The Knitters’ Guild – serious knitting!

Tags

AIWCC, cardigan, Knitters Guild, knitting, Sydney

Yesterday morning I attended the monthly meeting of the Inner City Group of the Knitters’ Guild of New South Wales.

Here’s some information from the Guild’s website:

The Knitters’ Guild NSW Inc. was established to promote and encourage the disciplines of handknitting and crochet. It also encourages the maintenance of high standards in design and technique, provides the opportunity for the exchange and provision of information and education in the craft and encourages the exhibition of member’s work…

And

The Guild regularly arranges workshops and demonstrations in many disciplines including Aran Knitting, fine lace and Shetland lace knitting, Fair Isle, Crochet etc…

And

The Standards Committee has developed a series of Achievement Certificate Syllabuses in both knitting and crochet for those members who wish to improve or extend their skills and knowledge of techniques.

Sounds serious, doesn’t it? And it was. But ‘serious’ in a variety of ways. As soon as the tables and chairs were set up, it was down to the serious business of knitting! First up were official matters – electing committee members for the coming year. Important and serious but undertaken in a very relaxed, albeit proper manner with many members up for re-election.

Then there was morning tea (Australian for Britain’s elevenses or Germany’s second breakfast), a chance to look at books in the library boxes, and general mingling before Lyn gave a lovely talk about a knitting cruise she’d been on that took her from Copenhagen to New York by way of Norway, the Faroe Islands and many more places. She shared anecdotes, talked about the lovely yarn she’d acquired en route and showed items made during the various classes that had taken place on board. At the end she distributed fact sheets including places of interest and details of the various shops. You can see some super pictures and find out more over several posts here on her lovely blog Shades of Grey.

The serious business of knitting? Well, from where I was sitting, it appeared as if everyone continued working despite listening attentively to Lyn’s talk. Afterwards, there was a chance to take a closer look at her lovely acquisitions whilst others exchanged notes and compared patterns and yarn and… knitted. It was lovely to be surrounded by so many knowledgeable knitters. I know that M, my co-leader from the AIWCC Stitch ‘n’ Bitch would’ve enjoyed it immensely, too.

My serious knitting was this: Same Same but Different by Ankestrick (aka Fallmasche), a lightweight cardigan knitted top-down.

I was asked by more than one person if I was going for lunch. It turned out that people go off in small groups so I lunched with some I’d said yes to and not others – I guess I’ll just have to go back!