Kathy Lewinski 
January was the kick-off for a new year of service knitting and an introduction to this year’s service knitting partners. This year’s partners are MoveFwd and Sanya’s Hope for Children.
We have one more month left in our Mini Skein KAL. Lots of great projects have been popping up on our Instagram and Ravelry! At our February meeting we will have a show and tell of all the finished objects.
The new registration dates are Saturday, February 5th, 2022 for members and Saturday, February 12th, 2022 for non-members.
With the end of the year fast upon us, we’ve received a few questions on how to renew your account with the new website. Here is a step-by-step guide.
Our December designer is Diane Augustin. Diane is a local designer and lives in western Wisconsin. She has been teaching professionally for ten years.
The Yarnover 2022 Brochure is now available. It’s time to start your planning for what we hope will be a fabulous weekend to reconnect April 29th – May 1st, 2022
Thanks to Betsy Preston for stepping in last minute and giving us a presentation on colors and choosing colors. I know I learned some good tricks.
I have been doing a fair amount of test knitting over the pandemic, and not only has it been fun, it’s resulted in a fair number of FOs. This is important for me, as I am a very “shiny object” type knitter with a woeful collection of UFOs.
Let’s celebrate our minis with a KAL! Starting December 1st we’ll be knitting and spotlighting patterns to showcase your minis.
We are thrilled to announce the teachers for Yarnover 2022, April 29th – May 1st 2022 at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth.
Jess Dahlberg
Newsletter Editor
Jess learned to knit in middle school and attempted (but never quite finished) a few garter stitch scarves. Years later, she picked up crochet with her best friend in law school and eventually fell back into knitting. Ever since then, she's been a daily knitter (commuting time for the win!) and has never looked back. She enjoys knitting gifts for friends and family and loves trying new techniques. (she, her, hers)
Laura Haave
Great Guild Getaway Committee Chair
Laura learned to knit in 2003 by taking a four-week class during MIT's annual January Independent Activities Period. The class project was a striped hat knit in the round, and since that time, Laura has been a big advocate of 1) helping other adults learn to knit for the first time, 2) hats as a manageable first project, and 3) circular needles for everything. She enjoys thinking about knitting and planning her next project almost as much as she enjoys actually knitting. Laura is highly motivated by knit-alongs and loves to knit in community. (she, her, hers)
Janese Evans
Yarnover Committee Chair
Bio to come. (she,her,hers)
Kate Westlund
Social Media and Technology Director
(Term 2, Year 3)
Kate became enthralled with knitting when she was a young girl and saw a fellow young person knitting on a plane. She implored her mother to teach her everything she knew, which as it turned out was only casting on and the knit stitch. Once Kate learned to purl froma beginner's kit, there was no end in sight. Kate is the type of knitter who doesn’t always swatch, which is often obvious in her finished projects.
Melissa Mintern
Marketing and Outreach Director
(Term 1, Year 2)
Melissa has been knitting for 15 years. She loves socks and sweaters. She is a new member who hopes to use her marketing background to lift up the MKG. While she isn't local to MN, she really loves the atmosphere created by the Guild. Melissa and significant other Al enjoy traveling, wherein Al graciously offers to drive so Melissa can knit in the passenger seat. (she, her, hers)
Nikky Heidel
Membership Director
(Term 1, Year 2)
Nikky was first introduced to knitting in 2012 when her visiting sister-in-law taught her the basics of casting on and the knit stitch. A few weeks later, she learned how to purl from her mother-in-law. From there, it quickly became a passion and she has taken on each new project with a desire to expand her skill and discover new techniques. She loves a good mystery (knit-a-long) and knits way more shawls than a single person can wear in a month.
Betsy Preston
Service Director
(Term 1, Year 1)
Betsy never had patience for knitting, until she found herself spending a lot of time at little league games and waiting for the last kid to emerge from the locker room after swim practice. With her background in graphic design, stranded colorwork has a natural appeal. Not to mention the practicality of an extra layer of warmth. Betsy has recently begun publishing her original hat and cowl patterns, which are available on Ravelry. (she, her, hers) (See our Service Knitting Page for more information about our current projects and donation process.)
Sandra Wright
Programming Director
(Term 1, Year 1)
Sandra’s mom taught her to knit as a pre-teen. Together they knit slippers with pompoms, exclusively. She returned to knitting off and on in her adult years, taking classes at local yarn shops to build her skills. After joining a newly formed knit group back in 2013, knitting become a daily practice. Today a sweater, pair of socks, and a gift knit are always on the go, with way too many projects in queue. (she, her, hers)
Rose Tobelmann
Treasurer
(Term 1, Year 3)
Rose learned to knit from her mother at the age of ten. She started knitting on the ends of small paint brushes. She continued to knit off and on through her teenage and young adult years and became a more avid knitter after taking a Norwegian sweater knitting class through community education. Today, knitting has become a passion and she knits for charity, herself, and her family her stash. She enjoys meeting other knitters and learning new techniques.
Kelsey Sorenson
President
(Term 1, Year 2)
Kelsey learned the knit stitch from her grandmother in middle school, and filled in the gaps enough to make lots of scarves for quite a few years. She began expanding her skills in college and is always looking to learn more. Kelsey is drawn toward projects that are seamless or include stranded colorwork. (she, her, hers)
Kelly Amoth
Vice President
(Term 1, Year 2)
A visiting friend from Seattle taught Kelly the very basics of knitting (a twisted loop cast on and just the knit stitch) in 2008 before flying home. Turning to the internet (thanks knittinghelp.com!) Kelly taught herself through a lot of trial and error. Uncontent to keep knitting the scarf she’d started as her first project, she jumped into knitting a pair of striped mittens for her non-knitter, but very knitworthy, twin sister. Twelve years later the mittens are still in her sister’s glove box, and Kelly is usually horrified when she pulls them out and sees the mistakes she made using double pointed needles for the first time. Kelly loves knitting socks and is thankful for the many months of cold weather when she gets to exclusively wear her handknits. (she, her, hers)
Kathy Lewinski
President
(Term 1, Year 2)
Kathy has always been into crafts, but didn’t teach herself to knit until after college. She really got hooked while living in San Francisco when a friend opened a knitting store. To pitch in, Kathy started knitting up fun (and odd) things for window displays, as well as teaching classes. In the last couple of years, she has started designing her own knitting patterns (many of them available for free on Ravelry!) with toys and mittens being her primary obsessions. (she/her/hers)
