Knitting in Massachusetts

The Principles of Knitting slated for November release

2011-03-23T13:54:00.005-04:00

There have been rumors before, but this time there's real evidence that the long-awaited update of June Hemmons Hiatt's Principals of Knitting will be published. Simon & Schuster has listed the book in its Fall 2011 catalog, complete with cover art. According to the catalog, the book goes on sale Nov. 1, 2011.

Thanks to Jane Jacobs of Porter Square Books for the information. (Porter Square Books is offering a 15% discount on preorders for the book. No prepayment is needed, but the books must be special ordered. Call 617-491-2220 or email info@portersquarebooks.com for more information.)

Update on Principles of Knitting

2010-04-14T14:28:00.003-04:00

The ever-resourceful Jane Jacobs, who is one of the owners of Porter Square Books and runs the monthly knitting group there, is on the case, tracking down what's going on with a possible reprint of this sought-after book. She wrote in a recent email to knitting group members:

After all of our discussions about this book, it seems something is stirring – again, maybe.

I just received an email from our Simon and Schuster rep. I had asked him the question about who holds the rights to the book.

He said they reverted to the author in 1997! And, that Simon’s Fireside imprint is planning on publishing a revised edition in the fall of 2011.

This sounds suspiciously like what I heard several years ago but at least we have a little more detail. I’ll keep harassing him as time goes on and see if I can get an editor out of him at the beginning of the year.

She promises to pass along any news as she gets it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

No Principals of Knitting Reprint After All?

2010-03-31T11:35:00.001-04:00

Knitters have long been awaiting a reprint of the comprehensive reference book Principles of Knitting. A revised edition was scheduled to come out in 2009, then the publication date was pushed to fall 2010.

Jane Jacobs at Porter Square Books has contacted the original publisher, Simon & Schuster. A customer service person there told her the book was out of stock indefinitely, and said they had no more information. Jane then emailed the store's representative at Simon & Schuster, who told her the book was definitely out of print and the publisher has no plans to reprint it. She has asked him to find out whether the rights reverted to the author.

Jane promised updates if she finds out anything else. If she does, it will be posted here.

Woolcott's Last Day Is Today

2009-10-27T12:03:00.001-04:00

Today, October 27, is the last day that Woolcott & Co. will be open for business. They're offering:

50% off of all yarn
75% off of all novelty yarns, book and bags.

Also, if you're interested in any of the fixtures, furniture, storage bins, etc., you can stop by. Sean, the owner, says in his latest e-mail blast: "No reasonable offer will be refused. ... And if you want a momento of the shop, we're selling the logo boxes...make me an offer!"

Woolcott & Co. Sale: 50% Off Totes, Patterns $1, Samples

2009-10-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

At the Woolcott & Co. closing sale, books and tote bags are now 50% off and single patterns are now $1.00 each. They're also putting knitted samples on sale.

Woolcott & Co. to Close; Clearance Sale Starts Today

2009-10-19T10:38:00.005-04:00

Harvard Square is losing its yarn store. After decades in the square, Woolcott & Co. will be closing its doors.

The exact date that the store will close hasn't been settled yet; it will depend partly on how fast the owner can sell off the inventory.

Woolcott's going-out-of-business sale starts today. Everything in the shop is at least 25% off; novelty yarns will be 50% off.

Sean, the owner, is planning to start a new venture, PersonalKnitter.com. [Note: I'm including a link, but it's not up and running as of this writing.] He describes it as a service sort of like a personal trainer for knitters.

Details on the Woolcott store closing and the new venture from Sean's blog post.

40% Off Book Sale at Knitpicks

2009-10-02T21:06:00.007-04:00

KnitPicks is having its annual fall book sale. The deal is 40% off all books in stock (so no discount on the books in their Upcoming Releases section). They don't have every knitting book under the sun, but they have a decent selection. And if you are spending more than $50, shipping is free. Here's the KnitPicks book section.

Oct. 3, 2009 edited to add: Another good reason to shop for books on KnitPicks: in many cases, they have many more photos of projects from the books than other web sites, including Amazon and the publishers' own web sites.

Pine Street Inn Knitathon Is Nov. 8

2009-08-14T10:29:00.005-04:00

Prizes, guest speakers, food and fun are promised for the 2009 Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon.

The Knit-a-Thon raises money to benefit Pine Street Inn’s Supportive Housing Program, which provides permanent housing for formerly homeless people. And the blankets made during the Knit-a-Thon are given to residents of the program.

The way it works: Before the event, participants knit or crochet up as many 9” squares as possible. On the day of the event, the squares are sewn together into afghans. You can help by:

knitting or crocheting squares,
raising money,
making a donation, and/or
showing up on Nov. 8 to help sew squares into afghans.

Last year 40 blankets were made and nearly $20,000 was raised.

Pine Street Inn makes it easy to create your own fundraising web page (through the site FirstGiving.com) so you can collect donations online.

Learn more about the Knit-a-Thon, or sign up, here.

Knit-a-Thon Info

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (you can come anytime during that window)

Location:

GE Healthcare
116 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
map

GE Healthcare is near three T stops (Copley or Prudential on the Green Line; Back Bay on the Orange Line). Parking is available in the building, according to the Knit-A-Thon web page.

World Wide Knit in Public Weekend June 13 and 14 (and 20 and 21)

2009-06-02T07:23:00.006-04:00

World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKiP) is actually a KiP weekend this year. It's June 13th and 14th. Most of the events will be held on the 13th, a Saturday, but it's extending over the weekend for those who can't do a Saturday. (Some places are holding events on June 20 and 21 as well, because the 13th and 14th is the weekend of the TNNA conference, but all the Massachusetts KiPs listed are for the 13th or 14th.)

Find local KiPs here.

May 10 Reading at Porter Square Books

2009-03-25T17:21:00.003-04:00

Knit One, Read Too, the monthly knitting group at Porter Square Books will have an author reading during its May 10 meeting. Kristen Rengren talk about her new book, Vintage Baby Knits (Abrams, $27.50). The store offers a 10% discount during the knitting group for those who attend, so if you want to buy the book after hearing Rengren speak, you can take advantage of that.

Here's a Knitty article by Rengren on vintage patterns. (Thanks to Jane J. at Porter Square Books for the link.)

The Knit One, Read Too group meets from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month (except for April's meeting, which will take place on April 5 -- the store is closed on the second Sunday of April, for Easter.)

For more information, contact the store at info@portersquarebooks.com or (617) 491-2220.

Soliciting Yarn Store Reviews, Info on Local Fiber Groups

2009-03-10T12:47:00.003-04:00

In an effort to recreate the older version of this blog on the new platform, I'd like to ask people to send me reviews of yarn stores in Massachusetts and I will post them here.

I am also working on recreating the lists of yarn stores and knitting/crochet/spinning/dyeing/fiber groups and guilds in Massachusetts that were on my old blog. If you run or participate in such a group and would like it to be listed, please send information on:

where and when the group meets,
whether there's a charge to attend,
contact information in case people want more info, and
any other information you think might be helpful.

Please note: I may identify yarn store reviewers by first name (unless the reviewer gives me permission to use his/her whole name). If you don't want your name mentioned at all, let me know that. There may be some reviews I won't publish, or will edit -- for instance, if they seem very self-promotional, libelous, what have you. If you're a yarn store owner or employee, you're welcome to send in a review/rundown of your own store and what it offers -- but please do note your connection with the shop. Thanks!

Michaels Arts & Crafts Store Expanding Yarn Offerings

2009-02-12T12:23:00.003-05:00

A knitter named Melinda writes:

I went to Michaels yesterday. It was okay (nothing medium - high end). However, there was a sign posted indicating that a new yarn department would be coming this spring.

This was the Michaels in Danvers, Mass. I emailed Michaels to find out whether yarn departments in any of its other stores would also be expanded, but haven't received an answer.

One More Year to Wait for Updated (and Affordable) Principles of Knitting

2009-02-03T11:28:00.007-05:00

Someone called F Vine commented on the old version of this blog that the publication date for June Hemmons Hiatt's revised version of this book has been pushed back to November 2010. (The commenter got the information via this post on Amazon.) For those who are unfamiliar with the book, Principles of Knitting is a comprehensive reference that has a five-star rating on Amazon and is selling used for $100-$200. A completely revised, updated edition was originally due out this fall.

Thanks to F Vine for the info.

Update, 2/3/09, 3:00 p.m.: Jane of Porter Square Books (she runs the monthly knitting group there) called the publisher directly and was told the book is coming out October 2010. So, that's at least only a 12-month delay instead of 13 months -- if they stick to that date.

Knitting Kitsch: Tin Knitting Bank

2008-11-25T15:57:00.000-05:00

Seen at Davis Squared:

This bank and others like it are made by Pittsfield, Mass.-based company Blue Q.

Purl for a Purpose Update

2008-11-13T14:31:00.000-05:00

The Pine Street Inn's second annual Purl for a Purpose Knit-a-thon was on Sunday. I didn't quite reach my fundraising goal, and I'm embarrassed to say that I only managed to knit two squares before the event. (I ran into someone else who only knitted one, though, so that made me feel a bit better.) In hindsight, pledging 25 squares in the time I had (about six weeks) was probably unrealistic, even if I were a faster and more diligent knitter.

The good news is that the Knit-a-thon broke last year's 25 afghans made. Forty-six quilts were sewn together during the event, and about 15 more bags of squares were taken home by volunteers to be sewn into blankets. No word yet on how much money was raised, but I'll update this page with the info, and maybe pictures of some of the finished quilts, too. Update: $18,000 was raised this year. Photos from the Knit-a-thon are here and here.
The Pine Street Inn's residence program, which was the beneficiary of the Knit-a-thon, currently has 28 residences throughout the greater Boston area that give permanent housing to almost 500 formerly homeless tenants, both individuals and families. The program includes specialized housing for tenants with a history of mental illness or HIV/AIDS. Another 130 units are expected to open within the next two years.

Purl for a Purpose on Nov. 9 to raise money for Pine Street Inn

2008-10-07T21:27:00.000-04:00

Boston's Pine Street Inn is having a Knit-a-thon Sunday, Nov. 9, from 11:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. to raise money for its housing program for formerly homeless people. It works like this: participants pledge to knit or crochet a certain number of 9"x9" squares and ask people to either make a flat donation or pledge on a per-square basis. The squares will be assembled into blankets that will be given to tenants of the Pine Street Inn residences.

Pine Street Inn makes it easy to create your own fundraising web page (through the site FirstGiving.com) so you can collect donations online. They ask that you start making squares before the event so that more blankets can be assembled during the Knit-a-thon. (Any kind of yarn is okay; just label each square to show its fiber content.)

Sign up for Purl for a Purpose, or learn more about it, here.

If you can't participate, please consider helping me raise money by clicking the Donate button and giving online.

Save your $300. New edition of Principles of Knitting due by fall 2009

2008-10-06T12:02:00.002-04:00

I'm posting what I thought was going to be a scoop, then realized it's not — by about nine months.*

But I'll post about it anyway for those of you who may not have heard, or may not be familiar with this book: The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt, which is out of print and selling used for around $200-$300 a copy, is due to be reissued this fall by Simon and Schuster. The author is revising and updating it for the reissue. (Thanks to Jane J. at Porter Square Books for checking on this; if you live in the Cambridge, Mass., area, you might want to check out the store's monthly Knit One, Read Too knitting group or the Oct. 15 reading by Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.)

I first learned about The Principles of Knitting when it was recommended in another knitting book. (I think it was Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles -- which I gave away once I discovered the Magic Loop method of sock knitting.) The reviewers on Amazon all give it four and five stars and call it a knitting bible. I borrowed a copy from my local library and it does seem to live up to the praise. And last I heard, the planned retail price for the new edition was $45.

*It's already been written about here.

Update, 2/2/09: Someone emailed me that the publication date has been pushed back to November 2010. The information comes via this post on Amazon.

Update, 2/2/09, 3:00 p.m.: Jane at Porter Square Books (she runs the monthly knitting group there) called the publisher directly and was told the book is coming out October 2010. So, that's at least only a 12-month delay instead of 13 months -- if they stick to that date.

Porter Square Books Knitting Group and Book, Yarn Discounts

2006-01-06T12:05:00.001-05:00

I said I was going to stop blogging, but just had to write an entry on two possible alternatives to this site:

First, a knitter named Paige has launched an interactive map of local knitting spots. It includes not only yarn stores but also knit-friendly cafes. If you click on the places listed, you can see reviews. If you register (free), you can add your own favorite yarn stores to the map or comment on the places already written about.

I also got an email from someone named Cindy who has created a nationwide map of yarn stores. This one only shows locations — there are no reviews.

Just looking at it quickly, it's pretty spotty: It lists a store in Boston that hasn't existed in years — and that I think was only a distributor or publishing company anyway (Yarnwinder); lists The Knitting Room but leaves out some stores that have been around longer (Woolcott & Co., Mind's Eye Yarns, and Windsor Button, to name a few). But if you email Cindy you can update her.

Updated ArtBeat Photos

2005-07-26T21:58:00.009-04:00

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

2005-07-14T00:47:00.004-04:00

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

2005-07-01T11:38:00.001-04:00

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

2005-05-20T19:55:00.002-04:00

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

Gangsta Knitter

2004-11-09T18:41:00.002-05:00

Who would have thought that there were not one, but two knitting music videos?

Take a look at the video here. It's pretty funny.

Found it via the 2Ktog blog. Apparently the video was mentioned in Knit.1, which is Vogue Knitting's entry into the "young, hip" knitting market. (There's a web site for Knit.1, but it's currently under construction.)

There's also a great video at the web site for the band Steriogram. Click on the photo that says "Play Video" over it. It's the video for their song "Walkie Talkie Man." Just about everything in the video is made of yarn, and it's done in stop-motion animation. Good song, too.

Campy Greeting Cards

2003-03-07T11:20:00.001-05:00

At Wild & Woolly in Lexington, they have these Anne Taintor-ish cards made with what look like 1960s yarn company promotion photos. I thought they were kind of funny.

Here are some sample cards with captions. These images aren’t the clearest, but they give some idea. You miss the full effect of the very groovy crocheted orange dress, though:


Carmelita wondered if she should have waxed her bikini line before the ambassador’s party.		“First we get better grades than the boys...then we take their jobs.”

On the way back from Wild & Woolly, had lunch at the Edwardian Tea Room in Arlington (1332 Massachusetts Avenue, at the corner of Park Ave. — near the Lexington border, in what I think is Arlington Heights). Kind of a neat place. True to the name, it does have an elegant Edwardian vibe, with Art Nouveau decor — glossy black paint, cupid lamp, lots of floppy frondy plants—if a slightly musty smell. You could be in an episode of Poirot. They serve high tea on Sundays and they also serve breakfast and lunch all day during the week. The menu changes with the seasons—the spring menu starts the week after next. (They’re closed for vacation next week.)

The food was very good light fare, I thought. Meals are served along with tea biscuits, a pot of tea, and a delicious cinnamon-apple-yogurt spread (with actual pieces of cooked apple in it) to go with the biscuits. You would swear it is cream or butter, not yogurt. The lady who served me — apparently the owner — said it’s her own special recipe.

Pros: Retro atmosphere, fresh, delicious food, courteous service.

Cons: Very pricey.

Sample prices:

An entree salad of spinach-walnut-and-goat-cheese sandwich with a little piece of focaccia bread, a pot of tea, tea biscuits and cinnamon-apple biscuit spread cost $12.00 — and the salad was pretty small for an entree. If you were really hungry, it definitely wouldn’t fill you up.

A pot of tea for one is $5.00; a pot for two is $7.50.

A mug of tea with tea cakes is something like $5.50.

A bowl of soup with bread and a pot of tea is $8.50.

But I still think it’s worth going there for an occasional treat. Maybe tea is a better bet than lunch, though. It’s not the best place for a substantial meal.

The American Textile History Museum

2003-02-24T10:42:00.002-05:00

Went to the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass., yesterday. It’s a pretty good museum. Right now there’s a special exhibit called “Reflections: Fashion, Dolls, and the Art of Growing Up.”

It was pretty empty when we went, and there was only one guide-type person around, but it looks as if they have facilities to do a lot of stuff when it’s busier. You walk in and above you, in a glassed-in area wrapping around three walls, are hundreds of spinning wheels and swifts and reels. In the exhibit hall there's a small area with bleachers facing some old power looms, which I guess they use for lectures and demos. There’s also a separate room where they demonstrate power looms dating from about the 1890s on, and there’s an area for kids with little hand looms and things that they can try out. There’s also a cafe. And they have activities like workshops, lectures, and storytelling.

Besides the looms, the displays include antique clothing and textiles, and tableaus showing typical fiber-working tools. There’s also stuff about the life of the “mill girls”—the young women who worked in the mills.

I liked the museum, but thought they could have done a better, more thorough job explaining some of the stuff. They have a pretty good video that shows how the settlers in the 1700s used to make linen by hand. It would have been nice if they had videos showing weaving and spinning and wool processing too, because the displays and plaques for those things are kind of sketchy. Plus, it’s much better and easier to understand when you actually see the process instead of just having it explained to you.

The gift shop has a lot of books on textile arts, history (not just textiles but general history and history of the immigrants who worked in the textile mills), plus a few craft books and kits for kids. There are also hand-woven and -knitted hats and scarves and things; pillows and placemats and stuff made from fabric woven on the looms in the museum, which you can buy online; fabrics that reproduce some of those found in the museum collections; toy sheep; kids’ books; parts from old wooden looms; plus the usual notecards and calendars and stuff.

The Textile Conservation Center that restores garments for the museum is in the same building. They do work for private clients, so if you really want to you can have your grandmother’s wedding dress restored. (Well, actually, conserved. As they explain on the Conservation FAQ, there is a difference.)

They also have a library with books of interest to spinners and weavers.

Vintage Knitting Patterns from the Red Cross

2003-02-21T11:46:00.001-05:00

Just read about this web page for the American Red Cross Museum, which has free vintage knitting patterns used in the Red Cross’s WWII knitting drive. (I read about it in the Knitter’s Review email.)