New Year, New Knitter? : (Photograph), Finish, or Frog

I have not historically been a new year’s resolution person. The years I’ve tried, I find the resolve fizzles out pretty quick, and the shift into the grind of normal life reasserts itself pretty firmly. That being said, around the end of the year, I tend to get reflective about the knitting I did in the previous year and the knitting I’d like to do in the year to come. As a daily knitter, my knitting time is a big portion of my year! With 2020 being such a crazy year, a lot of my routines were broken, and I’ve found myself looking ahead to 2021 as a fresh start and a chance to reassert some order out of the chaos in all areas.

What fun we had at our December meeting. While it wasn't our normal potluck and silent auction, we certainly enjoyed ogling the pretty yarns and samples from Sun Valley Fibers in WI and learning lots of new tips and tricks from Mary Lou Egan. I can't tell you how many times I thought why didn't I think of that before during ML's presentation! I look forward to being able to take her three hour tips and tricks class at some point.

By the way, don't forget the coupon code to use when shopping on Sun Valley's website, minnesotanice, to get a discount on your next order. 

Then it was on to the business portion of the meeting...

Winter Virtual Knitting Get Togethers - We will be launching these in January. Currently, we are planning on one of Sundays from 11am - 1pm and one on Thursday evenings. They will either be once or twice a month, we'll let you know all the details. These will just be social knitting times to give people a place to connect and maybe even get a little knitting help.

It's Time to Renew! - If you last renewed or joined before July 1st, your membership will expire on December 31st, 2020. We rely on membership fees for most of the Guild's income and we have not raised them in over a decade. If you have been enjoying the Guild's programming, use the Textile Center Library, or just want to continue to help promote knitting in MN, we encourage you to join or renew. PLUS as an incentive, we will have a prize drawing for lots of knitting related goodies from small businesses in January. Anyone who has joined to be a member through 2021 by midnight December 31st will be eligible.

Not sure if you need to renew? Sign into this website. On the Members' Area page click Renew My Membership. From there you can see when your membership expires and renew if necessary. Have a question or need help signing in? Contact Nikky.

Textile Center Fiber Art for All - The Textile Center will be holding a virtual Fiber Art for All Festival in February with workshops, talks, and a juried auction. They are currently looking for items for the auction and sponsorships. Find out more on their website. 

2021 Planning - The Textile Center has let us know that they are not allowing meeting room rentals through March 2021. Our plan right now is that we will most likely continue to hold virtual meetings until at least June with, perhaps, an outdoor meeting in July. We are still planning on some in person activities in the fall. The Great Guild Getaway is scheduled for October and Stitch 'n' Pitch with the Twins is scheduled for late September. We are also considering holding some of the meeting in the future virtually even when we can meet in person, especially in the winter when driving and parking are difficult. 

Service Knitting Drop-Off Event - Our November drop-off event was a huge success. We received 451 items for donation and 84 skeins of yarn. We were surprised by a reporter for WCCO at the event and featured on both evening and morning news!

2021 Service Knitting - Next year we will be knitting for The Range Center, Hats for the Homeless, and HatandMittens.org. The organizations need adults and children hats, children's mittens, adult fingerless mittens, and lap blankets. See more details and some pattern links on the Service Knitting Page. All three organizations will be speaking at our January meeting.

We are planning on drop-off events in April, August, and November 2021.

Featured Designer - Our December featured designer in our own Susan Rainey. While Susan has a lot of great patterns, it was her great last minute holidays gift patterns that caught our attention. Read more about her here. 

Give to the Max Day - Thanks to everyone who helped my our first Give to the Max Day a huge success! You can read all the details of how we did here. If you gave $50 or more and are eligible for a free membership, make sure to answer the email you received from Nikky to either redeem or gift your membership.

Door Prizes - We had lots of great door prizes this month and the winners were...

$30 Sun Valley Gift Certificate - Diane Mountford

Susan Rainey pattern of choice - Annette Watters

Susan Rainey pattern of choice - Alice Ableman

PomPom Magazine - Pat Keller

Amirisu Magazine - Sue Knipfer

Shetland Wool Adventures - Paula Denmaan

We want to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season! We look forward to a brighter New Year full of laughter, community, great finished projects, and, of course, yarn, lots of yarn!

Are you looking for some last minute gifts to knit up for the holidays? Look no further than our very own Susan Rainey, the Designer Spotlight for December. While Susan has designs for all times of the year, her Holiday designs really shine a light on the gifting season.

She has designs for all the little ones on your list with her new baby Gansey and matching hat, but take a look at these hats and ornaments!

Susan has been knitting for years. We're so lucky to have her as a member of the Guild.

You can find Susan on Instagram @lv2knitmn, on her blog with her sister and on ravelry.