Millicent’s News

October 2007

 

Millicent’s Yarns & More

27 N. Centre Street, Cumberland, MD 21502

 Shop Hours: Tues - Sat 10 - 5, Wed 10 - 8 and
Sunday 1 - 4 (closed last Sunday of every month)

Socks! Socks! Socks! Socks! Socks!

 

SOCK OF THE MONTH CLUB

Yes, October starts the year-long Sock of the Month Club!  You can choose to attend the first Wednesday of the month (5 – 7pm) or the first Sunday of the month (2 – 4pm).  We will be exploring knitting socks of all sorts and sizes: top-down, toe-up, patterns, striped, cabled, knitting two socks at the same time, you name it.  As always, I open the door to free expression – ie you pick the pattern you would like to work on, and let people know what you like about it, especially when you get to show it off next month.  Or, if you prefer, you can work with me on the pattern of my choice, and I’ll make sure to have tips for you during the first week.  This is a non-stress, one little sock per month project, easy to carry around in your purse to head to the doctor’s office or the ball game or dancing lesson with your children, or where ever you have to sit idly. 

 

Knitters are welcome to join at any time in the course of the year. Also, if you are just becoming proficient in your knitting, but aren’t yet ready to tackle socks, you are welcome to hop into the group when you feel ready.

 

We have brought in many new sock yarns just for you in fingering and sport weight.  Ranco, a hand-dyed sport weight wool from Chile, looks like a tie-dye job on the skein, but creates really interesting color flecks when knitted.  Another new yarn called LifeStyle from Skacel is a luxurious extra-fine merino superwash wool which patterns as you knit it.  Bearfoot (cute, eh?) from Mountain Colors is a wool-mohair blend with 15% nylon to give it strength and comes in gorgeous fall colors – and is disappearing fast!  We have several of the Fortissima Sock Yarn lines in now: one is called Mexico Country, which patterns in rich colors; another is Fortissima Socka, a patterning wool, bamboo, nylon blend; a third is Sockina Cotton, a cotton, nylon, acrylic blend for those of us that don’t like the wool.  And of course we have renewed our stock of the yarns we love, like Trekking XXL, Tofutsies with its anti-bacterial shrimp and crab shell additions (no, this yarn is not crunchy!), Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino, and Step with its AloeVera and Jojoba Oil. 

 

SOCK BOOK REVIEWS (Don’t skip this part!)

We have also increased our selection of sock books. We have at least two copies and sometimes more of the titles reviewed below.  If you would like to have a title that we are out of, I’d be happy to order it for you.  (Please don’t let Amazon drain precious money out of our community!)

 

You might want to purchase only one sock book and make your way through it over the course of the year. Getting Started: Knitting Socks by Interweave’s Ann Budd would be a good book to choose.  Budd makes whatever might appear complicated seem easy.  The book offers several cast-on methods, several ways to join in the round, several ways to utilized 4 or 5 double pointed needles or circular needles, and gives patterns for any weight of yarn from 8 stitches per inch to 3 stitches per inch, which is a real advantage to those who go cross-eyed trying to read past the numbers that stretch forever on the pattern that gives us everything on 3 pages.  Budd also provides us twelve alternatives to the basic 1x1, 2x2, or 3x1 boring rib, a slew of cable patterns in 4, 6, and 8 stitch repeats, the same for lace, etc., etc.  In short, it is a good book for learning.

 

Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Church both have formats that I particularly like.  She begins with a discussion on yarns, sock basics, and knitting techniques for socks.  The chapter “Troubleshooting” helps us avoid gaps, ears, and more.  She has charts for yarn yardage, for sock sizes when you only know shoe size, for the number of stitches needed to cast on when you know the number of stitches per pattern repeat.  Each of her patterns are divided into 3 columns that give you the necessary details when using 4 or 5 double-pointed needles, or 2 circular needles.  And then comes the best part:  She rewrites each pattern according to the requirements needed for four- through twelve-stitch pattern repeats.  And then Church gives us many stitch patterns in words and in charts! More Sensational Socks is more of the same, with explorations into colorwork and mosaic knitting.  Both these books are the sort you can use over and over again, long past our year’s worth of socks.

 

Favorite Socks:25 Timeless Designs from Interweave Knits is not a how-to book, but rather dives in with its first pattern and continues with patterns for anklet socks, slipper socks, lace socks, men’s socks, etc, etc.  Many of these patterns appeared in past years in Interweave Knits and Spin-Off magazines (both of which you can purchase at Millicents), and an additional 6 patterns were commissioned for this book. Similarly, the small Vogue Knitting Socks and Socks 2, and KnitSocks!, offer pattern after pattern.

 

Knitting Vintage Socks by Interweave’s Nancy Bush re-works classic sock patterns from the 19th  and early 20th century ladies’ leaflets called Weldon’s Practical Needlework.  Bush gives a history of sock knitting in England from the 1550s, through the industrial revolution, the late 1880s when knitting became the work of upper class and idle ladies.  She also has a chapter that explains Weldon’s methods of sock knitting and updates those for the 21st century.  She then has chapter after chapter of original sock patterns that she has rewritten for the modern foot.

 

Easy Knitted Socks by Jeannette Trotman makes not only basic socks easy, but includes patterns for infant booties, for knee-socks, for sexy over-the-thigh socks, for felted boots, for knitted house slippers with removable soles, some lace socks,  and several slip-stitch patterns in solid and in color arrays.

 

And then for the NEW AND EXCITING BOOKS that have just come out in print. Knitting Circles Around Socks by Antje Gillinghan is the much advertised book on knitting two socks at a time on circular needles.  She makes the method straightforward and includes many varied sock patterns.  I, for one, am going to tackle this method after Christmas.  New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One is another of Cat Bordhi’s explorations into the “what if” phenomenon.  Cat gave us the revolutionary Knitting Socks on Two Circular Needles some years ago.  In this new book, Cat turns the architecture of knitting socks on its head, explaining that “all I have really done is to liberate the increases that used to be unnecessarily confined in side gussets in the Western architectural style.”  In other words, we can free ourselves of the two styles of socks (heel-flap-side-gusset and afterthought-heel) of the past five hundred years with our own creativity.  I believe Cat Bordhi is a genius, thinking far outside the box.  She’s funny and unpretentious.  Having been an elementary school teacher for years, she explains everything to us as if we were under ten and needing really clear directions.  She also uses great metaphors:  ie. “daughter, mother, grandmother” stitches, “winning legs and back legs,” or “La-Rink and La-Link” increases.  Again, I have to confess that I’m tackling Cat’s book after Christmas, or even in the spring when flowers are coming out and I have time to think again.  So stay with us through the year, because there will be lots and lots to learn through our twelve months together with socks.

 

CHARITY KNITTING FOR 2007-2008:  SOCKS

Roberta Miller brought Socks for Soldiers to my attention and I think it is a fitting effort for charity knitting that we might do this year.  Maybe we could even devote one or two months to this.  Here is the program explained in Roberta’s words:


”Just in time for Millicent’s Sock of the Month Club: 

I would like to tell you a little bit about a charity group I discovered on the internet.  It’s called Socks for Soldiers and they desperately need – you guessed it – SOCKS!

The primary goal of this group is knitting big black boot socks in wool or wool/blend for our soldiers in Iraq.  Wait – did I say WOOL?  In the desert?!  Shocking, isn’t it?   Wool is normally associated with cold temperature, but the properties of wool are effective in the desert, too.  Wool wicks away moisture during the day, leaving the feet comfortable, even inside a pair of heavy boots.  Likewise, desert nights can get downright cold, so wool socks in extreme conditions work double-duty.

Accessing their website is easy.  Go to www.yahoo.com.  Click on “Groups” and type in “Socks for Soldiers.”  It is a well-organized group with tons of support.  They have specific guidelines on which yarns and which patterns to use in fingering or sport weight yarns.

Socks for Soldiers will continue their efforts in sending not only knitted boot socks, but also leisure socks, beanies and washcloths every week until all of our soldiers come home.

If you don’t have access to the internet, you can ask Mel to see the “Socks for Soldiers” folder in her shop.  There is information on which yarns to use, copies of patterns and other ways we can help.  Can’t wait to see you at the Sock Club!”

 

Roberta pointed out to me that, because black is hard to see for knitters, the group is also accepting white socks that will be dyed black before being sent off to Iraq.  Moreover, when not in uniform, the soldiers, men and women alike, enjoy the same kooky striped and patterned socks we do, and those can be sent to Iraq via Socks for Soldiers as well. 

 

APOLOGIES

Seems that I goof up at least one time in every newsletter, but September’s was a big goof!  I wrote dates for the Sock Group as starting in September, and people began showing up.  I’m really sorry to have inconvenienced you.

 

2007 SOCK OF THE MONTH CLUB DATES

October:  Wed, Oct 3 and/or Sun, Oct 7

November:  Wed, Oct 31 (yes, I do really mean Oct 31) and/or Sun, Nov 4

December:  only one meeting, Sun, Dec. 2

The 2008 dates will be published in the December newsletter

 

SOCK TRUNK SHOW: SEPT 21 – 29

Its going to come and be gone even before we meet in Oct 3, but it will be worth while stopping in between Friday, September 21st, through the following Saturday, the 29th, to see what all the fuss is about!

We also have a trunk-show of two sweaters using Taos already on display that leaves at the end Sept.

.

Please join us for our social knitting groups:

Kids Knit for elementary students: every Tuesday afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30

Teens Knit for middle and high school students: every Thursday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00

Knit-Ins on Wednesday from 12 – 2 and Fridays from 1 – 3

Hook-Up for crocheters: Wednesdays, 3 – 5

 

 

For Sale:  a Schacht 45” Highcastle Floor Loom 

with Bench, Warping Wheel, Shuttles, Bobbins, Shed Sticks

Originally $3600, Selling for $2000

Call Mrs. Lord, Carbondale, WV at 304-738-3239

 

HOPE TO SEE MANY OF YOU THIS FALL
WELCOME BACK TO MILLICENT’S!!  Mel


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