BSKG 1st Guest Post

Posted by Kim Whelan



"copyright Geneve Hoffman Photography"

I have this friend; maybe you have one like her? She’s the kind of friend that has all these crazy, great ideas, and somehow, before you know it, you’re smack dab in the middle of something!

This friend is the reason that I found myself starting a knitting guild (BSKG) with her a few years ago and found myself president of said guild a few years later. She is also the reason that I started designing patterns. I was just drifting along, calmly knitting away when she said “write a pattern, challenge yourself” That is how I came to write my very first pattern “Etta” which appeared in Lace One Skein Wonders. Now writing a pattern didn’t come easy, there were many mistakes along the way, but I stuck with it and finally I had a pattern I was proud to publish on Ravelry. After that first pattern I wrote a few more that I was lucky enough to have printed in some local publications. But that friend of mine, she was at it again, “there is this call for submissions” she said and that is how I ended up having my very first pattern ever included in the Lace One-Skein Wonders book.

There is nothing quite as thrilling as being included in a “One-Skein” book so you can imagine my glee when I was notified that my Monarch blanket was picked to be in the One-Skein Wonders for Babies Book. From past experience with the one skein series I knew to expect beautiful photography and the highest quality and this book does not disappoint! As soon as it came, I couldn’t wait to show this beauty around. My non-knitting family was oohing and aahing, and even my hipster nieces were impressed. This book has a wide range of patterns that are suitable for many different skill levels. Believe me when I tell you, if you need something for baby you will need to look no further than this book. From the adorable booties and sweaters, to the cute as can be toys and hats, this book is chock full of projects I can’t wait to cast on. I know you’ll feel the same way!

I am extremely proud and humbled to have my blanket included among all the wonderful projects in this book.

Oh and that friend of mine? Well she’s at it again, “learn a new knitting skill AND publish a new pattern by the end of September, challenge yourself” ………….

Just Keep Knitting,

Kim Whelan

September 2015 Meeting

On September 8th, the Black Sheep Knitting Guild returned home from “camp meetings” to our regular monthly meetings.  There was one visitor, Dorinda Balanecki.

 

 

As our new year begins, we’d like to start each meeting with a Trivia Question. September’s query asked “Who are our Founding Mothers”? The answer: Tanya Thomann and Kim Whelan. If you have any good ideas for questions about the BSKG or knitting, tell Kathy Stasys.

Val Koyl has graciously taken over for Chris Hamel as chair for the raffle. Thanks to them both!  Donors for the raffle were Mary Moylan and Stacey Totzke and the winner were Pat Kreilling, Noreen Slank, Karen Sanders, Mary Moylan, Ernestine Bains, Linda Francisco, Linda Dean, Rita Perrone and Linda Doros.  Thank you Mary and Stacey for donating.   

Although new swag will not be announced until the October meeting, some swag from previous years was available for sale: umbrellas, hats, BSKG bags. Sorry, sheepies, the cowbells are all gone.

 

An important point in business portion of the meeting was to look for volunteers for various committees. Please consider signing up to help the guild.

It was a pleasure to listen to our guest speaker, Aviva Sussner. She is about to open her own knit shop in Birmingham, Woolly&Co. after spending several years as an instructor in another knit store. A lively speaker, Aviva generated “oohs and ahhs” when she gifted us all with a tape measurer. We’re easy to please. After being peppered with questions from the group, she turned and asked us questions about what knitters want to find in a knit shop. If you have a suggestion, look at your measuring tape for her contact information.

 

One of our sheep, Katy Race Koelb, has moved to Florida and passed along some beautiful yarns, some will be used for crafts, some will show up in the raffle and some will be used for charity knitting.   Thank you Katy, we will miss you.

Show and Share

October 13, 2015 is the next meeting, BSKG swag will be announced and it is amazing and wonderful, the program is Tips and Techniques, turn in your charity items. 

 

 

 

May Meeting

The Black Sheep Knitting Guild's last regular meeting until September was a really fun meeting. Well attended by the flock and we had 3 visitors.  

 

We started off with show and share, which is always a very popular event.

 



complete with the Tanya hiccup

if you squint and look very hard
you can see Harvey (bunny) in this shadow blanket

 

Then we moved onto the real reason all these sheep showed up:

 

Cake

 

 

 

 

Sell, Buy, & Trade Stash

The next exciting round up of the flock will be September 8, 2015.

Meanwhile the flock will gather for summer camp, June 9th, July 14th and August 11th.

April Meeting

It was a busy night at April's monthly meeting!   There were two guests.

 

Donna Mrozek, President, announced plans for a BSKG Summer Camp. Since the guild pays for the summer months at Our Shepherd Lutheran, it will be a great chance for members to gather in an informal (and cool) spot in June, July, and August. A  time to learn some new techniques or do a little charity knitting. (psstt...inside word is that you should really plan on coming in August.)

Judith Davis revealed our new charity knitting project: men's chemo hats. She said that Beaumont is most excited about this effort as a definite need for men's hats exists. Judith prepared many kits and extra patterns for members to pick up. The completed hats are due at the October meeting.

Harriet Atlas reminded members that the final payment for the May retreat is due. So far it looks like we will have about 28 people going up north for some serious knitting, socializing, knitting, eating, knitting, imbibing, knitting, etc. 

Raffle Winners and Donors   -   Vangy Agemy donated  Blue Syke Apaca's Skinny Dyed yarn. Chris Hamel, raffle coordinator, won it.  Donna Mrozek donated Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver yarn with a shawl pattern, Harriet Atlas was the winner. Pat Kreiling donated Tofutsies sock yarn and Vangy Agemy donated the book, Closely Knit. Kelly Glancy won both items. Vangy also donated Araucania and Kathy Stasys won them. Vangey must have been cleaning out closets because she also donated  Berroco Echo (Annette Ervin  the winner), Sirdar DK (Pat Kreiling the winner), and Berroco Echo (Valerie Carr the winner).

Kathy Stasys presented the revisions to the by-laws for member approval. The changes were minor and for clarification. Only one remains to be voted on (thanks Tanya for helping cut to the chase on that one). The new wording for Article V, Point 3 can be restated as 

THE LONG TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP WILL BE COMPOSED                 OF VOLUNTEER PAST OFFICERS AND CURRENT MEMBERS INTERESTED IN                   PLANNING AND DEVELOPING SPECIAL GUILD PROGRAMS.

All the other changes were approved.

Of course, the highlight of the April meeting was The Sneaky Sheep gift exchange! This year's theme was Winter Woolies, some amazing black sheep skills were highlighted.  Cowls, scarves, shawls, fingerless mittens....well, just look at the photos! 

Upcoming Events:   May's meeting on the 12th gives everyone a chance to clean out old stash and buy new stash. Bring in yarns you'd like to sell or trade. Perfect night for a knitter.

Knitting Retreat: May 15th-17th.

Stitch-n-Pitch is Sunday, September 27th.

March Meeting

A lively flock of sheep were in attendance for the March meeting and there was one guest. 

 

Charli Osborne, events coorinator, announced two up-coming events happening this month.  Black Swamp Fiber Fair in Bowling Green Ohio and the other Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor.  Car pooling will be available for both events.  Hope to see a whole large flock of black sheep at both. 

Sign up for the Retreat, May 15 – 17, 2015, is in full swing.  You can still sign up at the April meeting. A weekend with fellow sheep in the north woods at the MacMullan Conference Center, what could be more fun than that. 

Of course, Chris Hamel, as always, did a good job herding the raffle with a  help from Linda Francisco. 

Donors were Donna Mrozek and Charli Osborne. The winners were:  Rita Perrone, Audrey Helou, Kathy Rasmussen,  Merritt Collins, Sheila Elliott, Ernestine  Bains, Heather Perrone, Mary Curran and Harriet Atlas.

Erica Owens did a trunk show, lots of fun stuff. Hats and cowls and other wonderful things. 

Not to mention a special hat called Saint Padraig, a pattern available on ravelry designed by non-other than Tanya Thomann, one of the founding members of our guild.  A collaboration between Tanya, Erica with help from Kate Pultz.   BSKG members truly rocks. 

Donna Mrozek did a slide show presentation, Ravelry  - Focus on Pictures and Kate Pultz helped with how to up load pictures on your stash. Kate also helped people load pictures of stash onto Ravelry.  Fun program!

 

 

Show and Share

Next month’s meeting -  Sneaky Sheep, elfster picked a sheepie, participants pick a pattern and have been busy knitting a surprise gift  Even if you are not particating in Sneaky Sheep it is fun to see what everyone has made for their choosen sheep.  Also, Judith Davis will be annouceing the charity knit for next year, she will have kits available.  You will not want to miss this fun filled meeting.

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.