This April, The Knitting Guild of America held its National Convention. So, I left Blue Earth (home of the Jolly Green Giant), hopped a plane in Rochester, MN (home of the Mayo Clinic), and off I went to Atlanta, GA! In answer to your unasked questions, YES! We do have a huge statue of the Jolly Green Giant in a park in Blue Earth! We even have huge, huge red and white striped scarf for his neck during Christmastime! Seneca Foods, parent company of Jolly Green, is here and our surrounding countryside grows, cans, and packs most of the green peas, corn and carrots that arrive in your grocery stores. Seneca provides a lot of seasonal work for students and year-round employment for many.
BACK TO OUR STORY...
I decided to attend the WHOLE convention, from the Thursday Pre-Convention seminars to the Sunday night Trunk Show Knit-In. I even asked My Mom to come along, especially since she is a Knitting Goddess and can explain all the difficult parts to me. My Mom said she too would leave Blue Earth and the Jolly Green Giant and venture forth to Atlanta. Since I haven't read anything in the blogs about the convention, I thought I would take some time to let you in on my experience.
THURSDAY
Creating Intarsia from the World Around You, Kay Summers
What a delightful lady! She takes pictures, artwork, photos, and even her daughter's Christmas memories and designs intarsia sweaters from them. She makes incredibly intricate designs and has broken down the process into a series of truly managable steps - she believes anyone can do it, and by the end of the workshop, we believed it, too!
BEST QUOTE: Kay has a degree in art history and a great deal of work experience in interior design which she left to raise her family. After reciting all of this, Kay smiled and assured us, "I am only DULL on PAPER!" And this is very true--Kay is like champagne come to life.
BEST HINTS: I think TKGA would revoke my membership if I published too much information that might belong personally to the teachers, but I think I could divulge a few hints. Kay doesn't use bobbins. She cuts everything into 1-2 yard lengths and just runs her fingers through the strands to untangle them! She taught us a weaver's knot that is so strong and so small that it is easy and clean to add more yarn if you run out in an area. Kay's sweaters are neat as a pin on the back and breathtaking on the front. She did an intarsia that ran across the entire sweater from side to side and across the back in a design of a bookshelf with all the books, all the book titles in incredible detail. She added ribbons as bookmarks and found for buttons tiny ceramic books! Amazing, amazing.
History of Knitting, Janet Johnson Stephens
I love knitting history. Did you know the American Red Cross has reissued their World War II soldier sock pattern in a little kit? It comes in a little tin box with the pattern, olive drab wool yarn, and needles.
Janet started with the first knitting -- genre paintings of the Holy Family engaged in everyday activities, including the Madonna knitting in the round on five needles! Socks for Jesus!
Janet warned us that until very recently, many textile researchers misattributed knitting samples to weaving. (sigh)
In 1571, in order to encourage the home knitting industry, a proclamation was issued in England that everyone over the age of 6 must wear a hat on Sunday. Knitted, felted hats became very popular. Knitting guilds of the time required samples that demonstrated the members' proficiency be submitted, and many of the wonderful pieces on display in British museums are the result.
Janet also showed us her own collection of historical knitting and knitting tools. Oh, I love old needles! She had celluloid needles from the 1930's, sterling silver needles, tortoiseshell needles -- just wonderful.
Threads: A Journey with Laura Bryant, Laura Bryant
Have you seen Prism Yarns? Yummy, right? Laura Bryant designs and hand-dyes Prism Yarns from her workshop in Florida. She has had an amazing journey, but if you want to know all about it, you'll have to tune in later in the week...I took a six-hour color class from her and I have the swatches to prove it!
To be continued...
YAH! Andrea is back!! :) Thank you for updating. I guess begging really does pay off! ;)
First, thank you to your hometown for growing all my yummy veggies. I eat the grean giant variety. Who can resist his green charm?
Once again, the convention sounds great! I am having a light bulb moment with the intarsia hint of cutting the yarn into manageable lenghths! DUH! brilliant! I will be remembering that!
xoxo
Posted by: sandy | May 30, 2004 at 08:22 AM