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Posts Tagged ‘friendship’

Barbara Scott’s Memorial

Posted in Friendship, knitting, tagged Barbara Scott, friendship, knitting, Memorial on March 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

It was just a month ago that we remembered Barbara Scott …. she passed away on Feb 24. She and her husband Bob have been life long friends with Jean (of our knitting circle) and her husband Bob…..friends since college. I have “followed” Barbara through Jean. The memorial service was last Saturday…..I asked Jean how it went. Jean described a loving ceremony and celebration of Barbara’s life. With Jean’s permission…..

“It was a very touching service. Church had to bring in extra chairs for the overflow crowd. The minister, a woman knitter who had become a personal friend of Barbara’s, gave a lovely “sermon” entitled “A Stitch in Time” in which she referred to the strands that make up the fabric of our lives and spoke glowingly of Barbara’s love of knitting and teaching and sharing. There was a nice reception afterwards at the church and her family had changed clothes so that everyone (husband, son, daughter-in-law, two grandchildren) was wearing a sweater knit by Barbara. The walls were hung with her knit sweaters!

We then went back to the house and were able to visit with the family and old friends. I’ve saved the program to give to you on Friday. I keep thinking back to Saturday. It really was a touching tribute to her active life. Besides knitting, she was very active in her church, in water exercise programs, PEO, a prayer group, was class secretary for the class of 1958 at Cal, etc. etc. The last musical selection played at her service was “Hail to California” and those of us who knew the words were able to sing!”

Indeed a lovely tribute to Barbara’s life.

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We knit, we craft, we celebrate!!!

Posted in Birthday Celebrations, knitting, tagged Birthdays, crafting, Friday Morning Knit Group, friendship, knitting, Stitches West 2014 on March 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

It’s been more than a week since we celebrated yet another birthday in FMKG – our Friday Morning Knitting Group.This time it was Karen K…we also celebrated new craft ideas as well as sharing our Stitches West experiences. Several of us swore, including me, that we would simply window shop…but I believe but all but one of the Stitches attendees came home with at least one more project to knit. I felt really successful because I only came home with one of the four projects that I coveted. How many would I have really coveted if I wasn’t working in MaggiKnits booth? I only spent about an hour on the market floor over 3 1/2 days. Ohhhh…..I did come home with another knit book – “The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook” by Melissa Leapman. One can never have enough books….right? I will share more about my projects and this wonderful knit book in another post. Now it’s back to FMKG.

Karen…the birthday girl!

Cameron – the “universal” bag

Jan in her new woven jacket

Another view of Jan’s Jacket

We celebrate…we knit!!

Kimberly is all knitted up!

Bonnie has been crafting

Oh…so sweet!

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RIP Barbara Scott

Posted in Friendship, knitting, tagged Barbara Scott, friendship, In Memory, knitting, Master Knitter, TKGA on February 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

It is with great sadness that I share that our knitting friend Jean let me know that her dear life-long friend Barbara, master knitter, passed away this past Monday. Her bright, enthusiastic spirit stayed strong during the last few months of major illness. You may recall that I’ve mentioned Barbara a few times here on this blog. You can read more about her on this blog post celebrating her years with Knitters Guild of America (TKGA).

Jean shared this from Barbara’s husband, Bob. He said, ” I am pretty sure there are a large number of knitters in heaven who needed help and will be greeting her with open arms.” He could be right!

Barbara will be missed by many. She touched many lives.

Debby from TKGA has graciously shared these lovely photos of Barbara as well as some lovely thoughts and news about a Memoriam.

“It is sad to think that she is gone. She was an invaluable supporter of The Knitting Guild Association, one of our first members and always involved in ways to help other knitters perfect their skills. TKGA recognized Barbara at our Conference in 2007 and awarded her an Honorary Lifetime membership at that time. That is what you see in one of the photos I’ve attached. The other photo is from the TKGA 25^th Anniversary in 2010 when she was introduced again for her long-time involvement in the organization. Cast On magazine is carrying a Memoriam in our upcoming Summer issue. Her name has also been added to the TKGA Memorial Remembrance Page online where contributions are already being made in her name to benefit knitting education – something that was dear to her heart.

I have known Barbara for a long time, having worked with her on many projects for TKGA, and I will miss her!”

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Stitches West 2014

Posted in knitting, tagged Creativity, friendship, knitting, MaggiKnits, Stitches West 2014 on February 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Me (Carolyn) modeling new MaggiKnits shawl

Oh….I am so excited…it’s Stitches West time again. Many knitters and retailers will be descending upon the grounds of Santa Clara’s Convention Center Feb 20 – 23. In fact, the retailers and teachers are there today setting up to be ready for all of us possessed knitters who start arriving tomorrow. My excitement is heightened by the fact that I will be retailing with MaggiKnits again. It was so much fun last year (and previous years)….delighted that Maggie asked me to work with her again. I will get to have my “fix” with retailing in the knitting community as well as see so many old friends. I felt a lift in my spirits when I left my “day job” today knowing I was heading to the larger knitting world in the morning. Hurray!!!

You can find Maggie, Heather and me in Booth 613 at Stitches West. Come see us!

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Another Birthday Celebration

Posted in Birthday Celebrations, Friendship, knitting, tagged Birthdays, celebrations, crafting, friendship, knitting on February 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This week we celebrated Bonnie’s birthday with gifts, cheer, champagne, rain and more knitting. I am sure some of us got at least a couple of rows knit. My Honeycomb Cowl has 320 stitches so I was quite happy to get two rows knit, particularly with all the celebration. Happy, happy birthday to Bonnie!

The Birthday Girl!

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It’s done – Maurie’s Prayer Shawl

Posted in Crafting, Friendship, knitting, tagged Brown Sheep, Cotton Fleece, friendship, Lace Patterns, Prayer Shawl on February 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Maurie had a vision – she was inspired by colors from a rug/throw that she has….then she and her friends knit this prayer shawl for a friend of theirs. The brilliant colors are from Brown Sheep’s dye room….the yarn is Cotton Fleece. Note that each edge has complimentary lace edgings – two different patterns – English Lace and English Torchon Lace. Both patterns can be found at ravelry.com.

Maurie – Prayer Shawl with brilliant Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for Prayer Shawl

The Prayer Shawl is done!

English Torchon Lace

English Lace

The Prayer Shawl – Fanned

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Signature aka Friendship Quilts

Posted in Friendship, Quilting, tagged friendship, History, Quakers, Signature Quilts on January 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Because of my interest in Quakers and quilters – both part of my heritage – I recently started listening to “The Last Runaway” by Tracy Chevalier. When I heard the words “Signature Quilt”, I remembered that I intended to write about a meeting in Summer 2012. Now I share.

The meeting…… Barbara, a friend from church, shares my interest in family history and she suggested a meeting with her friend Lynda Chenoweth, who is a quilter and a researcher. We met at Lynda’s home in Sonoma and poured over the history of Philena’s quilt as well as Lynda’s two published books, and her library of genealogical resources. Whoa! Who is Philena?

In 2001 Lynda and her husband attended the Annual Petaluma Antique Faire. It was nearing the end of the day when they entered a shop and spotted a Signature quilt in a hutch in the back of that shop. Upon closer examination she could see many names on the quilt and that it was stitched in 1853. The search (which took her back east a couple of times) was on! She became a genealogist of Philena’s family and friends as she learned whose names were on the quilt. It’s a fascinating story which Lynda chronicled in Philena’s Friendship Quilt Quaker Farewell, published in 2009. Lynda blogs about Quaker Quilts.

Philena’s Friendship Quilt

Philena’s Quilt

Story of Pilena’s Quilt

Another Signature Quilt

It was a beautifully sunny day …. we continued our conversation over lunch at Della Santina in Sonoma. The last two photos are of another Signature Quilt that Lynda is researching.

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Memories of the Season – Day 11

Posted in Ceramics, Christmas, Crafting, knitting, tagged Ceramics, Christmas, family, friendship, Gifts, knitting on December 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Memory: There were two Christmas seasons way back when I was once again “possessed” to knit, knit, knit to meet the Christmas gift deadline. I am sure that many of you can remember/place the timeframe of the afghan. Yes, it was the early 70’s when I decided on Thanksgiving to my knit my grandma Elizabeth an afghan. I calculated how many rows I could knit in an hour, how many days until Christmas, and how many hours I needed to knit a day. I recall that it was at least 2 hours a day and I got it completed two days before Christmas – squeezed in some more late hours on some of those days…thus the early completion. I believe it was the next year I decided to knit matching cable ponchos for my sister, her two girls and myself. I started in July and was finished by Christmas. Alas, I don’t have a photo of those, but I did google and came up with a sample of photo of the style. It was a Vogue knitting pattern…..I am sure it is somewhere in my very large knitting collection, but oh where is that somewhere? Okay for now….visualize….two rectangle pieces knit with cables and bobbles, joined together to create poncho effect, and the resulted opening is filled with a 1 x 1 rib neckline. These ponchos were a fun knit.

Click, click memory of today: Last week I mentioned that Susanne visited us from Chico and she inspired some of to knit ear warmers as presents. (The pattern comes form Ashlee on Ravelry….Susanne used a Nicky Epstein pattern to knit the flowers.) How much fun to see this past Saturday three ear muffs in the works. Nina is knitting one with a thick and thin wool for her granddaughter. Terry finished a different version that looked great on many….well not me…with my “wild” hair I looked like was Phyllis Diller’s look alike! True to form for me I changed the pattern that Susanne used to incorporate some bling and I am half-way done with my version of Terry’s. Note: Terry added mohair in the ear area to create more warmth….quite clever.

Yes….I won’t make the Christmas deadline….but darn close! It will be a special “delivery” for those gifts. This collection of photos includes some of my treasured craft pieces.

p.s. time to start clicking those needles again….so “to press” we go!

Grandma Susanne

Susanne – ear muffs

My grandma made this tree

Nina’s version

Model Diane

Terry wanted warm ears

Mohair over the ears!

Ready for bling and fleece

Half-way there

Gift from Grandma

My ceramic ornaments

Some treasures

One of my ceramic pieces

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Memories of the Season – Celebrations

Posted in Christmas, Events, Friendship, knitting, tagged celebrations, Christmas, Cousins, Family Gatherings, friendship, friendships, Holidays, knitting, The Season on December 14, 2013| 2 Comments »

Family Gathering at Grandma and Grandpa’s

Memories: My love of gatherings started when I was young. We cousins would be seated at our card table / dining tables. In this photo, taken in the living room of Grandma and Grandpa’s basement house, there were seven of us cousins and two of our aunts. The age range in Dad’s family is interesting to say the least! One of our aunts was born a couple years before the arrival of the first two grandchildren and our youngest aunt was born in the midst of the next three grandchildren and a couple years before cousin Diane and me .

Memories just created from Friday, December 13, annual celebration. We, the Friday morning knitting workshop (FMKW) group , have celebrated for years and this year our group numbered 17 sans 1 who had dental emergency…we missed Karen K. We dress up, we toast, we eat, we enjoy the years of friendship, we gift special gifts and we “white elephant” gift. Our “white elephant”version allows one to bump once during a round….everyone wanted Jan’s gift choice but it was so beautiful no one wanted to be “mean”…although I really thought about it. The gift that Connie received – a capricorn lobster stuffed with a skein of sock yarn caused much laughter.

We met at a new venue for us this year, Solano Bar and Grill on Solano Ave. There were many things that worked well for our size group….we preordered a few days from a banquet menu, we had a semi-private room which really accommodated the wonderful noise that we create, the service was great….. we all had a great time. Cheers to this wonderful season!

p.s. tried to present photos in order of happenings!

Karen – Handknit sweater jacket

We knit

Wetoast

Party Shoes…on our way to lunch

Ellen – Beautiful scarf

Ellen and Jean

Christmas/Holiday 2013

Janie

Debra’s gift

“Let me enterain you”

Cameron’s gift

Connie’s gift = much glee

Enjoying Connie’s gift

Connie

Ellen

Patricia and Rachell

Patricia

Sheri and Sarah

Sarah, Karen H, Ellen

Karen H

Sheri

Bonnie

Merle and Jan

Cameron and Kimberly

Purple Mohair

Jean

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Memories of the Season – Day 7

Posted in Ceramics, Christmas, Crafting, knitting, tagged Christmas, crafts, friendship, Gifts, Glass Fusion, Memories on December 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Carolyn painted and glazed – a gift that came back to me years later!

Memory: It’s the early 1970’s…..it was a family affair. My mom, grandmother, sister and I spent many sessions at the ceramic shop. We painted Christmas decorations, trees, flower pots, canisters…you name it and we probably painted it.

Last week I took my first Glass Fusion Class.