Black Sheep Knitting Guild

Our knitting retreat at Kettunen Center was very enjoyable. The center is located in a wooded area with nice hiking trails. There is a small lake with a nice beach, fire pit, an area to play horse shoes or bocci ball and kayaks/canoes to use. Members enjoyed spinning, knitting, snacking, drinking and laughing. The food was great and the sitting areas plentiful. Everyone received a swag bag,  handmade by Kitty, filled with fun and useful knitting accessories — wooden stitch markers with the Black Sheep logo, the map of Michigan and a yarn ball were ordered from Katrinkles, an Akerworks gauge swatch tool and a 'sheep' pen were in the bag. Tanya donated a finger stitch counter and stitch markers. ChiaoGoo gave us each a lovely set of specialty needles. A few folks ventured out on Saturday to visit local alpaca farms and yarn shops...northwest Michigan driving with plenty of knitting time for the passengers!

Our May guild meeting was Merritt's final meeting as our president. Thank you, Merritt, for doing a great job! Barb Caddy will be president starting in June along with Laurie Cline serving as vice president. The next three months guild will be "summer camp" social knitting at HWPL which will allow Barb and Laurie time to plan for their term. I hear they have wonderful things in store for us!! Also, starting in September we will be moving our guild meetings to our new location, Central Oaks Community Church in Royal Oak. We have loved being in the Woods Gallery in HWPL but have outgrown the space and need better parking. The yarn swap/sale was fun! Several members brought yarn to sell and, of course, people were busy buying. A few swaps happened as well!

We had a great turn out for social knitting at the Yarn Stop. In February their new ‘Yarn University’ was opened and Sam and Mike extended a knit night invitation to our guild. The space is perfect for a large group to get together for a fun night with friends...to knit, laugh, snack and of course, shop.

Our guest speaker,  Melynda Bernardi of French Press  Knits, was wonderful! She shared about her background as a knitter, how the name French Press Knits was chosen,  how she started by selling felted slippers and progressed in to writing patterns. Her work is beautiful and she brought several samples to share. Melynda graciously offered a discount on her online patterns for the month of March for our guild members!