More STITCHES Links

Alexis Xenakis has a lovely blog post about our flowers here.
And don't forget, there will be more of Atlanta in Knitter's magazine this summer!

Stitches Flowers Video

XRX has released a video on the Atlanta Knitting Guild's centerpiece flowers. Check it out at http://www.knittinguniverse.com/video/#6/28/3.

STITCHES memories

Robyn Putz, our outgoing VP of Communications, has graciously agreed to put together a special STITCHES South version of our newsletter. Members, if you have any stories to share -- and I know you do -- please e-mail them over to Robyn by Friday 15 May.

Also, Elizabeth Clause is moving from VP of Programs to Webmaster. Elizabeth will be organizing the photographic material and probably be putting together something grand on our website. Please e-mail photographs to Elizabeth, or e-mail to her the link to where you have posted them (such as Flickr), or send her a CD of them.

Our historian, Pat O'Grady, would like to have some photographs for the archives. If you don't mind printing a few pictures and mailing those to Pat, that would be great. Please be sure that with any photographic material, you've identified who the subjects are and where and when the photograph was taken.

As for the photograph at the top, that's our founder Whit Robbins and centerpiece designer Megan Brightwell. This picture was taken on Wednesday 22 April, the day before STITCHES. Whit and Megan are here unloading centerpiece flowers on the loading dock at Cobb Galleria Center. You can all see how glamorous behind the scenes really is.

XRX & AKG

I'm sure there will be more posted later about STITCHES South. For this post, I just need to say a huge THANK YOU both to XRX and to AKG.

To XRX and especially Benjamin Levisay:
Thank you for coming to Atlanta. Thank you to Benjamin for being willing to take the risk on us, the risk in coming south where there "aren't any knitters," and the risk in having a new show in this tepid economy. Thank you to all his staff -- I would name names here as I know a good many of them now, but I know I'd leave out somebody by mistake. This was my first STITCHES, and the first STITCHES for many people here. And it was amazing. And when I asked if they are all like this, other people said, "Oh, yes. It is always this fabulous and amazing." That means that four times a year, you folks come out of South Dakota and go make a perfect, magical, fantastic weekend for several thousand people. I am in awe that you can do that even once. I am flabbergasted that you can do it repeatedly. Thank you so much for being willing to do that here, and for being willing to come back again next year. Know that all of you are loved here. You are family now.

To all the Atlanta Knitting Guild members:
Thank you for being the most friendly, warm, hospitable people on the planet. All weekend long, people came up to Whit and Diana and I and said how warmly welcomed they felt. I almost couldn't shop the market because so many people came up to me to pass on their compliments. Late in the day on Sunday as I was heading out, Susanna Hansson bumped into me. She said it felt as if the weekend was co-hosted by both XRX and AKG. For that, again I must thank XRX, who let us participate at such an active level. There are other companies who, I am sure, would have seen us an interlopers. Instead, we were two teams, the home and the visitors, and we played as one for the weekend.

A special big thank you and kudos for those of you who worked on the flowers. People were talking about them all weekend. When attendees entered the banquet hall on Friday, there was a bit of a traffic jam at the door because people were stopping and staring and forgetting that they needed to walk into the room. Many, many pictures were taken. Many. People were talking about which flowers they liked, and how clever this or that one was, and how this was on the same level as the big show in Italy. Benjamin very kindly arranged for the flowers to be on display in the market on Sunday, so that more attendees could see them. And XRX is now taking the flowers on the road to STITCHES Midwest and probably STITCHES East as well. There will be more information in an upcoming Knitter's magazine and on KnitTalk and elsewhere. We started this weekend with half our industry thinking that there are no knitters in the South. We will be ending the year with our industry knowing that Atlanta and the South is full of talented, creative knitting artists. You AKG members made that happen. If you are reading this, stand up and take a bow. You deserve it.

Edit: If you are on Ravelry, go take a look at the STITCHES South boards. It will warm your heart.

April Flowers

Work continues on the centerpieces for STITCHES South. There is still some assembling and embellishing to do as the flowers need to be attached to their stems, the stems set in pots, and the tops of the pots embellished to cover up the cement. Megan, Whit, Salley, and Jolie did a little more on Thursday morning. There will be another gathering tomorrow (Saturday) at Megan's house. For more information, contact Megan.

Also, finished flowers are being displayed in the library hallway in the education center of Spruill Center for the Arts, 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, Atlanta GA 30338. If you are over in that part of town, be sure to get a sneak peek! Those of you who may have time on Wednesday April 22nd, we will probably need people and vehicles to gather at Spruill to transport flowers to the Galleria on the eve of STITCHES.

Whit was kind enough to supply some photographs from earlier assembling sessions. Thanks, Whit!

Here's Linda with two flowers.

And here's Joyce with a flower.

And more pictures -- just a whole garden of flowers. Enjoy!

More flowers

Just a reminder: If you are looking for some creative fun on one of the next three Saturdays, be sure to drop by Whit's house about 1 PM. This is the big push to finish assembling and embellishing the Stitches South centerpieces. If we can get it all done this month, then we don't need to be scurrying around at the last minute next month. So, bring your glue guns and imagination and come prepared for creative playtime!

Putting it all Together

It is time to assemble the Stitches South flower centerpieces. If you have a kit out, do try to get it back into the hands of someone from the committee (Megan, Elizabeth C., Marian, Linda F., or Whit) as soon as possible and certainly by the end of February. If you can't get your kit done by then, at least let someone on the committee know about it so that contingencies can be planned.

There will be a major assembling party at Whit's house this Saturday 21 February beginning at 1 PM. Some things to bring if you can:

* power strip
* glue gun and glue sticks
* wire cutters
* needle nose pliers
* corrugated cardboard or stiff poster board
* assorted knitting needles, tapestry needles, scissors
* portable Ott lights?

In the picture at top, Elizabeth is holding a very cool flower that was made by LaVonne. Whit is the one on the right, modeling a pink flower.

Knitting Flowers in Duluth

The centerpiece knit-in at Kay's house was quite a success. There were about a dozen people packed in to Kay's dining room. I should add here that Kay's home is decorated in Chinese motifs, and it is quite striking and lovely. There was a little bit of assembling of flowers going on, but mostly the usual knitting, socializing, and snacking.

Amongst our crowd, Madeline brought her granddaughter Siobhan (pronounced Sha-vaughn). Siobhan is already a competent knitter in her own right. With what she can do now, there is no telling what she'll be making in 2029!

Also at the knit-in was Melissa, who is a new guild member. It is always a delight to welcome new knitters to our group. So, if you see Melissa at a meeting, do be sure to go up to her and say, "Hello!" In this picture, you can see that she is working on a giant flower. If you haven't gotten enough experience knitting with multiple strands held together or with large needles, the centerpiece flowers are a chance to expand your range of knitting experiences.

Thank you to Kay for organizing knit-ins and for opening her home. And thank you to everyone who is participating in making the centerpieces. We hope everyone is having fun.

Giant Flowers

There will be several knit-ins over the next couple of months so that the centerpieces for Stitches South can be assembled and embellished. Some of the flowers will also be felted before they are assembled. So, there is lots to do but in typically guild spirit, we'll do it together. Thank you to our members who are opening up their homes in the coming weeks. The upcoming calendar includes:
Saturday 17 January at 2 PM at Kay's house
Friday 30 January at 5 PM potluck at Elizabeth's house
Saturday 21 February 1 PM at Whit's house

Check your newsletter for more information and personal contact details.

Thank you to everyone who is working on this project. Already, some of the kits that went out before the holiday are coming back as completed flower parts. It is so exciting to see the centerpieces beginning to come together! The picture at the top of the page is five petals knit by our secretary, Donna, and a center knit by our historian, Pat. At right, you can see two centers that Pat knit. Very colorful! Many of the flowers are using brightly-colored yarn or novelty yarns that were languishing in our stashes.

This last photo is two trumpet-shaped hanging flowers knit by Nancy W. The flower shapes and colors are very diverse. Each centerpiece will be different, which should make the whole experience that much more interesting for the attendees. It should also be making the creative experience that much more interesting for everyone who is participating.

Centerpieces or installation art?

As previously mentioned, Stitches South will be here in April. XRX Inc. is very kindly permitting us to be involved with their party. This is an opportunity for our guild to shine in front of a regional (possibly national) audience. So, credit goes out to Megan, Elizabeth, Linda F., Marian, and Whit who are off and running with the centerpiece idea. The theme is "Alice in Georgia Land." The items will be over sized fantasy botanicals, including kudzu. Thus, this is a great opportunity for creativity. Each flower can be different in shape, color, and material.



Here is the request for materials:

We Need Your Help!
Clean out a cabinet, closet or drawer and donate an item to help AKG make table decorations for “Stitches”!

Vases, Tea Kettles/Pots, Flower Pots - 7 in. diameter & no more than 1 foot high
Wool fabric to felt
“Unloved yarn” from your stash - bright colors
Feathers, glitzy trimmings, ribbons

Please bring these items to homes of Whit, Elizabeth, Megan, Linda F., or Marian as soon as possible -- i.e. before the December meeting.

This is also a chance for you to clean out the drawers and the stash. Blankets and sweaters that have been felted are very welcome. Fun fur and other odd yarns also add to the design possibilities. Non-felting yarns are very welcome, indeed.

The committee plans to "kit" these up and pass them out at the December meeting. This should be a lot of fun. And the hope is this will bring the sort of honor and glory to our guild that translates into the coolest knitting people wanting to come to our meetings.