Last night was the knitters guild meeting — very well attended with many new knitting peeps! We had a couple of guests. The first was Jennifer Castellanos who represented Project Little Lambs. They need 200 baby afghans by August 1. The afghans will go to babies and children whose families have been victimized by domestic violence. The brochure shows how you can sign up to knit an afghan or donate money. This is a worthy cause and the afghans do not need to be large or expensive.
Contact info for Project Little Lambs: Jennifer Castellanos, 612-335-2759; or Jennifer.castellanos@k-a-c.com
Our second guest was the aforementioned (in an earlier post) Kari Cornell, co-author of Retro Knits.
OMG! What a fun book! She brought the original source material for us to look at — several people recognized some of the sweaters and patterns from their own childhoods (“My mom made my brother that sweater!”). The patterns have been re-worked with yarn weights rather than the way they were originally written: for a particular yarn brand. Just as many companies today put out pattern books to support their yarn, so did the companies of yesteryear. Most of those companies are gone. It was amazing to see styles from the past that are stylish today: shrugs and wraps, etc. One observation: the designers were unknown…no names listed anywhere. Now, we seek out particular, well-loved designers.
So, I bought the book as I expected and Surly, your signed copy will be in the mail soon! 
Is there a direct website for the afghan project? It was difficult to read the brochure so I am not sure how to contact Jennifer. Thanks!
Comment by Kate/Massachusetts — May 21, 2008 @ 7:45 am
Ah, yes. I have battered Reynolds, Columbia Minerva, and Spinnerin books from the 60’s, when I started to knit. I actually use them occasionally for inspiration, updating some of the details.
Comment by Astrid — May 21, 2008 @ 7:52 am
And perhaps you didn’t notice that one of those new peeps wrote out her dues check after Mary showed us the *** warmer she picked up in Croatia!
😉
Comment by soxanne — May 21, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
Susan- I have a small collection of vintage Fair Isle patterns- those haven’t changed much.
Why do the male models always look constipated?
Comment by Lorraine — May 21, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
I was bummed to miss the meeting. I had a Spanish class. At least I learned how to say “to knit”. And then I promptly forgot it.
Comment by twinsetellen — May 21, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Oooh — I have a present!
Comment by surly — May 21, 2008 @ 10:28 pm