Five Years of Bay Lakes Knitting Guild Fun

President Julie recapped many of the fun things we've done, guests we've hosted, and techniques we've learned over the years.  Here are the Charter Members at last week's meeting.

There have been three Yarn Crawls: one to Milwaukee yarn shops in 2012, one to Madison in 2014, and last month's visit to Xpressions Bead & Yarn and then the Alpaca Fiber Fest.

We had one Knit-Away weekend to the Landmark in Door County and a Knit-Away day to the St. James Inn in DePere where we all made shelf elves.

For knitting in public, we've gone to Stitch 'n Pitch Brewer games, Timber Rattler games, and Bullfrog games, plus we knit in the park across from our regular meeting place in the summer.

Guests have been many and varied:  Ann from Shepherd's Purse talked about Free-form Knitting, Melissa and Jessie of Hello Purl talked about taking fiber from Lamb to Yarn and brought spinning wheels for us to try, Jane from Autumn Larch Farm gave a presentation on her farm, sheep, and wool, and brought soaps and garlic that she produces, Wayne from LondonDairy Alpacas came with yarn, roving, and designs, Melissa from Green Yarn Company brought reclaimed yarns and talked about repurposing found sweaters and even shredding old jeans to make yarn,  Sean French, a Physical Therapist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, taught us how to avoid pain and numbness from overusing muscles.

Program Topics have been just as fun and interesting.  We've learned how to "read" our knitting, how to read patterns and charts, even how to write patterns.  There have been programs on Increases and Decreases, I-cord Bind off, EZ's sewn Bind off, Seaming, German Short Rows, Finishing Techniques in Crochet, How to use Ravelry, Yarn Storage, State Fair Knitting, Knitting with Beads, Knitting with Wire, Magic Looping, the Barbara Walker Project, a whole knitting bag's worth of Cast Ons, and many more.

For the last two years we've had a Design-A-Thon that challenged us to try our hands at making up a design, knitting it, and writing the pattern to share with the Guild.  It's been both scary and exhilarating.  You should try it.  Come on, even a dishcloth in a cool stitch counts.

We've knitted preemie hats, baby hats, chemo hats for veterans, afghans for newly christened babies, mittens for cold schoolkid hands, and given it all away.

Our December meetings are filled with laughter as we share a potluck of salads and desserts, then exchange dishcloths while listening to A Knitter's Night Before Christmas.  That's one meeting you shouldn't miss.

It has been a fun five years and I can't wait to see what comes in the next five.  Knit on!