Millicent’s News   
November 2005

  

MILLICENT’S YARNS & MORE

27 N. Centre Street, Cumberland

301-722-8100  or www.millicentsyarns.com

 

Shop Hours: 

Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm

Wednesday until 9 pm

Sunday 2 – 5pm

The holidays are drawing near!  We have many beautiful yarns that are just right for knitting beautiful scarves, warm hats and mittens, baby blankets, socks.  Millicent’s is there help you create the stunning surprises you wish to have for your holiday giving.

 

 

Spinning at Millicent’s

On Sunday, November 6, Maureen Pritchard of Romney will be teaching two introductory spinning workshops.. 

 

The first, from 2 pm to 3pm is an introduction to learning to spin on a drop spindle.  A drop spindle is an ancient tool, used throughout the world by non-industrial nations, to produce yarn from wool.  It is portable and fun.  Many, many knitters have begun to spin using a drop spindle, looking to understand better the source of their knitting enjoyment.

Price of this workshop is $25, which will include a spindle for you to take home and various rovings to try out.

 

The second spinning workshop, also on Sunday, November 6, will be an introduction to spinning on a spinning wheel and will take place from 3:30 to 5:30.  This workshop is limited to five people.  If you don’t have a spinning wheel, we are able to provide four practice wheels for use (Two are shop wheels and are available for sale, one is Maureens, and one is Mel’s) . However, if you have your own wheel and would like to join us, please do!   You will learn to treadle in a regular rhythm, hold roving  in such a way as to provide a twist to the yarn and be able to feed the yarn onto the spindle.  We have had one group of spinners go through Maureen’s introductory workshops in the last year and they now meet on Friday afternoons at Millicent’s to continue their spinning together!  This workshop will cost $230 and includes a variety of wools for experimentation

 

Millicent’s is now selling spinning equipment.  Spinning wheels vary in price from $160 for one made of PVC pipe (but we’ve heard good things about it!), to wheels over $900.  We will be bringing in wheels in a mid range of $295 to $475 dollars.  If you are interested in purchasing a spinning wheel, please talk with Mel. 

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Spinning classes with Maureen will continue once a month on Sunday afternoons through April.

 

Weaving

We will also have weaving workshops and classes that cover two modes of weaving:

 

The first, to be held on Saturday, November 19, from is a two-hour (10 am to 12 noon) introduction to weaving on triangular loom workshop, limited to four students.  Shirley Carnahan has been demonstrating use of a triangular loom throughout October and has drawn in many curious on-lookers.  Easier than weaving with a shuttle loom but more difficult than pot-holder weaving, working with a triangular loom will open your eyes to the delights of working with yarn without knitting needles or crochet hooks!  Millicent’s is bringing in two two-foot and two three-foot triangular looms for class use and purchase.  These “travel looms” are reasonably priced at $72 and $94.  These are available for sale as are seven-foot looms such as the type Shirley has been working with (as special orders).  Triangular looms produce scarves and shawls, as well as other garments such as jackets.

The workshop costs $30 which includes a skein of Noro Silk Garden.

 

This workshop will be repeated on December 3.

 

An introduction to weaving on a rigid-heddle loom, which is the easiest of the “harness” looms to use, will begin on January 21, 2006 and continue for three weeks.  Our class is limited to four students.   Again, Millicent’s is bringing in four looms – two 16-inch and two 24-inch looms for class use, rental, and purchase.  Rigid Heddle Looms are tabletop or lap looms and can produce small woven objects such as scarves, place mats, table runners, etc.  It is also possible to create garments using woven work on the rigid heddle loom.

 

Shirley will follow this introduction to rigid heddle looms with two “project” workshops in February and March, and will give another three-week introductory class at the end of March through the beginning of April.

 

 

Millicent’s Focuses on Fair Isle Knitting in November

Two of our November classes involve Fair Isle knitting, also known as stranded color work.  Our Tuesday evening Christmas Stocking Class uses a pattern with many design choices that helps you to create your own one-of-a-kind stocking.  The Thursday mid-day Fair Isle Hat Class will pick up where our October Hat Class left off. 

 

Traditionally Fair Isle knitting was defined as knitting with many colors, but never using more than two colors in a row.  Most Fair Isle patterns are made up of small motifs which repeat across the piece.  Think of Swedish or Norwegian traditional sweaters, or Icelandic sweaters.  Examples of each are in our shop.  The term now refers to any color knitting where color changes are frequent, requiring the yarns to be carried across the wrong side of the work.

 

The easiest way to work Fair Isle knitting is in stockinette stitch in the round – which results in your needing to knit only (imagine, no purls!)  The yarn can be carried in one hand or in two hands using both the English and the Continental knitting techniques.  Sound hard?  It isn’t really.  In fact, it’s a real charge to see those colors coming through in a pattern!  I went bananas when I learned – producing not one Christmas stocking but six (!!!!) in a matter of weeks.  It was like an addiction – I just couldn’t stop wondering what pattern and colors I could play with next!  (Four remaining stockings are will in the shop too).

We’ve had several requests to repeat our Horizontal Hues Sweater Knit Along, a pattern which uses Fair Isle knitting.  We will start that this winter. Look for more information in our January newsletter.

 

SPECIAL end-of-year KNIT-ALONG

A Knit-Along is a time for knitters to gather and work on similar projects, either using the same pattern with different colors, or using the same construction technique for a wide range of pattern possibilities.  We’ve found Knit-Alongs to be a fun time to share with other knitters and a great incentive to getting projects finished!

 

By popular request we are squeezing in a Knit-Along in November and December to knit the floral Weekend Satchel from the Fall 2005 Issue of Interweave Knits.  The satchel, which looks like a Mary Poppins carpet bag, is knitted using intarsia for large color areas, then embroidered for color contrast and detail, and finally felted to give it additional structure and wearability.  Don’t know intarsia yet?  We’ll help you out.  Like all knitting, it is another skill to be learned to add to your repertoire of knitting tricks, but it is not a show stopper.  We will meet Sunday, November 13 and 20, and Sunday, December 11 and 18, from 2:00 to 4:00.  Millicent’s has all the colors you’ll need of the required Lite Lopi  Icelandic wool.  If you have any scraps of Lite Lopi, bring them along!!  Fee:  $2 per hour.

 

Beads at Millicent’s

Now do you understand why we changed our name to Millicent’s Yarns & MORE?!?  We have brought in a wide selection of beads in glass and wood for knitting, tatting, and crocheting as well as some wonderful kits for creating knitted necklaces, beaded scarves and ponchos, and small beaded purses.  Our October beading class in which we created beaded wristlets was a lot of fun.  It’s not as hard as it looks – it just takes some patience and some time.  The end effect is beautiful!  We will have a classs in knitting with beads in November and more more beading classes in later in the winter.

 

New Magazine:  knitscene! from Interweave Press

Knitscene! has arrived at Millicent’s.  It is advertised as a magazine that will offer a hybrid of techniques:  knitting, crocheting, felting, stitiching, and beyond.  It’s about knitting in style – imaginative, fashionable knitwear, graceful yet playful garments, smart accessories, little gems of home décor, and always the unexpected – projects and yarns that will make readers’ fingers itch to knit!”

 

Pam Allen, editor of Knitscene and Interweave Knits and a number of the better knitting books from Interweave Press, explains that “an exciting new generation of knitting enthusiasts is revitalizing the craft.  These are style-conscious women who are bored by mass retail uniformity.  They are more creative, willing to push the boundaries, and not weighted down by tradition.  They view their knitting as a form of personal expression and they like to get funky by merging techniques – incorporating embroidery, sewing, crocheting, and even beading into their knitting.” 

 

And another new magazine:  Handwoven

From Interweave, Handwoven is geared toward those folk interested in weaving.  Weaving is a natural extension of knitting and spinning, and we are pleased to bring this beautiful magazine into Millicent’s for you.

 

Hold these dates!

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Show is held the first full weekend in May (May 6 and 7, and there is some rumor of it being open on Friday May 5)  Classes and sales keep the Show exciting and exhausting for all who visit.

 

The Summer Knit & Crochet Show, sponsored by the Knitting Guild Association and the Crochet Guild of America, will be held July 13 to July 16, 2006 at the Valley Forge Convention Centre in King of Prussia, PA.  Classes and sales highlight this show.

 

Stitches East, an annual knitting event held in King of Prussia PA and then in Atlantic City, is moving to BALTIMORE!!  It will be held the first weekend in November 2006, which appears to be Nov. 3, 4, 5 (although these dates have not been published yet.

 

There are enough knitters and fiber artists in our area to get a bus going to one or all of these events.  Please give your name to Mel at Millicent’s if you are interested in letting someone else do the driving!  We will be keeping a list of interested parties and will hope to have enough to charter a bus.

 

Looking for a career change?

From All Things Considered, September 27, 2005.  The National Trust of Scotland is seeking tenants for two properties on Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island of Scotland.  It is said that someone with knitting or construction skills would have no trouble making a living there.  The knitting cooperative, for example, has more orders than it can fill.  See http://www.fairisle.org.uk/property.htm for further information.

 

Or if it’s part-time work you need . . . .

Seasonal Help Wanted at Millicent’s:

Millicent’s Yarns & More is seeking seasonal help (November through February) on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays.  We barter hours for “yarn money” which you can “spend” on anything in the shop.  A positive attitude and ability to interact with people of all ages is a must.  Knowledge of knitting, crocheting, or spinning is helpful but not necessary – but a desire to learn is!

 

At what point did you make the leap from knowing how to knit to being a knitter?  Millicent’s community answers: 

*  I became a knitter when I knit a sweater for my husband and after that I knew I could really do it.  It’s kind of my passion.

*  I became a knitter back in college when all us girls made socks and sweaters for our boyfriends.  We’d knit even when we waited in line for meals.  I knit because I love to knit – it’s a part of me.

*  I became a knitter when I realized that it is not so much about the product.  It’s not so much about the making of a garment.  It’s about touching yarns and looking at it with six or more other yarns.  It’s a whole way of thinking.

*  I’m not a knitter yet.  I’ll be one when I can read the directions and not get lost!

*  The difference between being a knitter and being one who knows how to knit is in the mind.  Being a knitter is a passion, wanting to try anything.  I try anything, and even if I don’t know how to do something, I find someone who does to help me – quick before they pass away!

*  If I were politically correct I’d have to say I’m a person who knits.  But really I’m a knitter.  It seems more personal than to be “a person who knits.”  This is one of two things I do!  And work doesn’t count!

*  I’d known how to knit for some time, but didn’t make it a part of my everyday life until that day I walked into Millicent’s for the first time.  I realized I became a knitter the day I felt ‘cranky’ when I didn’t get in any knitting time.  I set aside some knitting time before I go to bed and it has become part of my ritual to relax.  Now I can’t think what I’d do without a project of three underway!

*  I became a knitter when the season of “timing” presented itself in my life.  The seasons of life have begun to change and open up for me.  The children no longer needed my constant guidance and attention.  A season was returning to me that beckoned and called to my inner depths…one that could only be filled through artful expression.  My medium . . . fiber art.  Although my skill was not polished, Millicent’s provided an outlet in which to pursue a passion that I had long forgotten about.  It was hidden amongst the many piles of laundry, homework help, endless ball practices and the constant need to run everyone to everywhere that my life had become.

I am now peaceful and ‘in love’ with the silence as I pour over patterns.  My mind races as I touch and feel every fiber and smell the lanolin (a perfect thing that only a knitter can understand).  A project is being birthed within my heart that my hands furiously knit to produce…and with it comes a peace and joy of the creativity that hides itself within my very soul.

If you haven’t moved from just learning the tools of the trade to actually becoming a knitter in your heart . . . .hang on baby, the season is fast approaching.  When it does, grab onto it with all that is within you, absorb all the classes you can, hang out with those who can inspire and nurture your craft and become who you have always known yourself to be within your own heart.  Allow those who only could see your exterior shell to peak into the heart of a knitter.

 

HAPPY KNITTING

FROM

        MILLICENT'S YARNS & MORE

 

 

 

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Millicent's Knits and Yarns • 49 North Centre Street • Cumberland, Maryland 21502
phone 301-722-8100 • mel@millicentsyarns.com