Homework for February Meeting

February 9 program: SEAMING

Learn to do the mattress stitch to sew your sweaters together. To participate make 2 swatches with worsted weight yarn and size 7 or 8 needles. Cast on about 15 stitches and work in stockinet stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) for 5 to 6 inches. Bind off your swatches. Be sure to block them to make sewing together easier. Bring a contrasting yarn of the same weight to sew together. That will allow you to see what is happening as you sew.

Lesson to be taught by Pat Hickey

Neither Rain, Nor Snow...

This is what it looked like last Thursday night for the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild meeting, only dark. And the roads were slick too, but a few of us managed to make it to the meeting. It was worth it.

Vicki Jicha presided over her first meeting as the new President and she did a great job keeping us on track.



Laura Quinn was appointed Parliamentarian because someone needs to remember the rules of running meetings and she is perfect for the job.



On Wednesday, January 11 the first group of members went to Bellevue Retirement Community for the first outreach visit. They were blown away by the attendance of nearly 20 residents who were thrilled to talk knitting and needlepoint for the afternoon. The staff provided coffee and cookies which was nice. Vicki went back Thursday to teach two of the ladies (one nearing her 95th birthday) to knit! How cool is that? A bunch of the needles and yarn collected last year for an outreach that never happened will go toward providing the retirees with supplies to get their hands busy again. We have scheduled 2 visits per month at the retirement home so you've got plenty of time to get on this fun and rewarding bandwagon. Who knows, you might even learn something.


Vicki took off her president's cap after the business meeting and put on her teacher's hat for the program. She taught us about decreasing. In my opinion the best tip was not to decrease in the first stitch, to knit/purl the first one and then decrease so your edge remains nice for joining pieces together. Thanks for the handout, Vicki, and all your good info.



For me the highlight of the meeting was Terri and Linda bringing the "kits" of donated yarn and free patterns they sought out for the members to use to make chemo caps for patients in need and hats, scarves, and mittens for schoolchildren who don't have any. (Mitch, if you took pictures of the mound of kits please send them to me and I'll put them on here. Thanks.) I chose a couple of projects and I'm halfway through the first one. (I love super bulky yarn and big needles.)



Membership chair, Zoe, spent the early part of the meeting unraveling the sleeves of a sweater she made for her husband a few years ago. He'd like her to turn it into a buttoned vest so she gets to learn to steek this year. (Steek means to knit a wool tube and cut it, cut the knitting, to make a cardigan or insert sleeves.) Better her than me. I may never be brave enough to take a scissors to my knitting.


During Show & Tell she showed us the entrelac skirt she designed and knit over the last month or so. It's gorgeous.

Knitters Know How To Party

On December 8, the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild assembled for their second Annual Handknitted Dishcloth Swap. Outgoing President and Guild Founder, Terri Sipes read "The Knitters' Christmas" and as she did we passed the dishcloth we held to the left every time she said the word "the." There were a LOT of "the"s in there. The passing was fast and furious until the final The End, and the photo was taken. (I suspect organizing a roomful of knitters is a bit like herding cats.)






Before the festivities we had an election of new officers. Victoria Jicha is our new President, Mitch Woesner is Vice President, Jenny Lee is Secretary, and Linda Busalacchi retains the Treasurer's job. Terri Sipes is taking over Newsletter duties, Barbara Malcolm (yours truly) stays Member-at-Large and takes care of the Blog, Zoe Moulton remains Membership chair, and Lucy Yap is Events coordinator. Congratulations and a big Thank You to all!


(The rest of the Guild members need to decide what role they can play in the running of the Guild next year. It's not a very difficult or demanding job when we all do our part. Think of it this way, there are four officers and four committee chairs, if you each took a turn you'd only be in office once every seven years. Get your turn over early! I am. [sorry for the lack of subtlety, I hope I haven't offended anyone])

Everyone also brought either a salad or dessert to share. There were lots of goodies to be had. Thanks for all the treats to eat, Knitters!




Just a reminder: there are always a couple of Knit Doctors there before the meeting to help you over any hurdles you might encounter in your projects. They really know their stuff.

Outreach Opportunity

Dear Bay Lakes Knitting Guild Members & Members of the Embroiderers Guild:

I am excited to announce that the Knit & Stitch outreach with the Bellevue Retirement Community (Hofmann Rd and GV) has been scheduled to begin in January and run through May. We agreed to set up those 5 months and evaluate how things are going in April. At that time we will decide whether to continue with the present schedule or tweak it to better meet the needs of the residents there. Both groups will meet in their Community Room.

The Day Group will meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 3pm to 4pm.
The Evening Group will meet on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 6pm to 7pm.

Those dates are as follows:
Days - January 11, February 8, March 14, April 11, and May 9
Evenings - January 25, February 22, March 28, April 25, and May 23.

I would like to have a sign-up sheet for these 5 months, so we know we have all of the
dates covered. If you wish to participate, please email me with the dates that you wish
to volunteer.

Victoria Jicha, President
Bay Lakes Knitting Guild
vjicha2@gmail.com

Bullfrogs 9, Mallards 0

It was a great night for baseball--and knitting. The Bullfrogs won, there was 1/2 price beer one inning, yarn was knitted, and the knitters had their picture taken with Jeremiah, the team mascot. It doesn't get any better than that.

Fall Knit-Away Weekend

Knit-Away Weekend

Landmark Resort, Door County, WI

November 11-13, 2011

Come enjoy the First Annual Knit-Away Weekend with the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild.

All Condo units have fully-equipped kitchen with microwave and coffee maker.

Continental breakfast provided by Landmark (located in the main building).

(All rates based on 2 nights lodging per person. Deposit non-refundable.)

Room choices:

1 Bdrm. Woodview, King --2 pers-- Mem: $123 Non-Mem: $130.50 Deposit: $37

2 Bdrm/1 Bath, Woodview, Queen --4 pers-- Mem: $72 Non-Mem: $79.56 Deposit: $22

(In Harbor Building next door to Navigator)

2 Bdrm/2 Bath, Woodview, King/Queen --4 pers-- Mem: $80.50 Non-Mem: $87 Deposit: $24

3 Bdrm/2 Bath, Waterview, King/Queens --6 pers-- Mem: $92 Non-Mem: $99.50 Deposit: $28

Name:_________________________________________

Address:_______________________________________

City, State, Zip:__________________________________

Phone:____________________________

Email:__________________________________________

Member #_______________________

Room Choice:_______________________________

Deposit:___________________Date:_______________

Balance Due by September 8, 2011.

Have You Knit in Public?

The members, relatives, and friends of the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild were out in force last Sunday celebrating World Wide Knit in Public Day. For the second year we met in beautiful Jackson Square Park in downtown Green Bay bringing our knitting and snacks. There were knitters of all ages and experience levels working on an amazing variety of projects. It was great fun. You should have come. Perhaps you'll come next year? We'll be there. Will you?