Author: KANGWebmaster

Charity Knitting – November 2022 Update

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
Thank you all who came out for our Charity Knit-together at Karbach in October. It was wonderful to see so many faces knitting and crocheting.
 
Sarah, Yogi, Lotti and Marie spent the entire 3 hours tagging items we had collected over the summer; we must have tagged about 500 items!!
 
We had an internal medicine intern who volunteers his time with the VA outreach program join us. Dr. Riha collected blankets, baby hats, and slippers for postpartum women in need. He received about a dozen blankets and nearly 100 hats for the cause.
 
Our friendly chapter-to-chapter competition winners was the SoCK chapter with 9 members in attendance (not counting Marie and Sarah); but it was amazing to see that every chapter was represented. The SoCK chapter received a bag of Halloween & Día de los Muertos stitch markers to distribute to chapter members. Rumor had it that Debbie Smith (SoCK) shared stitch markers with everyone in attendance and there is still plenty to distribute to the SoCK chapter.
 
You want to make items for charity too, but don’t know what to make? Here are some suggestions:
  • Child and baby sized hats (these are fast to make and the easiest to give away)
  • Baby sweaters, (faster to make than you think, especially premie sizes)
  • Blankets (lap blankets, full size, baby sized)
  • Shawls
  • Stuffed toys
  • Wash cloths (cotton)
  • Peyton Hearts (links to patterns on this page)
  • 7″x9″ or 9″x7″ squares made of acrylic yarn, any pattern, any color(s), knit or crochet for the WarmUpAmerica project
Finished charity items can be brought to your chapter where your chapter president will make sure they find their way to the charity coordinators for distribution. Finished items can also be brought to charity knit-together events to be dropped directly to the coordinators.
 
Along with our donation to the VA through Dr. Riha, we also dropped off 2 dozen hats and 2 dozen scarves to the Robin Hood Project of Houston distributing clothing, food and supplies to Houston homeless.
 
Another full bag of items was collected for Chidren’s Safe Harbor in Conroe and will be dropped off in early December!
Two more full bags of hats, blankets, scarves, and shawls will be dropped at an undisclosed battered women’s shelter in downtown Houston in early November.
 
OUR NEXT KNIT-TOGETHER EVENT
  • Where: Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company.  2101 Summer St, Houston, TX 77007
  • When: November 20  Noon – 3 PM
  • There will be a drawing for 3 lucky winners at 2 PM
** Watch the Knit at Night Guild website social media platforms for cancellations due to rain.
 
As always, if there are any questions about charity, reach out to us at: knitatnightguildcharity@gmail.com

From the President – Oct 2022

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
Figure 1: "Crochet Halloween Decor" by Natalia Ruzanova

Ah, October…One of my favorite months!! To me, this month signals the start of all the holidays and festivities coming up. Now, I am certainly biased about October because it’s also my birthday month, RenFaire starts back up, and of course Halloween. I love all the birthday perks that last all month long, the decorations that start to appear, ALL the pumpkins everywhere, and the joy of the trick-or-treaters!

As I write this month’s article, I am cruising at an altitude of ~35,000 feet as I return from a week-long work conference in Denver (many thanks to our Newsletter Chair for her patience with my tardiness!!). Be assured that I have my needles in my lap and a neck light that is hopefully not bothering my neighbor too badly! Lately I have been steadily working on a for-me shawl called “Basics of Love” by Judit Horvath. I am using the recommended yarn: a pastel rainbow cake of cotton yarn that has 4 plies to it*. There is a panel of lace carried up one side and it slowly grows with a staggered eyelet lace on the other side. I still have a long way to go as I have only completed 6 of 25 repeats of a 12-row repeat section! I am thoroughly enjoying this project and will update you on my progress next month!

*Fun tip: For yarns with loose plies, place a bead on the working yarn to keep the plies from splitting as you work your pattern!


Reflecting on September, although I didn’t find myself at another fiber festival, I had the pleasure of attending and meeting some members of the chapters aside from my home chapter. Let me just say, the talents reflected in your projects and the passion you have for charity items warms my heart and is incredibly inspiring! Thanks to the presentation by Dolores in SoCK, I have so many ideas now for Christmas gifts (now to just get started). If you missed this, check out the program handouts on the website as it includes knit and crochet options!! Also, who knew that the KNIT chapter was just a short 20-min drive from my work office!? I took my notes on joining new yarns and will need to practice some of these techniques several more times before I have them mastered! KIND also welcomed me as I dropped in at the Bayland Community Center. Gloria’s program on color was quite insightful! It’s astounding how different—or the same—some colors appear when you consider them in a monotone comparison! Can’t wait to keep meeting each our KANG members and guests in all the chapters—if not at your chapter, perhaps at the Charity knit-it later this month!!

 

Lauren Levy
Executive Board President
knitatnightguild@gmail.com

Charity Knitting – October 2022 Update

Posted on by KANGWebmaster

Hello Charity Knitters!!

The long hot summer has passed and it’s time to go outdoors and knit together again.

Our First Charity Knit-Together of the season will be on Sunday, October 23rd from 12 noon-3pm at Karbach Brewing (2032 Karbach St, Houston, TX 77092)!!

At our Charity Knit-Togethers, our Charity Coordinators (Sarah & Marie) collect finished pieces and will have the charity stash of yarn for you to use for your next charity project.


Sarah & Marie have a friendly competition planned:

  • There will be a sign-in sheet.

  • The chapter that has the greatest number of participants at the Charity Knit-Together event will win seasonal notions to distribute to the whole chapter!

As always, Charity Knit-Togethers are always open to any fiber artists, even if they are not members of KANG. So, bring your Grammy or your Bestie.

Any questions, please contact Sarah or Marie at knitatnightguildcharity@gmail.com

See you on the 23rd!

October 2022 Programs

Posted on by KANGWebmaster

KIK – Open Knitting & discuss Charity Knitting
KIND – Beaded Stitch Markers
KNIT – KAL with Laura Nelkin
KNOW – Felting
SoCK – Lace Knitting

For more information regarding the latest chapter programs, please visit our CALENDAR page! Here you will find exact dates for upcoming guild chapter meetings, including full program descriptions for each meeting.

On the Calendar page you will also find various guild-wide events (charity knit-ins, affiliate sales and the like) and up-coming events in the yarn community / Houston area (FiberFests, conventions, etc.).

Please visit the KANG Chapters page to find your nearest chapter. 

From the President – Sep 2022

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
As August wraps up and summer comes to an end with the kiddos returning to school, I find myself longing for the September vibes of autumn: leaves starting to change colors, the emergence of pumpkins everywhere, brisk and windy days, (sorry, no pumpkin spice latte for me… I’m more of an espresso or peppermint mocha gal 😉), and the realization that I still haven’t started on my Christmas knits…! I know, I know; it’s still quite hot here in Texas! How fitting that I managed to finish my “Ice Cream Social” shawl this month though!
 
Alas, I look around and find myself surrounded by all the goodies that I found at each of the participating local yarn shops on the Texas Yarn Trail: numerous new yarns, books and patterns, project bags, stitch markers, tools, and fiber… I am one ecstatic chica! I think I have acquired enough new projects to last me until I retire! This year, I trail-hopped with several gals from the SoCK chapter out to the western side of Houston on opening day! Lots of driving, but what fun we had, and we met several others along the way at each of the shops! I am looking forward to hearing your stories and seeing what you found!
 
Will any of you be heading north to the Dallas/Ft Worth area later this month for the “DFW Fiber Fest”? Unfortunately, I already committed myself to other events this year; however, this event runs September 22-25th (Thursday thru Sunday) and has quite a bit going on! There are classes and vendors with a focus on various areas of expertise: knitting and crocheting, cross-stitching, tatting, spinning, weaving, and jewelry making to name just a few! What will you learn?
 
Your Executive Board met for the quarterly meeting on Tuesday, August 16th. Despite summer vacations, it seems things are going well around the guild. Many members have continued to step up and lead fun and well-received programs within their chapters! We discussed topics of budget and membership numbers, which at this time are a bit low. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to renew your membership!! Invite your friends and family!! We are curious for feedback on how to grow KANG and get more exposure in our communities. Our Charity coordinators have some events in mind for the fall and of course, the much-anticipated topic of retreats and workshops! While details are still in progress, if you would like to help with planning or simply be involved, we are recruiting for the Retreats & Workshops Committee! Contact us at knitatnightguildRetreat@gmail.com!
 
Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!
 
Lauren Levy
Executive Board President
knitatnightguild@gmail.com

September 2022 Programs

Posted on by KANGWebmaster

KIK – Open Knitting & Peyton Heart Project Charity Knitting
KIND – Colors!
KNIT – Techniques for Joining Yarn
KNOW – Pompoms & Tassels
SoCK – Christmas Knits

For more information regarding the latest chapter programs, please visit our CALENDAR page! Here you will find exact dates for upcoming guild chapter meetings, including full program descriptions for each meeting.

On the Calendar page you will also find various guild-wide events (charity knit-ins, affiliate sales and the like) and up-coming events in the yarn community / Houston area (FiberFests, conventions, etc.).

Please visit the KANG Chapters page to find your nearest chapter. 

Charity Knitting – September 2022 Update

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
Hello Charity Knitters and crocheters.

Things have been pretty quiet during the hot months. There is not a lot of demand for hats and scarves and blankets June-September in Texas.

The summer months are almost over though, so Sarah and Marie are making plans. Our first charity knit-together of the cooler season will be in October.

Stay tuned for more details. We’ll be posting on the KANG website, and KANG Facebook and Instagram pages.

As always, if you have questions about charity, reach out to us via email at knitatnightguildcharity@gmail.com

From the President – Aug 2022

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
From Your Outgoing President
 
As I transition out of the Presidency, I’d like to recap my journey. When I first took the position of President, I had plans to reach out and get to know more than just SoCK members by going to at least one other chapter meeting a month. Then COVID hit. I, along with our guild and the world, went into lockdown. We all went into survival mode. For many of us, this time confined at home resulted in a whole lot of yarn craft. As a Guild, we discovered ZOOM and met through our computer screens. We delayed our annual retreat for a year, we forgave our annual membership dues, the virus raged. We continued to knit, crochet, etc. The next year we canceled our annual retreat. We hung on as best we could, continuing to meet via ZOOM. We extended the terms of both chapter officers and Executive Board members. As time went on, things got brighter health-wise, there was a vaccine. We began to have hybrid meetings, meeting both in-person and via ZOOM. We instituted dues again. We continued to knit and crochet for charity. We shipped 60 pounds of items to the Ukraine. Most Chapters now meet in-person. With each meeting, we share our knowledge. Our skills improve. We connect with each other. 
 
As a result of this worldwide crisis, our membership went from over 200 members to ~130. Two chapters folded. Yet we survived. Most especially we survived because of the leadership of the Executive Board and the Chapter Officers. I want to take this opportunity to thank those leaders. Folks like our Executive Board Newsletter Chair, Gail Close; our two webmasters, Kate Wilson and Lauren Levy; our Charity Chairs, Dolores Rose, Sarah Hartman and Marie Knappenberger; Janet Neberman, our Social Media Chair who also stepped in as our Secretary for Ann Wohn when her obligation pulled her away from us; our wonderful crochet master, Rosanna Maggi, our Membership Chair; and our ever-faithful Treasurer, Crystal Smith. Our chapter representatives to the board, both the following women and their predecessors, Connie Blakley, Barbara Hass, Natalie Salter, Karen Fern, Amy McMahon, and Laura Sawyer. These are the women that have held our Guild together for the last three years. To each of them, I am forever grateful. I hope you, as a member, are as well.
 
I am also grateful to each and every one of you who hung in with us. It’s been a very interesting ride. I simply could not have done it without the wonderful women above and many more like Debbie Smith, Melony Metzler and Nancy Threadgold who shared their counsel with me.
 
It’s now time for a new beginning for our Guild. With this new beginning, I’m stepping down as your President. Lauren Levy will be taking over. We met one-on-one the last week of July to transition. I know she’s going to be great in the position. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Lauren as a SoCK member, a webmaster and teacher (I learned to weave from Lauren). But, you aren’t getting rid of me totally, I’m stepping in as Guild Treasurer. I met with Crystal Smith this past week to learn her position. Hopefully, I can fill her shoes. 
 
Please keep each other and our tumultuous world in your prayers. Please remember, you are each a bright spot that spreads joy and hope with each stitch. 
 
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to serve as the Guild for the last three years. Here’s wishing all a wonderful, wet August.

Priscilla Graham
(Outgoing) Executive Board President
knitatnightguild@gmail.com

From Your Incoming President
 
Hello to all of KANG:
 
To both new and returning members! Many of you may know my name from
having served as the Webmaster, or perhaps you’ve seen me from the SoCK Chapter.
 
A little about my exposure to the world of fiber arts. My roots were established in needle and shuttle tatting, and later I became a self-taught knitter, crocheter, and weaver. Although I have dabbled
with spinning, bobbin lace, Kool-Aid yarn dyeing, and kumihimo, I still have so much to learn!
 
Thank you for your confidence in voting me in as your new KANG President. I can only tip my hat to Priscilla and the Guild for their dedication and overcoming the many hurdles thrown at them these last couple of years. Their efforts have certainly not gone unappreciated.
 
I am looking forward to getting to know more of you at YOUR chapter meetings. I hope we can continue to gather more frequently by hosting more events (workshops, day and weekend trips,
charity events, etc). I would love to see our Guild getting out there: growing, supporting, and expanding our love and knowledge on everything related to fiber arts!
 
Quick shout out for all our local yarn shops in and around the Houston area! Our Houston-based “Texas Yarn Trail” returns for the 4th year at the end of August! If you are around, get out there and support the small businesses! Details can be found on the website and social media! Can’t
wait to see what squishy/fluffy/notion treasures you find!
 
Lauren Levy
(Incoming) Executive Board President
knitatnightguild@gmail.com

Charity Knitting – July 2022 Update

Posted on by KANGWebmaster

Apologies for radio silence last month. Your coordinators were overwhelmed with work and home obligations. We are back now, and there is only just a little news to share.

 
Summer is the charity slow season. Few charity organizations south of the Mason-Dixon line are looking for warm woolen wares. Plus; it’s too hot to knit outside together; and often indoor locations cost money.
 
That doesn’t mean that you all are not knitting for charity; and your coordinators are ready to facilitate drop-offs and pick-ups. Here is a catch-up on what has been happening since we wrote in May:
 
  1. We were contacted by a charity knitting group in New York City. They saw our newsletter and/or our website where we called for collections for Ukraine. They wanted to know if they could add to our shipment. Sadly, the shipment had already left the country and there is not yet a call for more items. We asked the NYC folks to keep us informed if they hear a call, and that we would do the same for them. Charity coordinator, Marie, is in contact with 2 ex-coworkers in Ukraine. They report that they both are alive, and well and their families are healthy so far. Marie will maintain contact with them as the weather turns in the autumn.

  2. The KNOW chapter did a charity knit program for their May meeting. Amy took the charity yarn suitcase for her chapter to use. Amy still has the yarn and is looking to see if her church would be willing to let us use the community room for a charity-knit-together sometime during the summer months. (AC for free!) Charity coordinators will keep everyone posted as that potential develops.
Current Charity Item count in stock: Charity coordinators continue to search for and coordinate with charity outlets for our wares. If you hear of any group that in need, reach out to knitatnightguildcharity@gmail.com
  • 42 Wool hats
  • 8 blankets
  • 29 Scarves
  • 70 Hats (non-wool)
  • 6 headbands
  • 4 shawls
  • 3 pair of booties/slippers
 
Keep knitting (and crocheting)

From the President – Jul 2022

Posted on by KANGWebmaster
Happy 4th of July to all. Last year at this time we were up to our waders in water from one of the wettest Springs I can remember. Now we are begging for rain. The June heat was 95+ continuously. Oh, the joy of living in Texas. I did finally get my front yard landscaping replaced. I’m really pleased with the result. Very different from what it was. My bank account has not appreciated the lack of rain, let me tell you, what with trying to keep the new landscaping alive.
The terrible thing about all this hot, sticky weather is who wants to deal with wool. Looks like I need to pull out the skill of knitting with my yarn hanging over the side of my chair not touching again given our weather. 
   
As I looked back over prior newsletters, I’m always looking for inspiration, I realized that I still have not completed the charity Afghan I started for the folks in Louisiana last year. It sits next to my knitting chair in plain sight. No out of sight, out of mind excuses. Additionally, I talked about the dozen gorgeous, unique yarn bowls donated by Sony Hartley of Knitting Lagniappe. We are so blessed to have members like Sony. Many have been used as door prizes, yet we still have some left. What do you think, should I bring some out to the next charity event? We could award them to the folks that donate the most at that event? Or raffle them off?
 
As for me, I continue to work on the Feza Baby Gradient Blanket in their Baby Hand Dyed yarn in shades of green. I’m up to 22″ on size 3 needles, so that’s only 14″ to go. The Baby Shower is looming, it’s going to be close. Just last Wednesday I attended the weekly Knit at Night gathering at Yarn Store Boutique so I would focus on the blanket. I shared with the group I send WAY too much time popping bubbles and not knitting. (Popping bubbles is Priscilla code for playing on my iPad…). YSB knitters, look forward to seeing more of me as I rush to get this completed by July 16th. I really want to get this done for the shower. 
  
I’ve made no other progress on other yarn projects. Between home repairs and Guild business my focus has been elsewhere. As you’ve already read, we are desperately working to keep the Guild viable for the 2022-2023 year. Please, please help out in any way you can. 
 
Please keep each other and our tumultuous world in your prayers. Please remember, you are each a bright spot that spreads joy and hope with each stitch.  
 
That’s all for now, here’s wishing all a wonderful, wet July.  
 
Priscilla Graham
Executive Board President
knitatnightguild@gmail.com