The Boyle County Public Library offers many free activities for patrons of all ages. The library currently hosts Dinosaur Discovery, an exhibit featuring over 120 fossils and casts from the collection curated by Dr. John Hankla. Stop to explore the free exhibit, which will remain on display until mid-March. Virtual tours and interactive school tours are also available. Anyone interested in arranging a group guided tour of the exhibition should contact the library’s youth service. More information about Dinosaur Discovery can be found online at BoylePubLib.org/Dinosaurs. In addition to the exhibit, library patrons can also enjoy interactive activities such as craft projects, games, and weekly story times. Here’s a look at some of the upcoming events at the library:

Careful craftsmen
Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., join us to knit and crochet items for those in need. This knitting and crocheting group welcomes current and new members to weekly craft meetings at the library. Some materials provided. Beginners are welcome. This event will take place in the Reading Room. Masks are mandatory. (13 years and over)

Game on!
Teens are invited to play video games at the library on Fridays from 4-5:20 p.m. Battle with friends in Super Smash Bros or race in Mario Kart 8. This event will take place on the 5th level of the library . Masks are mandatory. (13-18 years old)

Preschool story time
Join Ms. Libby for a weekly story hour on Mondays and Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. in the Youth Programs Room. Each week we’ll read stories and have a crafting kit available for pickup, while supplies last. Virtual Storytime videos with ASL will be available select weeks. Due to social distancing guidelines, seating is limited. Craft kits can be picked up at story time in person, from the kit table in the Children’s Department, or by using the library’s curbside pickup service. (Call the library from the day the kits are available to request a kit using curbside pickup.) Masks are required for children 2 and older. (2-5 years)

Memories to remember: a reading
Join us for a reading of local memorabilia and souvenirs. On Tuesday, February 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., attendees of the recent Memories Worth Remembering writing workshop will share written versions of cherished memories that have been published in a chapbook, which will be added to the library’s collection for the ‘to come up. readers. This event will take place in the community hall. Masks are mandatory. (18 and over)

Valentine’s Day workshop for children
On Saturday, February 5 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., the library will host a Valentine’s Day craft workshop for children. Join us for an in-person program to make Valentine’s Day themed crafts and a STEM project. There will be three tables with a project at each. Kids can attend anytime during the program and work at their own pace, then walk away with instructions on how to make more crafts at home. Masks are mandatory. This event will take place in the Youth Programs Room. Places will be limited for social distancing. (5-8 years)

BOOK CLUBS for tweens, teens and adults
Third Thursday Morning Book Club
In February, the book club will read David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Copies of the book are available at the circulation desk, while supplies last. The discussion around the book will take place on Thursday, February 17 at 10:30 a.m. in the community room. Masks are mandatory. (18 and over)

Teen LibCrates
Starting Tuesday, February 1, Teen LibCrates can be picked up at the library, while supplies last. Each crate will include a free book and other goodies. This month’s book is This is My Brain in Love by IW Gregorio. An in-person book discussion will be held on February 22 to share thoughts on the book. Masks are mandatory. (13-18 years old)

Tween LibCrates
Get your Tween LibCrate anytime in February, while supplies last. This month’s book is Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar. This book features color illustrations, steam punk, time travel, robots, dinosaurs and more. Each crate will include a free book, crafts, snack, and prize. Join the wrap-up discussion in person on February 28 to share your feedback and do themed activities. Masks are mandatory. (9-13 years old)

Information about these and all upcoming events is available online at BoylePubLib.org. The library is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 9.30 a.m. – 8 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, free Wi-Fi is available in the library car park 24/7. Chat with library staff using the live chat service on the library’s website or by texting (859)-545-8398.

The Boyle County Public Library serves the town of Danville and surrounding communities and is actively committed to enriching the lives of its patrons. The library is located at 307 West Broadway in Danville.

For Sydney Flamm, kindness is just one point.

After learning to crochet and knit through school clubs and YouTube tutorials, the third-year sociology student said she decided to open her own business, Syd’s Knits. Her site features products such as cardigans and crochet toys, and she said for every beanie sold, she donates another to a cancer patient. When she started, Flamm said she mainly considered knitting and crocheting as a hobby, but as her anxiety about the pandemic grew, sewing became a way to relieve stress.

“Knitting is definitely therapy,” Flamm said. “You are able to take a moment, reconnect and focus.”

While Flamm said she took up knitting and crocheting as a hobby for a few months, what inspired her to make it a business were the stories of her grandmother. When she was a child, her grandmother used to knit her clothes, and Flamm said she incorporated donations into her business as a way to honor her grandmother’s life after she passed away. of a cancer. Her neighbor, who Flamm says is a fellow craftsman and cancer survivor, also provides her with beanies to donate.

[Related: UCLA student crochets for a cause by donating business profits to charities]

To gather ideas for her products, Flamm said she turns to Instagram, finding inspiration in different styles such as v-necks and cardigans with pockets before creating her own patterns and measurements. Material selection is also a diligent process, as she said she tries to use sustainably sourced yarns purchased from Wool and the Gang, the same company that Olympic diver and avid knitter Tom Daley uses.

When deciding which platform to put her business on, Flamm said she chose to create her own website because she had experience in website design through creating online photography portfolios. . A personalized website also allowed her to have international expeditions, and she said the site even spurred a slight hobby of entrepreneurship.

As Flamm’s mother, Lesley Gran, said, Flamm’s decision to run a business was unexpected. One of the main concerns Gran said she had for Flamm was balancing her entrepreneurial spirit and schoolwork, and Gran said she helped gain publicity through word-of-mouth. ear at the start of his business. There were also other logistical details that Gran suggested Flamm work out, such as payment tracking and return policy, she said.

Now, Gran said Flamm runs her business independently — from promotions to accounting — but the family is involved in a modest way. Flamm’s sister models select clothes on her website, and Gran says Flamm shows her finished products and sometimes lets her try them on. She is proud of how Flamm has grown her business, and Gran said she hopes Flamm will continue to knit regardless of her profession later in life.

“I’m very happy that she’s doing this,” Gran said. “Even if she were to do it for free and not earn any money, I would be just as supportive.”

[Related: UCLA student celebrates Indigenous heritage through handmade beadwork business]

Before starting her business, Flamm said she had no experience in entrepreneurship and struggled to get Syd’s Knits off the ground, turning to online articles for advice. One of the ways she said she tried to broaden her appeal was taking custom orders, an idea she honed with her family before it became a staple of her online site.

As a Flamm customer and elementary school classmate Samantha Heller, a third-year music and industry history student, said the ordering process with Flamm’s company was efficient and user-friendly. . After placing an order via Instagram direct message, Heller said Flamm will update her with photos of the product as she knits it to ensure customer satisfaction. What sets the company apart from Flamm is not just the knitting itself, but its openness and communication with each customer, Heller added.

“You can tell (Flamm has) found herself through her craft, and she really appreciates every single person,” Heller said. “That kindness comes through in his craft.”

For Flamm, one of the most rewarding parts of his business is collaborating with customers on custom orders and seeing how happy they are to receive them. Looking ahead, she said she hopes to not only continue to grow her client base, but also expand her philanthropy. In the past, Flamm said she’s donated beanies to homeless shelters alongside the Alumni Scholars Club, and currently plans to donate her company’s proceeds to Team Relay. for Life from UCLA to help fund childhood cancer research. No matter how big the business grows, she says there’s always time to give back.

“The time and effort someone puts into making something tangible for someone – that’s something very unique and it’s just a great feeling to give back to people,” Flamm said.

When you see a cute handmade sweater, you know it took a long time to make.

Knitting or crocheting is only part of it. (A fun online calculator at www.lovecrafts.com estimates how long it would take from a basic scarf to a blanket, baby booties or patterned garment; figure between 20 and 80 hours.)

Before that, however, there are those who make the threads. Independent artisans are making new things with wool and other fibers, including recycled plastic, as well as dyes.

Samantha Myrhe, owner of RavensWood Fiber Co. in Nova Scotia, Canada, started a dozen years ago with a few sheep, and her third generation of lambs were sheared this fall. She sells her yarns online and at local markets, and gives her quirky dyes quirky names, like Sea Glass, a dreamy water-hued blend; Fireflies, in the starry colors of the night sky; and Autumn Drive, evoking a ride through an autumn forest.

“Dyeing is chemistry,” she says. “Although the process we use is a simple heat and acid-vinegar process to fix colors, the underlying chemistry involves the bonding of a color molecule to a wool molecule. More or less molecules , color more or less intense.

She found that using water from the local municipal system created unpredictable colors, so she turned to well water instead. Yet there is an element of luck: more rain means more minerals in the water. “More minerals mean my reds can be more orange, my blacks break up and go gold. It’s crazy,” she says.

Myrrh has a good group of reliable and “stable” colors, but also what the indie dye world calls OOAK: One of a Kinds.

“The magic of what the dye gods gave me that day,” she says.

Different fibers take dye in different ways. Alpaca hues tend towards pastels because they don’t absorb as much color. Nylon and silk absorb dye and, when mixed with merino wool, provide a beautiful depth of color.

Some dyers are exploring other types of wool, including yak, cashmere and Australian Polwarth sheep, which has a strong, silky character good for many woven projects.

The wool gets high marks for durability; as the International Wool Textile Organization notes, it is renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. Around the world, many farms, studios and workshops produce yarn and other textile products using techniques with low environmental impact, including recycling water and using little or no additives.

Britt-Marie Alm, who runs Love Fest Fibers in San Francisco, offers small-batch yarns from sustainably operated mills on the West Coast, Nepal and Tibet. Alm has had a decades-long love of Tibetan culture ever since he joined a community service project at a local high school. She learned spinning and weaving techniques from Tibetan artisans and now supports several women-led collectives there and in the United States.

Her soft, chunky yarns include Color Core, in which she weaves ethically sourced merino wool around colorful organic cotton fiber; the result looks like a woolly Twizzler. Alm came up with the idea during the pandemic.

“I was spending more time indoors, as we all were, and became captivated by the amazing weaves made by customers exploring inside our yarn,” she says. “Their techniques centered around cutting the threads to show the inner cross section, and it was mesmerizing – the textures and color gradients were just stunning.”

Along with her partners at the Washington State factory — a mother-daughter team that also breeds a few alpacas — she developed seven Color Core colorways.

Love Fest also offers a naturally fluffy yak yarn called kullu, which looks like cashmere, without the sheep shearing.

“The last few years have seen a reinvention of what yarn can do,” Alm says. She cites a range of knitted and crocheted homewares, from baskets and rugs to pillows and poufs. The chunky yarn and huge stitches that make these projects possible, she says, are more than just visually striking.

“It’s also very gratifying to be able to complete a project so quickly. It has captured the imagination of a new generation of fiber artists who learn to knit a big basket and then go on to explore macrame and weaving,” she says.

Sustainable options for yarn now also include recycled linen and plastic fiber.

“I grew up crocheting and knitting so many polyester and acrylic yarns; it seemed such a shame that more recycled materials were not being used,” says Alm.

She worked with her mill to create ReLove, a fiber that blends plastic water bottles with merino to create a soft, chunky yarn available in colors like denim, curry, fog and leche. The sets contain 40 meters of yarn, which saves about 10 plastic bottles from landfills, she says.

Other notable independent operations include farm/mill combos like Red Hill Fiber Mill in Taswell, Indiana, which raises alpacas, runs educational tours, and spins and sells yarn and wool products gleaned from their herd. Lydia Christiansen’s Abundant Earth Fiber, on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, features wool spun from East Frisian sheep that graze just down the road from her mill.

Myrhe and Alm say that independently made dyes and yarns tell stories that make a knitted piece more valuable to the wearer.

Myrhe loves the journey that the dyes take her on. Often her best finds, she says, are “happy accidents,” and she tries to jot everything down quickly. “I lost a lot of treasures thinking I would remember and save later. I couldn’t remember, and the most beautiful coppery red eluded me for years, only to be found by chance a few months later.

When you see a cute handmade sweater, you know it took a long time to make.

Knitting or crocheting is only part of it. (A fun online calculator at www.lovecrafts.com estimates how long it would take from a basic scarf to a blanket, baby booties or patterned garment; figure between 20 and 80 hours.)

Before that, however, there are those who make the threads. Independent artisans are making new things with wool and other fibers, including recycled plastic, as well as dyes.

Samantha Myrhe, owner of RavensWood Fiber Co. in Nova Scotia, Canada, started a dozen years ago with a few sheep, and her third generation of lambs were sheared this fall. She sells her yarns online and at local markets, and gives her quirky dyes quirky names, like Sea Glass, a dreamy water-hued blend; Fireflies, in the starry colors of the night sky; and Autumn Drive, evoking a ride through an autumn forest.

“Dyeing is chemistry,” she says. “Although the process we use is a simple heat and acid-vinegar process to fix colors, the underlying chemistry involves the bonding of a color molecule to a wool molecule. More or less molecules , more or less intense color.”

She found that using water from the local municipal system created unpredictable colors, so she turned to well water instead. Yet there is an element of luck: more rain means more minerals in the water. “More minerals mean my reds can be more orange, my blacks break up and go gold. It’s crazy,” she says.

Myrrh has a good group of reliable and “stable” colors, but also what the indie dye world calls OOAK: One of a Kinds.

“The magic of what the dye gods gave me that day,” she says.

Different fibers take dye in different ways. Alpaca hues tend towards pastels because they don’t absorb as much color. Nylon and silk absorb dye and, when mixed with merino wool, provide a beautiful depth of color.

Some dyers are exploring other types of wool, including yak, cashmere and Australian Polwarth sheep, which has a strong, silky character good for many woven projects.

Wool gets high marks for durability; as the International Wool Textile Organization notes, it is renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. Around the world, many farms, studios and workshops produce yarn and other textile products using techniques with low environmental impact, including recycling water and using little or no additives.

Britt-Marie Alm, who runs Love Fest Fibers in San Francisco, offers small-batch yarns from sustainably operated mills on the West Coast, Nepal and Tibet. Alm has had a decades-long love of Tibetan culture ever since he joined a community service project at a local high school. She learned spinning and weaving techniques from Tibetan artisans and now supports several women-led collectives there and in the United States.

Her soft, chunky yarns include Color Core, in which she weaves ethically sourced merino wool around colorful organic cotton fiber; the result looks like a woolly Twizzler. Alm came up with the idea during the pandemic.

“I was spending more time indoors, as we all were, and I was captivated by the incredible weaves made by customers exploring the inside of our yarn,” she says. “Their techniques centered around cutting the wires to show the inner cross section, and it was mesmerizing – the textures and color gradients were just stunning.

Along with her partners at the Washington State factory — a mother-daughter team that also breeds a few alpacas — she developed seven Color Core colorways.

Love Fest also offers a naturally fluffy yak yarn called kullu, which looks like cashmere, without the sheep shearing.

“The last few years have seen a reinvention of what yarn can do,” Alm says. She cites a range of knitted and crocheted homewares, from baskets and rugs to pillows and poufs. The chunky yarn and huge stitches that make these projects possible, she says, are more than just visually striking.

“It’s also very rewarding to be able to complete a project so quickly. It has captured the imagination of a new generation of fiber artists who learn to knit a large basket, then continue to explore macrame and weaving” , she says.

Sustainable options for yarn now also include recycled linen and plastic fiber.

“I grew up crocheting and knitting so many polyester and acrylic yarns; it seemed such a shame that more recycled materials were not being used,” says Alm.

She worked with her mill to create ReLove, a fiber that blends plastic water bottles with merino to create a soft, chunky yarn available in colors like denim, curry, fog and leche. The sets contain 40 meters of yarn, which saves about 10 plastic bottles from landfills, she says.

Other notable independent operations include farm/mill combos like Red Hill Fiber Mill in Taswell, Indiana, which raises alpacas, runs educational tours, and spins and sells yarn and wool products gleaned from their herd. Lydia Christiansen’s Abundant Earth Fiber, on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, features wool spun from East Frisian sheep that graze just down the road from her mill.

Yarn enthusiast Michelle Thymmons has compiled a list of popular Instagram yarn dyers in North America and Europe on her website www.vamicreations.com. They include a multigenerational family at Bumblebee Farm in Davis, Illinois, who raise sheep and rabbits, dye and make their own knitting fibers, and run Harry Potter, “Lord of the Dead”-themed yarn clubs. Rings” and “Game of Thrones”. . ”

Knitwear and pattern designer Norman Schwarze in Munich, Germany has a global compilation at www.nimble-needles.com that includes Vivid Wool outside of Reykjavik, Iceland; Son Wishbone in South Africa and The Blue Brick in Ontario, Canada.

The company Yarnspirations has developed a new format for the ball itself – a ring-shaped lifesaver called O’Go which it says is less prone to tangles. O’Go is available under different brands and in a range of colours.

Myrhe and Alm say that independently made dyes and yarns tell stories that make a knitted piece more valuable to the wearer.

Myrhe loves the journey that the dyes take her on. Often her best finds, she says, are “happy accidents,” and she tries to jot everything down quickly. “I’ve lost many treasures thinking I’ll remember and save later. I didn’t remember, and the most beautiful coppery red eluded me for years, only to be found accidentally a few months later. late.”