Submitted by, Nancy Allen, Past President
The GBKG Fall season kicked off on September 17 with a slide show of the inspiring knit and crochet creations members have made this summer. Thank you to those who submitted pictures of your work and to Cynthia Doherty who put the slide show together.
BUSINESS MEETING
President, Cynthia Doherty, opened the meeting at 10:30 a.m. and brought members up to date:
Programs: we will remain virtual at least through the April 2022 meeting.
Website: gbkg.org is now the place to go:
All program information and zoom links
Workshop information registrations
Membership form
Show and Tell pictures i
Community Outreach: What and How
Alice Gray gave the Community Outreach report for Shelley Leahy, Community Outreach Coordinator. In 2021, members have thus far contributed:
55 Prayer Shawls for Brigham and Women’s Hospital
12 stockings and 12 garters for interpreters at Plimoth Patuxet
1000+ items for the Newborn Baby Unit of Boston Medical Center and for the Knitting Connection which helps people in need warm clothing in the Boston, MA area
Please contact Shelley Leahy shelleyleahy525@gmail.com if you have questions, items to contribute or need yarn. Shelley will be delivering the 2021 contributions in mid-November.
GREEN MOUNTAIN SPINNERY PROGRAM
September 17, 2021
Kate Salomon, guide for our virtual tour, explained the mill was founded by members of a book group concerned about the decline of dairy farms in rural Vermont. To help sustain small farms, they created a market for locally produced wool with the founding of Green Mountain Spinnery. This year, celebrating their 40th anniversary, the worker-owned cooperative in Putney, Vermont remains true to its original goals. They purchase fiber—alpaca, mohair, wool and organic cotton—sourced from U.S. growers, employ environmentally sound processes, use vintage equipment, and supply knitters, crocheters, and weavers with yarns free of chemicals to bleach, shrink-proof, or moth-proof.
Kate walked us through the mill explaining the many process and machinery involved in scouring, carding, blending, spinning, steaming, plying, coning, and washing the wool. Finally the hanks of yarn are twisted into skeins by hand using a simple wall mounted hook and labeled.
The one problem? Spending time with Kate in the mill store made this member ache to squeeze the yarn, sniff the particularly sweet aroma of nature fibers, and paint with different colored skeins to plan new projects. The sample garment knit from patterns exclusive to Green Mountain inspired our imaginations.
The solution? Kate’s knowledgeable perspective on yarn making and warm invitation has surely sparked the wish of many GBKG members to visit the mill in Putney, VT. There could not be a better time to do so than October 2-3, 2021 when Green Mountain Spinnery will celebrate fall with a Pop-Up Fiber Festival in their parking lot.