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Knitting, Purling, Sharing and Learning

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Penns Valley Area Knitters

(A Time of Knitting, Sharing, Learning, Chatting, Making Friends)

Knitters and Crocheters of all skill levels are welcome to join the fun. We meet the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the Centre Hall Library from 6 to 8 p.m. Additionally, we gather on the third Saturday of each month in IngleBean Coffee House in Millheim from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Who Are We?

The Penns Valley Area Knitters is a fun group of knitters of a variety of ages and skills levels from Centre and Mifflin counties. Everyone from anywhere is welcome. Visiting the area, check and see if we have a meeting. Feel welcome to stop by a knit night.

Want to learn to knit...come to a meeting and someone will gladly help you get started. We love new knitters!! For more information please call Kim at 814-777-3190. We meet the second and fourth Thursdays of each month (except for holidays) from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Centre Hall Community Library at 109 W. Beryl St., Centre Hall and on the third Saturday of each month from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in IngleBean Coffee House, 106 E. Main St., Millheim. Please check the current monthly meeting calendar posted below.

The Penns Valley Area Knitters, established in 2005, promotes interest and skill in the art of knitting, encourages high standards of quality and workmanship, and encourages the use of those skills for the benefit of others. Membership is open to all skill levels and geographic locations.

This is a great place to get help with a pattern, learn to knit socks, lace shawls, blankets, sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves; to ooohhh and aaahhh over each other's knitting and just have a good time.

Meeting Dates and Times: In case of inclement weather (snow or ice), please call Kim at 814-777-3190 to make sure we are meeting.

Saturday, December 17 -- 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. in IngleBean Coffee House

Thursday, December 22 -- No meeting.

Thursday, January 12 -- 6 to 8 p.m. in Centre Hall Library

Saturday, January 21 -- 2 to 3:30 p.m. in IngleBean Coffee House

Thursday, Januaary 26 -- 6 to 8 p.m. in Centre Hall Library

Knitting Fun

Other Area Knitting Group Meetings/Road Trips/Great Blogs and Websites

Yarn Bombing Solves Heating Problems!

Tips To Make Your Socks Last Longer

Some terrific tips to make your socks last longer. This was published in Knitting Daily and were provided by Allison from "Simply Socks Yarn Company" which is a terrific on-line shop.

Owning Simply Socks Yarn Company, a store that specializes in sock yarn, is a very particular niche. Over the past six years, the most common questions I get from my customers involve making hand knit socks last a long time. So I've compiled "10 Tips for Longer Lasting Socks."

1. Don't wind your yarn into a cake until you're ready to knit. Winding a skein into a cake pulls fibers taught and over months the yarn could lose its ability to spring back into shape.

2. Choose the right yarn for the project; 100% cotton yarn isn't necessarily appropriate for socks because they will quickly bag and lose their shape when worn. Wool and wool/nylon blends are popular for socks because of their innate elasticity.

3. Choose high-quality sock yarn—inexpensive sock yarn tends have short fibers, which pill and wear out more quickly than longer fibers. If your budget is tight, you can find great deals in sale sections.

4. Go down one needle size (or more) when knitting the feet. If a label calls for a US 2 needle, knit the foot of the sock on a US 1, or even a US 0 so you get a dense fabric that holds up to wear.

5. Knit the right size socks. Too-big socks slip around more on the foot and cause more wear as they move around in your shoes.

6. Rinse socks separately before washing with other items. While dye shouldn't run, super-saturated colors might and you don't want your other socks to be affected.

7. Turn socks inside-out when washing. That way the inside of the sock gets a fuzzy halo over time, and not the outside.

8. Consider washing your finished socks in a small mesh bag in the machine so they don't catch on zippers.

9. Don't wash socks in hot water. Even socks labeled "superwash" could felt or shrink a bit.

10. Lay socks flat to dry. Over time, machine drying will lessen stitch definition and make socks look worn. The intense heat of drying might also break down fibers.

—Allison Van Zandt, Simply Socks Yarn Company

Massages, Friends, Gift Swap Game = Autumn Retreat Fun

Local Yarn Shops

Knitters Underground, 532 Lower Georges Valley Road, Spring Mills. Telephone: 814-422-8612. Website: www.knitters-underground.com

Stitch Your Art Out, 235 E. Pine Grove Road, Pine Grove Mills. Telephone: 814-238-4151.Website: www.stitchyourartout.com

Delightful Ewe, 1381 Plank Road, Duncansville -- the Meadows Intersection behind Sheetz. Telephone: 814-696-0331. Website: www.delightfulewe.com

Fiber Festivals/Events:

February 10, 11, 12 -- Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Show, Mars, PA http://www.pghknitandcrochet.com/

May 5, 2012 -- MARK your calendars! This is the annual bus trip to Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Call Kim at 777-3190 for information.

Looking for fun knitting events?

Ever wonder how to find the fun knitting events in the U.S. (and a few more distant places, too)? Knitters Review, an online knitting forum is a terrific site and has a listing for each month of the year. There are website links to knitting events, fiber festivals, cruises, knit out, retreats...you name it, the information is there.

If you want to attend a special fiber related event, check out this site:

http://www.knittersreview.com/upcoming_events.asp

Other Area Knitting Groups:

Knotty Girls -- Mondays, beginning at 6 p.m., Cool Beans Cafe in Bellefonte.

Respect the Designer’s Rights -- Don't Copy Patterns

Designers of knitting and crochet patterns often earn their livelihood, or at least part of it, with the sale of their patterns. Those sales can take several forms – individual patterns that you purchase from a store or download (for a fee) from the internet, in a magazine, in a book of patterns, or a special pattern you get when purchasing yarn. Please do not copy (via photocopy or any other method) a designer’s pattern unless you know it was a free pattern given in a store or on a website. Loaning patterns to your fiber friends is a fine thing to do, but please don’t just hand them a copy. It is perfectly acceptable to make one copy for your own use of a pattern you have purchased. Many people do this so they can make notations on the pattern as they knit or crochet.

Keep Your Most Important Knitting Tools Healthy

Here are some exercises from the makers of Handeze Gloves. They will help keep your hands painfree. Remember to take breaks when you knit!

Hand Massage: With the thumb of the left hand, massage the palm of the right hand. At the same time, wrap the fingers of the left hand round the outside of the right hand and massage. Massage for one minute. Repeat with opposite hand.

Clench and Fan: Clench your hand into a tight fist and hold for five seconds. Release smoothly, extending the thumb and fingers into a fully stretched position and hold for five seconds. Repeat five times for each hand.

Thumb Stretch: With the left hand, gently pull the thumb of the right hand away from the thumb and down toward the forearm. Hold for five seconds. You should feel the stretch in the base of the thumb, palm side. Repeat for the left thumb. Five repetitions, alternate thumbs.

Wrist Stretch: Hold the right hand in front of the body, palm facing out, fingertips up, fingers together. With the left hand, grasp the right hand's outstretched fingers and gently pull the fingers back toward the body. Hold for five seconds. You should feel the stretch in the wrist area. Repeat for the left wrist. Five repetitions, alternative wrists.

Wrist Circles: With hands in front of the body and elbows held at a comfortable angle, gently rotate the wrists. Five repetitions in each direction. Good work! Now you're ready to knit in comfort!

Some fun blogs:

http://knittyblog.com/

http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com

http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com

http://wendyknits.net/

http://www.theloopyewe.com/sheri/

luvsockknitting.blogspot.com

http://westknits.blogspot.com/

http://goodwoolhunting.com/

We're In the Newspaper

Sat, Sep. 23, 2006 -- Centre Daily Times

Friendships, fabrics

formed at knitting club

A renewed interest in crafts is sweeping the nation.

Perhaps the desire to knit, quilt, or sew can be chalked up to a desire to get back to simpler pastimes, or maybe it can be traced to the domestic influence of Martha Stewart.

Whatever its origin, infectious nature of the crafts bug is nowhere more evident than in the group of women who meet bi-monthly at the Centre Hall Community Library to knit.

Unlike the popular perception of a knitting circle as a group of ancient ladies stitching on lap robes and sipping tepid tea, the membership of the Penns Valley Knitters represents a wide range of ages and knitting ability.

And the group is quite a bit more raucous than you'd expect people who rely on the good nature of the librarian on duty to be. Between bursts of laughter and some good-natured ribbing, talk swings from patterns and stitches, to family updates, to who's hot on "Grey's Anatomy."

"It's not your grandmother's knitting group," says Lori Corman, of Zion. Then, after a moment of reflection she adds, "Though I bet they talked about stuff like this too."

The group was founded by Kim Bierly early in 2005. Not a guild or a formally organized the club, the group members don't pay dues to belong, they simply show up at the library on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

"It's a social time too, and that makes it nice," Bierly says. Most everyone is there because they knew someone else who was joining the group. "One person brings a person who brings another person and so on," Bierly says.

For friends Jeanie Wiker, of Millheim, and Chris Doren, of State College, the twice monthly meetings in Centre Hall offer a chance to get together at a midway point between their two homes. Tina Dix and Freya Phillips go horseback riding together during the summer and fall. The Penns Valley Knitters gives them something to do in the colder months.

"We needed something to keep us off the streets in the winter," Phillips says jokingly.

Part social club, part crafters' support group, the knitters trade ideas and help each other out on projects. Like several knitters in the group, Corman only recently took up the craft.

Others are coming back to the hobby after taking several years off. Billy Mazza, a retired educator from Lewistown who now works at the yarn shop in Centre Hall, is the group's go-to woman for advice. A shout of "Billy 911" sends Mazza around the table to inspect and correct another knitter's stitch.

What everyone in the group seems to have in common is an inability to sit still, which explains in part why they took up the hobby.

Everyone in the group confesses to knitting while watching television. Barbara Penstone admits to knitting on car rides and at hockey games. When asked to explain the allure of the craft, she says "It's an artistic outlet."

So much practice has caused the knitters to quickly outgrow the furry and fuzzy novelty yarns that are common in craft supply stores. The rarer and more expensive Peruvian and Alpaca tweeds have their attention now. As their knowledge of stitches grows, their knowledge of wool and the regions where it comes from grows, too. "People start looking at sheep instead of puppies," Penstone says.

It's probably unlikely that any of the Penns Valley Knitters are going to turn to sheep farming to supply their yarn habit, but Bierly hopes the group continues to grow and bring new knitters into the fold.