MILLICENT’S NEWS

AUGUST 2005

 

(Look for a free pattern at the end of this newsletter!)

  

Book and Pattern Sale extended through July!

By popular demand, our book and pattern sale will continue through to the end of July.  All books published before 2005 are 20 % off.  All patterns are 25% off, and many are 40 and 50% off.  Look for Tahki Stacy Charles and Berroco pattern books at drastically reduced prices.

 

Potato Chip Scarf

Oh, it’s a cutie!  Ruffly and twisty, the potato chip scarf is fun to knit and fun to wear!

We have a sample now at Millicent’s.   The pattern is at the end of our newsletter.  And it takes only an evening to knit.

 

Capelets Are In

I saw them two summers ago at the yarn conference:  small capes, sitting over your shoulders, but stopping above the elbow.  And now they have moved from urban high fashion to the rest of us!  Capelets are pretty accessories that add pizzazz plus warmth depending on the weight of yarn you use.  We have a sweet capelet on view at Millicent’s made from a summer weight ribbon yarn from the Elizabeth Austen folk.

 

Somerset Knitting Guild Offering Workshops on August 7

The Roof Garden Knitting Guild is presenting two workshops by Karen Frisa on Sunday, August 7.  Karen teaches at The Mannings in East Berlin PA and at Ewenique Yarns in Bel Air, MD.  She also manages Knitting Traditions for Beth Brown-Reinsel and is a freelance technical editor of knitting patterns for Interweave Press and Lion Brand.

 

The two workshops, each 3 hours and offered together for $30 are Fixing Mistakes in Your Knitting and A Collection of Cast-Ons.  Registration deadline is July 23.  Class size is limited to 20 students.  Registration with a check can be mailed to Wendy Stemple, Box 105, Shanksville, PA 15560.

 

Knitters’ Night Out (aka Knitters’ Therapy Night) 5:00 to 7:00

Well, we have a blast on Wednesday, knitting, looking at patterns, checking out yarns, talking and laughing, playing with babies, helping beginners and more advanced folk as well.  Knitter’s Night Out has become a phenomenon, a women’s gathering place, a fun place to be with friends! 

 

The only prerequisite is that you can laugh, because we sure are doing a lot of that!  Don’t be afraid to come if you have knit for just a short time – we aren’t gathering to judge but to enjoy each other’s company.  A small fee of $2.00 is requested and if you come at this time to take lessons, I ask that you pay the equivalent of $10 per hour (or some proportion of that – we are fairly loosey- goosey at this time.)

 

P.S.  Sorry about the cancellation on Wednesday, July 13 – we, along with most of downtown between Mechanic and Queen City Drive, from Bedford to Harrison, had no electricity following the big storm. We gathered around the front window looking for any vestige of light, watching the rain be swept down the street. But after 1 ½ hours, it became pretty apparent that the electricity was to be knocked out for a long time and we escaped between the raindrops. 

 

New Yarns Are Arriving

New yarns are arriving and they are glorious! 

 

We’ve brought in Froth from Cherry Tree Hill for over 3 years now and many of you have enjoyed making the triangular shawl from that.  But Cherry Tree Hill has many more wonderful yarns, and this year we are showing some of them off to you! 

Baby Sachet is a nylon ribbon with enough yardage for a shawl.  Supersock Merino is a fingering weight superwash Merino yarn (yes, you can put it in the washing machine).  It is dyed in shorter bursts of colors and looks like the infamous Koigu (a beautiful yarn that is such demand that it takes over a year from ordering to delivery).  Supersock with its many color variegations and solids is superlicious – and only one skein can make a man’s pair of socks!!  We have also brought in Cherry Tree Hill’s Suri Alpaca Lace – a hand-dyed laceweight yarn. Oh it is soft and pretty!

 

Blue Heron has outdone itself with its handpainted bulky chenille which comes in over 52 colors, some wild and bold, others subdued and mellow.  Remember, we recommend that the bulky chenille be knitted on a size 6 rather than the expected size 10 needle to avoid the “worming” that is so often a problem with chenilles.  Our sample scarf  shows how wonderful this chenille feels, even when knit on small needle.  We also have brought in a cotton-rayon-metallic yarn from Blue Heron, over 400 yards per hank, which will be great in long openwork scarves or shawls, even when knitted in garter stitch!

 

And from Rainbow Mills --a new yarn source for Millicent’s – comes  Rhapsody Rayon Chenille, a worsted weight chenille.  We have a selection of summer colors now, and are anticipating the arrival of the fall selection.  (Like the Blue Heron bulky chenille you will want to knit this chenille on a needle several sizes smaller than anticipated.  I will be trying a size 5 for my first project.)

 

Also, from Cleckheaton Yarns, we are introducing Studio Mohair 8 ply, a sportweight mohair-nylon blend with soft lush colors and great patterns as well.  The Fall issue of Easy Knitting has four beautiful sweater patterns for this yarn.  Trust me, the yarns and these sweaters will charm you!

 

We have also brought in a number of fingering and lace weight yarns, which you’ll now find on the “window” side of the area that used to be exclusively for “baby yarns.”  I’m really excited to have Digit, a fingering weight yarn (get it? Digit – fingering weight?!?) in a full array of colors, solids and heathers, that are perfect for knitting Fair Isle hat patterns. Priced below $5.00, they make knitting a four- or even an eight-color hat reasonable!  And, of course, we have many hat patterns from Nancy’s Knit Knacks to do just that!

 

New Accessories and Patterns, Too

 

Millicent’s now carries Brittany Birch 14” needles, sizes 4 through 17.  All you straight needle knitters can now enjoy the same feel and smoothness you have grown accustomed to with the 10” Brittany needles on these longer ones, just right for larger projects!

 

Have you ever had a circular needle whose size was completely unknown?  The sizing on the needle itself had worn off.  It looks like a 5, but maybe it is a 6 or 4?  Your needle gauge has disappeared.  What’s a knitter to do.  Well we have finally found a way to have to have instant identification for your needle size!  From Nancy’s Knit Knacks we have brought in Circular Needle Identification Tags – little yellow plastic tags that fit onto the cable of the needle, each embellished with US as well as MM sizing.   If you begin to use the needle, you simply put tie the ID tag onto the beginning tail of your cast-on row, and it sits there patiently until you are ready to place it on the needle again.  (Boy, this is really when I can use the tags – knitter of a hundred unfinished projects that I am!)

 

Also from Nancy’s Knit Knacks we have brought in knitting sacks, small belted, draw-string sacks that sit on your waist or hang like a shoulder bag, and are just the right size for holding a one or two balls of yarn and a small project in process.  These are great for knitting on the go, or knitting at a ball game, or knitting while you wait at the dentist’s office, or or or or …….

 

 

Potato Chip Scarf  - approximately 58” long

This is a summer scarf with ruffles that is easy, fun, and unusual.  Below are two versions.

 

Single Ruffle Scarf

Materials:

100 grams or approx 220 yards of a sport weight yarn (choose something with a texture or a tweed pattern to it, like Flash or Brilla or Mikado Ribbon)

#8 or #9 circular needle, 32# length (at least)

 

Whatever yarn you use, select a needle size at least 2 sizes larger than the recommended size.

 

Basic Instructions

CO 90 sts

Row 1:  Knit

Row 2:  Knit into front and back of every stitch

Row 3:  Knit

Row 4:  Knit into front and back of every stitch

Row 5:  Knit

Row 6:  Knit into front and back of every stitch

Row 7:  Knit

Bind off LOOSELY.

 

 

Double Ruffle Version:

Materials:

220 yard of one sport weight yarn

110 yards each of two coordinating sport weight yarns

1 pair size 8-32” length circular needles

 

Instructions:

Use a provisional cast on and knit one side following the Single Ruffle instructions with the 220 yards of the one color of yarn.  Pick up the cast on stitches and knit half of the other half with the first coordinating color and the second half with the other color.  You’ll have three long stripes (one wider stripe and two narrow stripes)) all a-ruffle!

 

 

 

 

HAPPY KNITTING

FROM

DICK AND MEL

AT

        MILLICENT’S KNITS & YARNS

 

 

 

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