July Meeting Wrap-Up and Upcoming Events!

Amy Detjen July 2025 Meeting Speaker

We are already half-way through summer! Amy Detjen gave us a wonderful overview of two-color knitting, along with facts about Shetland knitting, beautiful photos of Shetland (17 visits! WOW!) and their wonderful knitters. Her enthusiasm and joy of knitting are inspiring! The book that she co-wrote with Meg Swansen is available in our collection at Textile Center: Knitting With Two Colors by Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen, published by Schoolhouse Press. Who else would like to take a colorwork class with Amy? Something to think about for the guild….

As summer winds down we will be asking for volunteers for upcoming events: volunteers for Yarnover, demonstrating in the booth at the Minnesota State Fair, and the Fall Festival at Galewood Farms in Minnetrista. The link for volunteering for Yarnover is below – stay tuned for the State Fair and Fall Festival sign-ups.

Registration continues for Yarnover 2025! The website has been updated with videos from teachers on classes. Go to the website for the full calendar of events, information regarding hotel registration, and more. Click on the below link for the full weekend schedule and all the information you need!

2025 Yarnover Knitting Event

We are excited about the lineup of Marketplace vendors. We have many favorites returning as well as many new vendors. Vendors are displayed on the Marketplace Vendor page. More vendors will be added as Yarnover approaches.

This year, Yarnover has not one but TWO contests to cast on for! Be sure to start your shawl and/or mittens as our wonderful sponsors have donated fantastic prizes for the contests. Please keep our generous sponsors in mind when planning your next project.

And your Yarnover committee continues to add to the weekend fun. The Midwest Machine Knitters Collaborative will be coming to demonstrate Friday night at the Kick-off Party. Come watch our sister Textile Center fiber enthusiasts in action!

Visit the Yarnover webpage for more information about the weekend activities, classes, and shopping opportunities. And be sure to register soon – you don’t want to miss out on anything!

Yarnover Volunteers Needed!

2025 Yarnover Weekend is Friday, October 3rd and Saturday, October 4th. Volunteers are a crucial part of a successful event; we have various positions we’re looking to fill on both days. Whether you’re looking to volunteer at your first Yarnover or you’ve been volunteering with us for years, we’re thrilled to have you!

This year we’re asking volunteers to tell us 1) the total hours you’d like to volunteer and 2) the time periods that you are able to volunteer for each day. This will allow us maximum ability to schedule volunteers where they are needed most, based on your availability. While we try to keep your preferences in mind for location / task, our aim is to maximize the number of unique volunteers helping at Yarnover. This may mean you do not get your first choice.

Fill out the survey to volunteer. If you have any questions about volunteering at Yarnover, please reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator, Jess Dahlberg, at yarnovervolunteers@knitters.org.

We can’t run Yarnover without volunteers, so thank you for your interest in volunteering for us!

Service Knitting Updates!Service Knitting for the Minnesota Community

 WE DID IT! Thank you for the 107 pairs of mittens, from March through July 2025

Let’s keep going! We are in need of toddler / child size mittens, as well as all other items for our service knitting partners.

Choose 1 of 2 free patterns, and customize the mittens with fun colors, stripes, texture, embroidery or whatever suits you!

 Purl Soho’s Arched Gusset Mittens

 Tin Can Knits’ World’s Simplest Mittens

We’ll do a photo show and tell at the August meeting. Send a picture of your creations to service@knitters.org or remember to include your name with your donation, and the service committee will take a photo.

Donate completed mittens any time up to July 31 (donation information below). If the two challenge patterns don’t excite you, please choose another pattern and help us meet our goal of 100!

New! Added Sip & Knit Date and Location

Join us at a new, additional Sip & Knit Saturday location! We will be at Unmapped Brewery the 3rd Saturday of each month from 10 am to Noon. Knit and socialize with your fellow MKG members! Service Knitting donations are accepted as well.

Unmapped Brewery 

Date: August 16th -10 am to Noon

Address: 14625 Excelsior Blvd, Minnetonka 55435

Venn Brewing

Date: August 2nd: 10 am to Noon

Address: 3550 East 46th Street, Minneapolis 55406

 

Yarn Store of the Month: Fiber Lab in Menomonie, WI 

Kris and Trent Isaacson took over the Thread Lab in Menomonie, Wisconsin and re-opened the doors as Fiber Lab on June 1, 2023. Kris is the face of the shop and Trent is, as he puts it, the not-so-silent, sarcastic, and supportive partner. For Kris, owning the Fiber Lab is fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Kris has been a lifelong textile and fiber enthusiast. She started hand-sewing clothes for her Barbies and stuffed animals as a little girl from scrap pieces of fabric. At around the age of 8 Kris also took up her first pair of knitting needles. She learned how to knit by reading a vintage booklet — it belonged her mom and was probably from the 1950s or 60s — that had illustrated instructions on how to knit, crochet and tat. In the 9th grade Kris completed her first sweater, an Aran style cardigan, for which she won grand prize at the Le Sueur County Fair in Minnesota. She has since gone on to win more blue ribbons  at county fairs and even a couple of third place ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair.

Check out all of the great kits on the site and the locally dyed yarns from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Watch for classes as another great reason to take the trip to Menomonie to visit the Fiber Lab.

Check out the website and all of their unique yarns and awesome fabric for those of you who also quilt.

Minnesota Knitters Guild Wall at Textile Center:

Keeping Minnesota Warm for 40 Years!

 

Be sure to pop into Textile Center to view our fun MKG wall with some of your beautiful service knitting on display! Thank you to Deb Parker and her Service Knitting Committee for the creative, fun way to exhibit our mittens. The guild wall will be on display from July 8th through September 7th. Thank you for all of your service knitting donations!

To verify times and dates for Knitting Around Town events, please check the MKG calendar on our website. I hope you are all enjoying the best of summer weather and travel knitting like I have!

 

Cheers –

Meg Schmidt Duncan

President, Minnesota Knitters Guild

 

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Our spinning demonstrations are sponsored by Get Bentz Farm. 

Theresa Bentz of Get Bentz Farm, Northfield, MNAfter growing up in the city and suburbs, the owners of Get Bentz Farm felt a need to be closer to nature and to be more connected to where their food came from. 

In 2014, they found a farm house for sale and later that year they decided on and purchased their first two Icelandic sheep. 

Once they had a good size flock they began marketing the amazing meat and wool. Initially, they found that many mills in the area do not process dual coated long wools, which slowed down their growth in yarn, but they did find a great market for wool filled bedding products and batting for spinning. 

Today, they have a variety of yarns, batting and roving as well as finished products like dryer balls, sheepskins, and wool bedding. Most recently, they opened their own Get Bentz Wool Mill as well as their own line of yarn – Badgerface Fiber.

Jean

Vice President

(Term 1, Year 1)

Jean Gross has had an interest in all things fiber since, at the age of 5, her mother gave her fabric scraps to keep her occupied. She is fluent in knitting, crocheting, tatting, embroidery, sewing, quilting and spinning, thanks to her mother, Janice, and grand mother, Clara. But Jean’s favorite thing to do with fiber is help others to explore its possibilities. She has taught at the Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Library, Freedom for Youth, the Des Moines Knitting Guild, Shepherds Market, local yarn shops and also teaches privately. Jean has served on several non-profit boards including FiberSmiths of Iowa and the Des Moines Knitting Guild. Jean lives in north central Iowa with her husband, Dave, and faithful canine, Rolo. She has published several knitting patterns.

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jtgross

Andi

Newsletter Editor

Andi (she/her) learned to knit from her mom over 40 years ago. She remembers going to MKG meetings in college when they were held at St. Kate’s, her alma mater. She knit on-and-off again for a while, and really dove back into the craft in 2015. She is also a quilter. She enjoys traveling and her husband is happy to stop at a yarn store or to look at sheep while on vacation. She and her husband live in the St. Paul area, both enjoy their respective crafts, and also going to the State Fair multiple times a season.

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Judy

Yarnover Committee Chair

From one of her mother’s friends, Judy learned to knit a pair of “paputki,” which are simple Polish house slippers.  Somehow this gave her the confidence to knit her boyfriend a cabled pullover sweater for Valentine’s Day which was graciously accepted and has lived in the bottom of the bottom drawer of said boyfriend’s dresser for fifty plus years.  Though she has made a few sweaters since then, she mostly knits blankets, scarves, hats and toys.

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Ravelry

Thyra

Marketing Director

I grew up watching my mom knit. She tried to teach me as a kid and I never enjoyed it, but after finishing college I found myself with extra time and no hobbies. In the last 20 years I have dove in all the way and love to learn new and challenging techniques. As my fiber love has grown, I have also started raising sheep in order to go from sheep to sweater. I love interacting with the sheep who have big personalities and learning to process and spin the wool has been a great adventure.

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Melissa

Technology Director

(Term 1, Year 3)

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)

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oneoftheminterns

Nikky

Membership/Programming Director

(Term 2, 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.

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FroggyGirl72

Deb

Service Director

(Term 1, Year 1)

Deb learned to knit in the early 1980s as a happy by-product of Hill Street Blues fandom. For a couple of years, she and a gaggle of other students met weekly to watch the show, and one of those friends was always knitting. As it is with so many knitters, that friend was enthused to teach someone else. Deb has been knitting ever since and particularly enjoys playing with colorwork and knitting sweaters. She is constantly astonished at the skill, enthusiasm, and generosity of MKG members. (she, her, hers) (See our Service Knitting Page for more information about our current projects and donation process.)

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Open Position

Programming Director

(3-year term)

This position is currently open. If you are interested in volunteering for the Guild board, please contact our president, Kelly, at the email me link below.

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Rose

Treasurer

(Term 2, 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.

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tobel

Kendra

Secretary

(Term 1, Year 2)

Kendra lives in the Twin Cities and learned to hand knit from her mother in middle school. In the last few years, she has also learned crochet and machine knitting. Kendra enjoys knitting items to donate and challenging herself with new techniques. She prefers knitting in the round with colorful yarn. (she, her, hers)

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Meg

President

(Term 1, Year 1)

Meg grew up surrounded by makers. Her mom, a master quilter, former Home Ec teacher, and 4-H club leader in Duluth, taught her to sew, embroider, and cook. She won a trip to the State Fair as the Dress Review Princess at 13! Another MKG member taught her to knit continental style 15 years ago. Meg can’t sit still and NOT be knitting, embroidering, rug hooking or sewing. Favorite thing to knit? Mittens! She loves taking classes and learning new things – absolutely amazed and inspired by all the amazing knitters in the guild! (she, her, hers)

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finchgirl

Kathy

Webmaster

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)

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katbaro