At the October Guild meeting the need for people to fill leadership positions was discussed.  Without volunteers for these position it is likely the Guild will fold at the end of 2019.  

The Open Positions are:

• President:  Serve as leader at all guild meetings and Board meetings; responsible for the overall management of the guild.  This position was vacant in 2019.  
• Treasurer:   Rosemary P will meet with the new treasurer to hand over all the key information and explain her duties
• Webmaster:  Develop and maintain the guild’s website which includes
  o Weekly tasks (PayPal reports)
  o Monthly tasks (Uploading newsletter, calendar, photos, events, etc.)
  o Yearly tasks (Update board information, registration forms) as well as “as needed” tasks
  - Time Requirement: 5 hours per month and attend board meetings.  The website has been moved to a new webhost (Weebly) in 2019 and is easy to maintain.  Laura O. has documented the new  website and is happy to provide a hand-off for the transition.   
• Newsletter Editor:  Rebekah would be happy to meet with the new editor to explain the whole process. She currently creates the newsletter using Adobe InDesign, but you can use any program you have access to and are comfortable with and should feel free to make it your own. Previous editors have used Microsoft Publisher, Word, and other programs.
• Monthly Program Coordinator
  - Coordinate the programs for monthly meetings
  - Survey members to gather topics of interest and volunteers to present the program
  - Time Requirement: 2 to 5 hours per month and attend board meetings
• Weekend Workshop Coordinator:   Coordinate weekend workshops
  - Lead the committee to plan and run workshops
  - Time Requirement: 1 to 4 hours per month preparing minutes and attend board meeting

Contact us for additional information and/or to be put in touch with the current board members.  

August Meeting Ice Cream Social and Charity Yarn Giveaway
Tuesday, August 13, 2019 6:45 – 8:45 pm
Welles Park: 2333 W Sunnyside Ave 

In addition to having ice cream - come and pick up some yarn for charity knitting.  

A few months ago the guild received an email from Traci D, who inherited her mother’s stash a few years ago and was looking for somewhere to donate the yarn for use in charity projects. She and her husband will be bringing it to our August meeting. 

We hope you can make it to the meeting to pick up some yarn. You can bring your finished charity knitting projects to our October meeting.

The Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal is raising money to bring an MRI scanner to the Shetland islands. Over 600 patients from Shetland must travel south to have an MRI scan each year. MRI diagnostics are used to diagnose and monitor a wide variety of conditions and the number of patients who need them is steadily increasing.

Harriet Middleton designed Harriet’s Hat as part of the fundraising effort, and it has been a huge hit with knitters in Shetland and here in the US. Having had to travel from Shetland to the UK mainland every 3 months over 2 years for a scan, she knows first hand how beneficial the islands having their own scanner will be. That is what inspired her to use her knitting to draw the community together to support it. Not only is this a chance to support a great cause, it’s also a truly beautiful hat.

You can purchase just the pattern or kits in several colorways directly from MRI Maakers. There are also links on the site to purchase the kit from several US yarn shops.  

Pattern may be purchased here for £4.00 (via paypal)

​Here are a few of the groups we are supporting in 2019:

• Cancer Wellness Center 
• The Snuggles Project 
• The Seaman’s Church Institute 
• Wool-Aid 

​Please save your donations and bring them to our October meeting (traditionally our Charity Month). We will then deliver the items to the charity programs towards the end of the year. As always, if you know of a charity that needs knitted items or one to which you have donated to in the past, please contact us!

On April 21–22, a group of guild members enjoyed a trip to Galena, Illinois, stopping at several yarn shops along the way.

The first shop we visited was Knit One Purl Two in Rockford, Illinois. If you are ever in the Rockford area, this is a must-visit. In addition to a wide range of yarns, they shop features a nice warm fireplace and couches to sit and knit. They were having a sale on kits, which many guild members took advantage of.
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Next on our list was Wall of Yarn in Freeport, Illinois. A centerpiece of that shop was a rack of self-striping sock yarn by Biscotte, with a large banner showing how each colorway knits up. If there was a skein you missed, check out www.biscotteyarns.com. The two men who own the shop were so kind and helpful — they recommended a great local restaurant for lunch, and then ran over with some of our purchases.
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Over lunch at Wagner House in Freeport, we decided to add one more yarn shop to the schedule. Several shoppers we ran into on our trip mentioned Yarn Soup in Dubuque, Iowa, just twenty minutes past Galena. This was another great shop, which we kept busy until closing time.

We ended the day with a bit of shopping around Galena, but saved the last shop for Sunday morning. April 22 was FiberWild’s very last day of business, but there was still plenty of yarn left and great deals to be had. The sales are still going on at www.fiberwild.com.

Cars packed to the brim with yarn, we made our way back home on Sunday afternoon. I think only a few of us had the stamina for the last stop at Elgin Knit Works, so maybe another day trip in that direction is in order!