The Purpose of The Shenandoah Knitting Guild is to promote the continuing education of persons interested in improving their knitting skills through meetings, workshops, and networking with other knitters locally, regionally, and nationally. Daytime Meetings are held at the First Christian Church, 75 Merrimans Lane, Winchester, Virginia at 10:30 a.m. on the second Friday of each month. When the Frederick County schools are closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be postponed until the third Friday of the month. Our next meeting day is February 10. Our program is showing how to use two colors of yarn to make Fair Isle knitting. If you want to join our group, we will welcome you warmly. Guild ActivitiesEach month our members meet to learn new techniques, share stories and inspire each other by sharing our current projects during Show and Tell.
An informal gathering called Sit and Knit is held on the fourth Tuesday of each month, starting at 10:30 am. at the Never Enough Yarn shop in Winchester VA. Our next Sit and Knit is January 24 starting at 10:30. Never Enough Yarn holds its own Sit and Knit gatherings every Sunday from 1 p.m. until closing at 5 p.m. Community OutreachThe Guild members enjoy helping out in the community. One of our on-going projects is “Sweaters and Hats” for two daycare centers, Winchester Day Nursery and Fremont Street Nursery. There is free yarn available to anyone who wishes to participate in this voluntary effort. Many of the Guild members are happy to be a mentor/instructor to new knitters. You may contact Pat Hays - 540-888-4348.
MembershipDues of $20.00 are paid at the start of each year. If you join mid year we will adjust the amount of the dues. We have a monthly newsletter which may be postal mailed, accessed through the web site, or sent directly as a pdf attachment to an email. NewsPat Hays showed the Continental method of knit and purl in January 2012. This was in preparation for our February meeting which is two color stranded Fair Isle knitting where you carry one color of yarn in each hand switching between them as the chart pattern directs.
In December 2011 we had our Potluck Social and exchanged gifts which were handmade by the members. On December 6 we donated sweaters and caps to Fremont Street Nursery for the children in daycare. Sweaters were also donated to the Laurel Center in Winchester for gifts to the clients' children.
Our November 2011 meeting was a field trip to Y2Knit in Funkstown Maryland. Members enjoyed shopping and then went to a nearby restaurant for lunch before heading back home.
In October 2011 Dee Dee Heuer showed us the Lily Chin method of buttonholes. Dee Dee had a number of other samples of buttonhole methods shown with samples and instructions on handouts. Our booth at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in September was a fun event. Members greeted the public and explained about knitting in general and our guild with its activities.
In September 2011 we had a change of program. Lorry Fridinger was unable to travel to present her information so Pat Hays showed us how to do the Magic Loop Knitting technique. This is a method of using a long double point round needle in place of multiple short needles to knit in the round on items like socks or other small diameter projects. An excellent video can be found at http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/magic-loop
Our August 2011 meeting was presented by Jean Allen who has knit thousands of Christmas stockings over the years. Jean told us her technique for using graphs, knitting the stocking, then sewing up the back seam.
In July 2011 we had a swap meet and a baby shower for one of our members who will become a grandmother for the first time.
Our June 2011 meeting was held at Pat Hays' farm in Gore Virginia. We had a potluck salad luncheon and saw the lambs who were born in March and April.
In May 2011 members participated in our program of Baby Knits. One of our members is becoming a grandmother in July and asked if members would give her help on finding their favorite patterns, yarn, books, etc. for making items for newborns. In our regular Show and Tell session we showed our latest knitting projects.
We had a great time at our March 2011 meeting. The program was called "Other Hobbies". Each member brought a Show and Tell item of another craft or hobby they enjoyed. Members showed crochet, cross stitch, quilting, painting, scrap booking, sweater pattern designing, and other skills to the group. It was inspiring to see how talented a group we have.
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