By Hand
BY HAND
Books give knitters a head start on summer stitching
The sixth installment of “Stitchionary,” published by Sixth and Spring Books, provides knitters and crocheters with a collection of more than 200 edgings pulled from the pages of Vogue Knitting magazine. Choose from edgings that add texture and color or opt for ribs, cables, lace or something unusual such as ...
BY HAND
Knitting as fine art on display at University of Maine Museum of Art
Knitters and those who love the fibers arts have the rare opportunity to see knitting as contemporary fine art in artist Ruth Marshall’s “Vanished into Stitches” exhibit on display through Saturday, June 9, at the University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St. in Bangor. Marshall, who was raised ...
BY HAND
Memories of ribbons make May Day special
May 1 is May Day, which falls roughly halfway between the spring equinox in March and the summer solstice in June. In my memory, May Day is aflutter with long lengths of yellow, white or pale blue satin ribbon attached to the top of a maypole rigged to the stage ...
BY HAND
The embroidery influence of Erica Wilson lingers on
Recently, I learned that Erica Wilson, the doyenne of wool embroidery, died Dec. 13 at age 83. An English-born embroidery designer who lived in New York City, she was the woman who brought the venerable art of crewel embroidery back into the land of the living with the publication of ...
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A gift of fabric stitched mother and daughter together
One of the best gifts my mother ever gave me was a half-yard of seafoam green satin and an equal amount of royal blue velvet as a Christmas gift when I was 12 years old. Such fabric splendor was rare in our household. The green made me imagine that it ...
BY HAND
Quiltport event designed for quilters
The destination for quilters Thursday through Sunday, April 19-22, will be the third annual Quiltport USA at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport. The weekend offers quilters a swirl of activities including a Block Swap, a Mystery Quilt, shopping at vendor’s booths and in town, demonstrations, open sewing, door prizes ...
Sometimes the ghosts of knitting past are machines
The history of knitting is filled with the ghosts and shadows of knitters who went before us, taking their stories with them and leaving behind the work of their hands stored in mothballs and cherished by their families. Stories of the tools they used and devised to aid them with ...
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Spinners, knitters meet weekly to share craft and friendship
Wheels turned smoothly and silently as spinners Deb Colson and Bev Richardson plied their spinning craft on March 16 at a weekly spinning and knitting session at the Spin a Yarn shop in Brewer. Colson and Richardson have known one another only a year, but they have plenty to talk ...
BY HAND
Needlework websites to visit
As part of my job, I sometimes visit websites relating to knitting and needlework to discover all sorts of information, patterns and tutorials. There is so much available, both for free and for fee, it is truly astounding — and time consuming. The trick, I have found, is to bookmark ...
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Sebec now home to Internet-based yarn business entrepreneur
SEBEC, Maine — A darn good yarn is probably nothing new in Sebec, but Darn Good Yarn is. Entrepreneur Nicole Mikkelsen Snow, 30, moved to Sebec in July 2011, bringing her online business, Darn Good Yarn, which provides jobs for 300 women in Bhagalpur, India, where levels of poverty are ...
BY HAND
Knit Nordic, knit simple with new books
A good way to get through mud season is to make sure there are new knitting books around to while away the doldrums as the switch from winter to spring mode swings into gear. Here are a few tomes knitters may find of interest: “Quick Nordic Knits: 50 Socks, Hats ...
BY HAND
Shipping out with knitting in hand
Typically when Maine women in the 1800s went to sea with their husbands, they packed their knitting. These days, knitting is still done aboard ship, but now it’s not a way of life, it’s a knitting cruise aboard the schooner J and E Riggin, owned these past 15 years by ...
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Needlework design blends embroidery, applique
Recently, I discovered at dmc-usa.com the Blue Leaf applique design, a free pattern, listed under the projects to do with Pearl cotton, a lustrous thread used primarily for embroidery, although I have crocheted with it and one could knit with it, too. The Blue Leaf was designed by Carina Envoldsen-Harris, ...
Call your friends, start a Stitch group
My Stitch group has become so loose, it almost isn’t one. But that’s the way we like it. Rules don’t apply, though we do try to meet at each other’s homes once each month. But that isn’t a hard and fast rule either, because sometimes we don’t meet in December ...
BY HAND
It’s February, learn to embroider
February is National Embroidery Month. It’s the perfect time to reclaim the skill or seize the day and learn it for the first time. The minute you thread a needle with floss, Pearl cotton, yarn or other fiber and push it through fabric, you are joining legions of women, who ...
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Children’s book about knitting will appeal to parents, too
Recently, a children’s book, “Extra Yarn” by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, appeared on my desk. Rarely do I come across books about knitting aimed at children, so it caught my interest. The story is a simple one and will appeal to grownups who knit as well as ...
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Many skilled hands create the building across the street
Ever since construction began on the new Bangor arena on Main Street between Buck and Dutton streets last fall, I have been drawn to my office window to watch the activity going on there. What the construction workers do displays a skill and craft that borders on art. The new ...
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Crochet simple bracelets
It’s fun to crochet bracelets. Here are three I dreamed up: Bracelet 1 Materials • 1 ball crochet cotton, black with a silver thread running through it, available at fabric and craft stores and departments. White with silver and gold with gold also are available. Or use Perle cotton in ...
BY HAND
Quilters group softens preschool nap time with donated pillows, quilts
A special donation of homemade quilts and pillows will be presented to representatives of Watch Me Shine preschool at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at A Straight Stitch quilt shop in Brewer. The quilt and pillows are the handwork of The Backroom Stitchers, established in 2006 as the Brewer chapter ...
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New Year’s resolutions for the overindulger in fabric and yarn
This is my New’s Year resolution list: • I will not buy another piece of fabric or skein of yarn until Feb. 1, because by then I’ll be more than ready to talk myself out of this resolution. • I will take time every day to do some hoeing out ...
Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness
LePage blasts teachers union for endorsing same-sex marriage question
Reporting crime
A people’s revolt in Bar Harbor
Old Town football coach steps down
Perakslis helps UMaine beat Albany; Binghamton next in America East tournament
Orono baseball shuts out archrival Old Town for ninth straight victory
Stony Brook knocks out UMaine to win America East tournament
Aroostook businessman expands company out of home with hit mobile app 7 Little Words
Former CEO of MaineToday Media Richard Connor sued over $250,000 in loans
Small idea launches major project in Hampden
Diversity predicts export success, MIT professor tells Maine audience
New, old methods combine to deter scrap metal thefts in Aroostook
Gary Allan talks with the BDN leading up to Bangor concert
Out of the ashes, Central Street’s garden grows
Mid Coast Actor’s Studio provides new forum for classic plays
Signs lead artist to opportunity
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