Get your winter retail therapy fix the first Saturday in February with Belfast's Cabin Fever Sale. Businesses throughout downtown Belfast will be offering great deals! Treat yourself to clothing, housewares, toys, books, food and more.

We will open at 9 am, and everything will be 20% off all day.

Find them on Facebook, and view sales and promotions at Our Town Belfast's Cabin Fever details page.

During the month of February, all of the yarns in our cotton section will be on sale at 20% off. For those of you who don't know, we sell cotton yarn as low as $2.25 a skein (used mainly for dishcloths) as well as, on the high end, hand-dyed rayon and linen -- and a lot in between these types of yarns. We encourage you to come in and try out some of our cottons if you haven't done so already. We have tried out almost all our cotton yarns so we will give you honest input. A one-skein project, such as this cotton baby hat for summer nights in Maine, is always a useful gift and fun to make!

We find that customers always like to have at least one project on needles that doesn't require much thought, but is not boring. With babies arriving all the time, this might be the project you are looking for!

We took a simple basket weave pattern and made a pattern based on multiples of ten stitches, so it is easy-peasy. The yarn is dk weight, but you can use any weight yarn and adjust the pattern accordingly by ten, or if you want to knit on worsted weight yarn according to the pattern, it will come out a little larger. The pattern is free at Cestari Baby Blanket or at the shop.

We chose to use Cestari's Ashlawn yarn for this project because the yarn is a US domestic product, and we were not disappointed one bit -- the result is a lovely, soft fabric. The Ashlawn Collection is made exclusively with Virginia-grown cotton (75%) and blended with Cestari's Natural White Traditional Wool (25%). The Traditional Wool is a Targhee-Columbia blend that was developed on the Cestari farm in the rolling hills of Virginia. A 250-yard/100-gram pull skein sells for $9.95.

Are you thinking about knitting a cotton sweater? We have one in the shop for you to try on! It is made from Berocco's Pima 100, a fabulously soft cotton that is nice to work with. (Cheryl used this yarn to make a one-skein baby vest last June which you can read about in our June 2017 newsletter.)

The Berroco pattern, Marquita, offers many color-combining possibilities. Come in and play to find a stripe grouping that would work for you.

Cheryl will tell you that the yarn does not split and that she enjoyed knitting with it. The yarn comes in a lovely palette of colors. A 100-gram/219-yard hank sells for $9.95. It recommends a gentle machine wash.

St. Margaret's Seeks Fiber Art
During the month of March, there will be a display of fiber art at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in the breezeway between the sanctuary and the parish hall. Wall hangings, knit critters, felted garments, scarves, hats, hooked-rug pieces, fancy shawls -- anything goes! Lend your work for the month and see it on display. For more information, contact Jillian at 207-653-1428 or Betsey Feeley at [email protected].

Knit-a-Thon
Love to knit with others and give back at the same time? Join in on March 17 for the biannual Knit-a-Thon to raise money for people in need. The event will take place at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, from 8 am to 8 pm. Stay for an hour or two, or spend the day! Bring a friend and any type of handwork. All funds collected for the event will benefit the Belfast Soup Kitchen. For more information and a sponsor form, click Knit-a-Thon sponsor form, or contact Jillian at [email protected] or Sara at 978-325-0045.

More than 50 works by Maine fiber artists will be featured in the Every Fiber of My Being exhibit, which runs February 9 through May 4 in the Fernald Gallery at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center. Works demonstrating techniques and forms will include wall hangings, wearable art, vessels and more.

Artists represented in the show include: Sandi Cirillo, Stephanie Crossman, Sister Bette Edl, Kathleen Goddu, Shira Joys, Susan Mills, Jessica Peil-Meininghaus, Jeanne Perkins, Meryl Ruth, Cathie Stebbins Peterson, Derreth Roberts, Jude Spacks, Susie Stephenson, Jo Swift and Alice Timmons.

An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 9, 5:30-7 pm. The reception and exhibit are open to the public and are free of charge. The H. Allen and Sally Fernald Art Gallery is open Monday-Friday, 8 am-7 pm.

For more information or to request a disability accommodation, phone Nancy Bergerson at 207-338-8049.

Join Belfast Flying Shoes on Friday, February 2, for an evening of contra dancing at American Legion Post #43, 143 Church St. in Belfast. The evening begins at 6:30 pm with a community dance called by Chrissy Fowler. The contra dance begins at 8 pm.

This month's caller is Belfast's own Chrissy Fowler. A founder and leading light of the Belfast Flying Shoes dance series, Chrissy spreads the joy of contra dancing also at schools, community gatherings and private events.

Sharing the Flying Shoes stage with Chrissy will be The Gawler Family Band. The Gawler Family Band is Ellen and John Gawler (pillars of Maine's traditional music and dance community); their multitalented daughters, Molly, Edith and Elsie; and the fiddling, farming folklorist Bennett Konesni. John Gawler: banjo, guitar, harmonica; Ellen Gawler: fiddle; Molly Gawler: fiddle; Edith Gawler: fiddle, banjo; Elsie Gawler: cello; and Bennett Konesni: guitar, banjo. Sound provided by Eric Weest Johnson.

For more information, phone 207-338-0979, email [email protected], visit Belfast Flying Shoes or find them on Facebook.

On Saturday, February 10 (snow date February 11), from 10 am to 5 pm, 2cnd Hand Hearts presents Adorn & Divine at the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library. Fine arts and unique gift items, handmade valentines, Sweet Henry's truffles and treats, tarot readings and other delights.

On Saturday, February 17 (snow date February 18), at the Belfast Dance Studio, there will be a fundraiser for New Hope for Women entitled Hope for Her, featuring dance performances by Shana Bloomstein, Rachel Finnmore, Molly Gawler and Helena Melone; student performances in ballet, belly dance and flamenco; and music performances by Tremolino and Antone Vieira. Suggested donation: $15.

On Tuesday, February 20, at St. Margaret's Church in Belfast, from 6-7:30 pm, there will be the first of a series of six dinners to benefit Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County. The theme of the dinners is "an international tour of bean cuisine." The first stop on this culinary tour is Istanbul. The price is $20 per ticket. Reservations required; table bookings accepted. For tickets and more information, phone 207-323-0590 or email [email protected].

Come Boating! Belfast's community boating organization and the Belfast Free Library are teaming up for a second year to offer evening programs about adventures on the water in the Abbott Room of the Library.

The Winter Adventure Series continues Tuesday, February 20, at 6:30 pm with a film presentation of Go Ganges! This is an adventure documentary film that follows two friends, television producers and adventure travelers Josh Thomas and J.J. Kelley, as they test their skills on an epic adventure down India's sacred river, the Ganges. Together they journey from the source glacier of the river in the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, where it empties into the Indian Ocean. And they do it rather unconventionally -- traveling on foot, cycle-rickshaw, rowboat and anything else that moves. Battling hardships unimaginable to most, the friends test their limits on the planet's most populated, polluted and holy river. The adventurers provide a colorful testimony to the distress the river endures, and why it merits reprieve as an irreplaceable emblem.

For more information about the series, visit Come Boating!

These programs are free and open to the public. For more information, phone the Library at 207-338-3884 ext.10.

Save the date for the first annual   Belfast Winter Whoopla! from February 23 at 8 am through February 25 at 5 pm. The weekend will be jam-packed with fun festivities. There will be both indoor and outdoor activities throughout Belfast for everyone.

Some initial activities include:
An Ice Ball (Dance Party!) Friday Night
Snow Graffiti
Sledding
Chili Cook Off
Matinee at Colonial Theater
Hot Cocoa Stations
Snowshoeing
Cross-Country Skiing
Fat Bike demos on the Rail Trail

The organizer is the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information, phone them at 207- 338-5900, email them at [email protected] or visit them at BACC.

On February 27 at 5:30 pm at the Belfast Shrine Club, BAY PRO (Belfast Area Young Professionals Reaching Out) offers a night of focused networking. During the evening, participants are encouraged to answer the question "Who Are You?" Tell the story of where you have been as a young professional and where you are going in the Belfast community.

For more information, find them on Facebook.