Ann Growley called the meeting to order and gave the treasurer’s report on behalf of Chris Cornell. The minutes from December were approved.

Old Business: After further discussion of donation items and gift exchanges for the upcoming year, it was clarified that any handmade items for donation – hats, scarves, mittens or preemie caps, for example - should be washable and should be brought to our November meeting for timely distribution to the giving tree, the cancer center, the hospital, or other organizations, as determined later. Anyone wishing to participate in our gift exchange should bring a wrapped, handmade scarf to our December meeting.
New Business: A cookie list was passed for 2026. It was noted that our July meeting would naturally fall on July 4 and our September meeting will likely fall the week before Highland games. Phyllis Lord discussed upcoming programs and suggested we do a sale, possibly including other guilds and/or the public, for made items, equipment, and unwanted stash items. A date was not set since May and June conflict with Maryland Sheep and Wool and Duran’s Down Home Days. Coordination with the fiber festival in Harmony or the Mercer Guild’s July meeting were also considered. Members are asked to consider their plans for the year so the conversation can be continued at our next meeting.
Show and Tell: Holly Smolinsky got art supplies for Christmas and currently is focused on drawing. Kim Smolinsky successfully blocked her mother’s shawl and has started crocheting another. Jane Lenart displayed a colorful Norwegian sweater hand knit in Norway. Tammy Tenpas is working on her crocheted rug and a pair of ragg-wool socks for her son. Adrianne Hills is resolved to clear her bobbins, and to that end she finished a skein of merino/zwartbles yarn. Ann Growley won a colorful book on Granny square blankets and passed it on to someone more likely to use it. Marje Koehlert modeled her nineth and final double knit hat of the season. Aleksas Ostrofsky has been spinning and brought two balls of her handspun. She has also been practicing granny squares in preparation for a class at the library. Elizabeth Tomcho is carding red-tan baby alpaca she was given by one of her farm stand customers. Pat Retchloff made a snowman ornament from a needle felting kit she got for Christmas. She also brought a skein of alpaca from Tina Hays blended with white wool from Wooster, spun on her e-spinner. Maddie Mumford is working on a cross-stitch stocking for her grandbaby and several pair of “little bitty” socks for a three-year-old in her family. Meghan Beichner made a pair of cabled boot cuffs in a Rambouillet/angora blend, and she worked the rough part of some Highland cow fibers into a tough, rope-like yarn. She’ll work with the softer fibers next. Meghan also won a hexagonal pin loom from a newer yarn and fiber shop in New Castle called the Spindled Hare. Elaine Fertig modeled a sweater she knit some time ago in three natural colors with a parade of horses prancing around the yoke. Mabel Cable brought copies of a pattern Barb Lodge typed for a scarf that will not curl along with a sample she knit. Mabel also modeled a Norwegian sweater knit in dark brown and white with yellow highlights from when she spent a year as a girl scout leader in Norway. Cate Johns is trying a “Kayu” peg loom with peg holes set to make squares, rectangles or triangles in any size from 4- to about 18-inches.

Respectfully submitted,
Marje Koehlert, Secretary