Cable Gram Blog
Blue Ribbon Worthy - Knitting and the Fair
Today would have the first day of the 2020 Minnesota State Fair. Traditionally, it is also the day the Guild spends at the Demo Booth in the Creative Activities Building. I am certainly going to miss it as that first day at the Fair is always so special. The fairgrounds are clean, the grass and flowers look their best, and knitters (and other crafters) flock to the CA Building to see if they've won a ribbon. (Still want to win a ribbon this year, enter our "No Fair" Competition!)
Last summer, I did a display at the Textile Center featuring ribbon winning projects from Guild members and some history of knitting at the MN State Fair. I thought today would be a good time to share some of that history, especially for those who may not have seen the display in person.
The Fair started in 1859, but the earliest annual report in the Fair Archives is from 1887. That year there were seventeen knitting classes listed in the Premium Winners List. All the categories are lumped together under Manufactured Goods.
First Premium winners in 1887 received a prize of $3.00. That would be equal to almost $82 today.
By the 1900s there was a Woman's Department and knitting classes were part of Ladies' Textile Work.
In the 1910s, knitting and crochet had their own shared category that started to look more like the categories we have today. By 1916, the department was saying it needed 100% more case space to display items and keep them from getting dirty, being handled, or stolen.
During WWI and WWII, the Fair focused on patriotism and service. The Red Cross took over a big part of the Woman's Activities Building demoing knitting and making knit garments for soldiers. The Fair's annual reports noted in 1918 that, "The needle work display was less elaborate than last year and we would not wish it otherwise. Women have been too keenly interested in patriotic and philanthropic work during the past year to devote the usual leisure hours to intricate fancy work. There were some striking illustrations of conservation of scarfs and sweaters made of ravelled (sic) yarns..."
You can just see this poster in the background in the photo above of Red Cross volunteers knitting socks at the Fair in 1918.
In the 20s and 30s, knitting was in the Division of Domestic Arts and most of the classes were in Garment Making. Even early on, space was at a premium to display all the items that were entered. The 1922 annual report mentioned that every item entered was judged, scored, and a score card was "returned to the exhibitor who cannot fail to see by this score card where her work is a failure or why it is a success." But "as will be an inspiration to visitors and an example to workers, we show only such articles as score about 70." In 1926, the U of M Home Ec Department suggested that showing all articles entered in the Fair was not educational, "that there was nothing to be learned from seeing articles no better than a woman could make herself," so only prize winning articles were shown. Apparently, this caused disappointment because people felt the normal variety of projects wasn't shown and people who entered were disappointed not to see their entry on display.
By the 1930s entries in sewing and garment making were decreasing in amount and quality because ready-made clothing could be purchased cheaply. Entries in handcrafts was increasing though and adjustments were made to the classes in the premium lists.
It was not until the 40s that knitting was separated from crochet. Knitting was then in the Division of Handicrafts in what was called Woman's Activities. Entry drop off in 1941 didn't look much different than today.
Thrift continued to be highlighted in the 40s and thrift articles were distributed throughout the premium list, such as this one from 1943.
As early as 1943, there was a call to rename the Woman's Activities Building. From the 1943 annual report, "...I think we have defeated our own purpose because when you label a building 'Women's Activities,' it seems you then limit the interest you might have in it. Maybe you don't feel that way, but I feel that maybe you do. For instance, when you are building an Agricultural Building, you don't label it or any of your buildings, 'Men's Activities' or 'Men's Interests,' but you say Agriculture or Horticulture or Livestock or Machinery, or whatever it may be...Maybe I am all wrong, but I think we should call it something which has to do with home and community interests - something that has a little broader meaning than just 'Women's Activities."
In the 50s, it is again mentioned that the department should be changed from Woman's Activities to something like Family Activities. It does finally change to Home Activities in 1952. "The changing this year of the name of the Woman's Building (which is has borne for decades) to Home Activities caused a little confusion but people seemed to approve the new title. One woman said in a very enthusiastic tone, 'I like the change and it isn't hard to make, for it is such a fitting name.'" Also in 1952, there was the addition of daily craft demonstrations by three craft groups, potters, weavers, and gem polishers. It was quite popular and the annual report said it should be repeated in coming years. (And it is still happening today.)
By the 1960s, there were thirty-four knitting classes under Needlecraft. This is double the number from 1887.
In the 70s, Home Activities was changed to the Creative Activities we know today. The new Creative Activities Building was opened in 1971.
In 2017, the Fair approached the Guild to create an installation of yarnbombed topiaries. The Guild brought in local yarnbomber Knitteapolis, as well as other fiber guilds, and the Great Minnesota Knit Together was born. MKG members knit up squares, fair food, and ribbons to cover our horse Pronto which was displayed on the Grandstand ramp.
They also knit a Blue Ribbon backdrop that was perfect for Fair photo ops.
Our horse is still in great shape and is displayed outside the Creative Activities Building each year.
In 2019, there were sixty-two hand knit classes and twenty-two special prizes in Needlework, Garment Making, and Work of Senior Citizens. Almost five times as much as 1887.The Guild sponsors fifteen special prizes in hand knit classes, though we do not get to judge the winners. Each winner of our awards receives a rosette and a year's membership to the Guild. Minnesota Knitters' Guild members won 101 ribbons in 2019! A First Premium winner now receives $8.00 from the Fair.
Most of the information here came from the Minnesota State Fair Digital Archives. If you are someone who loves the fair and history this is a rabbit hole that is a delight to fall through. It contains the annual reports and list of premium winners since 1887. While the recent reports are pretty dry financial reports and lists of winners, earlier reports are full of stories and speeches, as well as, tales of stolen handmade clocks, injuries caused by battle reenactments, and what to do with those darn teenagers. All to the older images are from the Minnesota Historical Society collection and used with permission.
August '20 Meeting Wrap-Up
All the details from this month's Guild meeting incase you weren't able to join us or need more information...
Thanks so much to our speaker Gretchen Funk. We learned so much about machine knitting and how it can be used with hand knitting.
Here are the resource links from Gretchen's talk.
Midwest Machine Knitters Collaborative - Meets the 2nd Tuesday of the month.
Olgalyn Jolly “O! Jolly!” and her fantastic article on Machine Knitting Daily
Susan Gaugliumi Who just gave the fabulous talk on Fruity Knitting
Rocking Horse Farms -(320) 252-2996 knitshop.rockinghorsefarm@gmail.com - Great resource for supplies and sells the majority of items you’ll need (or knows where to get them!) and a MKG member
Modern Daily Knitting - Gretchen's article on needle-felted steeks.
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In other Guild news....
We have two opening on the board for Membership Experience Director and Vice President. You can find more details here.
Entries for the "No Fair" Competition are due by Monday, August 31st. We'll have an awards showcase at the September meeting and winners will receive a year's Guild membership and a rosette. Read all the rules and categories.
We had a great response to the Drive Up Donation event for our charity partners. Please keep continuing to knit and we will have other drop-off events. You can also send donations to the Textile Center care of the Minnesota Knitters' Guild. If you are interested in being part of the Service Knitting Committee please email Dawn.
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Designer Spotlight
Our August designer is Megan Williams.





Monthly Yarn Store Spotlight Series: The Yarnery



Meet Your Board - Kathy Lewinski
As a new term starts for our board and we welcome new board members, we thought it would be nice to know a little bit more about them in a series called Meet the Board.
Kathy Lewinski - President
Kathy grew up in Port Huron, MI and went to college at the University of Dayton, OH where she studied Communications. Her plan was to work in radio, but she ended up in the music business. She worked for EMI Music Distribution for 11 years in Minneapolis, Sacramento, and San Francisco. She then became the head of sales and distribution for a small San Francisco-based record label, Six Degrees Records, for another 11 years. She met her husband Matt, also a fellow Michigander, in San Francisco and they decided to move back to the North to be closer to family. That brought them to Minneapolis.
Kathy taught herself to knit from the Leisure Arts "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting!" after college. When knitting had a resurgence in the early 2000's, she became much more involved with it as well. She and her roommate formed the San Francisco Chicks with Sticks, a knitting group that met monthly in a bar and grew to 300 members. Her local knitting store was Noe Knit which is sadly no longer in business. The store let her design their front windows in exchange for yarn!
Joining the Minnesota Knitters' Guild was not something that crossed Kathy's mind when she moved back to Minneapolis. The knitters' guild in San Francisco was very serious and mainly focused on becoming a master knitter. It was the State Fair that brought her in when she won the MKG award for her Hearts and Dalas Mittens which included a year's membership.
From there, she quickly joined the Social Media/Technology Committee and then took on the role of Membership Experience Director, a role she has held for the last four years. She has loved being involved in the Guild and working on events like Yarnover and Stitch 'n' Pitch.
Knitting is not Kathy's only crafty pursuit, she also enjoys sewing, embroidery, and many other things that catch her fancy. Through her Just Crafty Enough blog, she hosted the Iron Craft Challenge for many years. Each month, crafters were given a material or theme to create a project around. She also co-hosted Project Project Runway where "designers" created looks for fashion dolls based around each season of Project Runway.
Currently, she spends most of her crafting time designing knitting patterns and sewing masks. Colorwork mittens and Scandinavian-inspired holiday ornaments are the designs she is most known for.
Outside of knitting and crafting, she enjoys cheering on the Minnesota Twins and traveling the world (hopefully again soon) with her husband.
You can find Kathy at presidentmkg@gmail.com, Ravelry, and Instagram.
Board Update
We have some updates to and openings on the MKG Board that we want to share with all of you.
We are pleased to announce that Kathy Lewinski will be taking over the role of Guild President. Because we did not have a candidate for the President's position at the time of our annual vote, the board filled the vacancy as per the bylaws. Many of you may know Kathy, as she has served on the Board for four years as the Membership Experience Director. She has also been on the Yarnover Committee and the board liaison to the Great Guild Getaway Committee.
That leaves us with an opening for the Membership Experience Director.
The role of Membership Experience Director has an administrative side and a community building side. On the administrative side, the Membership Director manages the Guild’s membership list, answers membership questions from prospective and current members, collects meeting attendance, and welcomes new members with a digital new member guide. On the community building side, the Membership Director works with the MKG Board and Guild members to create events outside of Guild meetings. Past events have included the Harriet’s Hat KAL, Stitch ‘n’ Pitch, and yarnbombing the State Fair, and WWKIP Day meet-ups. This person also runs and compiles the photos for member meeting Show & Tells.
The MKG Board meets once a month either virtually or in person at the Textile Center. Board members are expected to attend as many meetings as possible. Outside of meetings, an hour or two of work a week is average, a lot depends on what events are happening. A basic knowledge of Excel is helpful in this role.
And we have an opening for a new role as Vice President.
The MKG Board has felt the need to create a better path of succession for the role of Guild President. To that end, we are establishing a Vice President on the Board. The Vice President will assist the President in the general management of the Guild serving a two-year term in tandem with the President. This will be followed by a two-year term as president.*
As well as assisting the President, the Vice President will be the Board liaison for the Great Guild Getaway and Yarnover committees when no other board member is serving on those committees. The Vice President will oversee the Guild’s new micro-funding initiative, which will allow members outside of the Twin Cities area to request funds to hold knitting events.
The MKG Board meets once a month either virtually or in person at the Textile Center and all board members are expected to attend as many meetings as possible. Outside of meetings, an hour or two of work a week is average.
*All other Guild directors serve a three-year term and may serve two terms in the same position.
Being on the Board is a great way to help ensure and direct the future of the Minnesota Knitters' Guild! If you are interested in either of these positions or would like more information contact Kathy at presidentmkg@gmail.com
What's your favorite cast on?
There are many conversations that can set your knitter group off on an hours long discussion. Straight or circular needles, the best heel for socks, picking or throwing, mohair, this list goes on. Yet, when I listen to knitters the conversation that always surprises me most is cast ons. Instead of arguing about the best, everyone leans in to learn and discuss the benefits of this cast on or that cast on, and someone inevitably states that they only use one cast on for all things. I must confess, dear knitters, that for the first 5 years of my knitting hobby that I definitely fell in that last category. I'd like to hear from all of you in the comments below. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite cast ons.
The long tail cast on
This is my go to for any project that doesn't require any special edge, or doesn't require an extensive stretchiness. I'm particular to this for baby sweaters, actually just most baby items, mittens, scarves, the 6ft tall cactus my sister asked me for... it's my standard cast on. Catherine Lowe once implored a class to work a WS of a pattern first if we used a long tail and it comes as no surprise that it does give it a nicer look.
The German twisted cast on
My second most used cast on has quite a bit more stretch in it. This cast on is great for socks and hats (I make A LOT of socks and hats). This cast on acts like a dance in my hand, reminiscent of a do-si-do in my imagination over and around and through the triangle.
Judy's magic cast on
Did someone say toe-up socks? This cast on is a terrific start to polished toe up socks with no seam. (Isn't it universally accepted that knitters dislike seaming?) Don't forget to work the second half of the stitches through the back loop.
Alternate cable cast on
Whenever I feel particularly finicky about how a finished object will look I lean towards this cast on. It’s just a variation on a cable cast on but leaves an edge on a ribbing where it appears the stitches just appear out of nowhere. For me, this can be of a cheat to actually doing a tubular cast on. Maybe not as polished as a tubular, but close enough that only an experienced knitter would notice.
Cable cast on
Most often I use this for casting on at the end of the row, hello dolman sleeves, or for button holes. It's sturdy and neat and can handle being the base for a whole sleeve.
What do you think? What's your favorite cast on methods, and who can teach me the Chinese waitress cast on, don't we all love learning new techniques?
You can find tutorials for these cast ons and more at Elemental Knitworks (site link used with permission)
Get the most out of your love of knitting! Membership benefits include pre-registration for Yarnover, organized public service projects and camaraderie with fellow knitters. Annual dues are $30.
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