 Kim in her Umpqua Sweater Our latest Member Spotlight is on Kim Winter, our Board Volunteer Coordinator. As a joyful and passionate sweater knitter, Kim "knits about 10-12 sweaters a year," she states, "with the addition of about 3-4 shawls, and an occasional hat or pair of mitts." Now, that's awesome! Tell us a bit about yourself: My enthusiasm for knitting grew following the introduction of Ravelry and I have spent countless hours chatting, participating in online and in-house KALs, testing designs, and posting pictures. As a speech language pathologist specializing in birth to age 5, my enthusiasm grew even more when I retired from work about a year ago. But I am not tired! Over the past year, my fervor for knitwear has grown exponentially and I plan to teach sweater knitting classes and have a pattern for a video tutorial planned for the future. What got you started knitting? I learned to knit about 26 years ago after moving to Portland and getting married. Prior to that, I was an accomplished sewist. I learned to knit from a wonderful knitter named Kathryn Creswell at a little shop called Spindleshanks in NW Portland.  Kim in her Tegna top with Caitlin Hunter, a.k.a. Boyland Knitworks Favorite place to knit: I am an avid OSU Beaver football fan and during the season I love to knit in front of the TV or at Reser stadium and knit while I yell. What’s your biggest knitting victory? My biggest knitting accomplishment has been learning how to change the gauge from recent PKG speaker Nele Redweik. I did the math from “The Easy One” designed by Joji Locatelli and knit a beautiful orange (my favorite color) pullover in DK weight yarn. (Check it out here.) I have been over the moon meeting different designers at workshops this year including Thea Coleman a.k.a. Babycocktails and Caitlin Hunter a.k.a. Boylandknits (Check out Kim's Tegna top here). Being in their presence has been awe-inspiring. What do you want to learn more about in knitting? I am tinkering with knitwear design and have a couple of sweaters in mind and on paper for the future.  Kim's version of "The Easy One" she adapted from Nele Redweik's program "Change the Gauge" What other hobbies do you have?
I am an accomplished sewer. I have taken more sewing classes this past summer and have sewn a canvas/leather backpack, an easy top, a modified dress, and I made leather sandals. Find Kim on Ravelry and Instagram as Dreamknitgirl. If you want to be featured in our Member Spotlight, email us at puddletownknitters@gmail.com!
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For our September meeting, we learned how to better keep track in patterns, about yarn support, and a little-discussed topic among knitters: copyright!  Michelle's gorgeous Puddletown Shawl! Keep Up with Events The latest in Guild happenings include Dye Day with Abstract Fiber. Lori Patterson has graciously opened her studio to a small group of members to learn about hand-painting yarns. We will raffle off 6 members to go to the October 6th Dye Day. To enter the raffle, check your email! We sent an email to members on September 15th with details on how to enter the “online” raffle. If you didn’t see it, send us a note at puddletownknitters@gmail.com with “Abstract Dye Day” in the subject line and let us know you want to be entered into the raffle. Let us know if you want to be entered by September 25th. We’ll draw the raffle and let you know whether or not you won a spot on September 26th.  Check your email to find out how to enter the Abstract Fiber Dye Day raffle and learn how to create hand-painted yarns like these by Abstract Fiber.  Member Tip Kathryn Hendrix, a friendly face at For Yarn’s Sake in Beaverton, shared with us a tip she discovered on how to keep track of decrease/increase rows when knitting sleeves, hats, etc. Simply grab those light bulb-shaped stitch markers in the amount equal to the number of decrease/increase rows called for in the pattern plus one more. For example, the sweater sleeve pattern says to decrease two stitches every 12 rows 9 times. Pull out 10 stitch markers, with one in a different color if you can. Secure the different colored one to your needle, and attach the remaining 9 to that one like they’re keys on a keychain. Every time you decrease, take off a marker and place it at the decrease. When you run out of markers, you’re done!  PDXKnitterati's Concentric Cowl (Image from PDXKnitterati.com) PDXKnitterati Business member Michele Bernstein of PDXKnitterati told us about yarn support. As a designer and teacher, she helps grow her business and supports other fiber entrepreneurs by collaborating through yarn support. Yarn support is when a yarn designer and a knitwear designer forge a mutual agreement. The knitwear designer may be inspired by a particular colorway and decides to create a pattern around it. Michele’s Concentric Cowl perfectly shows off KnitCircus Ringmaster Panoramic Gradient's color-play, for example. Michele’s pattern and the yarn are a great pairing, and each party gets exposure, making it an ideal yarn support situation! How do you engage in yarn support?
Michele’s designs show her unique vision, are relatively swatch-forgiving (cowls, scarves, shawls, and hats, yay!), and support yarn designers in the spirit of our close-knit community. Learn more about her on her blog or see if there’s a spot at her upcoming retreat, a collaboration with crochet designer Laurinda Reddig.  Program: Copyright for Knitters with Parna Mehrbani Intellectual Property lawyer and knitting instructor Parna Mehrbani shared her professional tips on how to not violate copyright as knitters, designers, and teachers. Her experience, education, and warm personality made this a fascinating program that sparked great discussion! We hear a lot about copyright and intellectual property today, especially in the entertainment industry. While the knitting community is small in relation to the above, and the law isn’t keeping serious tabs on us, it is important to be aware of copyright guidelines because it is such a small community. You’ll find a lot of discussion on the internet about copyright, and like a lot of things on the internet, it may not always be factual. If you’re questioning your own or someone else’s practice of copyright, here are some tips care of Parna.  What Is Copyright? It’s not a trademark, a trade secret, or a patent. It protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. You can’t copyright an idea. Things like the written pattern of your raglan sweater design is copyrightable, but not the idea of a raglan sweater. That’s why designers will often add a note on their patterns, whether they are free or for purchase, that state something like “All rights reserved. For personal, non-commercial use only.” How Do I Not Violate Copyright? Generally, if you're asking yourself if you may be infringing copyright, check yourself. Remember, designers are often self-employed or run small businesses. And, as noted, the fiber arts community is not that big. To support each other, refrain from distributing purchased patterns for free or for your own profit, hosting classes on a pattern without the designer's permission, or selling finished projects from a pattern you did not create. Remember, this applies to books as well as PDFs.   Your Rights as a Copyright Owner As a pattern writer or knitwear designer, you have rights of your own. You may reproduce, distribute, and display your work as you wish. In Summary As an Intellectual Property lawyer, Parna isn’t crazy about the misunderstanding of facts on the internet. If you’re concerned about violating copyright or suspect your rights have been infringed, start by consulting copyright.gov. Thank you, Parna!  Lesli's finished Tour de Sock socks! Show and Tell
An update from Lesli on her whirlwind Tour de Sock experience: she finished 14th overall out of 600+ finishers! Her total time was 41 hours and 55 minutes among 6 pairs of socks. Check out her FOs above. Congrats and amazing work, Lesli! October 11th - Next Meeting See you next time for Sivia Harding’s program on incorporating beadwork into your knits! |
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