January 2023 Meeting Recap: Member Tips and Anna-Lisa Miller presents Photographing Your Fiber Arts

by Shela Perrin​​

Due to the number of respiratory viruses that are currently circulating, this meeting was virtual only, to help our members stay healthy. Kate Perry opened the  meeting and offered an acknowledgement of indigenous people’s original habitation in this land  we now occupy. Kate also welcomed the new incoming board members: Misty Wegman, Julie Moore, and  Sioux Van Kol. Next month, February meeting will be hybrid in person and virtual. Proof of  vaccine can be emailed to rsvp@puddletownknittersguild.com or checked at the door. Bivalent  Booster is required. Meeting volunteers are needed to set up chairs, greet other members and  help monitor the Zoom chat. Please let us know if you can help by filling out this form.  

Be sure to sign up for raffle prizes. $60.00 gift certificate to Abstract Fiber and Yarn and a  signed copy of Made with Love by Tom Daley. Winners will be notified this weekend. 

Membership new or renewal is available through the website at the Membership page. Cost  is $35.00. Scholarships and Gift Memberships are available. Questions can be sent to membership@puddletownknittersguild.com. 

If you have ideas for programming and/or speaker suggestions, please share them at  programs@puddletownknittersguild.com.

Virtual Knit Night is every Monday between 6:00pm and 8:00pm Pacific time. Drop in anytime  and pajamas are encouraged. Visit the Guild Events page on the website for a current link. 

2023 Guild Service Project: 
The guild’s official service project for 2023 is knitting for foster children and families. Our  partners are Boxes of Love and With Love. Both recipients will deliver to foster children as  they transition to foster care throughout the Portland Metro area and occasionally into  extended regions of Oregon and Washington. Hats, sweaters, toys, or more for ages 0-18. Knit,  crochet, or weave. Watch for challenges throughout the year. If it is warm, soft, and a child can  wear it or cuddle it, there will be a home for it between the two groups. Please be sure to use  machine-washable, soft yarn for all submissions.  

Guest speaker was Anna-Lisa Miller. She is an enterprise architect, as well as a professional  photographer (for 7 years) www.adayinthelightphotography.com and knitter since she was 8  years old. She can be found on instagram at @ahiddenpurl. She works  with local knitting designers to help them showcase the artistry of their designs. Anna-Lisa  shared a significant amount of tips for taking pictures of our fiber arts projects. She indicated  we should pay special attention to the fabric and presenting our items in the best daylight  possible with all loose ends woven in or at least concealed. She cautioned not to distract the  viewers eye with too much miscellaneous stuff in the background of our photos. Anna-Lisa said if you  put your phone on portrait it will make the background blurry, aka Bokeh. She had suggestions  on types of cameras and time of day and described different settings and how they will affect  photos. She shared what the anatomy of a good photo is and some definite no-nos. Her  presentation was extremely interesting and she covered many ways in which we can improve  our photos when publishing online to Ravelry or social media. Anna-Lisa also shared pre-shooting tips to  cover before i order to get “that” photo.

Member tips were brought to us by Lori Patterson. She introduced steeking, a method of  cutting into your knitted fabric that can be very useful for things knit in the round. Extra  stitches are knit into a garment. You reinforce the sides where the cutting will occur and put in  a crochet chain to hold stitches. Lori demonstrated how to knit with waste yarn and then pull it out, leaving you with live stitches to work a heal in a sock, for instance. Lori suggested using a  smaller needle than the one used for your overall knitting to easily pick up stitches. This  process is helpful in making socks, sweaters and even rugs. For socks she recommends Knit  2 socks in 1 by Safiyyah Talley and for sweaters Kate Davies Designs. You can search for  projects including steeking on Ravelry for inspiration. 

Show and Tell: We had two knitters who shared their projects, one of multi colors both knitted and crocheted. The second submission was a lovely cabled knit hat.

If you are interested in showing your project, please present with pictures, pattern name and details of the yarn. Send your photos to showandtell@puddletownknittersguild.com before you go to bed the Tuesday before our meeting on the 2nd Thursday of the month.
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Next Month: Susan Plack will be our guest speaker featuring her take on Let’s Knit Fast! She will demonstrate how we can boost our speed with a knitting machine. Susan is a fiber artist who has learned, created, and taught many different fiber arts. She currently teaches fiber arts classes at a local yarn store. Her area of specialization is machine knitted socks.