4-21-18 Attending: 7 Volunteer Hours: 18 month / 176 year
Items: 5 month/ 65 year
Field trip to Dances with Wool, 1229 Sycamore Square Midlothian, VA 23113
Being located close to the junction with Rt.288 made getting to the store from Mechanicsville relatively quick and easy.
What a great shop! Light and spacious with comfortable seating in the front, the back of the shop, and a room just for classes at the far back.
We conducted our meeting at a big table towards the back of the store that was just the right size for our group. For that first hour we had the place all too ourselves, as the store didn't open 'til 11:00. After the meeting portion, proprietress Debby told us some very interesting information that she'd learned from a recent business trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. How delighted we were to learn that in the knitting world now, the US is the trendsetter!!! The UK, being a very tradition oriented knitting world, sticks pretty much to traditional fibers, colors, and patterns. They even stick to using straight needles....can't buy circulars in shops!! So the newest generation of designers looks to the US knitters, who love color and mixing color combinations in new ways, for their inspiration. Needless to say, the fiber companies follow.
Debby told us that hand-dyed fibers in rich, vibrant tones are still the best sellers in the US. While shawls will continue to be popular, the trend in designing is moving towards more sweaters, especially pullovers with colorful, beautifully designed yokes. The trend in shawls is toward more tonal colors with just pops of different colors via speckles or variegation. Hats with lots of pom-poms and colorwork are also trending.
Our day at Dances with Wool coincided with their Yarn Day. There was a drawing for prizes, percentage discounts based on the number tag on a knitting needle plucked from a vase, and other freebies. This popular event drew quite the large number of patrons, so for our shopping stint we were pretty much elbow to elbow, but everyone was friendly, helping fellow shoppers find things, and no one was impatient waiting in line to check-out. As usual, HKG proudly contributed to the shop coffers that day. The merchandise was just too tempting!
Leaving the shop at noon, we adjourned to Crab Louie's for lunch. All in all a very enjoyable day. :-)
Old Business:
- Discussion about paying an honorarium to guest speakers. Mary will poll another guild to get a general idea of what amount is typical for them. We need to know soon, as we have someone coming in July. The question is, do we give the speaker an honorarium if they are coming as a vendor selling fiber????? Suzanne T. suggested we develop a policy for paying honorariums, for future use, to insure consistency. Please think about this and be prepared to offer opinions at the May meeting.
-Review of upcoming programs on our schedule resulted in a decision to hold off paying the church usage donation until clearer understanding of space use is determined. Since we weren't there for the April meeting and won't be there for June, but will tentatively need larger space for July, when should we pay???? Perhaps we need a consistent policy and pay by that schedule for the months used to date. Perhaps we should pay quarterly for the months used, regardless of how many we did use. Please think about this and be prepared to offer your opinion at the May meeting.
New Business: ...after post -meeting consult with Andrée....
- Our annual picnic will be held at her house, but as she can't attend our May meeting, planning will be done via email. Be thinking about what food you will contribute so that we can develop a list at the May meeting to email to Andrée. She will take care of beverages. Plastic cutlery and paper goods donated to us by the Gloucester group are already at her house.
-A concerned thought came into the discussion, of members we haven't seen in recent meetings. Our concern is for their well-being, so "thinking of you" notes will be going out this month to members we haven't seen since our Christmas party. Keep happy thoughts in mind that all is well with them, except for currently very busy lives. Especially keep Jeri in your thoughts, as she is dealing with a spate of nuisance health issues that are quite vexing to our activity-loving octogenarian.
Show 'n Tell:
- Elaine B. finally finished her entrelac project, ending when the fiber ran out. The rectangle was folded over and sewn into a cowl shape. Nice looking finished project, as long as you don't realized that it wasn't planned to be that way. lol. Also finished is a purple summer weight infinity scarf in a tricky-to-use novelty fiber. Currently she is working on a red baby sweater, using up some of the excess ordered for the February red hats for premies project.
- Elke finished her sock yarn teal scarf, all but for the blocking. Lovely color and pattern of a rope cable plus an alternating open lace cable, called "Sojourn Falls" by Jamie Roe. Her current project is from her granddaughter's wish list. There were several volunteers to be adopted granddaughters! lol.
- Suzanne T. showed us a half finished graduation scarf. Her church has the lovely tradition of presenting each graduate in their church family with a scarf at graduation. Then, she shared with us her travel project list: a zigsag afghan; a clever ski hat with spruce trees called the "Alaska" hat; and a Tribeca jacket. Her New Year's Knitting resolution was to create a plan for her knitting projects rather than just dive into her stash. She'll be shopping for her new yarns along her travel route. This year, she and her husband will be driving up to the New Haven CT area. Her list of yarn shops to visit is ready to be packed for the trip.
- Jennifer is close to finishing a beautiful scarf in the pattern, Bosc Pear, with Blue Heron yarn "Cactus", which is a rayon metallic fiber of olive green tones with bits of blues and purples. The metallic content of the fiber adds an elegant sparkle and is quite soft. She is also working on shawls with the prayer shawl group at her church. A stitch a prayer. Lovely.
-Elaine K. has 4 NICU blankets ready for donation. She also told us about knitting prayer shawls for her aunt's church out of Homespun from A.C. Moore. This fiber is somewhat chunky so the projects work up pretty quickly and using only 2 skeins. Very busy fingers has Elaine K.
- Mary is working on a crescent scarf, the finished project we could see on the summer '16 Knitters Magazine cover. She also showed us a clever, quilted yarn bowl, made by a friend who sells them. She'll be bringing info on the sale of such items at our next meeting, or you can see them at next week's Powhatan Fiber Festival.
- Susan is currently working on blue socks. We were most excited to see her modeling the same sweater we admired last meeting, but this time in blue. Remember, it's the one with cables that sort of drip down from the shoulders both front and back? Best of all, she found the pattern and made copies for us. For those who missed this field trip, I'll be making more copies, however, with my memory these days, you'll need to remember to ask me for one. Tell me that I've put them in my red meeting bag!
And now....
Just to torment those who missed it......lunch at Crab Louie's was sooooooooooooooooo good, we didn't even want dessert!!!!
Best way to end a field trip! :-)
Items: 5 month/ 65 year
Field trip to Dances with Wool, 1229 Sycamore Square Midlothian, VA 23113
Being located close to the junction with Rt.288 made getting to the store from Mechanicsville relatively quick and easy.
What a great shop! Light and spacious with comfortable seating in the front, the back of the shop, and a room just for classes at the far back.
We conducted our meeting at a big table towards the back of the store that was just the right size for our group. For that first hour we had the place all too ourselves, as the store didn't open 'til 11:00. After the meeting portion, proprietress Debby told us some very interesting information that she'd learned from a recent business trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. How delighted we were to learn that in the knitting world now, the US is the trendsetter!!! The UK, being a very tradition oriented knitting world, sticks pretty much to traditional fibers, colors, and patterns. They even stick to using straight needles....can't buy circulars in shops!! So the newest generation of designers looks to the US knitters, who love color and mixing color combinations in new ways, for their inspiration. Needless to say, the fiber companies follow.
Debby told us that hand-dyed fibers in rich, vibrant tones are still the best sellers in the US. While shawls will continue to be popular, the trend in designing is moving towards more sweaters, especially pullovers with colorful, beautifully designed yokes. The trend in shawls is toward more tonal colors with just pops of different colors via speckles or variegation. Hats with lots of pom-poms and colorwork are also trending.
Our day at Dances with Wool coincided with their Yarn Day. There was a drawing for prizes, percentage discounts based on the number tag on a knitting needle plucked from a vase, and other freebies. This popular event drew quite the large number of patrons, so for our shopping stint we were pretty much elbow to elbow, but everyone was friendly, helping fellow shoppers find things, and no one was impatient waiting in line to check-out. As usual, HKG proudly contributed to the shop coffers that day. The merchandise was just too tempting!
Leaving the shop at noon, we adjourned to Crab Louie's for lunch. All in all a very enjoyable day. :-)
Old Business:
- Discussion about paying an honorarium to guest speakers. Mary will poll another guild to get a general idea of what amount is typical for them. We need to know soon, as we have someone coming in July. The question is, do we give the speaker an honorarium if they are coming as a vendor selling fiber????? Suzanne T. suggested we develop a policy for paying honorariums, for future use, to insure consistency. Please think about this and be prepared to offer opinions at the May meeting.
-Review of upcoming programs on our schedule resulted in a decision to hold off paying the church usage donation until clearer understanding of space use is determined. Since we weren't there for the April meeting and won't be there for June, but will tentatively need larger space for July, when should we pay???? Perhaps we need a consistent policy and pay by that schedule for the months used to date. Perhaps we should pay quarterly for the months used, regardless of how many we did use. Please think about this and be prepared to offer your opinion at the May meeting.
New Business: ...after post -meeting consult with Andrée....
- Our annual picnic will be held at her house, but as she can't attend our May meeting, planning will be done via email. Be thinking about what food you will contribute so that we can develop a list at the May meeting to email to Andrée. She will take care of beverages. Plastic cutlery and paper goods donated to us by the Gloucester group are already at her house.
-A concerned thought came into the discussion, of members we haven't seen in recent meetings. Our concern is for their well-being, so "thinking of you" notes will be going out this month to members we haven't seen since our Christmas party. Keep happy thoughts in mind that all is well with them, except for currently very busy lives. Especially keep Jeri in your thoughts, as she is dealing with a spate of nuisance health issues that are quite vexing to our activity-loving octogenarian.
Show 'n Tell:
- Elaine B. finally finished her entrelac project, ending when the fiber ran out. The rectangle was folded over and sewn into a cowl shape. Nice looking finished project, as long as you don't realized that it wasn't planned to be that way. lol. Also finished is a purple summer weight infinity scarf in a tricky-to-use novelty fiber. Currently she is working on a red baby sweater, using up some of the excess ordered for the February red hats for premies project.
- Elke finished her sock yarn teal scarf, all but for the blocking. Lovely color and pattern of a rope cable plus an alternating open lace cable, called "Sojourn Falls" by Jamie Roe. Her current project is from her granddaughter's wish list. There were several volunteers to be adopted granddaughters! lol.
- Suzanne T. showed us a half finished graduation scarf. Her church has the lovely tradition of presenting each graduate in their church family with a scarf at graduation. Then, she shared with us her travel project list: a zigsag afghan; a clever ski hat with spruce trees called the "Alaska" hat; and a Tribeca jacket. Her New Year's Knitting resolution was to create a plan for her knitting projects rather than just dive into her stash. She'll be shopping for her new yarns along her travel route. This year, she and her husband will be driving up to the New Haven CT area. Her list of yarn shops to visit is ready to be packed for the trip.
- Jennifer is close to finishing a beautiful scarf in the pattern, Bosc Pear, with Blue Heron yarn "Cactus", which is a rayon metallic fiber of olive green tones with bits of blues and purples. The metallic content of the fiber adds an elegant sparkle and is quite soft. She is also working on shawls with the prayer shawl group at her church. A stitch a prayer. Lovely.
-Elaine K. has 4 NICU blankets ready for donation. She also told us about knitting prayer shawls for her aunt's church out of Homespun from A.C. Moore. This fiber is somewhat chunky so the projects work up pretty quickly and using only 2 skeins. Very busy fingers has Elaine K.
- Mary is working on a crescent scarf, the finished project we could see on the summer '16 Knitters Magazine cover. She also showed us a clever, quilted yarn bowl, made by a friend who sells them. She'll be bringing info on the sale of such items at our next meeting, or you can see them at next week's Powhatan Fiber Festival.
- Susan is currently working on blue socks. We were most excited to see her modeling the same sweater we admired last meeting, but this time in blue. Remember, it's the one with cables that sort of drip down from the shoulders both front and back? Best of all, she found the pattern and made copies for us. For those who missed this field trip, I'll be making more copies, however, with my memory these days, you'll need to remember to ask me for one. Tell me that I've put them in my red meeting bag!
And now....
Just to torment those who missed it......lunch at Crab Louie's was sooooooooooooooooo good, we didn't even want dessert!!!!
Best way to end a field trip! :-)