SMKG Blog

This month We held our annual Yarn Swap/Sale.  We had lots of yarn show up for sale.  We also had bags from Kay, stitch markers from Sheryl and cards from Kathy.   These ladies are from the Tigard Knitting Guild.  We thank them for joining us. 

We had lots of fun and I believe everyone went home with some new things.  

December’s meeting is our annual Holiday potluck party.  This will be our first time at our new location and I think it will work out really nice.  First of all you DO NOT have to bring your own place setting.  We will use paper plates but real silverware courtesy of our new home. 

Remember to bring something brunch like to share.  We will have coffee, tea and lemon water to drink. 

Spring Knitting Retreat — there are a few openings for the retreat if anyone was still thinking of joining.  Dates are Thursday, April 10^th thru Sunday April 13^th. 

Sunday Knitting – We are always at the Broadway Coffeehouse from 1 – 4 each Sunday.  Come join us if you want to knit with friends and/or learn any new techniques. 

If you haven’t paid for 2014 yet, remember to bring your form and payment to the December meeting.  If mailing it in please use Millstream Knitting Guild, P.O. Box 7762, Salem, OR 97303.

This month we were unable to hear from Colleen, Our Chiropractor but she will be coming in February instead.  We did have time to chat and do show and tell and that is fun to do as well.  It seems we never have time to just hang out together when we have speakers each month.

Cindy had a great idea:  we need to help hook up knitters that want to learn a new technique with someone that can help teach them.  If any of you have a need to learn a certain technique, just email me and I will see who I can find to help you out.

November’s Meeting is our Swap/Sale of anything yarn or knit/crochet/spinning related.  This would be yarn, fiber, bags, books, needles and hooks …..  Bring your things you no longer want and they can go home with someone who will love them.  Make sure you have tags on them before you get here to note what price and who the owner is.  You can arrive by 9:30 to set up at a table. 

We will also have a couple of guest sellers who we met at the Tigard Knitting Guild and she has an inexpensive really neat counter that wraps around your thumb and you can easily click your rows without stopping.  The other gal sells really cute greeting cards with sheep on them.  I also have really nice bags that Kay of the Tigard Guild sews.  She was not able to attend but did give me the bags to sell for her.

Hope to see you all at the meeting to get some geat deals!

This month we had Michael and Sheila Ernst of Glass Pens or as we know them Glass knitting needles, come to tell us about how they make the needles.

They have been in business for over 30 years, starting with making perfume bottles, earrings and trinkets. Michael then started the glass dip-style pens which lead to the knitting needles. Sheila is a knitter and had the idea of knitting needles. Michael took 3 years to get them perfect. They are made of Pyrex type glass and it doesn’t stay soft for long so have to work quickly to shape. He makes 2 pairs at a time in a multi-step process. It takes about 4 hours just to get to the point where the diameter is right, he then makes the tip/point and joiner which takes another 45 min. The last step is a heating process that gives the glass its durability. After done they still need to be polished and then they are the greatest thing to knit with! If you missed the meeting you can find them at OFF this fall and Black Sheep next spring. They also have nice stich markers, shawl pins and buttons of glass as well. The needles have a lifetime, no fault repair warranty in case anything would ever happen to them.

Next month we will have Meredith from Springtime Farms coming to talk about her local Salem Alpaca farm. She will bring her alpaca yarn and Snuggly Toes

I am still looking for donations for HOPE STATION by our October meeting. Hope Station is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support to working individuals in need by providing grocery products, clothing, and educational classes. http://www.hopestationcsi.org/

Robin has made an awesome shawl that will be used as a raffle gift to a name drawn from those that contribute a donation. Make any hats, scarves, mittens or fingerless gloves, preferably with washable yarns, so we can donate as much as possible by the time it gets cold. All sizes needed. One drawing chance for each item. Thank you!

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.