Category: Uncategorized

This month Vivian Aubrey came to speak to us about Photography “writing with light”. She was a great speaker, explaining how it is best to use just the awesome sunlight to take our photos.  Also, that our cloudy days in Oregon are actually perfect for getting the best work out of our camera.  She explained a lot about how to get your subject (for us our knitted projects) to really be the star of the shot.  Vivian also gave lots of great ideas about how to have the best background to not take away from your subject.  Vivian does give classes on how to use your camera better, these can be found on the Twisted website.  www.twistedpdx.com 

I now expect to see very good shots of your finished projects posted both on your Ravelry website and on the Millstream Ravelry Page.  We need more of you to chat on our page.  If we all use this page others looking for a knitting group in Salem will see that we actually do exist and not that the page was just a once upon a time kind of thing. 

Next month we will be doing our summer potluck and the location will be my backyard.  The address is 5305 pike ct. south.  Please bring a dish to pass and I will have coffee, tea and both lemon and lime water here for beverages.  You will also need your own place setting.

Very exciting news from the Salem Library—They have received a large donation that can only be spent on Fiber related things.  Each of us needs to send our input on what should be purchased with these funds.  Some ideas that were brought up are:  having speakers come in that the guild could not afford, Videos, magazines, yarn swift and ball winder, Resource area for finding fiber related travel trips.  So here is Anne’s contact info:  Anne Schepppke, Public Services, Librarian, P. O. Box 14810 Salem, OR  97309 or email – ascheppke@cityofsalem.net or phone 503-588-6124.

This month we learned about Portuguese knitting from Karen Lemmon.  We watched a very good video and had training on this technique.  Karen had a great hand-out and some links you can use to learn more.

Charlotte Keasey let me know about an art exhibit and thought some of you may be interested.  The Least Of These Project, art by Karisa Keasey opens April 24^th 5pm till May 4^th, 9-5 daily at Minthorne Gallery in Hoover Building at Georgegox University, 414 N. Meridian St., Newberg, OR  97132.  For more info email Karisakeasey@gmail.com

MAY we are having a special event so our guild meeting will be the 3^rd week instead of the 2nd week.  Mark your calendars now.  We are having 5 women come with all kinds of fiber and some foods as well.  We met this group of ladies at OFF this past fall and asked them to come to our guild to have a Spring Fiber and Food Faire.

This month our speaker was Ilisha Helfman who talked about Jazz Knitting. Unfortunately she did not really explain how to do this technique.  Ilisha showed us a presentation on how she got her art appreciation and pictures of her projects.  We had really wanted her to talk more in the line of how to do this process.  Also, she was supposed to have some kits for sale to make the butterflies and her patterns available for sale.  We would like to apologize that the presentation was not what we were expecting.  You can find Ilisha on Ravelry as Jazzknitter and her forum called Jazzknitting.

Don’t forget you can see upcoming events on our web site – www.millstreamknitting.com  Events tab at top.

April 4^th – 7^th will be our Spring Knitting Retreat on the coast at Rockaway Beach.  If you didn’t sign-up this year, hope you give it a try next year.

Next month (April 13^th) Karen Lemmon will be talking about Portuguese Knitting.  Bring extra yarn and needles.  We will supply the pin you need to run the yarn through.  We will have a video and Karen also has a good book on the subject.

MAY we are having a special event so our guild meeting will be the 3^rd week instead of the 2nd week.  Mark your calendars now.  We are having 5 women come with all kinds of fiber and some foods as well.  We met this group of ladies at OFF this past fall and asked them to come to our guild to have a Spring Fiber and Food Faire.

Summer version for the tree

This month our guest speaker was Daniel Yuhas.  Author of the book “Knitting FromThe Center Out”.  He brought his trunk show of all the projects from the book and a few extras.  He was a great speaker and it was fascinating to see how his mind works to create his designs.  Daniel has a different way of looking at things, for instance the mitten that starts at the thumb and is knit out in a sort of starburst to form the glove.  There was also, the hoodie that starts at the hood and works down the sweater.  Then the unique sock that starts at the heel and you will probably need to look at the book to figure out the rest on that one.  He sold out of books so we should be seeing some of his awesome patterns showing up at show and tell, can’t wait.  The one I want to make first is the grey shawl that was done in the ShiBui Knits Silk Cloud.  Starting at the center out you kind of have three triangles that comes out looking like the traditional triangle shawl with the added section at the neck that you can bunch up for a warmer neckline.  His website is www.superfunknits.com or his blog www.superfunknits.com/blog 

Next month we will have Ilisha Helfman.  She is the author of “Jazz Knitting”.  She will give us ideas on how to knit up our beautiful hand died yarns.  We will also pass around a sign-up sheet for bringing a snack for meeting. 

Thank you, Nita, for donating the magazines to everyone. 

NEXT MEETING March 9th at 10:00am

This month our guest speaker was Carol Richmond and she spoke about different types of fiber and their characteristics.  Carol was a wealth of information on this topic, and brought samples to show and pass around along with a handout.

Protein fibers are from animals:  Wool from sheep, mohair from goats, cashmere from goats, camel (2 hump king), Alpaca from camelid family, angora from rabbits, buffalo (American bison), quiviut from musk ox and silk from silk worms.  All these fibers have scales except for the silk.  These fibers trap moisture and heat to keep you warm and dry.  They also repel water.  Generally these fibers are soft, lofty and elastic so they retain shape well.  They dry well, do not pill (if tightly spun) and resist mildew but are susceptible to moths.

Vegetable fibers: Cotton, linen, ramie, rayon and bamboo.  These fibers are smooth, absorb moisture and heat which evaporates quickly so keeps you cool.  These lack elasticity and are heavier than protein fibers so garments lose shape and may sag.  It is best to choose light weight yarns with open designs for these fibers.  This type of fiber is susceptible to mildew and insects.

Synthetic fibers:  Nylon, polyester, metallic, acrylic, olefin and spandex.  These fibers are petroleum-based and water resistant. They do not absorb moisture or wick away from body, however they are durable and strong.  Synthetic fibers dry quickly so they are wash and wear but they will pill and build static electricity.  These types resist water-based dyes but absorb oil-based dyes and also oil-based stains like perspiration and will absorb odors but resist mildew and moths.

Next meeting is February 9^th and we will have David Yuhas who is a designer from Portland as our speaker.  He has a book called “Knitting From The Center Out”, along with other patterns.  He will be bringing his trunk show for us and selling his book and patterns at the meeting.

Charity items are needed for the Soroptimist Baby Shower – Kathy Goebel will take your donations.  Paula Rampy will take any donations for teens in Josephine County for the youth pastor that feeds the homeless teens.  As a long term charity I would like to collect Hats, scarves and gloves/mittens for Hope Station in Salem for us to donate next fall.