Spring Fling

Have you thanked your local yarn shop lately? No, really -- our local shops are here for us year in and year out. Have you special ordered something? Wound a skein into a ball without having to purchase your own winder and swift? Gotten help in picking which color looks best on you? Taken a class? Or just in general gotten help with a stalled project?

Spring Fling basket from Needle Nook

The last weekend in March our local shops will be having Spring Fling weekend. The weekend of 29 March through 2 April our local shops will be having special events and prizes. If you spend $25 in a participating shop, you will be registered to win a gift basket of prizes worth at least $100! More information is available on Ravelry groups "Atlanta area yarn shops spring fling" or just ask your local shop how they are celebrating. This is a great reason to buy that latest book you were thinking about, or maybe finish filling in the gaps in your needle collection. Or maybe you just need to knit another baby sweater or blanket so you will be ready ahead of time for the next shower? Be sure to show your local yarn shop how much you appreciate their presence!

Knitting French News

The blog "Delit Maille" posts the news as pictures of little knitted figures. Anna, who knits and blogs, has a delightful and wry sense of humor. If you can't read French, you can learn a little about the site by reading this post from the BBC.

By the way, if you want to knit your own little figures, there are several sources to help:
Knit Your Own Royal Wedding is merely one of several useful such titles by Fiona Goble.
You might Knit Your Own Dog or Knit Your Own Cat with the help of Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne.
If you want to recreate history, try Knitted Historical Figures by Jan Messent. Jan can also give you advice on knitting animals, fairies, and gardens -- very useful if you'd like to knit up episodes of Once Upon a Time or Grimm.
If you'd like to re-create the Oscars, try Knitted Icons by Carol Meldrum.
For generic people, try Knit This Doll! by Nicki Moulton.
For slightly larger-scale figures, try Knitted Pirates, Princesses, Witches, Wizards and Fairies: With Outfits & Accessories by Annette Hefford.

Where to be?

Filling in the calendar for an Atlanta-area knitter can be a frustrating embarrassment of riches. The third weekend of April this year makes one long for appropriate technology -- such as time machines or cloning.

We have STITCHES South at Cobb Galleria Center on Thursday the 19th through Sunday the 22nd of April. By now ya'all know what STITCHES is all about -- great classes by nationally-known teachers, an awesome marketplace, fashion shows, banquets, and the endless camaraderie that comes from hanging out with other people who share your passion. This year's opening day talk includes Anna Zilboorg, Myra Wood, Laura Bryant, and Rick Mondragon. There will also be a special presentation by Nicky Epstein. And there will be plenty of yarn companies showing us their beautiful new offerings. And of course the hosts of the whole party, XRX Inc., always bring their books and samples. (Will we get to see the projects in Betsy Beads up close?)

But we also have a second choice. This year some of our northerly shops including Cast-on Cottage and Needlepoint Garden, Main Street Yarns & Fibers, and Yarn Circle are sponsoring Wool in the Woods retreat at the Athens YWCO Camp and Conference Center. For those of you who are more interested in getting away to some place quiet and beautiful, hanging out with just a few friends, and taking just one or two classes, this is an alternative. The retreat starts on Friday evening around 4 PM and runs through lunch on Sunday.

Of course this raises the question -- what are all our spouses doing that weekend?

Mystery Shawl

One of the things we saw for just a moment at the meeting was the wonderful Rebound mystery shawl by Susan Dingle. The first clue was posted less than a week ago. If you would like to get in on the fun, join in at http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=rebound%20mystery%20shawl.

Volunteer of the Year

Atlanta Knitting Guild is a member of Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance. In fact, AKG has been involved with SEFAA from the very beginning, before SEFAA even had an official name. Members of AKG serve on the board of SEFAA. In honor that all AKG has done to help SEFAA, SEFAA has named Atlanta Knitting Guild as its Volunteer of the Year. Linda brought the engraved plaque to our March meeting so we all could see.

If you missed it, the plaque is on permanent display at the SEFAA Center, 1705 Commerce Dr. NW, Atlanta GA 30318. In fact, March is a great month to visit the center, as the Square Foot Fiber Pin-Up Show is on display only this month. This will hopefully become an annual event. You can view the show and be inspired on Tuesdays from 10 AM to 2 PM, on Wednesdays from 5 - 8 PM, or on Sundays (except the 11th) from 2 - 4 PM.

Photo credit: Margie Steiner.

March Meeting

In keeping with a St. Patrick's Day and generically British Isles theme, our March speaker, Joel Gunn, wore a great kilt. He answered questions about knitting cables as well as questions about Scotland and its traditional costume. Joel passed samples of various types of cables around the room. He talked about how easy it is to cable and he showed some interesting cables that were merely pairs of rope cables next to each other with no intervening purl stitches. Joel also wore proper kilt hose, knitted with cables and held in place with garters. Joel made a great deal of his costume by hand including sewing the shirt and kilt, knitting the kilt hose, and working the leather to make the sporran.

Of course we also had show and tell after the program. As always, there were excellent projects to be seen.

 A grey lace dress in kid silk haze. Diaphanous!

 A Fair Isle sweater using the same shades of Kauni, just starting the skein in two different places. The body as well as the Siamese sleeves were steeked. Notice how the color flashes even match!

 Here's a swing jacket where either side is good!

And there's plenty of perseverance in a Pi Shawl made from Jojoland Melody.

Thank you to Margie Steiner for the photographs!