Knitting in the Desert

The Cactus Needles Knitting Guild in Phoenix, Arizona knit a beautiful, colorful blanket to commemorate the Centennial of Arizona Statehood. See their beautiful work on their website.

May Flowers

Ok, these flowers actually will be arriving in September.

If you are a fan of Noni bags and flowers, you'll be excited to hear that Cast-on Cottage will be hosting Nora J. Bellows herself weekend of 7-9 September. There will be a reception and book signing on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday will be a 2-day workshop. This will be a chance to learn to knit your own permanent flowers. If you can't grow a great garden, you can knit one instead! To register and reserve your spot, call the shop at (770) 998-3483.

Giant Rabbit in Italy

There is a giant pink knitted rabbit rotting on an Italian alpine hill near Artesina, Italy. This is south of Turin, east of Genoa, and northeast of Cannes & Monaco, as it is near the French border. (If you put Artesina in Google maps, zoom in and follow the path off to the right.) The rabbit is large enough to be visible from orbit.

View the artist's statement here.

Yarn Bombing Cars

Another odd link featuring interesting yarn bombed cars.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

AKG Executive Board 2012-13

Our May meeting had a patriotic election theme, as it is our annual business meeting. Our new board was elected, new by-laws were approved, and new policies and procedures were introduced. Many thanks to all our board members and committee chairs for making this past year another great year for AKG!

Thank you to all the 2011-2012 workshop teachers!

A special thank-you to our outgoing president Marian, who will serve as first Vice President this year and then step back up to be president again next year. Marian has a lot of business experience and has been able to take our guild to new heights that would be unachievable without that acumen.

May is turning into a surprisingly busy point in the year for our local affiliates. Some upcoming activities:

Thunder River Suri Alpacas are doing their annual shearing days this weekend 5 & 6 May from 10 AM to 2 PM at their farm. At left you see Rose holding silky locks of suri alpaca. This should be a fun event for those of you who like animals or are curious about where yarn comes from.

Only Ewe and Cotton Two will be leading a caravan up to the shearing days on Sunday the 6th. Please be at the shop by 9:15 AM. If you are riding along rather than following in your own car, be aware that folks need to return to the shop by 1 PM to open. Also, Only Ewe and Cotton Two is hosting tea with scone, shortbread, and fashion on Tuesday evening 8 May at 6:30 PM to celebrate their Maggi Knits trunk show.

Cast-on Cottage is having an anniversary sale this weekend.

Show and Tell at our May meeting was shorter than usual. Maybe everybody was so busy at STITCHES that they didn't complete much knitting?

First up is the Travelling Sweater designed by A. Karen Alfke and worked in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu. Pam made a few refinements to the design, most notably grafting the back instead of hiding a seam underneath i-cord. Pam used this project and its expansive field of 2x2 ribbing as an opportunity to learn lever knitting, which is both very fast and produces beautiful, perfect tension, even in patterns that change between knit and purl stitches.

Our next example is sparky shawl knit up with yarn purchased at STITCHES South this year. Talk about instant gratification! The shawl was made on size US 15 needles. In the photograph our incoming president is modeling it because she had on the proper coordinating colors.

Our last photograph is local designer More Than Knotz with her latest knit-along. This beautiful square shawl is made from several gorgeous colors of locally-dyed Fiber Charmer yarn.
(Photo credits Margie Steiner and Jolie Elder.)