T I D E W A T E R K N I T T I N G G U I L D O F V I R G I N I A

Purls of WisdomO C T . 3

M E E T I N G

Meet and Greet, 7 p.m.Business Meeting, 7:15 p.m.

Program will be

Guild Birthday Celebration & Election of Officers.

We meet the first Monday of the month (except for holidays) at Westminster Canterbury, 3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach. Check tkgv.blogspot.com to

confirm the meeting date. Questions? Please email us at

tkgv1@yahoo.com.

October 2011

President’s Message

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

2 Member Birthdays, Calendar, Newsletter Deadline

3 Sally Melville Homework, A Little of This and That

4 Knitting Websites & Podcasts 5 Historically Speaking, LYS Ads

6 Charity Knitting, LYS Ads

Hi Everyone, Fall is here. Yeah! I am not sure which season I prefer, but I do love the refreshing cooler autumn days after a long, hot summer.  Are you like me, has knitting fever bitten you in the rump in the past couple weeks? I have been knitting up a storm. I even had to stop at one point because my hands were getting sore. In between the actual knitting, I have been dreaming up projects. Someone at work caught me daydreaming and asked what I had on my mind, I had floated off into a knitting dream. I answered: Yarn, needles, patterns and not enough time! The person looked at me like I just might be a little wacky and said, "Could I interrupt your mental vacation and ask for some help here at work." Darn the bad luck -- I had to return to reality!  At last month’s meeting we briefly discussed free knitting podcasts available via iTunes. There is a wealth of current information and entertaining stories at your fingertips and it is all free. If you do not have iTunes, just download it for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Then go to the podcast section in the iTunes store and scout around for knitting (or other subjects of interest) podcasts. You can then subscribe to whatever podcasts you like and they will just show up in your iTunes for your listening enjoyment. (Note: You can either listen to them right at your computer or upload them to your mobile device.) I personally love free stuff, and these free podcasts make me happy. One more tech note: If you are not a member of Ravelry, you may want to consider joining. It is also free. Go to ravelry.com and get started. The free patterns alone are enough of a reason to join, but there are a lot of other reasons to be a part of Ravelry. Did I mention that it was free? It is also the world’s largest knit and crochet social network. So you can easily see the work of designers from all over the world. You can also look up your pattern that you are thinking of making and see notes and photos from people everywhere who have made the same pattern. You can get instant yarn reviews. No matter what you like to knit, there are other groups

(continued on page 4)

T R E A S U R E R ’ S R E P O R TGeneral Fund: $3,884.92 Charity Fund: $458.60 Total Funds: $4,343.52

If you need to pay dues and cannot attend a meeting, please call me at (757) 287-3625or email bevboler@verizon.net and I will send you my address. -- Bev Boler

M e m b e r B i r t h d a y s T h i s M o n t h

Mark Your CalendarsGuild meetings start with Meet and Greet at 7 p.m., followed by the Business Meeting at 7:15 p.m.

Oct. 3 – Guild Meeting. Guild birthday celebration and election of officers. If you have interest in any of the offices, please let Allison Hunt or Trink Dahl-Prince know and they will advise the nominating committee.

Oct. 8-9 – Waterways Heritage Festival, Great Bridge Lodge Park, Chesapeake. For more information, 482-4480 or http://www.gbbattlefield.org/.

Oct. 20-23 – Stitches East, Hartford, Conn. See www.knittinguniverse.com/stitches/east.

Oct. 21-23 – Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, WNC Agricultural Center, Fletcher, N.C.See http://saffsite.org.

Oct. 22-23 – Sally Melville classes, Tidewater Knitting Guild of Virginia, Westminster Canterbury, Virginia Beach. See flyer in this newsletter for more information.

Oct. 23 – Sally Melville Book Signing, 1-3 p.m., The Yarn Club, 240 Mustang Trail, Suite 8, Virginia Beach. Meet the author of the fabulous book, “The Knit Stitch,” “The Purl Stitch,” “Mother Daughter Knits” and her latest, “Warm Knits, Cool Gifts.” Whether you are taking her classes with TKGV or you just want a chance to meet one of knitting’s great designers, stop by and say “Hi.”

Please email Trink Dahl-Prince at trinkdp55@yahoo.com if you have suggestions for programs.

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Bobbie Reich Oct. 7 Lynn Sachs Oct. 10 Sherri Breslow Hacke Oct. 15

Margaret Faust Oct. 16 Pam St. Clair Oct. 17 Chris Goudeau Oct. 22

Allison Hunt Oct. 30

D E A D L I N E F O R N O V. N E W S L E T T E R : O C T. 1 5 Please send your questions, comments, suggestions, ads, photos, stories and patterns you’d like to share to editor Sonja Barisic at snbarisic@gmail.com or 734 Delaware Ave., Norfolk, VA 23508. Items submitted after the deadline will be held until the following issue. This is the only way to get the newsletter to members in a timely manner. Thank you, and happy reading and knitting. Sonja Ba risic

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If you’ve signed up for the Sally Melville workshops this month, there is homework for two of the classes:

Borders and Buttonholes: Use nontextured, light-colored yarns. Worsted weight is best. Block both swatches. 1. Work one swatch, 4” by 4,” working selvage stitches in stockinette also: change to smaller needles and finish with 1" k1p1 rib: then bind off all stitches with needles MUCH TOO LARGE.* 2. Work a second swatch as follows. Cast on 24 stitches: work 3" in stockinette. DO EXACTLY AS WRITTEN: do not slip stitches and do not work short rows. (You are shaping a round neck, in case you wonder what is going on.) At the beginning of the next RS row, bind off 6 stitches  At the beginning of the next RS row, bind off 3 stitches. At the beginning of the next RS row, bind off 2 stitches. At the beginning of the next 3 RS rows, bind off 1 stitch. Work 8 rows straight.  Bind off all stitches.

Emergency Measures: Use nontextured, light-colored yarns. Worsted weight is best. Block swatch well. 1. Work a 4" wide swatch in stockinette until the piece measures 3" in length: work 1 row in a 2X2 color pattern (2 stitches in MC then 2 stitches CC, carrying the alternate color behind, for 1 row only): cut CC: with MC only, work in stockinette for 1”: finish with 1" k1p1 rib on 2-sizes smaller needles, then bind off all stitches with needles MUCH TOO LARGE.

*If you are signed up for both Borders and Buttons and Emergency Measures, you do NOT need to do the first swatch for B&B homework.

There is no homework for the other classes.

H o m e w o r k f o r S a l l y M e l v i l l e C l a s s e s

A L i t t l e o f T h i s a n d T h a tBy Karen Richardson

O B J E C T I V E S A N D P U R P O S E S O F K N I T T I N G G U I L D S In the Middle Ages, the objectives and purpose of Guilds was to control the production and selling of a certain service, good, or trade. The definition of a Guild is a group of people in the same trade business that controlled the making/selling of that product. Beginning with the Victorian era, the objectives of Knitters' Guilds are:

• to act as a source of knitting knowledge and skill;• to create a sense of friendship and sharing of knitting experiences within the membership;• support and assist knitters no matter what their level of skill, to improve their skills;• to assist with questions which arise during the knitting process.

President’s Message, continued from page 1

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of knitters on Ravelry who are knitting the same sort of things. Share your passion, share your photos, find a special yarn. You can do it all at Ravelry. Free to knit, free to dream about knitting, free podcasts, free social networking with other knitters, and free patterns -- Free! Free! Free! (Now, if I could only find some free time!) See you soon.

Allison Hun t

By Allison Hunt I use my computer all the time for knitting information. I would like to share some of the sites I frequent. My number one place that I go to almost every time I get online is Ravelry. Just go to www.ravelry.com (or do a Google search for “Ravelry”) and follow the directions to become a member, for free. Most businesses, including most of our local yarn stores, have their own websites. These sites can save you a lot of time by tipping you off to sales, classes and events. Some stores have simple websites that are more like a billboard with information that rarely changes. Other stores have much more complex sites that allow you to make purchases right from their sites. A few very popular business websites that are related to knitting include: www.Lionbrand.com                                 www.Yarnmarket.com                                 www.Knitpicks.com                                www.yarn.com                                 www.patternworks.com                                 www.Dizzysheep.com Most of the knitting magazines also have websites. But did you know that there are internet only magazines for knitters? One is called "Twist Collective," at www.twistcollective.com.You may want to check it out. It has beautiful photos and good articles, and you can order the patterns you see right from the same site. Another very popular knitting magazine is "Knitty," at www.Knitty.com. Knitty has an extensive archive of free patterns.  A blog is a place where and individual can post what ever is on their mind. Some bloggers post every day while others only post occasionally. Think of it like it a place where a person can write in a diary of sorts and others can come and read the diary. One reknown author of a blog is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She entertains knitters at www.yarnharlot.com. If you have favorite designers, you may want to Google their names and find out if they have a blog. A lot of them do.  There are extensive help websites on every subject you can imagine. A couple that I use are: www.Knittinghelp.com and www.yarndex.com. Knittinghelp has a very good glossary of terms. So if your pattern says PSSO, for example, you can not only find out just what it means, but you can also watch a video that shows exactly how to PSSO. Yarndex can give you important information on current yarns; it also has yarns that are no longer being made.  Podcasts are a radio show of sorts. Podcasters post their shows and others download them by "subscribing" to their podcasts. There might be other ways to get podcasts but I get them via iTunes. I suvscribe to the following podcasts: The Knit Picks Podcast, Knitmoregirls, Ready Set Knit, Round the Twist podcast and Stash and Burn. These are by no means all of the podcasts available to knitters. I am just giving you the names of a few that are out there.  If you enjoy receiving email, you can sign up for a daily newsletter called "Knitting Daily." It comes from Interweave press directly to your inbox every day. Sign up for this free newsletter at www.knittingdaily.com. These are by no means all of the websites that are related to knitting! Please feel free to let me or our newsletter editor, Sonja Barisic, know if you have some other good knitting related websites you think we would all benefit from knowing about.  

Knitting Tech Notes: Websites and Podcasts

Now that there’s a chill in the air, we are thinking sweaters and holiday gifts.The store is busting with both. New patterns are expected from some wonderful designers, including Hannah Fettig of Knitbot and Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter. Lots of fall yarns have arrived and more are expected soon. Of course, the Madelinetosh has been flying out the door.The worsted single-ply has been a huge hit for scarves and winter shawls.Valerie just knit up the Citron Shawl from Knitty using three skeins Tosh Single-ply. It spectacular. Two of our more popular fall yarns have been Jackson from Tahki Stacy Charles and Drift from Rowan.These chunky/bulky yarns knit up quick and gorgeous. We have lots of pattern support, too. New books are here.  Check out "Crochet so Fine", its a beauty. The softest yarn in the world is here. Jade Sapphire four-ply Cashmere. This super-soft, super-luxurious yarn is in a basket on our display rack. It is perfect for cowls, hats, fingerless gloves and more.We also have it in worsted weight in kits. You get four skeins of the most delicious cashmere and seven patterns to choose from. This yarn makes an amazing gift either to a knitter or knit up in a special pattern for someone close to your heart. New classes have been posted to the website. Check out the “Lace Cowl” and the “Socks on Double Points.” Also join us anytime to knit and chat (or crochet and chat). The shop will be open on Sunday, Oct. 23 from noon-3 p.m. to host Sally Melville. Get your books signed, chat with Sally and enjoy some refreshments.

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October sale: All Sirdar yarns and some other various yarns will be 30 percent off. November sale: All Plymouth yarns will be 30 percent off.  Hope to see you soon!

Please support our advertisers, as they help defray the cost of this newsletter.

240 Mustang TrailSuite 8Virginia Beach, VA 23452

By Karen Richardson

O R I G I N O F T H E R AG L A N S L E E V E Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Lord Raglan (1788 to 1855), was wounded at Waterloo and his right arm had to be amputated. His tailor designed a special short coat for him featuring a diagonal sleeve running from under the arm to the neckline. This style sleeve made it easier for Lord Raglan to dress himself. Thus, a classic sweater shape was invented and to date is probably the most favorite sleeve type among today’s modern knitters.

H i s t o r i c a l l y S p e a k i n g

Muahahaha… October is here, and along with it the promise of ghouls, goblins and spooky surprises. But enough about the mess in the back room.

We've got our monthly technique series kicking off with a how-to-do cables class, and the added bonus of entrelac AND double knitting classes featured this month. These oft-neglected methods are great tricks to have in your repertoire and are relatively easy ways to incorporate more texture and color in your knitting. Why not learn something new? Our fall goodies have trickled in slowly, but they are indeed arriving. Besides the latest issues of your favorite knitting publications, we've added some great new books, and we'll soon be showing off your favorite restocks as well as new offerings from Cascade, Berroco, The Fibre Co. and Blue Ridge Yarns. We've also got a smattering of new and unusual yarns hitting the floor from Crystal Palace and Frabjous Fibers, just for fun! Also, in honor of October's official designation as Breast Cancer Awareness month, look for specials on all things pink, as well as great patterns to help and honor your favorite fighters.

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yarn patterns notions classesall in the company of friends.

945 Providence Square Shopping Ctr Virginia Beach757-495-6600 knitwitsyarn.com

Please support our advertisers, as they help defray the cost of this newsletter.

We have just four places left in our class with Sally Melville! "Two Colors, Two Hands," Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. Guild members get a discount! Sign up with a friend and get an even bigger discount off the class fee.

C h a r i t y K n i t t i n g : H e r i t a g e F e s t i v a lBy Debbie Henderson The Chesapeake Waterways Heritage Festival is Oct 8-9, and the Guild will have an information booth there. Not only will it be a time to inform the public about the Guild, but a time to knit, chat and show off our talents. I also am going to take this opportunity to do some charity knitting. I will have yarn, patterns and some needles to knit hats, baby items and slippers. If you would like to do some charity knitting, please bring needles ranging in size from 5 to 9. There will be a raffle throughout both days for anyone from the Guild who helps staff our booth. There will be sign-up sheets at the September and October meetings. A reminder: If you are unable to attend a meeting to log in your charity items, you can email me with your information at hendersonjb@cox.net.

Spend a Weekend with Sal ly Melvi l le

The Tidewater Knitting Guild of Virginia is proud to bring acclaimed knitting designer, author and teacher Sally Melville to the area to share her expertise. Melville’s books include the “Knitting Experience” series. Learn more at www.sallymelvilleknits.com.

Oct. 22-23, 2011Westminster Canterbury

3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach

Non-Guild members will be charged a one-time fee of $20 in addition to their class fees. To register for classes or for more information, contact Beverly Boler at bevboler@verizon.net.

Oct. 22, 9 a.m.-noon Borders and Buttonholes, $45. Limited to 24 students -- reserve your spot now.

Oct. 22, 2-5 p.m.Emergency Measures, $45. Limited to 24 students -- reserve your spot now.

Oct. 22, 7:30-9 p.m.Making the Most of Your Yarn Collection, $35

Oct. 23, 10 a.m.-noonKnit to Flatter and Fit, $35

Oct. 23, 1-3 p.m. Book Signing at The Yarn Club, 240 Mustang Trail, Suite 8, Virginia Beach.

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