First Meeting

It is often said that you only have one chance to make a first impression, the same could be said about a first meeting. The knitting circle you dreamt of starting will be competing with many other community activities for members and their time. It is important that you are prepared, relaxed and ready to welcome your new guests. We will show you how to take care of all the little details.
We are going to walk you through our first meeting from room set up, through the actual meeting, to the materials you will need to bring. We will also share with you some of the decisions and some of the outcomes of our first meeting.

Walk about

Always take a walk around the room or hall that you are going to use for your meeting long before the actual meeting date. You do not want any surprises. You want to know where the washroom is, if there are any extra tables, the best way to situate the chairs. Even little details like how to get there are easier to describe once you have gone there yourself.

Agenda

We wrote down all the things we wanted to do and the decisions that we as a group had to make. Then we put them in a logical order. This became our agenda. We recommend that the agenda be created two weeks or so before the meeting date. That way you can add ideas as they come to you.
We put our Agenda on a big piece of paper to post at the front of the room for everyone to view. If you anticipate a good size group of people you might want to distribute photocopies of the agenda.

Timing

We arranged to pick up the key to the hall at 6:30, as the meeting was to start at 7:00 pm. We arrived at the hall half an hour early to set up chairs, post the agenda, and lay out projects and materials. We were expecting around ten to twelve people and had not planned on offering refreshments at the first knitting circle meeting. If you are expecting more people, or plan on offering refreshments allow more time before the meeting to get organized.

Room arrangement

We decided that we wanted our chairs arranged in a circle to encourage conversation from within the group. We then positioned a table near the entrance. On the table we placed our member list asking for the new member’s name, phone number and email address. We also laid out name tags and a felt marker. Don’t forget a bowl to collect donations. We had paid twenty-five dollars for use of the hall.

On another table we laid out some knitting pattern books and magazines to lend out and some projects that we had finished or were working on. These became instant conversation items within the group.

Greeting time

We greeted our guests with a smile and invited them to sign the member list and fill out a name tag. Be sure to introduce individuals to one in other as they enter the room so everyone feels comfortable. Allow at least ten minutes after the posted starting time for late comers before you begin the meeting.

Knitting Circle Armstrong
First Meeting Agenda

1-Welcome

We started with a welcome and thanks to all who had come to the meeting. We introduced ourselves and discussed why we wanted to start a knitting circle. Name tags always make it a lot easier to personally address new faces.

2-Yarn Toss

The purpose of this game is for everyone to learn a little about each other. We started by asking for their name, when they started knitting or crocheting, and what they wanted to learn. I began the game by saying, “My name is Judy and I started knitting when I was in the third grade. I still have the doll blanket that I knitted. I’d like to learn more about felting.” Then I tossed the ball of yarn across the circle while holding onto the end strand of yarn. We continued sharing personal information and tossing the yarn until we had made a web connecting all the individuals in the group together. The connection was obvious as everyone felt a bit more at ease with the new friends they had just met.

3-Purpose

After discussion we decided that the purpose of our knitting circle was to learn new techniques, share ideas and our love of knitting. Everyone was also very motivated to use our time and skills to create worth while projects for the less fortunate.

4-Sharing

Almost everyone had brought a knitting project to share with the group. As each member opened their knitting bag excited conversation began between the new members regarding techniques, patterns and yarn. This is still a very special feature of every knitting circle meeting.

5-Food & Drink

Did we want to have refreshments? Our circle decided that it was not important. Other groups may rotate the duties or even have a pot-luck. Please let us know how your group handles the food and drink topic.

6-Location

We consulted our group about other places to meet. Since our numbers were small we could not afford to rent the Odd Fellows Hall more than once a month. Members wanted to meet two or three times a month so we collated a list of possible sites. Two members volunteered to call and make inquiries regarding alternate sites.

7-Officers

Not knowing how many knitters would attend our first meeting made it difficult to project what type of organizational structure would be necessary. We decided to compose a list of duties that would need to be shared and placed it on our agenda. These included:

• Food or beverage - rotate
• Hall arrangements - get key
• Public relations - notices to paper
• Researcher - look up patterns, charity possibilities
• Communications - member contact

Because we started with a small number of knitters we decided we did not need officers. Jobs that needed to be done were discussed and people willingly volunteered to do them.

Other groups may choose to elect officers such as a president, secretary, and treasurer with certain assigned roles. Please let us know what your group does.

8-Future Meetings

We decided that the second Thursday of each month was a good meeting day for now. We were all interested in having more meetings a month so locating a less expensive meeting place became a priority for our knitting circle.

9-End of Meeting

As with the formation of most new groups, many of the members had not met one another before and understandably were not quite relaxed. That all changed once we began discussing knitting and our hands became busy. Unfamiliar faces became familiar ones and the time passed much too quickly as it always does when you are sharing good conversation with close friends.

Materials to take to the first meeting

*Just in case someone wants to learn how to knit

Pointer 1: You must remember that not everything will go as planned. Be prepared for changes. Most times those changes will be positive for your circle.
Pointer 2: The agenda is simply a tool to guide your first meeting in the direction that you have planned. There will always be conversations that will take you on side topics. Use your judgement as to how long to let them continue and when to gently return the conversation to the important items that must be decided on before the meeting ends.

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