Tempe Knitters realize January is one long month, Tuesday January 17th, 5 pm

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/1/0/2/b/event_12064139.jpegHello everyone! So here's the announcement for the next meetup:

Tuesday, January 17th, 5 - 7:30 ish PM !

The Yankee Swap is NEXT WEEK! I can hardly wait! Oh, jeez, I need to put something together ... where's my stash????

So here are the rules of WHAT TO BRING :

• Make a nice copy of your favorite pattern. Your pattern CANNOT BE A COPY OF A COPYRIGHTED PATTERN, UNLESS YOU HAVE PURCHASED THE COPY OF THE PATTERN THAT YOU WILL BE INCLUDING. There are lots of great free patterns out there!
• Put together enough yarn to complete the pattern. This is very important. YOUR GIFT MUST INCLUDE ENOUGH YARN TO COMPLETE THE PATTERN.
• NEW RULE: The value of the total of the yarn that you include with your pattern should be in the $10-$15 range. Do not exceed the $15 limit. Why is this important? Keep reading!
• Bring your gift to the Meetup and play along with the rest of us!

Here are the rules of YANKEE SWAP :

• Everyone who brings a gift bag will get a randomly picked number. I will be providing 1 extra gift to swap, the reason for which will be seen later.
• We will start with #1 or whoever has the lowest number.
• You get to pick a gift. If you are the second person (or anyone else after the first person), you can either choose a new gift or steal someone else's.
• If your gift is stolen, you can either pick a new gift or steal someone else's. NO STEALING BACK WHAT WAS JUST STOLEN FROM YOU.
• At the very end, the person who was #1 (or the first person to choose a gift) will have a choice: either keep the gift bag she has, or choose the remaining gift that will be on the table (because I brought an EXTRA, remember?)
• The one remaining gift will be the raffle prize for this week!
• FISTFIGHTS WILL BE MOVED TO THE PARKING LOT. And then I may very well just steal whatever was so cool in the first place. Hee hee!

So remember, YOUR GIFT BAG MUST, MUST, MUST INCLUDE ENOUGH YARN TO COMPLETE THE PATTERN.

And I know you have a question: WHADDYA MEAN, THE “VALUE” OF THE YARN SHOULD BE BETWEEN $10-$15??

Okay look, we're all yarn snobs. Don't deny it. Even you. This yarn swap is an opportunity to find something marvelous that you may never have thought to knit with, or to find a new pattern you never thought of trying. THIS IS NOT AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET RID OF SOME CRAP YARN YOU'D NEVER KNIT WITH IN THE FIRST PLACE.

BANNED YARNS INCLUDE: Red Heart SuperSaver. Red Heart Fiesta. Red Heart Heart and Sole. Red Heart ANYTHING. That Peaches and Cream kitchen cotton stuff. Anything from Wal-Mart.

Let's face it, if you thought it was lousy yarn, why would you give it to fellow knitter? Please think about this when putting your swap gift together! For yarn ideas, I would visit a local yarn store and look around. Even at a LYS there's good yarn at a nice price point that would work well, such as Malabrigo worsted or Cascade worsted (around $11/skein), Poems worsted, Debbie Bliss Sublime or Cashmerino.... Ravelry has lots of single skein patterns. Malabrigo worsted is a group favorite and has almost 250 yards which is great for neck wear and fingerless gloves. Felted animals, bowls, or small bags made out of Cascade worsted is also a good idea.

If you've been thinking about attending but haven't yet, please do come! We're all quite friendly and this group exists to help others with their current projects!

If you're a brand-new knitter ,-- that is, if you've never picked up needles before, we recommend visiting one of the local yarn stores or one of the big-box craft stores for beginner's classes. I highly recommend learning from a knitting master, which I am not (yet)! If this isn't your style, I actually learned how to knit from www.knittinghelp.com and Knitting for Dummies! It can be done!

Please reply to scottish_valkyrie@yahoo.com for any questions!