Updated ArtBeat Photos

Kathy posted some photos on the True Grounds knitting group web site of the goings-on at the booth we had at ArtBeat Saturday.

Teaching people to knit at ArtBeat was a lot of fun. I was surprised, because I thought for some reason it would be mostly kids coming to the booth, but actually there were more adults.

UPDATE, 9:49 P.M.: Kathy, who took the aforementioned photos, has posted about ArtBeat on her blog, too.

As mentioned in my previous post, one of the projects included making drop spindles out of dowels and old CDs. It worked out only so-so. We had to add paper shims to keep the CDs from being too wobbly, and it was hard to get both CDs into the little groove on the outside of the rubber grommet (look at the preceding link if you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about). I've seen a few variations of CD spindlemaking on the Internet. If anyone's made them and has advice to offer, please feel free to leave a comment.

UPDATE, JULY 26: In case anyone’s interested — here are some closeup photos of the wire bracelets we made.

In case anyone’s wondering, the “more ambitious things” I mentioned in my previous post included knitting with wire, ribbon, and beads. I say “ambitious” mostly because I had never knitted with wire until the night before and wasn't sure how it would turn out. I knitted a wire bracelet (click on the photo at right to see a closeup). It was my first attempt at knitting with wire, and I used three plies of a six-ply 18-gauge copper wire from Home Depot. It was hard to work with, and it also turned Ariel's wrist green. Sorta forgot about that little side effect of copper when I bought it. I was later told that could be avoided by painting the wire with clear nail polish or shellac.

Kristina ran over and got some 24- or 28-gauge (single-ply) craft wire and beads from Spark Craft Studios to make the bracelet at right, and that was much easier to work with. (Higher gauge = thinner wire.) And no green wrists, either.

3, 2, 1 ... Countdown to ArtBeat

Three days left — no, two — until the ArtBeat festival in Somerville. Members of my Sunday knitting group will be there, teaching people to knit, crochet, and spin on drop spindles provided by Lucy at Mind’s Eye Yarns. The theme of ArtBeat this year is “Mix & Mash,”� so we’re attempting to fit into that theme by mixing techniques and using nontraditional materials. For instance, Kathy came up with the idea of using ordinary twine from the hardware store to make coasters. Other projects we will be doing are listed in this previous post. We may try a few more ambitious things, but I won’t mention them here in case they don’t pan out.

Anyway, if you have some free time on Saturday and feel like hearing some bands, eating some good food, or shopping for crafts from pottery to jewelry to handbound books, come by Davis Square on Saturday between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. And if you do, stop by our table and say hi.

The adorable Mix & Mash graphic above was done by Somerville artist Yani Batteau. You can see more of her work here and here.

Volunteers Needed for Art Beat in Somerville July 16

The Stitch 'n' Bitch Boston group that meets in Somerville will be participating in Art Beat, an arts festival held in Somerville (Davis Square) each July. We will teach knitting, crochet, and spinning with drop spindles, as well as some specific projects.

We're looking for as many volunteers as possible. Date is Saturday, July 16 (rain date Sunday, July 17). Hours of the festival are 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We'd like to get 3-4 people to do shifts of approximately two hours teaching people to knit, crochet, or spin and/or demonstrating and helping people with projects like:

1. Knitted Square
2. Bracelet
3. Spinning
4. Make knitting needles from chopsticks
5. Twine coaster
6. Drop spindles from CDs
7. Fun fur necklaces
8. "Green Line extensions" (knitted tubes of green yarn, to be worn as hair extensions)
9. Plastic grocery bag floor mats Some kind knitting and/or crocheting with plastic bags
10. Group project (to be determined, possibly an afghan using the squares)
11. Finger knitting for kids
12. Knitting with wire
13. Knitting with

Crocheters and spinners are especially welcome, as we have mostly knitters right now.

If anyone could contribute materials to make any of the projects, that would be great, too. Yarn, unspun fleece, knitting or crochet needles, etc., are needed.

We'll also be displaying finished items in as wide a variety of materials and styles as possible to fit in with this year's Art Beat theme of "Mix and Mash" — mixing different materials, techniques, etc.

If you are interested in volunteering, donating materials, etc., please contact me.

Thanks!

Martha

Porter Square Shopping

Several members of my regular Sunday knitting group in Somerville have noted that Porter Square Books (in the Porter Square Shopping Center, right next to Tag's Hardware) has a good selection of knitting books. It's not a giant store, and the knitting-book section takes up only a shelf or two, but it's a nice assortment. Just a few of the titles I've seen there are

• Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman,
• Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti,
• the Knitting Experience Books (The Knit Stitch and The Purl Stitch) by Sally Melville,
• Knitting on the Edge by Nicky Epstein,
• Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick,
• The Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss,
• Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush,
• Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson,
• Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley,
• the Knit Lit books of short knitting-themed fiction, and of course
• the ubiquitous Stitch 'n Bitch books by Debbie Stoller.

Recently I found out why the selection is so good: Lucy, the owner of Mind's Eye Yarns, which is right across the street, helped them choose their knitting books.

I like the bookstore for a lot of other reasons, too. It's roomy, laid back, provides chairs and tables, and the staff is helpful and friendly. They'll order anything they don't have, and usually get it in within a few days. I also like their selection of magazines. It’s not huge, and while they carry many of the mainstream titles, others weren't represented. (Example: they carry Vogue, Cosmo, Allure, and Marie Claire, but not Glamour). Nevertheless, I thought they offered a nice choice, including some less-common titles like the fashion magazine Nylon and the feminist magazine Bitch.

The store offers a monthly selection of Staff Picks, has frequent author readings, and offers a story hour for children on the first and third Wednesdays of every month.

There's also a 20% discount on current top 20 adult Book Sense Picks and a 10% discount for teachers on classroom purchases, if they show a teacher I.D. Plus, Porter Square Books offers a customer appreciation program whereby, for every $150 you spend, you get a coupon good for $7.50 worth of store merchandise. (There's no time limit in which you have to spend the $150 in order to get the coupon, either.) Even if you're pinching pennies, it's definitely a nice place to buy some of those books that Amazon doesn't discount anyway, or where the discount is so slight/shipping is so much (read: your order doesn't qualify for Super Saver Shipping) that you wouldn't save much, if anything, online.

If you go on a day when Mind's Eye Yarns is open (Wednesday through Sunday most of the year; closed Sundays in the summer), you can shop for yarn or spinning fleece and then troll both stores for books and magazines, knitting and otherwise. Mind's Eye will have spinning books and magazines as well as knitting.

June 1-5, when Mind's Eye Yarns is having its anniversary sale would be a good time to go. There'll be 25% off all yarn and spinning fibers, with some items 35% off.

Mind's Eye Yarns
22 White Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 354-7253
lucy@mindseyeyarns.com

Porter Square Books
Porter Square Shopping Center
25 White Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 491-2220
info@portersquarebooks.com