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A Newsletter for the Genesee Valley Sock Machine Club Volume 9, Issue 6 November-December, 2014

Editor Trudy Feikert

311 Rosedale Street Rochester NY 14620

godivasstore@gmail.com

Cover Photo By Fred Hauck

GVSMC meeting of November 8, 2014, at Mile post School, Pittsford, NY.

Attendees; Kener Bond, Jr., Nick Williams, Lynn Sanger, Donna German, Jude Ellis, Paula Grcevic, Dara Wagner, Sue Swanson, Lea Hauck. Present but not pic-tured Fred Hauck, Trudy Feikert.

Greetings to All, April Fool!!! I am standing in for Trudy who is tied up with her job and traveling, making it im-possible to edit a newsletter this time. We will get Trudy fixed up with the right software and on the job before you know it. There are a few articles ready to go, so I am put-ting up a Circular to get these items published. It is time to post a Treasurer’s Report. Mostly it is about dues income, but $100 was spent to have a vendors table at the Quilt Show. The Quilt Show staff made us feel very welcome. The First Annual CSKMS Conference in Gene-seo, NY, was a big event. Our Club made a very significant contribution by providing one-third of the attendees. Lea and I joined David and Doreen Clark at Belinda Grant’s open house in Bergen, NY. We can now look forward to the Mendon Ponds Winterfest in January. These opportunities to demonstrate sock knitting encourage new mem-bers to join GVSMC. Lea and I have a conflict with the December meeting. If you need help with machines, I am available to repair machines on short notice. See you at the Winterfest. Fred

From

the Editor Regular Club meetings are on the second Satur-

day of the month. Meetings are sometimes

hosted by members, and are frequently held at

the Mile Post School in Pittsford, NY.

December 13, 2014; GVSMC meeting at Mile Post School, Pittsford, NY. 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. January 18, 2015; 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM;

Mendon Ponds Winterfest 2015 This is the twentieth Winterfest organized by Ken Hann. Each year the GVSMC is invited to demonstrate sock making in the Cobblestone House at Mendon Ponds. The Sunday event runs from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. While demonstrators work in the comfort of a fireplace heated country home, winter sports are taking place out doors. Visi-tors come to the cobblestone House to get warm and see our antique machines. Seven to ten GVSMC members have been participating in the demonstrations for several years. While our goal is to adver-tize our club, members have a good time knitting together in a relaxed atmosphere. This event serves as our January meet-ing, so there will not be a regular meeting at the Milepost School on the Second Saturday. GVSMC members are encouraged to crank their machines again on January 18, 2015..

Upcoming Events; 2012

p2

Welcome to New Members Nick Williams Dawn Helstrom

Introductions on page 7

Minutes; August 9, 2014 Genesee Valley Sock Machine Club The meeting was held at the Milepost School. 9 were present Our President, Lynn Sanger, called the meeting to order. Discussion was about the Fiber Festival in September . Pat Auinger and Lynn Sanger volunteered to demo their sock machines on Saturday. Donna German and Sue Hodge volunteered for Sunday. Discussion about renting space next year as a vendor. Rent/fee would come out of our treasury. The vote was unanimous to rent an indoor space. Carol Bonczek volunteered to look into this. Sue Hodge to print out the forms. Donna German to check with the Irondequoit Quilt show folks to see if we could rent a booth for the sock club to demo and sell our socks. Respectfully submitted, Sue Hodge, secretary

Rochester Quilting Club

GVSMC registered a vendors table for club use at the quilt show. The vendors space enabled us to accomplish two goals, advertize our club, and sell items made by members. Three GVSMC members belong to the quilting club, namely Nick Williams, Donna German and Sue Hodge. Sue Hodge, Carol Bonczek, Dara Wagner, Fred and Lea Hauck took part in the demonstrations.

GVSMC Treasurer Report Treasurer Fred Hauck Balance on September 8 $826.76 Sept 9 Gursslin dues 10.00 Sept 9 Dawn Helstrom dues 30.00 Sept 29 Doreen Clark Dues 30.00 Oct 1 Carol Oswald Dues 10.00 Nov 9 Nick Williams Dues 20.00 Sept 2 Check to Quilting guild for vendor - 100.00 Balance on Nov 10 $826.76

Fred and Lea set up our NZAK knitter and the Club banner. New member, Nick Williams, purchased this machine the following week.

Our table was covered with socks made by Sue, Dara and Carol.

Carol Bonczek converted a stool to a sock machine stand.

First Annual CSKMS Convention By Fred Hauck

On August 14, 15, and 16, 2014, the CSKMS hosted their first conference in Geneseo, NY, at the Valley Oak Event Center and Quality Inn. The event Center staff was very friendly. There were 44 atten-dees, and 8 vendors. Fifteen attendees were mem-bers of GVSMC. There were classes on just about anything one needs to know about sock machines. Among the teachers was Jamie Mayfield from the Erlbacher family. Several of our club members own Erlbacher machines. The CSKMS Board appreciates the support our club has shown by participating in the conference. One of the CSKMS goals was to donate socks and scarves to veterans. They managed to gather 90 items for veterans, and the donation was made to two VA representatives at the close of the confer-ence. It was a very successful conference. The soci-ety now has 130 members, including 15 people from GVSMC. The success of the conference and growth of mem-bership has enabled CSKMS to reduce membership dues. Dues are now $30 for three years, or $15 for one year.

This was the Hauck vendors table at CSKMS

Veterans at the Conference received a gift pair of socks and were recognized for their service in the military.

Vendors table at Conference

Display of socks and scarves donated to veterans at the 2015 CSKMS conference

Open House at Northwoods Alpacas By Fred Hauck

Belinda Grant, owner of Northwoods Alpacas, in Bergen, NY, invited me to demonstrate sock ma-chines at her alpaca farm. I met Belinda 3 years ago at the Hemlock Fiber Festival, and accepted her invi-tation. However, several alpaca farms schedule open houses on the same date every fall. I decided it was time to go with Belinda. I encouraged other club members to demonstrate for Kristi Jung and the Hemlock Fiber Festival on the same day. A few members did make it to Hemlock. Doreen and David Clark joined Lea and me for one day in Bergen. The weather was cooperative, and we had a relaxing day at Belinda's farm. The Grants have seven children. Three of them were on duty all day. They have a store at the farm that carries alpaca socks, jackets, sweaters and skeins of alpaca yarn. At lunch time, Belinda’s husband, Bob, brought pizza from a Perri's Pizzeria, which they just happen to manage. Daughter, Jennifer, dispensed fresh apple cider and donuts. This was quite a change from Hemlock, where we attend as a demonstrator surrounded by hundreds of other participants. The Grants treated us like special guests, and a family member was always within our reach. Northwoods Alpacas is located at 6499 North Lake Rd. Bergen, NY 14416 (585) 494-1371 info@northwoodsalpacas.com. Visit their web site at http://www.northwoodsalpacas.com/

David and Doreen Clark at Northwoods Alpacas

Lea at our spot

Belinda’s daughter, Jennifer, served cider and donuts

EastWest Alpaca Ranch The GVSMC members enjoyed another pleasant day to Kristi Jung’s EastWest Alpaca Ranch open house. Sue Hodge and Donna German brought quilts to dis-play. Kristi’s open house is always a very enjoyable event. Knitting, relaxing, and having lunch on the patio is outrageous enough to spoil anyone. Thank you, Kristi.

Meet our new members,

Nicholas Williams "Hi. I'm Nick Williams. For most of my adult life I taught music in Hilton. My area was vocal music where I worked with the High School choirs and taught voice. My choirs traveled the North Eastern US and received numerous awards for their per-formances. In addition I also taught AP Music The-ory and IB Music. Since retirement I have pursued my love of quilting. I have a long arm business where I quilt other people's quilts. I en-joy the challenge and creativity needed to add design and tex-ture to other people's art work to augment what they have done. In my own quilting I have re-ceived Viewer Choice Awards twice at Patricia’s Fabric House shows and won a third place ribbon in Computerized Quilting at the MQX festival in New Hampshire. Fiber arts have been part of my life since the age of 12 so the circular sock knitting ma-chine is a natural for me. I’m glad to join you all in this pursuit."

Dawn Helstrom by Fred Hauck I learned a few things about Dawn from conversa-tions with her and from reading an interview she had for the CSKMS newsletter. Dawn joined both GVSMC and CSKMS this year. She lives near Coopertown, NY, and has a long drive to attend our meetings. One of her goals is to establish a sock machine club in the Cooperstown area. She attended the CSKMS Conference in Geneseo, and came to our Club meetings twice. She is a registered dental hygienist, owns Butternut Creek Fibre Arts, and raises Babydoll Sheep for their wool, which she blends with Alpaca to make sock yarn. She also raises Angora bunnies for their fiber. In the past she had raised alpacas. She and her family live in rural upstate New York. Dawn now owns an Erlbacher machine and we can expect to see her at our monthly meetings when she can fit them into her busy schedule. Mt. Vision, NY, is 150 miles from Pittsford, NY, and 15 miles south west of Cooperstown, NY

More about Nick Nick and Donna German were both active in the Irondequoit Quilt Show where GVSMC had a vendor table. Nick learned about the NZAK sock machine I bought from Donna, and he was in the market for a machine. The machine was demonstrated to Nick at the show and he decided to own it. The fol-lowing week, Nick took delivery and re-ceived a couple hours of instruction. He ar-rived at our meeting at the Mile Post School on November 8 and knitted socks on his NZAK.

OfficersOfficersOfficersOfficers President Lynn Sanger 585-385-4436 Vice President Donna German 585-266-1358 Secretary Sue Hodge 315-986-1294 Treasurer Fred Hauck 585-225-3215 Editor Trudy Feikert

Editor e-mail; godivasstore@gmail.com

The Genesee Valley Sock Machine Club, (GVSMC) was founded in January 2006.

The purposes of this club shall be:

SECTION 1 To provide an organization for owners and operators of antique knitting machines or sock machines.

SECTION 2 To encourage the preservation, restoration, and use of antique knitting machines.

SECTION 3 To aid in the education of members and the public about the history of antique knitting machines through shared teaching experiences and demonstrations at various fiber arts shows and festivals or at regular meetings planned by the members.

SECTION 4 The club shall be non-commercial, non-sectarian, and non-partisan.

http://interprizez.org/GVSMC

Trudy Feikert 311Rosedale Street Rochester NY 14620

The Circular

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