6:30pm: Meet and Greet, Sign In, Get Organized, etc.

    7:00pm: Call to Order [Evelyn Van Orden, President]

    Approval of January Minutes [Marsha Stoddard, Secretary]

    Thanks for Treats [Cathy Wacker, Hospitality]

    Treasurer's Report [Cindy Vogel, Treasurer]

    Philanthropy Report [Judy Gregory, VP Philanthropy]

    Announcements

    History of Jewel City Knitters Guild [Evelyn Van Orden]
    Location Committee Report [Judy Gregory, Chair]

    Program Planning [Evelyn Van Orden and Marsha Stoddard]
    Break

    Show and Share

    9:00pm: Adjourn

        1. The minutes for the January meeting were posted on the website, and a hardcopy was available for review at the meeting.

    B. Treasurer's Report    Cindy Vogel, Treasurer

        1. The balance in our treasury is $815.24 (plus interest).  Evelyn reminded us that we had budgeted $25 for a cake for the February meeting to celebrate JCK’s ninth year. That figure has not been included in this balance.

    C. Thanks for Treats   Cathy Wacker, Hospitality

        1. Cathy thanked Evelyn for the beautiful cake and Jerri Thomson for the heart cookies for the meeting. Evelyn read a card that was on the table near the cake, and it was a Happy 10 Years to JCK but it was not signed. This was actually our 9-year celebration. Thank you to someone for the kind thoughts.

        2. Thanks as always to Cathy for all her work organizing and reminding people to bring our delicious food each month.

    D. Philanthropy Report    Judy Gregory, VP Philanthropy 

        1. Judy reported that she is about to send a box to Afghans for Afghanistan of wool things: 9 pairs of socks and a sweater for ages 7 – 18, and 5 beautiful afghans of pieces and squares that some of us made and Judy joined together.

        2. Jerri Thomson announced that Knots of Love, which donates thousands of chemo caps a year to hospitals, will be holding a barbeque to thank their donors. This event will be held in Tustin (Orange County) on March 24. Jerri hopes to attend this event, so if you are interested also, she will be happy to carpool. Jerri’s phone is 818-790-8440.

    E. Announcements

        1. Judy Gregory reported that Wild Fibers, a yarn store in Santa Monica, is looking for test knitters. If we are interested we should contact the shop.

        2. Evelyn said that our July meeting will fall on the actual day of July 4th. She asked us to consider whether we as a group will want to just cancel that meeting or want to re-schedule.

        3. Jerri Thomson reported that our new member Marie Benes wanted us all to know that currently there is a sale at Michaels on Simply Soft, one of the highly-recommended yarns for Knots of Love projects. Thank you, Marie, for letting us know.

        4. Bonnie James won a beautiful high-quality wooden yarn swift at our Holiday Raffle. She brought it and will continue to bring it to all our meetings so that we can use it to wind any yarn we might have.

        5. Evelyn said that years ago JCK had elections and voted in the current 4 officers. Since then, Cindy has become the treasurer. But Evelyn then offered that if any members would like to hold one of these offices, please speak up. Marsha also agrees with that and would love to relinquish the secretary spot for anyone else willing and interested in doing it!

    F. History of Jewel City Knitters Guild   Evelyn Van Orden

        1. Evelyn, with help from Judy, told some of the history of how our guild started. In fall of 2002 Evelyn attended the Foothill Knitters’ Guild meeting in Glendora and felt it was too far away. She wished there were a local group to attend. She began teaching at Needle in a Haystack in January of 2003, where one day she encountered Judy Gregory, who was in the shop with her small children. Ruth had on a beautiful knit sweater, done of course by Judy. After admiring the sweater, Evelyn and Judy struck up a conversation and spoke of the need and desire for a local guild. The two of them decided to form a knitters’ guild here. In February, 2003, a planning meeting was held at Joselitos restaurant in Montrose and was attended by 7 women. They adopted some simple by-laws from TKGA(The Knitters’ Guild of America and our parent guild). They wanted the group to focus on philanthropy, as many other groups don’t. They also wanted to avoid the dues required by TKGA and many other guilds. In March they met at the La Crescenta library, and 3 people attended.

        2. Then Evelyn found a room in the basement at Citibank in Montrose, which became our meeting place for several years. They required $25 month rent, so we collected money each week in a kitty to pay the rent. We held a number of fundraisers during our time there.  We had several garment sales, using a company that brought designer clothes which we sold and the proceeds were split with JCK. These events were held on a Harvest Market day in Montrose, and Evelyn got us a booth in which to do this clothing sale and also sell our own hand-made items. We made enough money so that our treasury amounted to several thousand dollars. We also held several Holiday Potluck parties at Citibank. We held several Saturday all-day work days where we and sometimes quilters from the quilt shop across the street made quilt squares for blankets for Painted Turtle children’s camps, as well as working on our other charity donations.

         3. Unfortunately, the only access to the room was down some very steep, poorly-lit steps, a very undesirable situation for us. So then Evelyn, with her many contacts, found us a free room at the Sparr Heights Community Center in Montrose. It was a great place to meet, and we met there for several years. Among the activities at the center was a free lunch fed to senior citizens each day. Each year we thanked the center for allowing us to meet there by holding a Holiday Cookie Party, where each senior got a plate of homemade goodies and a little homemade ornament or small gift. Eventually the Center changed management and decided to charge us rent for the space at the center. As the amount was way more than we wanted to pay, we looked around for a different meeting space. Cathy Wacker very generously and kindly inquired at her church and found us a free room there, where we have met for at least 3 years. Unfortunately the access to this room is a very dangerous and steep flight of steps, making it quite difficult for a number of our members to attend the meetings.

        4. Judy Gregory and Jerri Thomson are looking into 3 or 4 potential new meeting sites (see below). Thanks so much to Judy and Jerri for all their efforts on our behalf!!

        5. Over these 9 years our group has grown and expanded, gaining new members from one of our sponsors, Needle in a Haystack, as well as from the JCK website, which was very generously made and is maintained for us by Evelyn’s husband Mark. Thank you ever so much, Mark, for your years of dedicated service donated to our group!! And thanks also to Evelyn for presiding over and leading our group all this time.

        6. We then had a delicious decorated cake, purchased by Evelyn, and cookies from Jerri, in honor or our ninth anniversary.

    G. Location Committee Report    Judy Gregory, Chair

        1. Judy and Jerri have looked hard for several stair-less and free sites at which our group could meet and have come up with some sites in particular that merited our attention:

        2. Sparr Heights Community Center is located in Montrose south of Needle in a Haystack. It has street parking only, near Fremont Elementary School.  It has no steps and 1 attendant there all evening. It rents for $780 per year ($65 per month). The room has tables and chairs.

        3. Scholl Canyon Estates retirement home is located in Glendale across the street from Glendale Adventist Hospital. It has comfortable seating and more chairs available. The room is on an upper floor but has an elevator. There will be people there all evening in a downstairs room. It has a large parking lot behind the building. The room is free, but it is small, and we might outgrow it. The residents there could be potential new members. This location was the most welcoming to the idea of us meeting there.

        4. Girl Scout House is located in Montrose, just immediately west of the church we currently use. It has street parking, but possibly we could ask to park in the church lot. No steps are involved but possibly a substantial walk from the church next door. The room rents for $200 per year ($16) per month, with $100 deposit. We will usually have to open and close (keypad) the building, since there will be no other people there. This site closes during July and August. It has the largest room, and we can arrange table and chairs.

        5. More sites are being considered. We will view photos by email and vote on a new site at either the March or April meeting.

    H. Program Planning   Evelyn Van Orden and Marsha Stoddard

        1. Evelyn strongly felt that we should ask for volunteers to be education chairperson, to coordinate sign-ups and program dates.

        2. Jerri Thomson’s original idea was to have short 15-20 minute segments at some meetings when members will demonstrate topics of their choosing and of general interest.

        3. Marsha passed out a list of topics gathered in previous years. The list also has an area for members to vote for the frequency of programs and any skills they are willing to demonstrate.

        4. Bonnie James volunteered to be chairperson, and Kathy Fogel, Jerri Thomson, and Deborah Kac offered to help. Members passed their lists to Bonnie.

        5. There were several requests for Judy to show us her Master Knitting projects. Master Knitter is a program sponsored and strictly judged by Knitting Guild of America. Judy spent months on mastering these skills and successfully completed all 3 phases, a phenomenal feat!
    Break   Cake (pictured below) and Valentine treats were enjoyed by all!

    I. Show and Share

    Cake from the JCK 9th Birthday Party on February 1, 2006...
   

    Cake from the JCK 3rd Birthday Party on February 1, 2006...