Dedicated to advancing the art of knitting through the sharing of ideas and techniques, education and community involvement.
Announcements
Share Your Skills! Calling all guild members! Have a knitting or crochet technique, tip or stitch you can teach in 20 minutes? We need teachers for our upcoming Skills Exchange Workshops at the November 2016 and March 2017 meetings. Please consider volunteering for these great events. Email your submission to president@torontoknittersguild.ca - thank you!
Knit For The Cure. Please donate yarn and knitted hats, scarves, cowls, shawls and blankets which go to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. You may drop off donation items at the Knit For the Cure station at each meeting. Thank you for your generosity.
Do you enjoy knitting socks? Join Nellie Dale and celebrate Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. Visit and like Facebook page: The Sock Project - 2017 Canada 150.
Ugly Sweater Contest will be returning this holiday season! Get ready to show off your craziest and crafty efforts! More details coming soon.
Message from the President
I would like to take the opportunity this month to thank Patrick Madden for putting together a fabulous presentation at our September meeting. Along with Julia Grunau from Patternfish, we were treated to a fall fashion fibre preview.
Hope everyone is inspired to create something for yourself.
Kate Atherley will be joining us in October to give us some insight about Pattern Writing. Kate is a life long knitter, and so knowledgeable about all things knitting. Make sure you write down any questions you have about patterns.
November meeting will be a skills exchange, with three 20-minute sessions, with six teachers. Let us know what skills you would like to learn. So far we have "short rows", and "finishing skills". What would you like to learn? Or teach? Let us know. Details and "prep" will be listed in the next newsletter.
Your comments are always welcome.
Knittingly yours,
Debra Rowland, TKG President
Yarn. A Film by Una Lorenzen.
With the traditional crafts of crochet and knitting building momentum as the hottest movements in modern art, YARN follows leading international artists and knitters as they bring this surprisingly counterculture art form to the streets and into our lives in sensational new ways. Featured in the documentary are world-renowned wool graffiti artist Olek, interactive textile creator and curator Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam, National Humanities Medal winning writer Barbara Kingsolver, and more. Playing at the Carlton Cinema October 21-27 at 2pm and 7pm daily. Find out more about the film.
We will be drawing for 2 complimentary tickets as part of the Raffle at the October meeting.
September Meeting In Review
What better way to get the season started than with a look at the hottest trends and colours! Patrick Madden and Julia Grunau walked us through the latest trends hitting the runway and how those trends are appearing locally. And colour! What is going to be hot this year? Easy to find out, just have a look at the pictures from the fashion show.
We kicked off our first show and tell of the season with a plethora of colour! Visit the guild website to see the projects!
September Meeting Vendor: Porch Swing Yarnsomniacs.
Many thanks to our vendor for the night Porch Swing Yarnsomniacs. They got the meeting started with a live demonstration of how to get more creative with your hairstyle — just add a bit of yarn of course!
If you are interested in booking a vendor table at one of our monthly meetings, please contact lys@torontoknittersguild.ca.
October Preview
From the Designers Needles to Yours: How Patterns Get Published
Please join us at our Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 meeting featuring a guest lecture by Kate Atherley.
Ever wonder about how a pattern actually gets written? Want to know why there's so much fuss about grading, and what these strange creatures known as "technical editors" do? This presentation is all about giving you an insight into how patterns are developed, and the work that goes on behind the scenes, before they are made available to knitters.
October Meeting Vendor: The Knit Kabin
Our October meeting yarn vendor is The Knit Kabin of Pickering. Michelle will have a selection of yarns for sale from Shalimar, Mythic Yarns, Fibre Story, Sweet Georgia and Fibre Company. Cash, credit card and PayPal accepted.
2016/17 Meeting Schedule
Location & Times:
Innis College Town Hall
2 Sussex Ave.
7:30 - 9:30
Doors open 6:30 p.m. for social knitting
Members: Free
Guests: $8
Dates:
October 19, 2016
November 16, 2016
December 21, 2016
January 18, 2017
February 15, 2017
March 15, 2017
April 19, 2017
May 17, 2017
June 21, 2017
Visit the Toronto Knitters Guild website for more information on upcoming events.
TKG Show and Tell Spotlight
Party of Five plus one knit by Daphne (demw)
My Party of Five Plus One shawl was inspired by a SweetGeorgia Yarns Party of Five Tough Love Sock Mini-Skein set in the Snapdragon colourway. Its “plus one” is a skein of Tough Love Sock in Mulberry. While I loved the colours, I was not inspired by shawls that used the colours in large blocks. Instead, I wanted to stripe them randomly – different widths, and with each colour in proximity to each of the others.
I chose to work a sideways modified kite shape, beginning at one edge with a chevron, and then, when the upper band was the width I liked, increasing only on one edge. At the point where I began to decrease, I introduced the stripes.
To determine the stripe pattern, I used the random stripe generator at biscuitsandjam.com. It allows you to set which stripe widths will be allowed, the number of rows and colours, and, if you use the weighted random stripe generator, the relative quantities of each colour. I used my main colour in the stripes, and limited the beige colour that came in the mini-skeins. Using this programme allows you to try out many more combinations than are reasonable with pencil crayons and paper!
I also knitted a small stripe block on the final tail. The entire shawl is garter stitch, and the hardest part of knitting it is weaving in the many ends. It was knit on 3.75 mm needles, and used just over 800 m of yarn. I have not written up the pattern, but will if someone wants to ”test knit” it.
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