Dec. 16th, 2017 18 Attending and waddling home with very full stomachs! lol
Happy New Year!!!!! 1-7-18 ...as promised, back to fill out this report a bit more.
Suzanne's beautifully holiday-decorated home was a wonderful site for our festive holiday paraty. The pot luck buffet was bountiful and oh, so yummy! I was especially glad to see that, except for the decadent desserts, everything was healthy and one was able to have a very balanced meal. A good balance of hot and cold dishes, too. With so many requests for recipes, I'll be adding a recipe page to our website. :-) "Thank you, Suzanne", for hostessing our festivities. You made us feel right at home, and your home was so comfortable and welcoming, starting right at the door with your festively dressed sheep! lol.
-The idea of doing a "left-right" game with wrapped 'regifted' items was truly inspired and I think everyone was pleased with their end result. Sooooo much side-splitting laughter!
-Ideas floated for next year...
-for next year's party we should all wear wacky holiday sweaters, perhaps shop for them now at the after-Christmas sales!!!
-Suzanne suggested we all make a hat with red/green/white Christmas-y color scheme to wear with our sweaters, as she had been
lamenting the lack of available holiday inspired hats both in stores and knitting sites.
-after seeing Deb B.'s crocheted afghan the requests for a session of crochet instruction was raised. Since we haven't finalized a schedule of programs for 2018 yet, that's a good idea to add to the list. Since the Jan. meeting will come up on us fast, this is a possibility for that date.
-reminder of Gloucester Retreat the last Sat. of Jan. $5 plus a dish to share. We'll meet in our meeting parking lot to arrange carpooling. More details on that coming.
*General discussion of the fact that with a group as active as ours, especially regarding the variety of programs we do, that it's too much work for just one person in leadership, especially for non-retired folks. While leadership work can be rewarding and bring a lot of personal satisfaction, there's no denying that it requires copious time-consuming efforts. To alleviate the possibility for leadership burnout from the overload of time involved, there needs to be more of a team effort to balance out the workload.
Good communications among those on the team is vital for this to work smoothly. We must do better at staying in touch.
The "team" need not be a specific list of people, just that for each event we plan or activity we implement, we need more folks to jump in and share the workload. Considering all we do, there's surely sometime and some activity that everyone can find time to give a hand.
Renée has a gift for liaising with presenters and implementing programs involving such, so we can rely on her to cover that angle.
Elaine B. will be more actively involved with electronics, such as disseminating information thru email and the website.
Becky and Elaine K. are great at liaising with outside groups for donations, etc, as well as coordinating the logistics for programs.
This should free up our President, for 2018 that will be Gene, to explore new ventures such as participation at festivals and the state fair; a newsletter; as well as the usual duties of overseeing and coordinating the whole team effort.
REMINDER: 2018 dues = $25. Susan won't be at the Jan. meeting to provide receipts or take money, but someone will, and we'll get out receipts and membership cards for the Feb. meeting.
Show 'n Tell:
Lots of lovely items displayed at show 'n tell.
- Renée had several finished items to show and sent in her list of the patterns:
"My hats are the Zarina pattern by Cristiana Brenna and it's free: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zarina
My two-toned shawl is Waiting for Rain by Sylvia McFadden https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/waiting-for-rain
(I'm getting ready to do her pattern "Water" https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/water-2)
The scarf I was wearing is Wingspan" https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wingspan-2
Renée finished the hats with very clever substitutes for a pom-pom. One had a cluster of curlicue icords that was a real crowd pleaser.
- Deb T. passed around a hat she had knit, the patterns is from : Allfreeknitting, The hat is a slouchy hat, called Ricksack Rib. The pattern is
by Linda from Purl Avenue.
- Lydia is working on a hat using yarn she purchased in Argentina. After telling us about how inexpensive it is to buy yarn in Argentina, she
had us all dreaming about a field trip south of the Equator!
- Becky finished a baby blanket with self-striping yarn and showed us the entrelac scarf she made, using fine yarn and fine stitchs, in
gradient shades of blue and maroon.
- Deb B. is crocheting an afghan in shades of cream, blue, dark brown, and tan.
- Mary S. showed us her entrelac scarf in variagated shades of purple, mauve, wine, and blue.
- Susan S. is finishing up a pair of brown sox for her husband.
- Suzanne T. showed us a Quick Ombre Hat, and Ying-Yang sox with a cute cat face. The sox are made both at the same time on one needle.
- Martha was working on a pair of mittens whose mode of incorporating a thumb is called the "after thought thumb." It makes more sense to
hear her explain that, than it makes to read that name here. lol.
- Elke has many projects in progress, mostly hats, a Harry Potter scarf, and she's experimenting with felting a purse. We'll be looking forward
to a report on what she learns about felting.
- Jennifer is working her way through the Crazed Scandanavian scarf in red and white, when her sanity needs a break from that, she's
working on a Fair Isle hat in Christmas colors, which was a relief to Suzanne that someone is still interested in those colors!
- Linda, our newest member, is working on a ripple afghan in crochet.
- Andrée modeled the shrug she was wearing, a cowl in grey and blue, and a green monkey with a fuzzy belly! Such eclectic offerings always
from Andrée! :-)
- Maria is working quickly to finish Christmas gifts: long, lacy sox. She showed us the shawls she has already finished. We all lined up to get
on her list of people to knit for next Christmas!
SHARED:
- Becky told us about a site she refers to for errors built into knitting instructions. http://knitblog.com/index.php/help-pages/knitting-errata/
- suggestion was made to add a page on this website with links to those kind of sites. Check it out! It's called "HELP" and it's on a dropdown
list under HKG Favorite Sites