March 2024 General Meeting

Meet the award-winning author of 16 knitting books and designer of more than 650 knitting patterns, Tanis Gray. Her name is synonymous with creativity! A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Tanis has worked in the movie and television industries, including HBO and Focus Features. She appeared regularly on PBS Knitting Daily TV with Vickie Howell and was Yarn Editor at Vogue Knitting and co-edited Knit.1. She has published books on topics as diverse as: knitting with local yarns (Knit Local: Celebrating America’s Homegrown Yarns, winner of a Gold IPPY Award); the architecture of Washington, DC (Capitol Knits, winner of the American Heritage Women in the Arts Award); and cinema (numerous official knitting books with movie-inspired designs). Tanis is also a webmaster to the Creative Knitters Guild and a tireless volunteer knitting instructor at Project Knitwell.

Presentation

Have you ever watched a movie and just had to knit the costumes? Tanis will share with us her journey: how a hobbyist knitter took the fandom knitting book world by storm and worked with well-known movie studios to recreate their movie designs in knitwear. She’ll show some of her wearable designs inspired by the Harry Potter, Star Wars, Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, and Lord of the Rings movies. A link to Tanis’s knitting books can be found here. Then we’ll learn the two-color Latvian braid—a gorgeous way to add visual interest to your knitting. To participate, bring:
(a) 50 yards each of 2 highly contrasting colors of equivalent-weight yarns, worsted is recommended; (b) 16-inch circular needles in an appropriate size for your yarn weight;
(c) a stitch marker; and
(d) your homework swatch.
Homework: With either color of yarn, cast on an even number of stitches sufficient to get around your circular needles (40 should do it). Place marker, join in the round, and knit 3 rounds. The swatch is for practice in class. You will take home a Tanis Gray hat pattern that uses the Latvian braid.
REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR HOMEWORK!

Show and Tell
We had so much fun at Show and Tell at our February 10 meeting! The March meeting is another chance for you to stand up and show off your work. Please keep your talk short, so everyone gets a chance (like a speech at the Oscars). And remember to look for photos from past meetings on our website.

Bring a Guest
Guests are welcome! A guest’s first visit is free. Subsequent visits are $10, which may be applied to annual dues if paid on the meeting day.

Beginner and Charity Table
Pop over to our Beginner Table to have your knitting questions answered by Susan Leibowitz or bring a friend you’ve inspired to learn to knit.

Drop off the knitting you have done for charity since last we met or sit and knit at our Charity Knitting table with Charity Chair Barbara Beckley. Look for photos of these beautiful creations from previous months on the BAKG website and Instagram and Facebook pages.

NOTE: BAKG general meetings, workshops, or other BAKG-sponsored events, whether in person or virtual, may be photographed and/or recorded by audio and/or video. By your in-person or virtual participation at these meetings, you consent to the photography and/or recording and to the use of your image and/or recording in print and social media.