

BSKG is proud to announce, the VP for 14/15 will be, drum roll please, Kathy Stasys. It was a close race between two wonderful candidates:both Merritt Collins and Kathy were great choices for the job.

The raffle was put together by Chris Hamel.

The prizes were donated by Noreen Slank, Kathy Rasmussen and Rita Perrone.  And the winners were Joan Koelsch, Earnestine Bains, Suzanne Sullivan, Heather Perrone, Sue Waid, Valerie Koyl and Chris Hamel. 

A large swift donated by Marie Woodcox was won by Noreen Slank in a special raffle.

Sneaky Sheep Swap, No. 7, S3.7, secret gift exchange, was explained by Harriet Atlas. This is how it works.  We will give a link to Elfster for you to sign up. Elfster will choose for you a sheep, you will make a gift for them. Once you know who you are making it for, you may ask them any questions you wish using Elfster, likes, dislikes, color, style, etc.  You will know who you have, but you will not know who has your name.  The theme this year is Winter Woolies.

Thank you, Pat Kreiling, for a marvelous trunk show.

Tee shirts, swag, were passed out.

It’s that time again, the retreat committee will be forming in January, so we will be looking for members to help make this an awesome event.  Come on and join us. Serious recruiting for this committee will be during our January meeting.  Duties for committee members are not difficult and it leads to a wonderful retreat in May.  Ask anyone who has attended.

Show and share:

November Meeting

The November meeting was very busy, what with the election, brown bag swap and lots of show and share.  Many of the flock were in attendance, along with four new members and three guests. 

The candidates for Vice President, Merritt Collins and Kathy Stasys, gave an informative talk about themselves, and then voting ensued.  The results will be announced at the December meeting. 

As usual, Chris Hamel did a fine job with lots of really great raffle prizes.  The prizes were donated by Kathleen Endlein, Katy Koelb, Erika Proschkow, Rita Perrone, and Kathy Rasmussen.  And the winners were Joan Koelsch, Merritt Collins, Heather Perrone, Joan Brown, Tina Noel (guest), Pat Kreiling, and Dawn Jensen.

The big event of the night was the Mystery Trade/Brown Bag Swap.  Thirty-five brown bags with mystery knit-related items, what could be more fun.  Lots of surprises as bags were opened, coveted gifts were stolen snatched - it was that kind of fun.

Show and Share

And to top off the evening, did we mention, there was CAKE.

An additional note:  Black Sheep will be making the newspaper once again. Prior to the meeting, a newspaper photographer came to take pictures of the Black Sheep washcloth for an article by Jocelyn Brown in the Detroit News, on Friday the 21^st.  Keep an eye out for it.

October BSKG Meeting

October’s meeting was a well attended fun meeting. We had five guests and two new members joining us.

Our charity person, Judith Davis, collected the hats for newborns that will be donated to Providence Hospital.  The hat count to date is 114, that would be 22 cupcake, 10 Sirdar, 47 umbilical and 35 assorted cute newborn hats. It is an overwhelming number of little cute "as can be" hats.  A big thank you to all who made this project an astounding success. If you have not turned in your newborn hats, it is not too late, Judith will be collecting them at the November meeting.  Also, a note on Mittens for Vets, if you did not turn in your mitts or still have a kit, please turn them to Judith, thanks.

The slate for the November election was announced. Running for the office of Vice President will be Merritt Collins and Kathy Stasys.  Kathy was an active participant on the Retreat Committee last spring and Merritt presented a very entertaining trunk show featuring free form knitting last year   Either candidate will make a good choice for Vice President.  Be sure to come to the November guild meeting, so you may cast your vote for the candidate of your choice.

Swag, must-have Black Sheep stuff, was announced and orders are being taken for t-shirts.  They will be: short sleeve, colors Daisy, Iris, Pistachio and Safety Pink and long sleeve, colors Ash Grey, Garnet, Royal and Black. We should receive them at the November meeting.

Sue Waid presented a very lovely trunk show. Most enjoyable!  Thank you, Sue.

LOVE IT!

Show and Share

best picture ever! never looked so good



November's meeting is the Vice President election and the mystery brown bag swap, should be a fun time.

STITCH N' PITCH 2014

Well, yesterday was our Stitch N' Pitch Tiger baseball game and what a game it was!  We sold over 200 tickets to knitters, crocheters, embroiderers (is that a word?), and other needlecrafters.  The weather was the best, I think, in all the years we've been coming to these Stitch N' Pitch games.  And, the best of all - the Tigers won their fourth straight division crown.  Yea, Tigers!!!

This is the back of the t-shirts we got.  Aren't they grand?  The front has the Tiger D.

Here are more pictures of just some of the SNP fans.

The seats we had were great.  Just look at this view we had.
 

I want to thank everyone who brought mittens to the game.  They will be distributed by Mittens for Detroit to the homeless veterans who will seriously appreciate them this winter.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Remember now, when we start selling tickets to next year's Stitch N' Pitch game, get your tickets and join us in the fun! 

PS - If you're looking for the solution to the word search we handed out at the game, CLICK HERE!