T I D E W A T E R K N I T T I N G G U I L D O F V I R G I N I A

Purls of WisdomS E P T E M B E R

M E E T I N G

Monday, Sept. 3Help Clinic, 6:30 p.m.

Meet and Greet, 7 p.m.Business Meeting, 7:15 p.m.

Program will beMoebius Cast-On.

Westminster Canterbury3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach

Check tkgv.blogspot.com to con-firm the meeting date. Questions?

Email us at tkgv1@yahoo.com.

September 2012

A Message from Our President

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

2 Member Birthdays, Calendar, Super Raffle3 Charity Knitting, Holiday Party 4 Knitting Video, Felted Dryer Balls5 Meeting Minutes6 Proposed By-Law Changes9 Nancy Shroyer Classes 10 Class Registration Form

I am SO over the heat, humidity and rain. I long for cooler days, fall colors (preferably in wool) and fiber fests. For now I will have to be content with planning all the wonderful Christmas gifts I am going to knit (only about a third will get done), marking my calendar with fiber fest dates and pulling out all my projects that have been in timeout since last winter. I proudly announced to my daughter that I was going to tackle a vest I was making for her, to which she replied, “In time for winter.” I looked her in the eye and said, “Yes.” I just didn’t say which winter. I think as the holidays approach we all wish we could knit faster and make gifts that look “handmade and not home-made (did I say that right?).” In comes Nancy Shroyer to our rescue with her classes Nov. 3, on continental knitting and finishing your knitting projects so they look professionally done. Nancy is the owner of Nancy’s Knit Knacks and has been teaching nationally for more than 30 years. She has won numerous blue ribbon awards at the North Carolina State Fair as well as being a judge there. Class sizes are limited, so mark your calendars and sign up soon. (More information on pages 9-10 of this newsletter.) You may find the September program on Cat Bordhi’s Moebius cast-on helpful for making holiday gifts. It is a unique cast-on that is great for making long loopy cowls. MEMBERS SHOULD BRING TO THE SEPTEMBER MEETING A PAIR OF CIRCULAR NEEDLES AT LEAST 40 INCHES LONG AND SOME WORSTED WEIGHT YARN. Besides all the statewide fiber fest this fall, the Chesapeake Waterways Heritage Fest is Oct. 13-14 at Locks Park and the Guild will be there with an information table and to show off our banners for the first time. The fest is a showcase of the skills, talents and unique trades that helped develop this region. It not only is a great time to meet people from other local guilds as they demonstrate their skills; it’s a great family outing. Sign-up sheets to help staff the Guild’s table will be at the next couple meetings. See you in September.

Debbie Henderson

Submissions for the October issue of the newsletter are

due Sept.15. Email Editor Sonja Barisic at

snbarisic@gmail.com.

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Mark Your CalendarsGuild meetings start with Meet and Greet at 7 p.m., followed by the Business Meeting at 7:15 p.m. And now the Guild also offers a Help Clinic, starting a half-hour before the meeting.

Sept. 3 – Guild Meeting. Program: Moebius Cast-On.

Sept. 29-30 – Shenandoah Valley Fiber Fest. Berryville, Va. www.shenandoahvalleyfiberfestival.com

Oct. 1 – Guild Meeting. Elections, Guild birthday celebration and volunteer recognition.

Oct. 6-7 – Fall Fiber Festival & Montpelier Sheep Dog Trials. Orange County, Va. www.fallfiberfestival.org

Oct. 13-14 – Waterways Heritage Festival, Chesapeake. www.gbbattlefield.org/waterwaysheritagefestival.html

Nov. 2-3 – TKGV knitting technique classes led by Nancy Shroyer of Nancy’s Knit Knacks. Details in this newsletter. (Note corrected dates.)

Nov. 8-12 – Men’s 2012 Fall Knitting Retreat, Cleveland, S.C. Information: Rusty Boyd, smalltownknitguy@gmail.com.

Nov. 5 – Guild Meeting.

Dec. 3 – Guild Holiday Party. Lynnhaven Colony Congregational Church, 2217, West Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach.

March 7-10, 2013 – TKGV Outer Banks Knitting Retreat. Hampton Inn, Corolla, N.C. Details TBA.

S U P E R R A F F L E T I C K E T S S T I L L A V A I L A B L E The super raffle for a large basket of high-quality yarns from Joanne Fischer’s stash will continue through the October Guild meeting. Proceeds will go toward education expenses for the March 2013 knitting retreat. The retail value of the basket is more than $560. Tickets are $2 each, or three for $5.

M e m b e r B i r t h d a y s T h i s M o n t h Angela Brown Sept. 2 Katie Gerwien Sept. 2

Trink Dahl-Prince Sept. 3 Lora Marin Sept. 3

Catherine Stokoe Sept. 7 Debbie Henderson Sept. 8

Norma Haynes Sept. 15

More fun with Yarn! Betsy Beads is the biggest sensation this fall. You can “Wrap & Roll,” “Double Play” or go “Over the Rainbow” with spectacular kits full of yarn and beads. Make an assortment of bracelets or necklaces for fun Holiday gifts.We are offering a class on Sept. 8 from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. join The Yarn Club as we dive into weaving with Cindy and Kat. Order a copper or PVC loom and create woven masterpieces in the Navajo and Guatemalan style. Check out the samples in the shop and see the website for details, www.yarnclubknits.com. Classes galore! Fingerless gloves for him and her, Owlie mitts, Nuno Felting, needle felting, spinning, crochet, oh, my! We have lots of fun knit-a-longs to inspire holiday knits and crochet items. The Marin Shawl using The Fibre Company’s Acadia, The Gradient Cowl using Shibui’s luxurious Silk Cloud, Mix #4 Wrap from Shibui, “String of Purls” Jacket, coming soon … Stephanie’s Wrap in crochet, and many more! Berroco is here with really fast and fun knits. Check out Boboli Quick for hats and mittens so quick you can knit them on the way to the slopes. Cascade’s gorgeous fall line, a touch of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic and the best colors of Interlace-ments to date is here and fabulous! Madelinetosh has outdone themselves again with amazing new colors of Tosh DK. Lots of new hand-dyed yarns, dreamy new patterns and fun accesso-ries make The Yarn Club the happiest place in town!

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240 Mustang TrailSuite 8Virginia Beach, VA 23452

C h a r i t y K n i t t i n g U p d a t eBy Chris Goudeau Thanks to all who brought their charity knitting items to our meeting. I have lots of pet blankets to deliver this month. Please remember those in need when you are looking for a project to start. Hats, blankets and scarves are all projects that you can make with your leftover yarns. Bring your items to be donated locally to the next meeting and we’ll see that they are distributed. Remember to sign the Charity Knitting log each month when you attend our meetings or email me at cgoudeau@cox.net.

By Debbie Henderson At the August meeting, Jackie Scott proposed that the Guild have a baby shower for Newborns In Need (NIN) at our holiday party. She had read an article in The Virginian-Pilot (see http://goo.gl/scshN) about the organization and its needs. Instead of doing our traditional gift exchange, members would make or buy baby items to donate to NIN. There has been nothing but positive responses to Jackie’s suggestion, so that is what we are going to do this year. NIN already receives some of our charity knits and the holiday party “baby shower” will give us an opportunity to boost our support for those in need. We are also changing the location of our holiday party so we can have a potluck, which we are not allowed to do at Westminster Canterbury. Trink Dahl-Prince has graciously offered her church hall at Lynnhaven Col-ony Congregational Church on West Great Neck Road for our Dec. 3 meeting; we will be able to have our potluck with plenty of space that includes a kitchen if we need it. The Guild budget includes some funds for food, but there is still a need for everyone to bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert. Anyone who would like to help plan and set up the party should see Debbie Henderson or Lora Marin.

Holiday Party Alert: Knit t ing Baby Shower

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School's starting soon, so pack yer trunks, y'all! Or rather, come see what we've unpacked from ours! August and September see KnitWits become Trunk Show Central, and you don't want to miss out. From Aug. 25 until Sept. 9, we're hosting Sandra McIver's brilliant designs from the book "knit, Swirl!" If you want to see how these beautiful pieces look and fit in person, put this on your calendar. Then, as soon as we get them back in their boxes, we become the next stop on the Never Not Knitting Tour! Alana's design brilliance shines brightest in person, so do not miss the only local opportunity to see her fantastic garments and accessories in the fleece! (Well, saying "in the flesh" didn't make much sense.) They'll be here only from Sept.10-29, so once again -- make a note!

Our special flash sales are popping up unpredictably. With Back to School being the popular theme everywhere, stop in on Sept.8 to take advantage of 20 percent off all books! (Some restrictions apply with both of these sales, so don't hesitate to ask us.) And finally, the Every-Other-Sunday KAL has been launched! If you need a place to hang while the hubby's watching grown men in tights chase a weirdly oblong ball around, come over to our place and start on Amy Swenson's very clever Every Last Yard sweater. It's EASY to adapt to any size, lets you use that bit of your stash you've been staring at helplessly, wondering what to do with, and heck -- there's not much ELSE to do of a Sunday. So come on by!

yarn Ş patterns Ş notions Ş classesall in the company of friends.

945 Providence Square Shopping Ctr Ş Virginia Beach757-495-6600 Ş knitwitsyarn.com

The U.S. Olympic Swim Team did it. Cookie Monster did it. It was only a matter of time before some knitters did it, too. Knitters at the Knitknack yarn shop in Maplewood, N.J., created their own video version of Carly Rae Jepsen’s infectious little ditty, “Call Me Maybe.” The yarn shop’s spoof is called “Cast On, Baby!” You can watch the video online at http://youtu.be/KSjsOeC6OcE. Thanks to Linda Johnson for sharing the link.

Knit and Sing Along to“Cast On, Baby”

By Debbie Henderson I have a couple of friends who use tennis-size felted balls in their dryer instead of fabric softener in the wash or dryer towels. One day when I had a million things to do, but did not want to do any of those things, I decided to make and try these felted balls. I am sold. I use two felted balls in the dryer at a time and just leave them there. I have not used fabric softener or a dryer towel in over a month. I get a little static cling on clothing such as nylon shorts, but it seems to shake out. Overall, my laundry comes out great and it looks fluffier. I constructed my felted balls with leftover wool yarn, roving and nylons. I used off-white and dark gray yarn and roving for the project (you may want to avoid red). I wound my yarn and roving into tight balls about the size of a soft-ball and put them in the leg of my nylons, securing each ball with a knot. My end result looked like a sausage link. I threw the link into my next hot-water load and then into the dryer with the clothes. The only issue I had when cutting the nylon off the felted balls is that it felted a little into the roving; however, I had no problem with the yarn. If you use roving, you might want to try securing the ball in a sock before felting I gave a set of two felted balls to my son and daughter-in-law and got some strange looks from them like I had lost my mind, but after using them they are sold too. I have decided to make some as Christmas gifts for my family. I am sure this gift will not be duplicated.

DEBBIE’S KNIT NOTES: FELTED DRYER BALLS

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September sale: Plymouth Encore, Cascade Pacific, Ella Rae Classic Superwash worsted and chunky and James Brett Marble Chunky 20 percent off.

TKGV MEETING MINUTES, 8/6/12The president opened the August 2012 meeting at 7:12 p.m. by welcoming guests, extending birthday greetings to members celebrating birthdays in August.

The minutes of the July 2012 meeting were approved. The treasurer gave the treasurer’s report advising the Guild’s bank balance is $3109.15.

The president advised the proposed changes to the by-laws will appear in the September newsletter. We will vote on the proposed changes to the by-laws at the September meeting.

The vice president advised the current board members are willing to serve another year in their current positions. If any members want to serve on the board or on a committee, please contact the president or vice president.

A member suggested holding a baby shower for Newborns in Need organization versus the Caps for Kids contest at the December meeting. Members can knit items for newborn infants or donate items infants need, such as diapers, bottles, etc. All items will be donated to Newborns in Need.

The Guild will participate in the Chesapeake Water Heritage Festival October 13-14, 2012. Sign-up sheets will be available at the September and October meetings.

The Knitting Corner is celebrating Silkworm Appreciations Days in August. The Knitting Corner is offering a 20 percent discount on all silk yarn in their inventory for the month of August.

The Yarn Club continues to receive new yarns for the fall knitting season and offer classes. The Yarn Club’s website lists the classes available.

The president requested members provide her with any feedback regarding continuing the gift exchange at the December holiday party/meeting.

The president advised the Guild will hold another judged knitting contest in May 2013. The same rules as 2012 will apply, with the additional category of original work, and the requirement of the submissions being completed since the May 2012.

Sue Von Ohlsen led the program by demonstrating how to “kill” acrylic yarn, i.e. how to block acrylic yarn projects. Sue answered members’ questions regarding blocking methods as well.

The September program will be the Moebius cast-on technique. Please bring worsted weight yarn and longer circular needles (40 inches or longer) in a size appropriate for worsted weight yarn to practice the technique.

After the Ways and Means Committee’s raffle, the Guild enjoyed the member show and share of members’ current knitting projects.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Katie Gerwien, Secretary, TKGV

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PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE BY-LAWS AND STANDING RULES

The Guild will vote on the proposed changes at the September meeting.

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PROPOSED BY-LAWS CHANGES, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

I Insert I for Article VIII

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Thirty-One Gifts’ motto is CELEBRATE, ENCOURAGE & REWARD. August is a great time to celebrate friendships, to encour-age those who come into your home with kind words and hospitality and in turn you will reward yourself with close friendships. Thirty-One Gifts offers exclusive products for women that are beautifully designed with many fabric choices from flashy and sassy to reserved and classy. Items include skirt purses, various thermal totes, a wide variety of organizing bins and totes (great for holding knitting projects and yarn) and Mini Zipper and Zip-Up Pouches for your knitting notions. What a better way to get your knit-ting and yarn organized then with Thirty-One products!

The Fall Catalog is Here! September Monthly Customer Special: For every $31 you spend, you get 31 percent off anything in the NEW Fall Catalog. Just shy of $31 … personalize something for a flat fee of $7. Thirty-One is … excited about the new Fall Catalog. There are many new items and patterns. Remember all personalization counts toward your $31 total. No party required orders can be placed at anytime. Visit my webpage to view the complete catalog, the monthly spe-cial, or place an order. Should you have any questions, or would to re-ceive the monthly specials flyers via email feel free to contact me directly.

Mention my ad when ordering -- 5 percent of sales will be donated to the Guild.

PROPOSED BY-LAWS CHANGES, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

LEARN WITH NANCY SHROYER OF NANCY’S KNIT KNACKS

The Tidewater Knitting Guild is thrilled to have Nancy Shroyer as our guest teacher on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012. Nancy Shroyer knits, spins, weaves, dyes, designs, teaches and invents in Cary, NC. Nancy’s philosophy is to make working with fiber easier for everyone. She has found many shortcuts, techniques and formulas that can save time and anxiety. This led to her to develop Nancy’s Knit Knacks, which sells products worldwide.

The Guild will be offering two classes at the penthouse of Westminster Canterbury, 3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach.

Continental Knitting Saturday, Nov. 3, 9 a.m.–Noon Member cost: $30 | Non-member: $40

Learn Continental Knitting from a Right-Hand Thrower Continental knitters say they knit faster, with better tension and less movement; it is the more efficient method, requiring the shortest number of specific hand-motions per stitch. For those who are right-hand throwers and want to learn to knit continental, let Nancy show you how to change hands for knitting, purling and ribbing. The class involves training the left hand to work for you for knitting and purling. The class also includes the two ways to purl, ribbing, knitting back and purling back backwards. It’s really about learning to use both your hands, read your knitting and know which method to use to its best advantage. This three-hour class is appropriate for all levels of knitters.

No homework but bring: #8 needles, 50 gram ball of light-colored worsted weight yarn, wool preferred.

The Grand Finale! – Finishing with Professional ResultsSaturday, Nov. 3, 2-5 p.m. Member cost: $35 | Non-member: $45

Learn to Get Professional Results with Your Finishing Details

Professional results begin with good planning before starting a project. This will be discussed, as well as different types of binding off, seams, buttonholes, zippers and edgings. Blocking for texture, fiber content and shape will be covered.

Homework: Knit some swatches. Homework will be provided to those who register for the class.

Plus, there will be a welcome reception at Lora Marin’s home. Friday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m. Members free | Non-member: $10

Space is limited, so be sure to register soon!

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NANCY SHROYER CLASS REGISTRATIONNOV. 2 & 3, 2012

Class size is limited to 15 people, so sign up early to reserve your spot. The classes on Nov. 3 will be held in the penthouse of Westminster Canterbury, 3000 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, Va.

NAME_______________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS____________________________________________________________________________

CITY_________________________________________STATE______ZIP___________

PHONE___________________________EMAIL________________________________

Please indicate which events you want to attend:

_____MEET AND GREET RECEPTIONFriday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m., at Lora Marin’s houseGuild Members: Free Non-members: $10

_____CONTINENTAL KNITTING Saturday, Nov. 3, 9 a.m.-Noon Guild Members: $30 Non-members: $40

_____THE GRAND FINALE! FINISHING WITH PROFESSIONAL RESULTSSaturday, Nov. 3, 2-5 p.m.Guild members: $35 Non-members: $45

Registrations can be emailed to loramarin@cox.net; however, payment must be made to reserve slot.

Checks can be sent to:Lora Marin 2500 Olivia Ct. Virginia Beach, VA 23454

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