Seasonal Event List

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Autumn 2020

SEP 1

MKG-Meeting  September MKG Board Meeting View Details

Members of the MKG board meet to discuss Guild business.

SEP 15

MKG-Meeting  September Guild Meeting View Details

Grab a mini donut beer and a bucket of chocolate chip cookies!

It’s time for the “No Fair” Awards Ceremony!

Join us for the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild meeting on Tuesday, September 15th from 7:00 – 9:00pm. We’ll be sharing all 155 wonderful projects entered in our “No Fair” Competitions and announcing the winners.

 MEETING LOGISTICS:

This meeting will be virtual via Zoom. Here is the link.
 
You can use either a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, or desktop computer to join the meeting.
 
If you do not already have Zoom, you may be prompted to download the app and create a free account. This process should take less than 5 minutes. (Zoom is quite reputable! It's also the platform that we plan to use for meetings for the foreseeable future!)
 
If you happen have multiple device options, here are some considerations when choosing your device:
  • If you join the meeting using a laptop or desktop and don't have a camera, you will not be visible to others (optional!)
  • The larger the device, the larger the viewing area and the more people you'll be able to see at once.
  • A laptop or desktop will make utilizing the chat easier (also optional!)
  • We will be recording the meeting some members can access it at a later date. 
A couple of additional notes before joining:
  • To minimize background noise, you will be muted when you join and for the duration of the meeting. Only the speaker will be audible.
  • When you log on, you can choose to be visible or not (but we'd love to see your faces! :) )
  • Make yourselves at home, literally! Grab a drink, grab a snack, grab your knitting, and kick back.
  • The meeting will still be social, just in a different way. There is a chat feature, and we encourage you to use it!
  • We will have designated "tech support" to assist you via private chat for any tech issues that you may face. Just type "help" in the chat function to let us know you'd like assistance.
  • Bear with us (and with yourselves!) as we figure out this new world of digital events together!
We hope to see you soon!

This meeting is free and open to the public. We encourage you to join the Guild so we can continue to offer programs like this. 

OCT 6

MKG-Meeting  October Board Meeting View Details

Members of the MKG board meet to discuss Guild business.

OCT 9-11

MKG-Special Event  Great Guild Getaway 2020 - Cancelled View Details

The Minnesota Knitters Guild has decided that for the safety and comfort of our members, we will be cancelling this year's Great Guild Getaway.

We looked at all the aspects of the event, including the shared rooms, common space and community dining - and at this time there's no way to create a space where our guests can maintain social distance and still enjoy the weekend.

Never fear - we are already in the planning stages for 2021, and are looking forward to an amazing event next year!

Stay safe and keep on knitting!
 
-Great Guild Getaway committee

Questions? Email eventsmnkg@gmail.com

OCT 20

MKG-Meeting  October Guild Meeting View Details

Conversation with the Maker: Lauren from Mother of Purl

Come join Lauren from Mother of Purl (who is also our featured designer of the month!) as she walks us through the finer points of preparing fiber to be spun including wool combs and cards as well as prepping the fleece for spinning. She'll also talk about how she spins yarn for handknitting and how to incorporate handspun yarn into your knitting project. She'll also take us through her creative process in choosing color and dyeing, and blending, and spinning for knitting. 

Through her website, Lauren offers classes on spinning, she has a YouTube channel full of goodies and reviews of some of our favorite yarns, and a Patreon. Lauren's designs are also available on Ravelry. Her instagram handle is @MotherofPurll1.

 

After Lauren's talk we'll have the business portion of our meeting. We've also got time for Show & Tell this month, so please sign up in advance here. If you'd like your item to be featured in the post-meeting round-up, please send a photo of it to membershipmkg@gmail.com! 

 

Virtual Trunk Show

We're also going to have our first virtual trunk show! Kara from The Kinectic Knitter Yarns will be joining us. The trunk show will start at 6:30 pm so be sure to sign in early! (Regular meeting programming will start at 7:00pm)

Kara has been knitting and crafting since she was very young. She was lucky enough to be taught by her grandma. As an adult and with the invention of Instagram, she came to learn all about indie dyers and yarn dyeing. She was HOOKED!  

Willing to try anything crafty at least once... she purchased some basic supplies and tried her hand at dyeing. 2+ years later, here we are!
 
Kara is a self-described go-with-the-flow dyer. Instead of pulling from inspiration photos or color palettes, she prefers to get the yarn in the pan and start creating. The freedom is her fulfillment.
 
When not knitting (which isn’t often!) you can find her out walking, hanging with friends, reading a good book, seeing live music, or taking photographs. 

 

Meeting Logistics:

This meeting will be virtual via Zoom and you will need to pre-register:
 
You should receive an email from Zoom immediately with your access link as well as a reminder email from Zoom the day of the meeting.
 
You can use either a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, or desktop computer to join the meeting.
 
A couple of Zoom housekeeping notes:
  • Please make sure your Zoom username is your first and last name if you'd like to be eligible for the member door prize drawing.
  • If you join the meeting using a laptop or desktop and don't have a camera, you will not be visible to others.
  • The larger the device, the more people you'll be able to see at once and the easier it will be to see the chat function.
  • When you log on, you can choose to be visible or not (but we'd love to see your faces! :))
  • To minimize background noise, you will be muted when you join. Only the speaker will be audible.
  • You will be able to mute and unmute yourself but please stay respectful of our speakers. We will mute you if your background noise is distracting.
  • We will have a brief breakout session between the business portion of the meeting and the speaker. This way we can connect and socialize in smaller groups.
  • Make yourselves at home, literally! Grab a drink, grab a snack, grab your knitting, and kick back.
  • The meeting will still be social, just in a different way. There is a chat feature, and we encourage you to use it!
  • We will be recording our meetings and posting them (when applicable) to the members-only section of our website.
  • We will have designated "tech support" to assist you via private chat for any tech issues that you may face. Just type "help" in the chat function to let us know you'd like assistance.
 
We hope to see you there!
 

This meeting is free and open to the public, but we encourage you to
Join the Guild
so we can continue to offer programs like this. 

 

NOV 3

MKG-Meeting  November MKG Board Meeting View Details

Members of the MKG board meet to discuss Guild business.

NOV 17

MKG-Meeting  November Guild Meeting View Details

Visible Mending with Ann Weaver

Ann Weaver combines her love of knitting, her passion for creative reuse and thrifting, and her love of mending to provide us with techniques for saving or repurposing our beloved handmade and ready-wear knitwear. With the current trend to use what you already have and fix what’s broken, all the while rejecting the notion that newer is better, Ann will share examples of her altered and mended knits and demonstrate two methods of darning holes using simple tools. Darning can keep your beloved knitwear in service for years to come, and Ann hopes to inspire you to give new life to worn or thrifted textiles, perhaps in the form of a pincushion, a pillow, or some other use!

Ann Weaver sees knitting patterns in container ships, Tom Waits lyrics, Moby-Dick, classic cocktails, and the work of artists like Josef Albers and Mark Rothko. When she is not traveling to teach knitting workshops or explore thrift stores and estate sales, Ann lives in West Baltimore, where she works as a freelance editor and writer and runs Plied Yarns, a yarn company she started in 2019 with her best friend, Karida Collins. You can follow Ann on Instagram and find her designs on Ravelry, where her username is weaverknits.

After Ann's talk we'll have the business portion of our meeting and will do a longer breakout room session as well!  

 

Virtual Trunk Show

We're also going to have our second virtual trunk show! Kendra - Garden Yarns from KnittyVet - will be joining us. The trunk show will start at 6:30 pm so be sure to sign in early! (Regular meeting programming will start at 7:00pm)

Creative pursuits have always been a source of comfort and joy for Kendra – now more than ever! A long-time knitter, yarn enthusiast, nature lover, and gardener, a chance encounter with a book about natural dyes (from the Textile Center library!) led to an epiphany that she could actually combine a few of her favorite things. Garden Yarns from KnittyVet was created shortly afterwards when she realized that her naturally dyed skeins and extra natural dyes/seeds were piling up and in need of good homes.

Kendra grows dye plants in her suburban garden or sustainably forages materials from natural areas in and around the Twin Cities. Many dye sources are native to Minnesota, and some have been used by natural dyers stretching back hundreds and thousands of years. She is constantly inspired by the sheer magic of creating luscious botanical colors on yarn and fabric that differ with each and every dye bath. Every bit of dyed fiber is a work of art combining hyperlocal color and USA wool or cotton. Her goal is to spread the joy of naturally dyed yarn with her local community as well as inspiring others to learn about the process. A member of the Three Rivers Fibershed, her ultimate dream is to help create a loop of locally grown, sheared, processed and dyed wool; thereby strengthening and giving back to the local community. It is important to her that the joy of natural dyes should be accessible to all.

When Kendra is not knitting, spinning, stirring dye pots, or wandering around outside looking at plants she can be found with her supportive family, reading, or pursuing her other life passion in helping pets and their people as a veterinarian.

 

Meeting Logistics:

This meeting will be virtual via Zoom and you will need to pre-register:
 
You should receive an email from Zoom immediately with your access link as well as a reminder email from Zoom the day of the meeting.
 
You can use either a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, or desktop computer to join the meeting.
 
A couple of Zoom housekeeping notes:
  • Please make sure your Zoom username is your first and last name if you'd like to be eligible for the member door prize drawing.
  • If you join the meeting using a laptop or desktop and don't have a camera, you will not be visible to others.
  • The larger the device, the more people you'll be able to see at once and the easier it will be to see the chat function.
  • When you log on, you can choose to be visible or not (but we'd love to see your faces! :))
  • To minimize background noise, you will be muted when you join. Only the speaker will be audible.
  • You will be able to mute and unmute yourself but please stay respectful of our speakers. We will mute you if your background noise is distracting.
  • We will have a brief breakout session between the business portion of the meeting and the speaker. This way we can connect and socialize in smaller groups.
  • Make yourselves at home, literally! Grab a drink, grab a snack, grab your knitting, and kick back.
  • The meeting will still be social, just in a different way. There is a chat feature, and we encourage you to use it!
  • We will be recording our meetings and posting them (when applicable) to the members-only section of our website.
  • We will have designated "tech support" to assist you via private chat for any tech issues that you may face. Just type "help" in the chat function to let us know you'd like assistance.
 
We hope to see you there!
 

This meeting is free and open to the public, but we encourage you to
Join the Guild
so we can continue to offer programs like this. 

 

NOV 22

MKG-Special Event  Donation Drop-Off View Details

Stop by the Textile Center parking lot to drop off knitted items for our charity partners or full skeins with labels, natural fibers or blends.

For more information about what we can accept, please see our service knitting page.