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by Melanie Chen Board President Kimberly Williams welcomed knitters and friends to the August meeting with an acknowledgement statement, in keeping with the Guild’s mission: “I would like to respectfully acknowledge that the land on which we are gathering today is the traditional homelands of a diverse array of indigenous tribes and bands. The greater Portland metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. We recognize Indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards of this land and acknowledge the enduring relationship between the land and the people since time immemorial.” Future Venue Update: With the unpredictable nature of COVID, the Board has decided to continue meeting virtually via Zoom through the end of 2021. However, when we do eventually transition to in-person events, our growing guild will need a new home! We're looking for an affordable event space for future member meetings. Kimberly has researched dozens of possibilities and we have some good leads, but we also still want to hear from you. Does your office rent a large room? Or perhaps there's a gym or cafeteria at your kid's school available to rent. Send your ideas to [email protected]. Sadly, the end of summer in-person Yarn Swap has been postponed due to the resurgence of COVID in Oregon. Don’t forget about our 2021 Charity Knitting for this year, which is Winter Warmth washable knit-wear for Rose Haven. Many wonderful items have been received, but we would love to have more donations as well. The items will be handed out at the end of year Holiday Party for the Rose Haven guests. Let us know if you need yarn. Exciting news: Puddletown Colorways! Three of our business members have created exclusive Puddletown colorways, which became available on August 13, 2021. Get ready for fall and join us in a yarn-based Make Along (MAL). Make anything you like with one or more of these Puddletown-inspired colorways: 1) Puddle Stomp (from local indie dyer Knitted Wit): a DK superwash merino made sheep-to-skein in the USA; 2) a beautiful set from Ryberry Yarns: a collection of 85% SW Merino/15% nylon yarns in Puddletown’s name with fingering weight available in full or mini skein and DK weight available in full skeins; and 3) the Fremont Bridge colorway from Opposite Coast Dyes: done in a DK weight Peruvian highland or non-superwash merino wool. Start and finish any project using one or more of these gorgeous yarns, and post your completed items on Instagram, other social media (tagging PKG), or email a picture to [email protected] and in October we will draw raffle winners. In other news from business members, on August 18th Brooklyn Tweed unveiled Tones, a new worsted weight yarn line, in which every color comes in two tones, one with an undertone and the other with an overtone. Produced from Columbia wool in 3-ply, woolen spun. Reminder to renew your 2021 Membership online: We're happy to have guests at our events. After a meeting or two, we ask that you support our programs by becoming a member. Visit puddletownknittersguild.com/membership to renew or join. Given that the year is over half over, the individual membership has been changed to $17.50 (1/2 off full year). Member Tips with Anna Lorton: This month is about weaving in ends, a topic with a surprising lack of formal guidance, given how essential it is to completing a project! Anna notes that a primary consideration is the yarn type; whether it is wool or nonwool, superwash wool or non treated wool. Anna has observed that nonwool and superwash yarn types are a tiny bit more difficult to weave in. Anna’s suggested techniques include “ghost following” a zigzag path on one side looping through purl bumps. For yarn ends that are short, you can do a straight line, weaving in and out in a line with the needle first, then threading the needle at the very end. On ribbing, Anna suggests choosing one of the ribbed columns and zigzagging vertically, being careful not to pull it too tight. Next month, Anna will cover Training Wheel tips (going through something you already do, but in an easier way!). Send your ideas and tips for future Member Tips to [email protected]. Programs Chair Sharon Grayzel introduced our featured speaker, designer Françoise Danoy of Aroha Knits. Françoise is a Franco-Maori,Australian-American knitwear designer and knit design coach living in San Antonio, Texas (and she previously lived in Japan for many years). She enjoys helping people who want to improve their designs, and create meaningful and fulfilling work. Françoise has published over 100 patterns, the majority of them being shawls. Why shawls? She has discovered a plethora of shawl shapes that you can play around with. Françoise applies her creativity within the five major shawl shapes, which are Triangular, Crescent, Asymmetrical, Side-to-Side, and 3/4 Shawl. She also notes that learning the construction of shawls has helped her create non-shawl pieces, such as sweaters, cowls, scarves and hats. In Puddletown’s August meeting, she covered shawl design, in a condensed version of her “five shawls in five days” online workshop. Françoise talked about many aspects including the different types of cast on methods, how to accomplish increases, the importance of slant and curve to certain shawl types, how bias is generated and maintained, and which shawl types are most comfortable when worn. She discussed which techniques lead to a stretchy fabric, which lend themselves to adaptations, and which are most easily charted. She also highlighted the importance of blocking due to the puckers that are created when yarn-overs are used to obtain increases. Members were given a link to download the handout, and are encouraged to watch the recording again as needed. This extremely interesting presentation brings a lot of clarity for shawl knitters, by explaining how shawl designs incorporate structural features in their approach, while also including many helpful hints for producing beautiful finished objects. Show and Tell: Enjoy the wonderful array of completed projects! Next month, join us on September 9, at 7 p.m. for Kim McBrien Evans of Indigodragonfly, on Inclusive Design and the Maker.
Want to watch the full meeting? Click here.
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