JCK GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 7:00-9:00pm

Crescenta Valley Methodist Church, 2700 Montrose Ave., Room 24, Montrose 91020

Agenda:

    6:30pm: Meet and Greet, Sign In, Get Organized, etc.
    7:00pm: Call to Order [Evelyn Van Orden, President]
    Approval of Minutes [Marsha Stoddard, Secretary]
    Thanks for Treats [Cathy Wacker, Hospitality]
    Treasurer's Report [Cindy Vogel, Treasurer]
    Philanthropy Report [Judy Gregory, VP Philanthropy]
    Program Report [Bonnie James, Programs]
    Announcements
    Location Committee Report [Judy Gregory, Chair and Jerri Thomson]
    Break
    Swift and Ball Winder Demo [Bonnie James]
    Checkerboard Intarsia Pattern Demonstration [Jerri Thomson]
    Show and Share
    9:00pm: Adjourn

Minutes:

    7:10 pm: Meeting Called to Order   Evelyn Van Orden, President    20 members were present plus 1 visitor, Pam McSmith.
    A. Approval of Minutes    Marsha Stoddard, Secretary

        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    Evelyn Van Orden for Cindy Vogel, Treasurer

        1. The balance in our treasury is $790.21 (plus interest). The recent reduction in our balance is due to the purchase of the cake for our celebration in February.

    C. Thanks for Treats   Cathy Wacker, Hospitality

        1. Cathy thanked Carol Parker and Betty Molinaro for the delicious treats for our meeting.

    D. Philanthropy Report    Judy Gregory, VP Philanthropy
        1. Evelyn reported that the Glendale Association for the Retarded (GAR) is holding their 21^st Annual Derby Day fundraiser on Saturday, May 5 at Pickwick Garden Banquet Center. “GAR’s mission is to provide developmentally disabled adults the opportunity – through residential, vocational and educational programs -- to participate in mainstream community life and attain their highest level of independence.” Evelyn’s brother-in-law Gene, who has Cerebral Palsy, was helped by GAR throughout his adult life. More than $84,000 was raised at last year’s event. GAR is seeking handmade items for babies, children, and adults for their silent auction. Please bring your donations to the April 4 General Meeting, or leave them at Needle in a Haystack labeled “For Evelyn, JCK”.
        2. Evelyn also reported that Soroptimist International of Glendale is holding their annual Bras for a Cause fundraiser on April 28 at the Oakmont Country Club. There will be a live auction of decorated bras and fabulous prizes, and a silent auction. Soroptimist is seeking handmade items for babies, children, and adults for their silent auction. This event raises more than $30,000 each year to benefit Glendale area hospitals, which use the funds for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, including new state-of-the-art digital mammography equipment. If you have had a mammogram in the past 2 years at Verdugo Hills Hospital, chances are the equipment was purchased with funds from this event! Please bring your donations to the April 4 General Meeting, or leave them at Needle in a Haystack labeled “For Evelyn, JCK”.

        3. Judy reported that she sent a huge box to Afghans for Afghanistan of wool things: socks and sweaters for kids ages 7–18, and 6–8 beautiful afghans of pieces and squares that some of us made and Judy joined together. Someone asked if we could share in the postage for these boxes Judy mails, and she funds that huge bill all on her own. Thank you so much to Judy for her dedication to Afghans and the hundreds of things she has made and sent to them over the years.

        4. Jerri Thomson took 32 caps for February and March to Knots of Love, which donates thousands of chemo caps a year to hospitals. Jerri is also very dedicated to this organization and has made so many hats for KOL all these months.

        5. Betty Molinaro faithfully knits blankets and delivers our baby things to Christ Child Society several times a year. She asked us to please remember that they mainly want blankets rather than sweaters and booties, as the organization include an item in each of the hundreds of newborn layettes that they distribute to various hospitals. Thank you, Betty, for your hard work and dedication.

        6. Please see below for a complete list of the charities that we support.
    E. Program Report    Evelyn Van Orden for Bonnie James, Programs

        1. Bonnie regretfully was unable to attend the meeting. She will give a full report about upcoming programs, events, and field trips at the April 4 General Meeting. She will also demonstrate her swift and ball winder and wind members yarn.
        2. Judy Gregory volunteered to offer a program about her experiences with TKGA Master Knitting Levels I, II, and III. She will describe the 3 levels, show many samples of her work, and give advice to anyone who is considering taking this challenging series of courses.
        3. If you have any ideas for programs, please contact Bonnie (greenbabe17@yahoo.com).
    F. Announcements
        1. Judy Gregory reported a Yarn Crawl that will happen at many shops near and around Los Angeles on April 12 – April 15. At each of the 30+ shops there will be prizes and a raffle. Each participant pays $5 for a passport that gives them entrance to the shops. If you want more information, check out the website at http://www.yarncrawlla.com/   There you will find lists of all the participating shops and yarn lines. It would be great to have members carpool.
        2. Kimberly Smith asked if we would like her to organize another field trip to visit her NICU at L.A. County Chilldren’s Hospital, near USC. Two possible dates were selected: Saturday May 12 or Saturday May 26. We will talk more at the April meeting. Those who go can take along any preemie things we have made before then.
        3. Evelyn also announced that TKGA (Knitting Guild of America) publishes a monthly online newsletter for TKGA chapter guilds and clubs (JCK is a chapter). To view the March 2012 newsletter, visit the TKGA website at http://www.tkga.com. There is a purple band across the top. Go to the white letters {Guilds/Clubs}, under which there is a drop-down menu with several items listed. Click on ‘Guild Login’ and then type ‘guild’ for username and ‘learn’ for password. At that area you will find the TKGA newsletter with lots of links and information. Anyone who is a member of TKGA receives the quarterly Cast-On Magazine. In it are patterns and techniques. TKGA also conducts a 3-level Master Knitting Course. Judy Gregory spent 3 years completing all 3 levels of this extremely challenging course and now holds the title of Master Knitter Level III (a very prestigious title).

     G. Location Committee Report    Judy Gregory, Chair and Jerri Thomson

        1. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta: Judy and Jerri discussed this third site at which our group could meet. There are 2 possible rooms, the Firehouse room, which is quite small but cozy with a fireplace. The other room is located on Cross St., the street just above Foothill and is much bigger and has a large kitchen and a large parking lot. The main drawback to it is that we can’t meet there on a Wednesday night. We discussed switching to other nights but didn’t reach any agreement. Either of these rooms rents for approximately $200 per year ($16 per month). The other two sites are listed below.
        2. 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.
        3. 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 about $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.
        4. Jerri’s husband, Darryl, very kindly made us a comprehensive layout of the features of each site. The voting will be held at the April 4 General Meeting by secret ballot. If you can’t attend the meeting and would like to vote by proxy, please contact Judy (judy@judykits.com; 818-353-5840). Only members who have participated actively throughout most of the discussions in February and March will be allowed to vote.

    H. Checkerboard Intarsia Pattern Demonstration    Jerri Thomson

        1. Jerri Thomson presented a demonstration and pattern of a new style of hat for Knots of Love called the checkerboard pattern. Thank you, Jerri, for your demonstration. KOL has on their website many patterns that we can choose from.  http://www.knotsoflove.org

    I. Ongoing Charities

           a. Afghans for Afghanistan continues to need items for children aged 7–16, such as vests, hats, sweaters, socks, and blankets, and the items should be wool only. ’Afghans’ mainly needs socks and sweaters. Judy Gregory takes our donations and mails them off. We can also make wool afghan squares, with at least 1 side 8” long, using worsted weight wool yarn in a firm (not lacey) pattern. Judy prefers garter stitch. She collects them and then puts them together to make patchwork afghans.

           b. Christ Child Society takes baby blankets. Betty Molinaro will collect them each month. This group makes comprehensive layettes for needy mothers, and they like to include a handmade item.

           e. Kimberly Smith works as a nurse at the LAC-USC Medical Center NICU. She delivers our preemie things – hats, booties, blankets, sweaters. The blankets can be small, to cover the isolettes.

    J. Show and Share

    9:00pm: Meeting Adjourned