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Here we are, it’s Sunday morning and I am gathering my thoughts on my mental to do list.

Do I have my yarn for the retreat ready to go?  No.

Do  I have my swatch done?  No.  See above.

Time to stop that.  Adding anxiety to the morning isn’t going to help.  Getting going and taking care of said issues will.

Yesterday’s meeting was fun.  all those versions of the Presidents of the United States staring at us added to the atmosphere..

The yarn and needle tasting was fun.  At my table the conversation was about the bent double points.  It seemed that everyone thought it was a good idea, but they weren’t thrilled about the plastic.  I don’t know if the plastic is what was bothering me about them or if it’s just I have been knitting with size 3 needles for the past two months and the set I was using were size 7.  It was like knitting with baseball bats.   the needle tasting confirmed  I really like my Hiya Hiya needles, the sharper the better.   Did anybody find a new favorite?

Suzanne’s talk on yarn substitution was great.  I have wanted to knit a sweater with different yarn than was is listed in the pattern.  It is becoming more clear to me on how to handle that, but it’s one of those things, at least for me that I won’t really get my head around until I actually do it.

Time for Show and Tell!

I wanted to mention too,  I didn’t get any photos of Jacqui’s Knitted Knocker display, but I am so happy that this is going to be getting some attention in the local press and at the fair.  I have been lucky,  no one in my immediate family has been touched by breast cancer.  I was on what I have heard as, “The six month plan” as far as follow up mammograms are concerned.  After the 3rd time, I am now back to once a year.  You just never know.  A dear friend of mine just told me last month that her sister is having a double mastectomy.  It’s so hard to know what to say at that moment. Nothing you can say can make it better.  But I was able to tell her about “Knitted Knockers” and told her I would be happy to make some for her sister.  I know that doesn’t make everything all right by any means, but it does help to know a few hours of knitting might really help someone feel a little better down the road.

Making a  note that 15 years ago, my brother in law was back east for a metal finishers conference and was scheduled to fly back to California on United Flight 93.  For whatever reason which I can’t recall right now,  he changed his plans. I know each year is counts his blessings.  He was here for both his children’s weddings and he is now a grandfather to two wonderful grandsons.  So much was lost that day by so many.

So I saw a note from Suzanne that she was working on the newsletter for August and I thought, “Oh wow!,  I better get on to update our website with last month’s meeting”, so here we go..

First off welcome to our 3 newest members of the guild,  Silvia Rodriguez who joined during our last guild meeting and Jennie Garner and Kathy Mashburn who joined sometime this last week.

I know I keep saying this but it’s true.  The membership directory is almost ready to go live here on the website, we have the members area locked down so it will be a private area.    We are waiting for more members to submit their bios. They don’t have to be long and involved, just share a little bit about yourself that will help the other guild members to get to know you a little better. Right now, if you haven’t sent Suzanne a bio, then this is what is listed under your name:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus purus tortor, dapibus id dolor sed, imperdiet dapibus libero. Nunc at odio libero. Donec tristique eleifend sodales. Donec iaculis sapien eros, sit amet molestie urna pulvinar dignissim. Sed lectus metus, pellentesque vitae turpis eu, pretium placerat ex. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Praesent cursus arcu a urna suscipit commodo quis nec justo. Nulla mollis nulla sit amet purus gravida interdum. Mauris convallis consequat risus, a porta dolor euismod sit amet. Aliquam euismod metus nisl, eu dapibus justo iaculis nec. Vestibulum nec vulputate odio, vel mattis diam. Sed quis aliquet mi. Suspendisse eu consequat tellus, vitae ultricies urna. Maecenas sodales velit urna, sed sollicitudin lorem lobortis sed.

We have quite a few members with this under their name.  It would be fun to see  other things like what your favorite food is,  when you started knitting,  what you do in your spare time when you are not knitting, how many pets you have,  how many banks you have robbed,  you know, that kind of thing.

Before I post the show and tell photos I will make a couple of observations from last months meeting.

#1.  We have figured out how to use the microphone!  YAY!!!!

#2   It seems we are getting more comfortable displaying our projects during show and tell.  When you see the photos, especially the shawls that were shared you will see what I mean.

My apologies to Suzanne,  she took the photos for show and tell last month, and when it was her turn to show and tell,  I took photos of her 2 projects,  but they were lost today  when I inadvertantly deleted a folder I thought had been duplicated.  I will work on retrieving those images, but I wanted to get this post up while it was still July.

OK!,  enough talk,  bring on the photos

A reminder and for those of you who are new,  the best way to view the photos is to click on the first thumbnail and then you can scroll left or right to view all the images with the included captions.

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After looking at the photos again,  I realized many of our table mates helped out the person whose turn it was for show and tell by holding the microphone,  I think that is a good idea. It is hard to hold up your project for display and also hold the microphone.

One last thing ,  I am definitely going to lunch with you all next month.  Yum!

ETA:  I almost forgot…  Suzanne found a link to our time before we formed the guild,  it’s a blog that was started on blogspot in  2008.  I had fun revisiting the past, if you are curious click  HERE

Well it’s Memorial Day today, I hope everyone is enjoying time with their families and friends.  I can not believe we are so close to being half way through the year.

My commentary on the May meeting is going to be almost nothing because I had to leave just as show and tell was beginning.  But I do want to say thank you to Suzanne for blocking my sweater that was put into time out last year.  It was the extra push I needed to get it finished up.  I have about another 2 inches of seaming to go and then it is officially  done. Then I am off to the next UFO.  My half-finished Edge Addiction.

Show and tell

I post info on how to view the show and tell photos every once in while so the newer members can view the slide show as intended.  Hopefully you are seeing a group of about 30 thumbnails with some captions, if not click where is says “show thumbnails”.  Once you have the thumbnails showing click on the first one.  When you click on the first image that should bring up the full size image with a caption if there is one, from there you can view all the images full size by clicking on the right or left arrows to go through all the images.

While looking through the photos, I did see Kate was making a list of the patterns used for the show and tell items.  I think that is a great idea.

We are continuing to work on the member directory and the members only area of the website.  I expect we will be getting that all lined up and finished in the next month.

That is about it for now.  The next guild meeting will be June 11th.  We will be meeting around the fountain at the Marketplace on Ming Ave.  for our observance of World Wide Knit in Public Day.  Annie will also be counting up the ballots for the election of our board members, I believe that will be happening @ 10:00.  If you are going to be there before 10:00 am, bring your ballot with you if you haven’t already turned yours in.  If you can not make it to the June meeting please email Annie your ballot @ the email address printed on the ballot.  See you all in couple of weeks if not sooner.

April’s meeting was held one week after our 3rd Open house, we acquired 14 new members.  I am not sure if they were all able to attend, but it was the largest number of people at a single meeting!

This month we did have quite a bit of business to cover, the main part of that being the guild has completed the filing of the non-profit status with the State of California and what that means in terms of our bylaws and policies and procedures.  Things will pretty much remain the same, but the structure of the board and elections will be slightly different from the past.  It is all good and the guild is stronger than ever.

I want to take a second to thank Marie Neel for doing such an excellent job as our membership chairperson,  it makes stepping into the position so much easier and less intimidating.  She has set a great example.  I hope I will be able to follow through.

Suzanne had a great presentation on thumb gussets.  I have made a few pairs of fingerless gloves, but the ones I have made, I haven’t been thrilled with the way the thumb stuck out.  If I make another pair,  I think I will know what to do if I want to change.

Lots of show and tell last meeting, it’s always my favorite part of the meeting.  Getting to see what everyone has been working on.

Some of you will have to forgive me.  I don’t know all of your names yet,  the name tags do help tremendously, but if I didn’t happen to get it in the photo…  then well,  *sigh*

I love our new meeting room,  but I am having slight issues with the lighting if you happen to be in front of the windows, so next meeting I may ask you to step to your left or your right just a bit, to avoid the hazy lighting for the photos.

I also want to say,  don’t be shy about posting comments.  If you know who someone is and want to remind everyone their name and what their project was for any given month.  Please do post a comment,  it will help everyone get to know each other quicker. I want everyone to feel included. I may just have to start taking notes..  🙂

The next guild meeting is May 14th.

Next social knitting date at the library is May 21st.

Also consider joining in at Panera’s Tuesday morning  9:00 am to noonish on California Ave.  or Wednesday evening at the Panera’s on Stockade Hwy.  from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

(Thanks to Amy for catching I didn’t have the Wednesday evening Panera’s address.  Sometimes it takes a proofreader.  🙂  )