We love unusual yarns, and Cherry is so new we have yet to knit with it. It is a worsted-weight cotton blend, 164 yards with handmade embellishments, for $18.95.

Our new fall yarns are beginning to arrive. We will feature them in a later newsletter, but if you can't wait, come by and check them out. 

Regia Softy Color: This is a DK-weight sock yarn. Soft color and full of texture. It's ideal for kids' socks, but can be used for a variety of items. Machine-washable, 39% wool, 61% nylon, 132 yards. Regularly $9.50, now $4.75.

On her blog, Scenic Turnout, Julie says about her new Circle de Soleil Hat, "I made this hat using one and a half skeins of Shibui Heichi yarn. The crown is made using short rows and spirals out from the gathered center. It's so much fun to knit! Don't let short rows (or kitchener stitch) scare you. Actually, kitchener-ing on garter stitch is way less confusing than on stockinette stitch. What is it about kitchener stitch that's so intimidating, anyway?!"

Shibui Heichi is a silk yarn and has the quality of being cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Click Circle de Soleil Hat for the free pattern.

We are increasing our bead selection and related items. Liz knit this Butin Collar, which is available in a kit for $13.95. Once you've completed the kit project, you can reuse the pattern to make many more from your existing stash at a fraction of the cost.

About her version, Liz says, "I used some leftover String Theory Caper Sock in pewter, plus an assortment of #6 and #8 beads that I had on hand. Once I got past stringing on the beads and the first row, it was a breeze!"

If you're looking for yet another reason to come to the coast this fall, Fiber College of Maine is hosting fifty fiber classes in Searsport, just five minutes from Heavenly Socks Yarns. Classes include Finishing Knitting Like a Pro, Crocheting an Icarus Shawl and Knitting Short Rows. Fiber College of Maine, always the week after Labor Day. This year: September 6-9. For more information, visit Fiber College.

The First Church in Belfast, UCC Summer Fair will be held on July 7, from 8 am-1 pm. Joyous Junk, books/media, baked goods, children's activities, grilled lunch and sandwiches, crafts, and, new this year, table rentals for personal yard sales. Rental fee is $15.00 or 2/$25.00 and will be set up on the church lawn. In case of inclement weather, rental fees will be refunded. First Church is located on the corner of Spring and Court streets and is handicapped-accessible using the Spring Street entrance. All are welcomed to enjoy a traditional summer church fair. For more information and table rentals, phone 207-338-2282, Tuesday-Thursday 9 am-noon, or 207-338-6771 10 am-10 pm daily.

In 2011, a group of booksellers founded the first Belfast Bound Book Festival, with thirteen venues and thirty-three authors/speakers, and informative and entertaining literary events over three days throughout the town. It was a delight for both the booksellers and festival attendees.
 
This year, the festival is back on July 27-29, offering even more events and venues than last year. Be sure to visit the festival Web site often, as events are continually added. These events include the Please Be Seated Readings and Random Acts of Reading. The former features scheduled ten-minute readings located at the artistic seats placed around town by Waterfall Arts, and the latter will be very short, random bursts of reading, anywhere at anytime throughout the three-day festival.
 
This year there will be boxes of free children's books placed about town to encourage the love of reading in the very young.
 
To get a feel for the festival, view this short TV news story.

Enjoy discovering the many shops and businesses that offer books in Belfast!

Arts in the Park, the perennial favorite of Midcoast Maine art shows, is more than a juried show with a terrific selection of fine artists and artisans in a beautiful waterfront venue. The organizers have worked hard, over the last seventeen years of the show, to create a festival feel, and have achieved this by having a selection of musicians who play live music continuously during the weekend. This year the schedule is: Saturday, 10 am-noon, The Rusty Hinges; noon-2 pm, Belfast Bay Fiddlers; and 2-4 pm, Maximum Blue; and on Sunday, 10 am-noon, 195th US Army Jazz Combo; and noon-4 pm, the Blue Hill Brass.

And then there's the food -- this year, along with The Game Loft and their grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and their special Belfast Splash beverage, newcomers to Belfast are Uproot Pie Co., who make wood-fired pizza on site, and the Maine Falafel Co., serving delicious falafel and gyro on flatbread. Ye Old Fish and Chips are back with their British-style fish 'n' chips and Maine lobster rolls; Stone Fox Farm Creamery will be scooping their creamy ice cream, and The Good Kettle will have hot coffee, iced tea, Maine Whoopie Pies and other home-baked goods.

All of the above takes place on Saturday and Sunday, July 7 and 8 from 10 am-4 pm, downtown at Belfast's beautiful harbor and waterfront. Parking is available throughout the city, so come over to lovely historic Belfast for the day or the weekend. Check out the event's Web site at Arts in the Park, Belfast and find them on Facebook for more information.

The Celebration will kick off on Friday night, July 20, with dinner and live music (presented this year by the Belfast Maskers) at the Boat House. The Celtic 5K road race will take place Saturday morning, July 21, starting and ending at the high school entrance. There is no parade this year, and the music and fun will kick off at Steamboat Landing and Belfast Common Saturday morning, and run through late afternoon on Sunday. There will be fireworks over the harbor on Saturday night, and there will also be live music, dancing and drink at the Boat House after the fireworks. The U.S. National Cheese Rolling Championship will take place on Sunday at 1 pm on Belfast Commons.

Free admission is available for all, but attendees are asked for a suggested donation of $10.00 as they approach the parks.

To view the schedule of events, visit Maine Celtic Celebration Calendar.

On Friday, July 6, the BelfastARTS Friday Gallery Walks continue. More than 20 art venues invite you to enjoy leisurely visits through the intimacy of their downtown galleries, showcasing a wide variety of work such as painting, sculpture, photography and mixed media.

Venues for opening receptions on this night include Betts Gallery at the Belfast Framer, Belfast Co-op Cafe and Gallery, Art Alliance Gallery (AAG), and Aarhus Gallery. In the streets, expect to find dancer Katenia Keller (of Flying Feet Dance Theatre and Maine Dance Institute) and musician Craig Hensley (country blues, bluegrass and original folk on guitar and banjo).

The Betts Gallery at the Belfast Framer will showcase New Work in Pastel by artist Peg Worth.

The Belfast Co-op Cafe Gallery will have a reception for Karola Bryant, Venezuelan-born American printmaker, painter, fabric designer and set designer.

At the Art Alliance Gallery, a reception will honor core and featured artists, including Bruce Grantham (kiln-fired glass creations), Beth Henderson (multimedia sculpture), Judith Fischer (oil painting, fine weavings and watercolors), Tom Ingram (one-of-a-kind Gyotaku fish rubbings) and Janice Zisk (black-and-white sketches).

Aarhus will host an opening reception for Abbie Read, a mixed-media artist living in Appleton. Read taught painting, drawing, printmaking and design for ten years before arriving in Maine, where she continues to teach workshops in bookbinding, making altered books and art journaling.

The balance of Belfast's studios and galleries will also welcome you to their art spaces, including Waterfall Arts, Marc Leavitt Studio, High Street Studio and Gallery, 75 Main Street Studio, Brambles, Raven's Nest Gallery, Northern Lights Gallery, Lauren Veale Jewelry Studio, Beyond the Sea, Image Box Photos, Parent Gallery, 960 Studio, Galerie Dufour, Dina Petrillo at The Post Office Studio Workshop, Susan A. Cooney Fine Art Studio and Maine Farmland Trust Gallery.

The walks take place 5:30-8 pm every Friday in July and August, and first Fridays in June, September, October and December. For further information on all participating galleries, openings and special events, visit BelfastARTS Friday Gallery Walks.

Aarhus Gallery is pleased to have guest artist Abbie Read of Appleton kick off the summer season with a mixed-media exhibit for the month of July. The show runs from July 3-29. Please join them for an opening reception on Friday, July 6, 5-8 pm.

Abbie has taught painting, drawing, printmaking, and 2D and 3D design, and presently teaches workshops on artist books, bookbinding, altered books and art journaling. She says, "I like to respond to the world metaphorically with imagery from the natural world and through the use of found objects: to conjure associations and trigger memories."

The installation, Library, takes two years worth of individually crafted pieces, many in book form, and puts them to use as components in a large relief collage. While the approach to crafting the individual parts is formal, presenting mostly mundane found objects as treasures, the overall impact of the diverse collection as a composition imparts a more personal meaning. The beauty and allure of humble, old things with surfaces that reflect only a nebulous past and indeterminate age may still be understood. The juxtaposition of their colors, forms and textures add up to something greater and tell a bigger story than the sum of their parts.

Lucky is another collage in the show, representing, in paper, a quilt, emblematic of home and comfort. Abbie asked friends and family to participate in this piece by relating to her stories of a time or an incident when they felt particularly lucky. This idea grew out of her personal cathartic search to identify and explain the unexplainable.

Also showing will be the work of Aarhusians Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick.

On Saturday, July 26, at 11:30 am in the gallery, as part of the Belfast Bound Book Festival, Abbie will be giving a brief artist talk about her exhibition. Later in the day, at 2 pm, also at Aarhus, she will be teaching a workshop entitled Hand Crafting Your Own Book. Participants will make a small black book with a sewn binding. The workshop will cost $30.00 per person including materials and will run about two hours. Please call the gallery to register. Class size is limited to eight people.

Aarhus Gallery, located at 50 Main St., Belfast, is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am-5:30 pm, Mondays by chance and till 8 pm on Fridays in July and August as part of Belfast's Friday Art Walks. For more information and a slide show of the current exhibit, visit Aarhus Gallery or call 207-338-0001.

Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Peg Worth's new work in pastel, running through July 28. The opening reception is Friday, July 6, from 5:30-8 pm.

Working in pastel represents a new direction in Worth's work. As she explains, "My thoughts and observations made the subjects have new touches of light and new ways to shape the forms so different than the control of the oil brush. There is a mystical magic to pastel."

Betsy Birge of Liberty has been invited by Worth to show one of her pastels in the exhibit.

Betts Gallery, located at 96 Main St., Belfast, is open Monday-Friday, 10 am-5 pm, and Saturday,  10 am-2 pm.
 
For more information, phone 207-338-6465 or visit The Belfast Framer.

July Featured Artist: Karola Bryant
New Works by Karola Bryant, prints and paintings. On display in the Belfast Co-op Cafe for the month of July.

Senior Discount Day
Every Tuesday, Belfast Co-op customers 62 years young and up receive a discount if they inform the cashier of their eligibility. Co-op members receive a 10% discount; non-members, 5%.

July 4, 2 pm: Early Closing

Wine Tasting and Art Opening
Friday, July 6, 7-9 pm, Co-op Cafe: Free monthly wine tasting featuring all organic wines from Paul Chartrand Imports, gourmet cheeses and crackers, and the opening of New Works by Karola Bryant. Paul Chartrand and Co-op wine manager Ron Poirier will be available to answer questions. Featured wines are 10% off during the tasting. Must be at least 21 years of age to attend.

Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of CODEPINK
Saturday, July 14: At 4 pm, snacks and wine; at 4:30 pm, discussion by Medea Benjamin of her new book, "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control," Q-and-A, book signing; at 6 pm, potluck supper; at 7 pm, political theater, Waldo County Shrine Club. For more information, visit Benjamin in Belfast.

Peacemeal Farm (Dixmont) Tour
Sunday, July 15, 12:45-4:15 pm: Meet at Co-op, transportation provided, $10.00 pre-registration, limited seating; hosts Mark Guzzi and Marcia Ferry grow eleven acres of MOFGA-certified organic vegetables and fruits.

East-West Highway Discussion
Wednesday, July 18, 6 pm, at Belfast Free Library, 106 High St.: Chris Buchanan, Hillary Lister, and Read and Heidi Brugger will provide background on this proposed $2 billion superhighway, share updates and discuss how to get involved.

Third Thursday Donation Day
Thursday, July 19: Every third Thursday of the month, the Belfast Co-op donates 1% of the day's sales to a community organization whose work helps build local resilience. The Midcoast Maine Fishing Heritage Alliance has been selected as their July recipient.

Fresh From Your Garden Cooking Demonstration
Tuesday,  July 24, 6-8 pm, Waterfall Arts, 256 High St., Belfast: Taught by natural-foods chef Pam McKeen, samples and demos of seasonal recipes. $12.00 pre-registration required, twelve-person limit. Register at the Co-op or by phone: 207-338-2532 with credit/debit card.

July LOCAL Food Day
Friday, July 27, 11 am-3 pm, Belfast Co-op: GrandyOats (Brownfield) will provide free samples of their products, the Deli will feature local products in their lunch special and select local products will be on sale throughout the store.

For more information about Belfast Co-op events, visit Belfast Co-op, e-mail kate@belfast.coop or phone 207-338-2532.