Our Guild

This post is going to have nothing to do with knitting except the fact that it’s a knitting guild I’m talking about.  If you’re not interested, pop down to the next post or go hit your next blog.

The Metro OKC Knitting Guild was started a little under a year and a half ago.  I just started attending a few months ago, maybe in September or October.

There are a lot of people who have put a lot of time, effort and love into trying to make this thing go.  I have no idea how many hours they’ve put in, but I do know it’s not been easy.  It’s time to look at bringing in new officers and give these folks a well deserved rest.  They’re not leaving the guild, and will be available for those who follow them.

I was nominated to be Vice President.  My initial reaction was yeah, if nobody else will.  I’ve thought about it pretty hard for the last couple of days, and I’ve decided I want the job.  I want to try to help this thing move forward.  But I also want to say something about where we’ve been.

If you were at the last meeting, you know Anna has decided to leave the group.  I’m very sorry to hear that, because I think she has a lot to offer.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for her, especially for her having the guts to stand up in front of the group and speak her mind.  I respect her decision, and wish her well.  I’m especially impressed by the way she presented her reasons.  No references to non-public conversations.  No name calling.  No finger pointing.  Just an expression of her feelings about some events from a couple of months ago.

I hope she will eventually change her mind.  I for one would welcome her back with open arms.

She did mention a couple of things that stuck with me though.  One was organization.  There has been so much effort expended to make this thing go that some of the meetings have felt a little disjointed.  I think that’s normal with a new organization.  It’s something we’ll be able to improve as we get things a little more settled.

The other thing that stuck with me was her talking about the charity knitting.  Other than figuring out that bootie pattern, I haven’t done any.  When she mentioned everyone agreeing to knit one hat per month – although I could have heard her wrong – it was the first I’d heard about that.  Apparently it was discussed at a meeting before I started attending.  I’m not going to say I would have knit for the charity even had I known about the commitment, but I might have been more likely to do so.  Making sure information is out there is something that needs to be done.

Another example is a comment I read that said people had come to guild meetings and were upset because they weren’t taught to knit.  Personally, I don’t think that’s what the meetings are for.  It’s bad enough that there are usually conversations going on while the meeting is taking place – it’s horribly distracting, and makes it very hard to follow the presenter if you’re sitting near one – I don’t think a beginning knitting lesson should be going on during the meeting.  However, if I were someone who wanted to learn a Knitting Guild makes sense as a place to start.  We need to be sure to let “newbies” know all they have to do is ask.  Have a signup sheet.  Designate a person for them to talk to and make a very clear announcement that anyone at the meeting who wants to learn should talk to them.  Mention on the guild site that the guild is more than happy to set up a learning session, but that’s not what gets covered at the meetings.

Let me be clear – the only person I’ve mentioned any of these things to is my husband.  I have not said anything to any of the current officers about it.  In fact, I’ve just really been thinking about it for the last couple of days.

I think the guild is off to a great start.  I have always felt welcome at the meetings.  I have never been snubbed or made to feel like I don’t belong.  I’ve tried very hard to be welcoming to everyone I’ve met.  Every organization has growing pains.  It takes time to get things flowing smoothly.  Nobody is going to be happy with everything.  Guess what?  That’s life.  I think we have a good thing started, and I hope we can continue to make it better.