In December 2011, a Meet & Greet event was held at the Textile Center to explore the potential of Midwest Machine Knitters’ Collaborative becoming a reality. The enthusiasm of those who attended reinforced a belief that a centralized forum to share and grow within machine knitting was actually happening. January 2012 saw 15 founding members and more joined MMKC throughout that first year.
Although the original thought was that MMKC would draw experienced machine knitters and designers, it was a surprise that there were so many in the Twin Cities area new to machine knitting. MMKC shifted gears to meet the demand and developed the MMKC University to teach machine knitting – there became 5 courses offered in this program in partnership with the Textile Center. Monthly meeting presentations reinforce the educational foundation that has been put in place. In addition, MMKC is a Charitable Non-Profit organization with 501C-3 status. Joyful Noise knit-ins are held to further our donations for Bundles of Love as well as members knitting for other service organizations throughout the year.
MMKC is a strong supporter of local and state fairs. We sponsor 3 rosettes and cash awards for first place in the following categories: Dress/Suit (adult), Outerwear (adult), and Toy. An additional cash award, new in 2016, for a Hybrid item entered into the Machine Knit category (combination of hand and machine knit). The addition of hybrid knitting opens a whole new world to many knitters.
Pictured: multicolored tuck detail