June 2026 Newsletter
- communications8038
- May 28
- 9 min read
President's Message
This Month's Meeting: Online & Zoom
AKG Monthly Meeting (In-person details)
June 4, 2026, 6:30 – 8:30 PMDunwoody N. Shallowford Annex
Register Now
AKG Monthly Meeting (Zoom details)
June 4, 2026, 6:30 – 8:30 PMZoom
Register Now
Please RSVP for the In-Person and Zoom session (RSVPing for the in-person meeting lets us know how to set up the meeting room to accommodate our meeting attendees)
We’ll host social knitting from 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM with brief announcements followed by our program.
2026 Meetings
Date | Hospitality | Date | Hospitality |
01/08/2026 | S thru Z | 07/09/2026 | S thru Z |
02/05/2026 | (online only) | 08/06/2026 | A thru E |
03/05/2026 | (online only) | 09/03/2026 | F thru L |
04/02/2026 | A thru E | 10/01/2026 | M thru R |
05/07/2026 | F thru L | 11/05/2026 | S thru Z |
06/04/2026 | M thru R | 12/03/2026 | A thru E |
What’s involved in Hospitality? If your last name starts with the letters, we encourage you to arrive early (6:15 pm), bring a snack to share, help set up chairs, and help with greeting members and welcoming visitors as they arrive.
All meetings, social knitting, workshops, and events can be found on the AKG event calendar: https://www.atlantaknittingguild.org/akgcalendar
President's Message |
Welcome to the 2026-2027 year of crafting with AKG friends!
Thank you for supporting those who offered to serve. And thank you to the twenty-two people who stepped up to give their time and talent! This is an extraordinary demonstration of the value AKG represents, a value built by thousands of hours of volunteer service. For all those who have served in the past, and for the many who served multiple, consecutive years over the past decade - most recently Jolie Elder, Elizabeth Schroeder, Linda Andes, Natalie Green, Julie Uranis, Barb Moore, Debbie West - we say THANK YOU!!!.
To capitalize on this bounty of creative minds and able hands, we’ve organized work into committees. Our charter tells us we are a learning and social organization. Our team is working on rethinking our approach to all aspects of programming, to answer the question: What skills should we focus on building and what is the most effective method to enhance learning? Our Membership and communications committees are examining all member touch points to answer the question: How do we invite and foster a vibrant and growing community of needle-and-fiber craft enthusiasts?
My personal mantra is: Focus on member experience to enhance the value of each person’s membership. An individual’s value calculus is some mix of the quality of learning experience combined with the ease of social connection. From event scheduling and design through its execution and joyful ethos, we are looking for things we want to keep, those we need to get rid of and new ones we need to add. Happily, our financial coffers are full enough to allow us to experiment.. A heartfelt thank you for the great financial stewardship of all the previous leadership teams!!!
We see this as an 18-24 month project. Look for new approaches to roll out in the fall as we get our arms around challenges and think through solutions. There is absolutely nothing stopping us from becoming the best guild in the US! If you want to be a part of this effort, we will find the right place for you to contribute.. Email me at president@atlantaknittingguild.org.
Cheers!
Susan
Susan Duralde
2026-2027 AKG Board President
Renewing Your Membership |
Members who have renewal dates in June can expect to receive automatic reminder emails via our website. Be sure to log in and check your actual membership renewal date.
Our website does not allow our ‘basic membership’ to overlap by too many days and yet members asked for earlier reminders about their membership expiration. We have received emails from members stating “the website won’t let me renew” for just this reason.
You can view your membership expiration date and make note of it by logging into the website and clicking on ‘My Subscriptions’ under the member’s menu (top right corner of all web pages). See the example below.
Once you renew your membership, you will receive an email confirmation, with your new membership expiration date (sometime in 2027). Please read that email carefully as it contains a link where you can express your interest in various areas of the Guild.
Feel free to email membership@atlantaknittingguild.org if you have questions about your membership and/or treasurer@atlantaknittingguild.org if you have problems with your desired form of payment.
Website Updates |
We have a member directory!
You’ll find it on the member’s menu (under the log in link on the upper right hand side of all website pages).
We ask that you consider doing a few things:
Update your profile. Consider adding a picture (preferably one that allows others to make the connection between your profile and your face when they see you at a meeting).
To edit your profile, click on your profile in the user menu on the top right side of every webpage and then click 'edit profile' (see below).
Make your profile ‘public’. The members directory is only viewable by members when they are logged in, so the ‘public’ setting really means ‘for members’. If you keep your profile private other AKG folks cannot see you in the directory. We have over 100 members and a little over 50 member profiles are visible right now. Please change this setting on your profile page by clicking 'Edit Profile' and scrolling down to the 'Visibility and privacy' settings. Click ‘make my profile public’ if it doesn't already say that your profile is public.
Beta-test the website forum with us! We have deployed Wix groups to create a members’ only forum on our website. This will allow members to converse on topics between meetings, apart from the public discussions that occur on our Friends of the Atlanta Knitting Guild Facebook group.
Feel free to add yourself to any of the communities and kick the tires. We’ll conclude the pilot testing in the fall and decide if we want to continue hosting a forum on the site based on feedback.
You'll find the forum under More in the top site navigation.
What to expect in the coming months:
More posts from the Guild on social media. We’ve got some great volunteers who are excited to get engaged. Make sure you are a member of the Friends of the Atlanta Knitting Guild Facebook group (public group) and that you follow the Guild’s Facebook page and Instagram account. Feel free to tag the Guild in the posts you think would be relevant for our account and followers.
New content and more communications. With more volunteers we can do more. We’re looking at adding a members-only mid-month email focused on techniques and general knitting items of note. More soon!
Programs & Workshops |
This Month’s Program: Knit Companion
In our June meeting, we will welcome the new AKG board and bid farewell (with deep appreciation) to retiring board members.
Our program is an introduction to a powerful, game changing tool: Knit Companion by kCDesigns. Our presenter is AKG board member, certified Master Hand Knitter and published knitwear designer, Debbie West.
Check out this website https://www.knitcompanion.com/ to download the application on your device (Android, Kindle, iOS, Google Play) and bring your device to the meeting. There is a free version with entry level capabilities.
Debbie will demonstrate selected basic and advanced features. You will see how Knit Companion can improve the speed and accuracy of your knitting. Perhaps like Debbie, you won’t start a project without it. You can evaluate if the ‘paid’ version is right for you.
(Note: This is an educational event. AKG does not benefit financially in any way from any purchase of kCDesigns products or services.)
Last Month’s Program
Our speaker via Zoom was ethnic knitting expert Beth Brown-Reinsel. She shared a wonderful presentation focused on her travels in Estonia and Estonian knitting. The recording will be available on our Zoom account, using this link.
The recording will be removed on June 6, 2026.
Future Programs
Thank you to everyone who met in May to discuss programs. We have a lot of great ideas we are working on for August 2026 and beyond!
July 2026: Potluck and stash swap. Do you have lovely yarn that no longer works for you? Are you looking for something special? Everyone - bring any yarn you don’t want to an AKG-member exclusive Buy- Sell-Trade (BST) event.
August 2026: Melissa Leapman will present Tuck Stitches via Zoom. Meet up at the Dunwoody Annex and practice this technique while we have an expert on tap.
Future Programs
There are many programs and workshops in the planning phase. Here’s a few!
Hands-on: small Amigurami vegetables, holiday (gnomes anyone?) knits, new-stitch-a-month, Doodles, beading, free form knitting
Technical: knits that fit, yarn substitution, non-wool knits, matching yarn to pattern, lace, brioche, stranded
About: sheep and yarn, history of resistance knitting, dyeing, recycling yarn
Interactive: share your knit disaster, what tools are in the bag, your favorite knit, stash-busting/swapping
Updates will be posted in future newsletters and the AKG website.
Announcements |
Fiberfests & Other Area Events
Be sure to check out the Guild’s fiberfest page!
We keep a running list of fiberfests near and far: https://www.atlantaknittingguild.org/fiberfests
June's monthly knitterly tip: This is the time of year to clean all your winter woolies before putting them away for the summer. Sweaters can be soaked in cool water in a tub or sink, rolled in a non-bleeding towel to wick away moisture, and then laid flat to dry. A box fan can speed drying. Turning the sweater over will also help.
The Knitting Guild Association has a new education initiative. Shawl Immersion Weekend will be 26 & 27 June 2026. This is a virtual event consisting of 4 classes, 2 hours each, for a total of 8 hours of instruction. Registration is only $25 but you must be a member of TKGA first.
Registration is open. Learn more here:
SEFAA has a couple of events coming up that might be of interest for AKG members:
SEFAA is hosting their Fiber Flea Market 2026 on Saturday, June 6, 2026 from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. You can still register for a table ($60). Sign up for a table here. Questions? fleamarket@fiberartsalliance.org.
SEFAA is featuring Varian Brandon in an upcoming workshop. The class runs 24-26 July, so it is an entire weekend of stranded colorwork. For those who would like to add this technique to their repertoire, this immersive class is an uncommon opportunity. Details and registration link found here: https://www.fiberartsalliance.org/class/18231.
View our neighboring guilds’ events:
Knit-a-long (KAL) |
Join us the third Wednesday of each month for our KAL! We are a great group of regular attendees and those who join when they can. We can promise an entertaining and always encouraging hour. We choose patterns or techniques to focus on for each project together, Find our group on the AKG calendar--RSVP for the Zoom link--and also we maintain an active presence on Facebook under "AKG KAL"
March - May Project: Intarsia
In March, the new KAL started–intarsia. Several of the KAL-ers are knitting the bandana “Rust & Rhythm”, a free pattern by Anna Husemann. There are also hats, bags, and socks on the needles. It’s never too late to join. With over 31,000 intarsia patterns available on Ravelry, narrowing down what you want to knit for this KAL might be a challenge!
In May, the KAL is selecting their next project. We are selecting a design by Debbie West, from Ravelry. Check them out at https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/debbie-wests-ravelry-store
NEW KAL PROJECT (June 2026)
We have decided to do Debbie West's "Athens Tee" for our next project. If you have been
thinking about joining in the Knit-A-Long fun, this should be a quick knit with worsted weight. We all also admired Debbie's new pattern in this month's Cast On and liked the idea of doing a side-side knit for our upcoming warm weather months. If you have your heart set on a different one of her designs, as always--knit what you enjoy, but I believe most of us will be doing the "Athens Tee" linked below (and you know some of us have a soft spot for all things Athens, GA) https://ravel.me/athens-tee
AKG Knit-a-long (KAL) - Zoom
June 17, 2026, 7:00 – 8:30 PMZoom
Register Now
Outreach |
Project Linus Wrap Up
While we didn’t meet our 40 blanket goal, we had some wonderful pieces donated for close to 20+ blankets to Project Linus! Many thanks to all who participated. A special THANK YOU goes to Natalie Greene who put together so many of these, washed them, and then delivered them to this great organization.
Project Linus is a national non-profit organization that provides new, handmade blankets to children in need, including those in the Atlanta area. Locally the Dekalb Georgia chapter provides blankets to local hospitals like CHOA Children's Hospital, as well as to children and teens in crisis situations like those handled by the Department of Family and Children Services.
Barb Moore
Information on our charity knitting can be found on the Guild’s website.
Knit and Crochet Bear Sweaters: The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy
This is a longstanding program with the AKG. Suggested patterns and guidelines for the bears donated to the GA Center for Child Advocacy are on the Guild’s website. Dressed bears are given to each child in crisis who comes to the Center.
Baby Hat & Blanket Sets, Chemo Caps: Piedmont Hospital
The AKG donates knit and crochet items to various hospitals, inclusive of baby items and hats/caps for adult and child cancer patients.
Visit the AKG website for more details on our charity knitting projects and requirements.
Do you have a charity project you'd like the Guild to consider? Contact outreach@atlantaknittingguild.org
Supporting the Guild: 2026-2027 Volunteers |
These Guild members have volunteered to serve in the following positions:
Connect with the Guild |
Get Connected!
The AKG is on Facebook!
Facebook Page - Atlanta Knitting Guild: Like this page and see official AKG news and updates in your Facebook feed
Facebook Group - Friends of the Atlanta Knitting Guild: Join our Facebook group to chat with other knitters (membership in the group and the guild are separate)
Login to the Guild website to renew online.
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