I am thinking about starting a guild at the knitting shop that I manage...any suggestions would be greatly apprciated.

I'd love to join a guild but I'm in
North Phoenix (32nd St. & Cactus) so
may be too far for me. Where's your
store?

Needlers Nest in Surprise. I am just over the Agua Fria Bridge on W Bell Road...#12133..we are the largest knit shop around the valley at this time. It is not really that far if you take the 101 loop and Bell Rd West. Stop in and say hello.

I'm also in the Northern Phoenix area (7th St. and Thunderbird - Moon Valley). I will have to stop by and check out your store. Would be interested in knowing when you start your guild.

If you go to the bottom of this page and click on "The Knitting Guild Association" you can find info on starting a TKGA affiliated guild.

I will definitely stop in and Betsy - if you
start a guild in our area, I'd also be interested, we're right around the corner
from each other.

I will keep you both posted on the guild. Be sure to ask for me if you stop in...I am there Tuesday -Friday 9:30 am to 3:45 pm. We start our winter hours on Oct 2. I think you would be pleased with the selection of yarns, books and needles. I have a 25% sale on a particular yarn company each month.

gracie

Four of us here in Casa Grande, AZ want to start a knitting guild (to meet at our one and only yarn shop!) and would like to attract more members. The Knitting Guild registration process is daunting for so few of us. Any suggestions?

It sounds like you are ready to create an organization with a little more structure and focus than just to meet and knit. You and your friends need to decide if you want to go to a more formal TKGA guild structure or if you want to create a group with some "rules" that take you beyond getting together to knit.

One thing about using the more formal structure provided by the TKGA structure is that you are committing to creating an organization that will hopefully "outlive" the four of you who are starting it up. It also makes you think about what else you want to do besides get together to knit.

The guild I belong to focuses on learning. At our regular guild meetings we always have a class taught by one of the members. The class can be in a lecture format -- talking about properties of fiber, how to measure your body, the structure of a cast-on --, a hand's on knitting style class -- how to knit backwards, how to knit reversible cables, a yarn tasting -- or something related to but not directly knittings such as color choice, how to dye yarn, etc. Twice a year the guild sponsors an all day workshop with a paid instructor which is by paid registration only. We've had workshops with Lucy Neatby, Myra Stahman, Candace Eisner Strick, Barbara Scott, etc.

This won't happen overnight for a new guild but think about why you want a guild and then start building towards your objectives. Offering classes during guild meetings may be a way to attract members and it will certainly keep you inspired but its not the only way to go. I know of some guilds that focus on doing group projects and knit alongs.

Good luck with getting your guild off and running.