Knitting Knews for the Month of May

Photo by Katherine Misegades

By Heather Janney

The Dayton Knitting Guild is putting on Knit Alongs, for the first time this year. Lynn McCown has been gracious enough to take on these cool projects. This month and probably the next few months she will be teaching us how to make Katherine Misegade’s pattern called, “Knit to Fit, Gansey-style Cardigan”.  Katherine showed us this sweater at the program she did for the DKG, in March this year.  Maybe you remember it. The picture on this blog is one of the sweaters that she showed.  May I suggest you make the first one for yourself, since it’s a knit-to-fit construction?  You will have your model available 24 hrs. a day.

The first Knit Along will be all about finding the gauge that works for your yarn and needle size. Remember this is a knit-to-fit project. So here are some guidelines to get you started.

What kind of yarn should you use?  Yarn could be a special gansey type of yarn (that is a highly twisted 5 ply). Or a sport weight or DK weight yarn. You could also use a light  worsted weight yarn. (Katherine used Cascade 220 to make the 2 sweaters she showed at the March meeting). Cascade 220 is a light worsted wt yarn. I would suggest making it in a solid colored yarn. (The texture would be lost if you used a variegated yarn).  The texture will show up best in a light solid colored yarn. You don’t want to do all of that work and not have the patterning show.

What knitting needle should you use?  I would suggest looking at the band on the yarn and see what they suggest. You can at least start there.  Ganseys were traditionally made on very small needles. Size US 1 or US 3. The typical gauge was 7 to 9 stitches to the inch. You will probably not want to make a gansey with that gauge.  You will be working on a swatch to find the gauge that works for you. Bring several knitting needle sizes to make a swatch with.

How much yarn should you bring?   What size sweater are you making? I’m thinking of making one of these sweaters for myself and I like my sweaters a little on the loose side. You don’t want to run out, so I would buy 2,400 yds. of yarn. I usually think of buying 1,400 yards when I’m using a worsted wt. yarn.  This sweater will have a lot of patterning so it will use up a lot more yarn. Whatever you have left over can be knit up into mittens or a hat or both. A knitter’s motto: You can never have enough yarn.

Ok, so that is all about the Knit  Along at Lynn’s on Saturday May 11^th, 2013 from 10am to Noon. Lynn will have the pattern and I suggest you bring some money to pay for the printing of it.

Monday May 20^th, 2013 is our next DKG program.  Deb K. (Kociszewski) will be presenting, “Brioche Knitting in the Round”. This presentation was inspired by a Ravelry pattern called, “Metamorph Cowl”.  If you were at the Bergamo retreat a couple of years ago you may have seen this technique. Deb will help us work out some of the tricky details. Deb has a great sense of humor and always has a smile on her face. She has taught classes at Fiberworks and if you know her you know this is going to be a great program.  Deb has a relaxed style and is very knowledgeable when it comes to all sorts of things. Deb also works at Fiberworks and I love seeing her there.

Some of our guild members have been unable to attend the monthly meeting so wouldn’t it be nice to surprise them with some “Friendship Letters”?

Betty Scott hurt her leg recently and is celebrating her 93^rd birthday this month. Betty is at: McAuley Center, 506 Sciota St., Urbana, Ohio 433078.

Lenora Klin has been missed at the DKG meetings and she is at: 2501 Keystone Club Dr., Centerville, OH. 45439.

Barbara Larimer is the knitter that did a trunk show for the DKG. She incorporates knitting and sewing and always looks so smart in her knitted outfits. Please send her a card. Her address is in the DKG directory.  (It was suggested that we not put personal addresses on the Blog).  Betty and Lenore live at nursing facilities.

And last but not least, please send a note or card to Margaret Parsley. Her name is in the DKG directory also. Margaret has done some programs for the Dayton Knitting Guild in the past. She has been a long time member of the guild and I really miss her contributions.

Happy Knitting and see you next Saturday.

I’m Amy Detjen’s favorite knitter…

Amy Detjen shows Patricia Renick some fine points of knitting.

By Heather Janney

Amy Detjen was the teacher at the 18^th Dayton Knitting Guild Retreat at Bergamo. Amy is a great teacher. She was very thorough in her presentations and had a great voice. (I sat in the very back of the room and could hear everything she said). She did have to talk amongst the chatter which always seems to happen at any knitting event I’ve ever been to. Someone suggested we have a card that says, “Quiet” or give the teacher a whistle. It’s a problem that we have been dealing with for years. Gloria Johnson used to try and quiet the group down.

We learned the many ways to apply I-cord. (I didn’t know that Elizabeth Zimmerman had given I-cord its name). We learned the many ways to do Short Rows and how to do Cables without a cable needle.  Amy had many perfected techniques for knitters. She made it fun too. We laughed out loud throughout the whole weekend.

The raffle was a big success this year. Joan Payne passed the torch to Mary Owens and Kelly Gockel. They had 95 raffle prizes to give away from a long list of vendors and guild members that donated items. Kelly and Mary did a great job this year and have said that they are willing to do it next year.  That makes me so happy.

The Yarn Market was in the room that we have always used for the classes. There were 7 vendors and I heard that the lighting in that room was far superior to the lighting in the chapel. I loved how every one of the vendors had such nice displays.

Kay Wolff is the mastermind behind this retreat. She has been putting on this retreat for 18 years now. Barbara Richardson, the President of the Dayton Knitting Guild and Wanda Royer, the treasurer of the Guild told me that when they first started doing the retreat that they were only going to try it for one year. Now 18 years later they are still at it. It takes a great leader like Kay and wonderful co-leaders like Barb and Wanda to pull this thing off without a hitch. I can’t thank them enough for showing me the ropes.

Thanks to Amy and all of the participants for making this a wonderful experience for me. I love you all.

Happy Knitting!

Yea, Spring is Finally here.

April 15^th 2013 will be our 4^th Dayton Knitting Guild Meeting this year.  Andrea Wong will be presenting “Cowls, They’re the In-Thing!”  Andrea is from Columbus, Ohio and is another one of my favorite teachers. She has taught us how to knit the Wong way and has many friends in the Dayton Knitting Guild. Come join us for fun and relaxation.  Don’t forget to bring your knitting with you.

Have you made a cowl yet?  Come see the many different styles of cowls there are. We made 2 different styles at the Dayton Knitting Guild, “Knit A Longs” so far this year. You can learn how to make a cowl and then buy some yarn at the Yarn Market the next weekend.

The Yarn Market will be at the Knitting Retreat at Bergamo Center, 44oo Shakertown Rd. Dayton, Ohio on:

Friday, April 19^th from 3 P.M. to 8 P.M.

Saturday, April 20^th from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.

These are some of the vendors that will be at the Bergamo Center:

Andrea Wong Knits – Powell, Ohio
Fiberworks – Beavercreek, Ohio
Knitters Mercantile – Columbus, Ohio
Noah’s Landing – Shreve, Ohio
Tippecanoe Weaver and Fibers Too – Tipp City, Ohio
Wooly Bully Yarn Company – Springboro, Ohio
The Yarn Shop – Columbus, Ohio

Knitting Knews from the Dayton Knitting Guild

By Heather Janney

There is a lot to Blog about these days. The President of the Dayton Knitting Guild, Barbara Richardson, sent me an email informing me of things going on around Dayton so I will start off with that.

1)      Expectant Mothers want to learn how to knit in Dayton. Geri Bush offered to take this project on but now is having back troubles and is asking if someone else could help with this project. Contact Geri or Barb Richardson for more information.

2)      Bryan Fraley is a knitter that needs help teaching women at the St Vincent DePaul Gateway how to Knit or Crochet. You can e-mail him at bfraley@stvincentdayton.org for more information. He says that they have lots of yarn and the Dayton Knitting Guild has starter kits if you would like to use them.

3)      New Yarn Shop at the Webster Street Market in downtown Dayton. It’s called New World Alpacas Textiles. You can get more information at their website: info@newworldtextilesalpaca.com. The Webster Street Market has lots of good places to eat and you can just hang out and knit too.

4)      Knitting & Crochet Classes for Adults at the K-12 Gallery on E. Third Street. $15-Materials included. 11am-1pm. Contact: jerri@k12gallery.com if interested.

Now on to other Knitting Knews

Get your calendars out for these dates:

March 18^th 2013 (Monday)        This will be our 3^rd Dayton Knitting Guild Meeting of the year. Katherine Misgades from Fort Wayne, Indiana will be presenting, “Gurnseys and Jerseys!” at this meeting. Katherine is one of my most favorite teachers. She is a very experienced knitter and a joy to be around. You really don’t want to miss this Dayton Knitting Guild Meeting. Katherine has many free patterns out there in the knitting world and her own website called, atimetoknit.com.  She also has a Blog of her own and a CD called, “…and a time to knit stockings”

March 20^th 2013 (Wednesday@noon)     Lynn McCown is having her traditional St. Patrick Day Knit-in at her home in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Lynn will be providing the Entrees and some dessert. Everyone else can bring any food they like and their own drink.

March 23^rd 2013 (Saturday)     Come join us for another “Knit Along”. This is also at Lynn McCown’s home. Come at 10 am. There is plenty of parking on the street. These “Knit Alongs” have been fantastic. Lynn has many great ideas and is very generous with her time and hand-outs. The new program coordinators have decided to do “Knit Alongs”  instead of workshops this year. This is the best deal going for any knitter that wants to try out new skills. We will be discussing the Gansey sweater at this “Knit Along”.

Also on March 23^rd there is the Black Swamp Fiber Fest 2013 at the Bowling Green Fairgrounds. It runs from 9am till 4 pm. Admission $1.00. (is that right?)

February 18th, Afghans All Ways….

Editor: Heather Janney

Spring is almost here and we can crawl out from under those afghans, but before we do we will learn more about afghans. Susan Williamson will be the presenter at our next Dayton Knitting Guild Meeting. The program is called, Afghans All Ways. You won’t want to miss it. I have a pattern for an afghan that I just love to make. I think I have made at least 5 of them. I’m sorry that I will miss this presentation. I’ll be in Colorado on Monday.

The Dayton Knitting Guild meeting will be held this coming Monday on February 18^th.

 

Our vendor at the meeting will be Julie Esterling from: Julie’s Knitting Machines.

Meeting times are here on the daytonknittingguild site so I don’t have to type that again, do I?

Have fun at the meetings and I will hear all about it when I see you.

P.S. I had a wonderful time learning how to make a reversible scarf at Lynn’s Knit Along last Saturday. I have the scarf done and will be giving it as a gift next Sunday in Colorado. It turned out so well that I will be posting it on this blog with a  picture real soon. I’m already making another one. I’m going to make a change to the pattern. I will let you see both of them on this blog.

Come to the first February Knit-Along….

First February Knit-Along will be about Scarves and Cowls.

We will be learning about reversible cables. Lilly Chin has come up with some techniques that we will study.

Bring Sport weight or DK weight yarn.

Bring size needles: Either US 7,8, or 9 needles. If you are making the cowl you will probably want a 16” circular needle.

This knit-along will be held at Lynns house on Feb. 9^th, 2013 (Saturday)

Directions and phone number to Lynns house is on the Dayton Knitting Guild website. Check out the previous blogs.

Thanks,

Heather Janney (your blogging editor)

Come celebrate MLK Day at the Dayton Knitting Guild

It’s My Lined Knitted Jacket Day. I have a dream that one day I will finish this fabulous brown jacket.

By Heather Janney

My Lined Knitted Jacket will be demonstrated by me. I am still working on the jacket of my dreams. It is a work in progress so you can see how I make this lined knitted jacket with a zipper. I made the prototype after taking the Gwen Bortner class called,” Fabulous Fabrics Just for Jackets”, at Knitters Connection in June. This class only taught me how to make the fabric. I had to come up with my own pattern. Gwen suggested buying the book by Jean Frost called, “Custom fit Knit Jackets, Casual to Couture”. You can see the first jacket I made on the cover page of the last “Call of the Wool”.  Most of the knitting techniques I used to make this fabulous jacket will be familiar to you. There are easy knitting terms starting with; knit, purl, garter stitch, stockinette stitch, and seed stitch. There is an applied I-cord along the center edge. This is an easy technique to learn. I used my essential knitting tool (ekt) while making this whole jacket. The ekt helps me keep track of where I am in the process and helps speed things along.  There is a minimal amount of math involved.  I’ve figured some things out so that you don’t have to. There are just 5 knitted pieces of a very simple construction and then there is the application of the lining and the insertion of the zipper. There is a lot of hand sewing at the end of this project. I just sit at the dining room table and listen to PBS, on TV, and pin and sew away on my jacket.

Bring your own knitting to the meeting and just sit back and enjoy. There is a lot of time and effort that has gone into making the jacket of my dreams and I am happy to share all of my expertise.  So don’t miss this Dayton Knitting Guild presentation. It is an experience you won’t want to miss.

Date:Monday, January, 21^st, 2013 (Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday)

Where: St. Marys Center on Xenia Ave. in Dayton.

When: First meeting is at 10 am and the second meeting is at 7pm.

The vendor this time will be Fiberworks –Beavercreek, Ohio.

Arlene Graham from Fiberworks may have some ekts for sale too.