Knitting in Massachusetts

Moving Back to Blogger

The new home of this blog is knittinginma.blogspot.com. Since I don't post often anymore, it doesn't make sense to pay $5.00 a month to have the blog on TypePad. Plus, Blogger has added enough features in the past several years that there doesn't seem to be any big advantage to being on TypePad. So in a month or two, this TypePad blog will disappear.

I'm working on moving some of the posts from here over to Blogger, but most of them will just disappear. The bulk of the store information is pretty old, and it's too time-consuming to move each post over.

Knitting Kitsch: Tin Knitting Bank

Seen at Davis Squared:

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

Spark Craft sale reductions down to 50%

The storewide sale discount for Spark Craft Studios' store closing sale has gone from 30% down to 50%. Got this email from Spark Craft last night:

50% Off or More - All Inventory

All store inventory is now 50% off through Sunday, November 30th.  Certain items are even lower-priced; see store for details.

Bags of Beads - $10 & $20
Get grab bags of assorted Swarovski crystals for $20 and grab bags of assorted loose beads for $10.  These great deals won't last!

Limited Store Hours
Hours this week: Tuesday, 12:30 - 8:30 pm; Wednesday, 4:30 - 8:30 pm; closed Thursday; Friday, 4:30 - 8:30 pm; Saturday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm and Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00 pm.  The store will officially close November 30, 2008 or as soon as all inventory has been liquidated.

Furnishings & Retail Fixtures
We still have an assortment of store furnishings and retail fixtures for sale - stop by the store for details - Ikea furniture, retail displays, home decor and various odds and ends.  EVERYTHING MUST GO THIS WEEK, SO STOP BY AND MAKE US AN OFFER!

Ribbon Spools & Button Tubes
Get a whole spool of ribbon or a tube of buttons at a fabulous price!  Price per spool depends on size and amount of ribbon or buttons remaining.

Knit & Crochet Patterns - 10 for $10

Get all single knit & crochet patterns 50% off or 10 for $10!

Spark Craft Studios
1963 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-441-5200
hello@sparkcrafts.com

30% off store-closing sale at Spark Craft Studios now through Nov. 23

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Update, Nov. 25, 2008: The reductions are now down to 50%, and bags of beads are as low as $10. See updated email from Spark Craft.

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Spark Craft Studios sent out this notice to email newsletter subscribers:

Spark Craft Studios, Inc. will be closed by the current management on or before November 30, 2008.  Following is important information about final store inventory sales, classes & events, and store hours.  Thank you for your business and best wishes to everyone!

30% Off Inventory

All store inventory is now 30% off through Sunday, November 23rd.

Loose Beads - Fill a Bag for $20
Get 30-50% off loose beads with our "Fill a Bag for $20" offer now through store closing.  Shop early for the best selection.

Classes & Events

November classes with students enrolled will proceed as scheduled.  December classes and classes with no enrollment have been canceled.  Private parties scheduled past November 30 have been canceled. Please call the store at 617.441.5200 if you have a question about a class or event.

Limited Store Hours

Starting Wednesday, November 19, Spark will be open limited hours as follows: Tuesday - Friday, 4:30 - 8:30 pm; Saturday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm and Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00 pm.  The store will officially close November 30, 2008 or as soon as all inventory has been liquidated.

Furnishings & Fixtures for Sale

There is an assortment of store furnishings and fixtures for sale - stop by the store for details - Ikea furniture, retail displays, home decor and various odds and ends.

Spark Craft Studios
Porter Square
1963 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
617.441.5200

Purl for a Purpose Update

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

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

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.

Blogging again - at least for now

I've recently had the impulse to blog again, so I reactivated my Typepad account, at least for now. I will probably move this blog over to Blogger, though, since it's free and has many more features than it did when I first started blogging. I'm not sure I'll keep updating it. We'll see how things go. At least if I move it to Blogger, it will be free, so I won't feel bad if I only update it once in a great while.

I'll probably delete the lists of knitting and spinning groups, though. They were getting time-consuming to keep up, and what with other sources of information out there (like the SnB Boston Yahoo Group, Ravelry and several maps of area yarn stores), it seems unnecessary.

Yarn Store Maps

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

First, in case you missed Paige's comment on the previous post, she 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.

Spark Craft Studios

I always meant to write a review of Spark Craft Studios after writing about the fact that it was going to open last year, but never got around to it. So here is a short review.

This studio is located near the Davis Square T stop in Somerville, opposite the Brooks Pharmacy parking lot. It's sort of along the lines of one of those make-your-own-pottery places: It offers a space to socialize while doing needlecrafts, paper crafts, or beadwork, and you can also get help from the staff and from other customers. The store also holds special events and offers classes and space for hosting private parties.

Spark Craft Studios is in a large, cozy space that occupies two floors. There are couches and worktables to sit at while you work, and coffee and tea is available. There are also some private work rooms where classes and private parties are held. The studio has resources available for customers' use — craft books, magazines, and tools (a yarn winder and swift, sewing machine, etc.). The studio also offers retail sales of craft materials, including yarns and notions (more on that later). If you want to actually do crafts there, you can either buy a day pass, get a 10-visit pass, or buy a three-month or one-year membership. (An initial studio tour is free.)

A selection of about 60-70 yarns is for sale on the lower floor and includes ribbon yarns and novelty yarns as well as basics like cotton and worsted-weight wool. The range is pretty good considering the relatively small selection. The stock changes, but yarn brands I've seen there or that are listed on the Spark Craft web site include Malabrigo, Red Heart, Manos del Uruguay, King Tut, Karaoke Soy Silk, Adrienne Vittadini, Tahki Stacy Charles, Cotton Classic, Filatura di Crosa, Mango Moon, and Araucania Nature Wool. There are also patterns from Stitch Diva Studios, Gedifra, Minnowknits, and Araucania Nature Wool.

Accessories are on the first floor and on previous visits have included Susan Bates notions and crochet hooks, Clover bamboo needles (both straights and double-pointed), Addi Turbo and Addi Bamboo Natura circular needes, Red Heart "Crystalites" clear plastic crochet hooks, and Skacel steel crochet hooks with rubberized handles. (See the list of brands carried.)

Spark Craft Studios
50 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 718-9132
hello@sparkcrafts.com