SMWK Holiday Knitting Drive

This year, the Seattle Men Who Knit group came together to knit 13 hats to donate to the wonderful Holly House organization!

Holly House provides gifts for underprivileged children in the Seattle area, and will be serving up to 3000 kids this year. Holly House tries to provide each child with two toys, a stuffed animal, pajamas, a holiday stocking, undergarments and socks, a hand made hat or scarf, and a blanket and board game for each family in need.

Here are some pictures of the great items that were knit by these generous knitting-guys.

Some of our favorites this year were:

The "Skull and Crossbones":

The ever-popular Koolhaas:

And the super-squishy Brioche Cap:

Every kid deserves a warm hat or scarf in the cold-and-rainy Seattle winter.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks, along with the thanks and appreciation of Holly House and all of the kids whose Christmas will be just a little warmer thanks to the generosity of these knitters.

Fall Knitting - Next Meetup 11/8

After a long indian summer here in Seattle, fall has set in, and for knitters, spinners, and wool-lovers alike, the handknits are coming out of storage!

The first annual "Knit Fit" weekend in Ballard (http://knitfit.info) was this past weekend, and, kudos to the organizers. For a first-time event, it was well organized, featured a great marketplace, and first-rate instructors from all over the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle Men Who Knit will be meeting this Thursday, November 8, at our usual place and time -- Elliott Bay Cafe on Capitol Hill from 7-9 PM.

Whether you are joining SMWK for our charity knitting drive, or you are casting on for a Christmas gift for someone special, or, even if you're just curious, and want to join us for some great conversation, please join us.

And, just a reminder, there will be NO meetup on 11/22 (Thanksgiving Day), but, we'll have a "make-up" knit night on 11/29.

Happy Knitting!

Oct 25 Meetup - Holiday Knitting Drive Information

Thursday, October 25 is our next regular 4th Thursday meetup.

Be sure to mark your calendars. In November, we will be meeting November 8th and 29th, and will not be meeting on our regular 4th Thursday date due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Be sure to join Seattle Men Who Knit for our Holiday Knitting Drive for Holly House.


Holly House provides gifts for underprivileged children in the Seattle area, and will be serving up to 3000 kids this year. Holly House tries to provide each child with two toys, a stuffed animal, pajamas, a holiday stocking, undergarments and socks, a hand made hat or scarf, and a blanket and board game for each family in need.

The items that are most needed are teen sizes, and handmade hats and scarves are sorely needed.

If you would commit to knitting a hat or scarf for a kid in need, we will be collecting finished items at our regular meetup on December 13th.

Happy Knitting!

SMWK Charity Knitting

Don't forget! Tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 11, is our normal 2nd Thursday Meetup from 7-9 at Elliott Bay Cafe on Capitol Hill. 


As the weather turns cold, and Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, let’s think about who it is we’re knitting for!

Last year some friends and I signed up to knit hats and scarves for underprivileged kids, and I would like to continue that tradition this year, and 

I would love to invite you to join me, and start a brand new “Men Who Knit” tradition.

Would you commit to knitting a hat or scarf for a kid?

I have reached out to several Seattle area charities, and will provide additional details once the charity recipients are finalized, but, since it’s already October, we should get started!

If you can knit a hat or a scarf, and bring it to our December 13 meeting, please message me directly or post on this thread.

I will collect the items at our December 13 meetup, and deliver them to the recipient charities for distribution.


What can you do?

Pick a hat or a scarf pattern sized for a kid or a young adult.

Here are a few free hat patterns you might consider:

Turn a Square by Jared Flood
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/turn-a-square

Cheeky Charlie's Hat for Guys (in kids' sizes)
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nobleknits-cheeky-charlies-hat-for-guys

Classic WW2 Watch Cap - http://www.cocoabeachyarn.com/patterns/classicwatchcap.pdf

There are countless free scarf patterns on Ravelry. Here’s a start:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#availability=free&...

Choose a superwash or an acrylic yarn. It will probably end up in a washing machine.

If you are local and would like to help, but need yarn, I’d be happy to hook you up with something from my stash. Just let me know.

Will you volunteer?

Thanks!
Michael

Meetup Thursday 9/27 @ Elliott Bay Cafe, 7-9

It is that time of the month!

Seattle Men Who Knit meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays, at Elliott Bay Cafe from 7-9 PM. If you're a beginning knitter, or an expert, or you just want to hang out with a cool group of guys and have a cup of coffee, find us in the cafe in the back corner of Elliott Bay Books on Capitol Hill.

From the SMWK Inbox

One of our followers shared this entertaining video link from Vimeo.

How to knit like an Icelandic man

This has made the rounds on Ravelry before, but if you haven't seen it, is worth a look!

Zippers Zippers Zippers

The weather is starting to turn crisp, and it's feeling like wool weather, and last night was a great SMWK meeting, as always.

Last night our good friend Jeff (sfikus from Ravelry) did a repeat of his mini-class from the Men's Fall Knitting Retreat on setting in zippers, and Daniel brought artfelt, tapestry needles, and practice zippers for everyone who wanted to learn the saddle-stitch technique for everyone who wanted to participate.

And, a warm welcome to our new SMWK-er, Alvah!

Seattle Men Who Knit are at Elliott Bay Cafe the second and fourth Thursdays of every month. We have knitters, spinners, and crocheters of all skill levels, and we welcome guys into fiber arts of any kind.

We will be knitting this Thursday 9/13!

Another Labor day and Men's Fall Knitting Retreat has come and gone.

There are only 104 knitting days left until Christmas, whether you’re knitting a gift for yourself, or someone else come and get started with us on your Winter Knitting Thus Thursday (9/13) at Elliott Bay Cafe on Capitol Hill. We get started at 7, and knit until around 9.

Seattle Men Who Knit (& Crochet & Spin) meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month at Elliott Bay Cafe (1521 10th Ave, one block east of Broadway between Pike and Pine on Capitol Hill).

See you Thursday!

Manly Knitting Night 8/9

Our regular meetup is tomorrow, August 9 from 7-9 at Elliott Bay Cafe.

Break out the hot chocolate and marshmallows!
The temperature is down 10 degrees from this weekend, so it’s the perfect time to bring out your winter knitting. Scarves! Hats!  Boxer Shorts

Seattle Men Who Knit (& Crochet &Spin) meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month at Elliott Bay Cafe (1521 10th Ave, one block east of Broadway between Pike and Pine on Capitol Hill). I hope we’ll see you there!

What are your WIPs?

What are your WIPs (Works In Progress)?

Whatever they are, bring them to share this Thursday, July 26, 7PM at Elliott Bay Cafe for our semi-monthly SMWK "Manly Knitting" night!

Men's Fall Knitting retreat is coming up soon (Labor Day Weekend!), and we're excited about it. Catch up on all of the latest news in the MKR group on Ravelry.

Check out the MKR Website, here:
http://www.mensknittingretreat.com/register-for-mfkr-2012.html

Some of the exciting events that we have planned this year are our annual excursion to Skacel HQ in Renton, a Natural Dying workshop with Kathy Hattori of Botanical Colors, and plenty of classes, workshops, and unstructured time to socialize and work on your projects!

And, of course, it's not too late to register!

SMWK welcomes crafters of all levels, and even if you've never picked up a pair of knitting needles or a crochet hook, this is a great environment to get started.

We'll see you there!

Michael K.

Knitting this Thursday!

Put it on the calendar and set your alarm! We are meeting this Thursday, 7/12 at 7PM. More spindle talk, more talk of hopes for the retreat, and more focus on getting projects complete. See ya there!

Yarn2D2 - Yarn Bombing in Bellingham

Awesome.

http://bellingham.komonews.com/news/arts-culture/761639-spotted-bellingham-r2-d2-x-wing-not-included

Knitting is cool.

Share Your Spindles - Thursday, June 28

Thursday, June 28, will be our next meet-up at Elliott Bay Cafe, from 7-9pm.

At our last meeting, one of our regulars who is a wood-working craftsman, expressed interested in learning to make his own drop spindles, so this week we will be having a drop-spindle extravaganza!

Bring your drop spindles for show and tell, or, if you're interested in learning to spin on a drop spindle, just show up. We'll have plenty of spindles and fiber to practice on!

Seattle Men Who Knit (&Crochet! &Spin!) meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month at Elliott Bay Cafe (1521 10th Ave, one block east of Broadway between Pike and Pine on Capitol Hill).

I hope we'll see you there!

2012 Men's Fall Knitting Retreat

2012 is the fifth year for the annual Men's Fall Knitting Retreat (MFKR), held each year over Labor Day weekend.

As "Seattle Men Who Knit", we're very lucky to have this event in our back yard!

Held over Labor Day weekend at the beautiful Dumas Bay retreat center in Federal Way, this event brings guys from all over the country (and internationally!) for four days of knitting, spinning, crocheting, and classes. Each year, MFKR is invited to participate in a warehouse tour of Skacel knitting, and this year will include our second Skacel design contest.

This is a great event, and is coming up soon.

2012 dates are Thursday, August 30 through Sunday, September 2.

The Seattle knitting retreat is one of many retreats that are held all over the world.

For more information, check out the Men's Knitting Retreat group on Ravelry or the official Men's Knitting Retreat website.

It's not too late to register for the fall retreat in Seattle, and it will be great fun!

Introduction to SMWK

"Seattle Men Who Knit" is a group of male knitters, crocheters, spinners, and fiber enthusiasts who meet twice a month at the Elliott Bay Cafe.

We are on Ravelry, here:
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/seattle-men-who-knit--crochet

and have recently put our calendar up on "meetup.com", here:
http://www.meetup.com/seattlemenwhoknt/

We typically meet the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month, with the one exception for 2012 being Thanksgiving!

Here's our meeting schedule for the rest of the year -


Jun 14, 28 
Jul 12, 26 
Aug 9, 23 
Sep 13, 27 
Oct 11, 25 
Nov 8, 29 (Thanksgiving is 11/22, we’re meeting the 5th Thursday in November instead) 
Dec 13, 27

Please join us at Elliott Bay Cafe at Elliott Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

For any questions, send email to seattlemenwhoknit@gmail.com.

See you soon!