Go Knit In Your Hat

Phew!

2009-11-23T18:04:00.009-05:00

A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by yesterday to the BBF Open House and Sale! We had a great time. My kids were so sweet. Elvis came down at 7 a.m. and said "Mom, no arguing -- just put me to work." So I did. He and the twins made bunny signs based on my logo to help direct cars, and they made labels and filled bins and made sure the inventory looked good. Meanwhile, Mindy was in charge of quality control; she examined each and every hank of yarn and bundle of roving by hand to make sure ~~she had first dibs~~ it was of the finest quality. Here is my ragtag band of helpers:

and here is what some of the inventory looked like, when artfully arranged:

and here is the "buffet" full of snacks and wine (Anne Marie thoughtfully brought two yummy bottles of wine, which we promptly polished off).

I was happy to see so many good knitting friends -- Knitty D and her lovely mom (who does NOT look old enough to have a grown daughter, either, thank you very much),

Allison, Sherry, Robin,

the Norristown SnB gang (A-M, Liz, Sally, Aileen, Maria, and newcomer Delores), Anmiryam, Joanne, Jody & Christy, Linda, Elizabeth

and Kathy (once again, I was not able to adequately capture Kathy's loveliness on film, which is the only reason there are no photos of her) and I met some new knitting friends, like Uncle Lori and the lovely lady from Wayne whose name I am blanking on (see, Heather, I am bad with names!). Some folks very kindly brought their BBF projects, like Anne Marie's gorgeous soy silk scarf, the yarn for which was one of the Yarn Club Shipments this year:

It's the perfect marriage of pattern to yarn and it's extremely gratifying to see my yarns knitted up!

I was so happy to see customers and club members, like Heather (sparkcrafted), who brought her portable wheel and proceeded to spin one of the rovings she purchased on the spot:

Heather did some Navajo-plying which looked a little like the cat's cradle games we used to play as kids. Heather's hands just flew over over the wheel and in short order, she'd produced a beautiful bobbinful of yarn from a roving called "Mudslide". There was much browsing and fondling, and speaking of fondling, rumor has it that one enthusiastic knitter wanted to know if my husband was for sale (he won't tell me who said it, though....)

So it seems that the BBF Open House will have to become an annual (semi-annual?) tradition....

To all of those who came, thank you so much! And to those who couldn't make it -- I promise there'll be a next time!

BBF Studio Sale: A sneak peek

2009-11-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been so quiet lately -- it's been dye, dye, dye and wind, wind, wind.

That is some of the stuff I've got (including two sad club shipments in the Priority Mail envelopes that were never paid for by their members, sniffle. Any club shipments not paid for by Sunday will get sold....)

A few days ago, Mindy emailed me to ask "So exactly what will you have at this Black Bunny sale?" Good question from Mindy, who in her clever way is arriving Saturday to ~~get first dibs on the yarn~~ help with the sale.

At the Open House/Sale, you will find the following:

anything and everything that is currently in stock on the BBF website. I'm going to take the shop offline for the duration of the sale, which will give you a chance to look at and fondle and purchase my regular base yarns, like Bump, Candy Stripe, Superwash Merino Classic, and Flutter, and whatever is left of the BFLapalooza.
discontinued base yarns. I had a couple of skeins of a lovely, pure silk DK weight yarn that I used for a Yarn Club shipment last year. Unfortunately, the yarn is discontinued, so I dyed 'em up and priced 'em to move. I've also got some softly-spun sportweight wool/mohair, some Falkland worsted weight wool in 200-yd skeins (at least 4 in each colorway), some supersoft mohair loup boucle...
trial yarns and sample yarns. For example, last year, my regular sock yarn was backordered for a long time, and I tried a different base yarn to see if I'd like it. It's a lovely yarn -- 100% merino, extremely soft, springy -- but I really only need one superwash merino sock base, so I've dyed up all that's left. To make it extra fun, I did a whole bunch of 100-yard skeins (I have close to fifty of them) in different semisolid colors; you can pick up a bunch to do stripes, contrasting heels and toes, or stranded knitting (mittens or a hat, if you're not up for stranded socks). I also did a bunch in 200-yd. skeins so that you can get two and do stripes. Lastly, I did some regular 400-yd skeins in semisolids, then dyed special, matching multicolored skeins of 100 yds so you can do contrasting heels and toes. Again, since this isn't a base I'm carrying regularly, you'll find some excellent prices! I've got some bamboo tape that I tried out in batches perfect for quick-knitting spring scarves, some alternate wool/nylon base yarn (again, perfectly nice, purchased when I was trying out different base yarns)...
Odd batches from the yarn closet. If you're adventurous, you'll keep an eye out for these -- single skeins I've purchased or been given to try out the base, skeins I bought at fiber festivals where I thought a yarn or fiber seemed like a great bargain, leftover skeins or fibers from one of my clubs. I've got some Salt Spring wool roving, some soy silk/bamboo roving, a few skeins of organic merino DK, some lovely fingering-weight softly-twisted wool (great for lace)...
The return of Jingle Bells sock yarn! I've dyed up some more batches of the red and green on cream sock yarn that was so popular last year in my Superwash Merino Classic base. Get 'em while they last!

I'll have door prizes to give away, too, and some snacks and beverages (including wine). Right now, the weather forecast does not include rain, which means you can hang out on the patio and knit or mingle. I hope to see some of you there! If I don't sell some of this inventory, Mr. Go-Knit-In-Your-Hat is going to be awfully cranky with me. . .

Here's something to look forward to

2009-11-15T17:50:00.001-05:00

On Amazon's pre-orders, Knitting 24/7: 30 Projects to Knit, Wear, and Enjoy, On the Go and Around the Clock Veve's second book!

It's a shame we'll have to wait until (sigh) next May to get it...

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T09:31:00.003-05:00

To all those who served

and those who continue to serve

and their families and friends,

we honor and thank you on this Veteran's Day.

BFL-apalooza at BBF

2009-11-10T09:56:00.005-05:00

Today I've updated the Black Bunny Fibers shop with some great blue-faced leicester yarns and rovings. You'll find 100% superwash BFL sock yarn:

Red Light

Electric Navy

a terrific, tightly-twisted blend of 75% BFL and 25% nylon:

Patina

Cabbage Rose

some batches of superwash BFL roving:

Ribbon

and some non-superwash BFL roving:

Go get 'em while they last! (It's the last update before my big studio sale on Nov. 22d...)

October Book Report

2009-11-07T07:10:00.000-05:00

Another month flies by; here's what I read. Don't forget to comment if you've read anything good lately that you think I might like -- I get lots of great recommendations that way... and I'm still looking for some of the ones you recommended last time.

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid. McDermid's Tony Hill books are among the most creepy ever (and I enjoyed the British teevee series based on McDermid's characters, available on Netflix) -- but this one seemed a bit anemic by comparison. Karen Pirie is a Scottish police inspector assigned to the Cold Case team. One day, a woman walks in to report her father missing -- the clincher is that he disappeared twenty years ago. Although not technically her kind of cold case, Pirie decides to look into the man's disappearance. At the same time, new evidence is discovered relating to a twenty-year-old unsolved kidnapping case. I saw where this one was headed pretty early on, and I found the constant shifts between time and point-of-view to be jarring. So I'd rate this one okay but not McDermid's best, not by a long shot.

My Soul to Take: A Novel of Iceland, by Yrsa Sigurdadottir, was the sequel to Last Rituals, which I read earlier this summer. I didn't like this quite as much, but it was overall a good mystery with the interesting backdrop of Icelandic culture. The main character is a lawyer (the same one as in Last Rituals) who is called out to help a new-age client who has just built a spa/hotel in a rural beach area; while the lawyer is there, the hotel's architect is brutally murdered.

Manic: A Memoir by Terry Cheney, was recommended by a blog-reader (Hyphenated Carol, maybe?) and I found it to be a quick and fascinating read. The author is a former entertainment lawyer who is bipolar, and she has written a memoir discussing her life and how being bipolar has affected it. What I found especially compelling were Cheney's vivid descriptions of what it is like to be manic (well, as she experiences it; apparently, different people experience different flavors of mania) and the crippling depressions that followed her manic episodes. She also describes the toll that her disease has taken on her personal life -- her job, relationships, friendships. If you're bipolar or know someone who is, you might want to take a look.

Sun and Shadow: An Erik Winter Novel by Ake Edwardson. This was another (all together now) brooding Scandinavian mystery -- although a new series for me. The protagonist is Erik Winter, Sweden's youngest chief inspector, mulling over the impending birth of his first child. He's called in to solve a creepy double murder in which an extremely violence-laden form of heavy metal music plays a role. The book seemed a bit slow and a bit long to me, although it wasn't a bad read by any means. This was one of those books that may have suffered simply because I read it stretched out over a longer-than-usual period of time (and I went to Rhinebeck in the middle of it, which totally discombobulated me).

From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell. Rendell's debut novel isn't as complex or as polished as her later ones are, but it's still damn good. A classic English mystery, set in the countryside, in which a limited number of suspects are winnowed down until the climatic scene, in which the clever inspector (in this case, Reg Wexford) reveals how it was done, as the suspect confesses. I suspect the twist in the ending was a bit more unexpected and controversial when this book was first published (1964ish) but still a good read.

Casting Off by Nicole Dickson. I received a review copy of this book which falls into the category I think of as "knit lit" -- works of fiction intended to appeal to knitters, or at least female knitters of a certain age, in which knitting plays a role in plot or character development. I tend not to read these books, partly because I find myself irritated whenever the books get something wrong about knitting but mostly because I tend to look for books that take me out of my daily life rather than remind me of it.

I gave Casting Off a go, but my heart wasn't in it. I suspect that if you liked The Shop on Blossom Street (which I also haven't read), you might find this book enjoyable. The main character is Rebecca Moray (couldn't stop thinking of Rebecca DeMornay on Seinfeld -- "the homeless don't want your muffin stumps"), a textile scholar who goes to an island off the coast of Ireland to study fisherman's sweaters. Rebecca has a six-year-old daughter named Rowan (ha! now there's a knitting detail I like) and is still recovering from the death of Rowan's father shortly after Rowan's birth. It won't spoil the plot to tell you that Rebecca's relationship with the late Dennis was abusive and she still bears the emotional scars of her experiences. So she comes to the island seeking more than just to study sweaters; she's also looking for healing, closure, putting paid to the past.

Alas, I found myself too obsessed with knitting to be able to take the book at face value. This is clearly my problem, being ~~an obsessive compulsive anal-retentive control freak~~ a passionate knitter. I should be able to overlook the lovely but inaccurate book cover (how you gonna finish the bottom edging on that otherwise-finished, apparently knit in the round sweater, with those two straight needles, Rebecca?). I shouldn't have been irritated by the invented book on gansey knitting, quotes from which preface each chapter (what? there weren't enough REAL books on knitting to quote from?). I should have been able to overlook the fact that the textile scholar accepts at face value the sweet but historically-questionable theory that gansey patterns were knit so that family members could identify the bodies of dead fisherman that washed up on shore, too battered by the rocks to be recognized (a textile knitter who wants to write a scholarly treatise on ganseys didn't bother to research this?). See how irritating my internal monologue was?

So while Casting Off seems like a sweet and likeable book in the chick-lit and knit-lit genre, it just wasn't for me. I'd be happy to pass the copy on to someone else -- just leave a comment and I'll give it to the first one who asks.

Fresh BBF stock at the Loopy Ewe...

2009-11-03T13:50:00.003-05:00

If you are in the mood for some Superwash Merino Classic, check out The Loopy Ewe, which just uploaded a whole bunch of Black Bunny Fibers sock yarn yesterday. There are some more of the Dye For Glory colorways, as well as some lovely semi-solids (I've been in a semi-solid mood lately). Of course, Sheri always has tons of other goodies there, too, so proceed at your wallet's peril! (But hey, it's free shipping over $75...)

BBF Studio Sale: Sun. Nov. 22nd, 12 to 5 p.m.

2009-11-02T06:23:00.000-05:00

It's official: the Black Bunny Fibers Studio Sale has been scheduled for Sunday, November 22nd, from noon to 5 p.m. I'll have my regular base yarns, like Superwash Merino Classic, at special prices, as well as some oddballs, sample skeins, discontinued bases and other one-of-a-kind yarns and fibers at deeply discounted prices. I'll have copies of my books if you'd like to pick up a gift for a friend (or yourself!) and I'd be happy to inscribe them for you. Rumor has it that Mindy will be here for the weekend, too. . .I know she is looking to meet some of the Philly crowd. Cash only, please....

I sent out some Evites to people whose email addresses I had, but my list is incomplete and some of them bounced, so don't be insulted if you didn't get one. Feel free to bring a friend and tell others who might be interested about it. You can shoot me an email using the side bar (the one called "We never talk") if you need the address or information on how to get here via car or SEPTA (there's a Rt 100 stop two blocks away and the R5 also stops close to here; maybe we can convince Mr. Go-Knit-In-Your-Hat to do some pick-ups and drop-offs at the R5 station).

Weather permitting, people can sit on the porch or in the back yard and mingle and knit or crochet.

Hope you can make it!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T07:38:00.001-05:00

A little spinning, anyone?

2009-10-28T17:38:00.004-04:00

I blew the dust off my wheel, inspired by Rhinebeck, and have been playing with this:

It's a sample of a limited-edition roving, called Border Blend, up for sale on the BBF website. I just listed something like sixteen different 4-ounce batches; each is a blend of 40% border leicester/40% mohair/20% silk. The different fibers give the colors complexity and I can vouch for the fact that it's lovely and easy to spin, too. There's a little something for everyone, colorwise, whether you like blue/grays

or deep greens

or even a pumpkin-y orange.

Good news, bad news

2009-10-25T05:58:00.003-04:00

Do you want the good news first? or the bad news?

Let's get the bad news out of the way. I'm sad to report that on-line knitting magazine Knotions has ceased future publication. If you go to the Knotions blog here, you can read editor Jody Pirrello's explanation of why she could no longer continue to publish. This makes me sad, and not just because I was a frequent contributor. I loved Knotions' emphasis on technique and knitting smart, not to mention the stylish yet wearable patterns. Sigh.

The good news? Fans of former Philadelphian Grace Anna Farrow (nee Robbins) will be pleased to see that she has published her own book of patterns and is offering individual PDFS for download. Her website is here. Loop has some copies of her booklet if you'd like to see it in real life. Lots of lovely shawls, scarves, socks and other goodies with an emphasis on finer-gauge yarns. Congrats, Grace! (It's about time!)

P.S. Happy birthday, Lauren!

In which Carol ogles a kilted man, sees lots of furry cuteness and blubbers like a baby

2009-10-23T06:16:00.001-04:00

Day 2 of Rhinebeck dawned much grayer, although by the time we checked out of our hotel and headed for the fairground, it still wasn't actually raining. We only had a few hours to spend before our drive home, so we got to work right away. I started out by paying my annual pilgrimage to Dr. Mel and his handsome husband David, at Red Maple Sportswear.

While there are many, many reasons to go visit them -- gorgeous sportswear made from alpaca and other natural fibers! a disco ball! --

the top reason for me has to be Mel in a kilt.

'Nuff said.

By the time the drizzle started, I had seen Jody (of Knotions fame), Kristy and Christy:

Barb (posing here with Mindy):

some BBF customers (hi, Connie!) and all the other folks whose photos I forgot to take. Of course, there were lots of adorable fiber animals, like this alpaca

the obligatory goat shot for Mindy:

and sheep!

Including a parade of sheep wearing jackets!

Even two ducks

and a kangaroo.

By the time we had to leave, I was so sad at having to say goodbye to my pals that I got all choked up. But at least I have this photo of Veve and I to keep under my pillow.

When I got home, I realized there were a bunch of people I didn't get to see -- Lars, Lorraine, Kristin N., Lymie Melissa, etc. -- but there's always next year, right?

P.S. Next week at BBF: border leicester/mohair/silk blend roving....

In which Carol sees lots of friends, buys lots of roving and eats at the diner again

2009-10-21T07:50:00.001-04:00

Now that you know all about Swatchy's trip to Rhinebeck, let me tell you a bit about it from my perspective.

Every year, I think "Wow, Rhinebeck cannot possibly be better this year than it was last year because I had such a great time last year," and I try to temper my expectations so I won't be even a teeny bit disappointed. This year, my expectations were even more measured; all of the weather ~~guessers~~ forecasters were calling for cold weather, rain -- lots of it -- and even snow. I had visions of sodden blue jeans, cold toes and stringy wet hair, punctuated by the smell of lanolin and wet llama poop.

And yet? I had an amazing time, I met some wonderful new people and got to see some wonderful people I already knew, I made a few most excellent purchases (three fleeces to be processed for BBF and an incredible bag full of silk/border leicester/mohair that is in the dyepots right now.....), and it hardly rained at all. In fact, there was not a drop of precipitation at Saturday's show, and only drizzly rain on Sunday. My theory is that wherever VeVe goes, the sun shines -- a kind of polar opposite to Schleprock.

As always, I attended with my faithful traveling companions Jim and Laura. Here is Jim, wearing the scarf I designed for him (I am hoping to make the pattern available soon)

and here is Laura, modeling the gorgeous stranded sweater she designed for the current issue of Vogue Knitting (I am sorry for the mirror glare; I tried to crop it out):

Saturday morning, we were up early and ready to go. One of the first things I did was to scout out the fleece options. I found three beauties and dropped them off for processing, thinking I'd try to beat the rain. Well, lucky for us, it never rained, and after I got my fleeces out of the way (I'm always thinking about you, Fiber Clubs...) I had time to socialize.

So many of my favorite fiber people were there, including Hyphenated Carol (posing with Mindy, Laura and Thea):

friend of my oldest kid, Somebunnyslove:

Kristen Rengren, who was signing her fabulous book Vintage Baby Knits at the author's tent:

and of course my love, QueerJoe:

One of the best new friends I made was the inimitable Ali P, who I now dearly love and want to visit all the time:

and of course there was Rav-stalking (here is Jess):

But one of my most important tasks was to help hand out the cutest little mini-skeins of Nordique, VeVe's fabulous new yarn, to passers-by, like this crew from Philly:

(hi, Lisa! hi, Purlewe! hi, Purlewe's auntie!).

As a special reward for all my hard work, I got to share this kielbasi with Veve at lunch:

While we were noshing, the lovely Sarah came up to show off her cap-sleeve lace sweater, from the fall St-Denis Nordique magazine

(That's my favorite color of Nordique, by the way: Blue Eggshell.)

After lunch, it was more socializing, including some LSGers from Ravelry

and a woman with an incredible Norah Gaughan sweater (from a prior Vogue Knitting, I believe):

Either that, or she's flashing the apple crumble booth.

I saw awesome Knittinkitties (another Laura),

and then had dinner at the diner with some of the usual suspects, including Mark, John, Ted, Marilyn & Gerry, Laura, Jim and the guys whose names I am forgetting (I'm sorry; my children ate my brain), including the couple who didn't make it in the photo but were sitting on my right and were delightful dinner companions (NYU artistic guy and banking-guy-whose-cat-licks-his-head).

And all of that was just Day One...

In which Swatchy gets some Canadian action

2009-10-19T09:51:00.003-04:00

Crosspost with Travels With Swatchy:

This morning, after the kids were off to school, I went looking for Swatchy. I found him here, still sleeping at 9:30.

Poor l'il Swatchy. He was tuckered out, after a weekend beyond his wildest imaginings...

It all started so innocently. He climbed into the car and settled himself on the dashboard, perhaps thinking that this was going to be a wholesome weekend, seeing as he was traveling with a suburban, station-wagon-driving soccer mom.

The drive up was quick (relatively speaking) and uneventful. Swatchy enjoyed seeing the autumn foliage, and was fascinated by the gossip, although he tried not too look too interested.

He was happy to arrive at the hotel, quickly selecting a lovely color-coordinated skein of Black Bunny Fibers Canadian Luxury sock yarn to nestle down in for the night.

I think Swatchy figured, once everyone was in bed by 10:30 p.m., that his traveling companions were nice, if a bit sedate.

He was a good sport as we awoke early the next morning, bundling up and arriving at the show not long after the gates opened at 9 a.m.

He was quite excited to be hanging with knitting designer Laura Grutzeck; I heard Swatchy whisper excitedly to passersby, "See that lady with the pretty curly hair? She has a sweater in Vogue Knitting!" He found faithful traveling companion Jim to be delightful and eminently civilized, too.

Swatchy enjoyed seeing all sorts of beautiful fiber and yarn, and although he found the llamas and sheep a little intimidating, given how big they seemed to him, he quite enjoyed snuggling up to the bunnies, like this one:

(The bunny, on the other hand, disapproved.)

I was having a great time seeing old friends and making new ones, buying some roving, fondling the wools, but then I saw Swatchy surreptitiously yawn. I decided it was time for the big guns. So Swatchy got to meet Jess, of Ravelry fame:

and Clara Parkes, of Knitter's Review and book fame:

and Dr. Mel, of kilt-wearing fame:

I must say that Swatchy was very well-behaved and extremely polite to all the knitterati that he met, except when he mistakenly thought he heard Kristen Rengren

say that she knew a woman with Chronic Fatigue and it was all in her head, and then he threw himself at the table where she was book-signing, screaming stuff about "people who need to go to the CFIDS website before they start shooting their mouths off about stuff they know nothing about" until I was able to pull him off and tell him that she actually said "I know a woman with Chronic Fatigue and she has to stay in bed" and then he got all embarrassed and I had to leave the author's tent before Melanie Falick kicked the shite out of me.

At that point, I whisked Swatchy away, and we retired to our hotel room for a brief cooling-off period before dinner. Swatchy wasn't very impressed with our favorite Rhinebeck diner:

But he cheered up immensely when he met our dinner companions, including Mindy

(he was all over poor Mindy!); the wild and wooly Ali P (I need your blog link, Ali):

and last but not least, Vé-vé.

I think that those wild Canadian minxes were a terrible influence on Swatchy, because last night I went up to Little Miss's room to kiss her goodnight and I found this:

Oh, Swatchy, lolling in the hot tub with the Barbie twins? What have I done?!

Update today: some chunkier yarns

2009-10-15T07:53:00.011-04:00

Even though I tend to specialize in finer-gauge yarns -- laceweights and sock yarns -- I know that sometimes it's nice to be able to whip up a project quickly. Now that it's mid-October, some of you may be thinking about holiday gift-knitting. So today's Black Bunny Fibers update consists of some chunky-weight yarns. I've got two new yarns that I'm hoping to add as regulars. The first is called Candy Stripe:

One of my yarn clubs tried it out and gave it high marks, liking the softness and the way that the plies take the color differently -- or not at all.

I've whipped up a scarf pattern, featuring a big cable running the length, and I'm offering it as a free pattern with the purchase of one or more skeins of Candy Stripe.

The second new base is called Bump, and it's 98% merino wool with a 2% nylon binder to give it some texture.

Bump is fun to knit with and you get results fast.

In fact, I was able to knit this slouchy hat in a night, and I'm offering this pattern free with purchase of one or more skeins of Bump:

(I will be wearing it at Rhinebeck if the weather requires it, so you can see it up close and in person.)

I also stumbled across a couple of skeins of a bulky, thick-n-thin yarn that I'm calling Cloud.

This yarn is discontinued, so I probably won't be able to get more of it, but it's very soft and extremely quick-knitting (maybe 2 stitches to the inch?) so you could definitely produce a very warm scarf in a very short period of time, enjoying the glorious colors and textures.

(Sorry -- no free pattern for discontinued yarns!) I'm sending a couple of skeins of each of these to Loop tomorrow if you want to stop by and see them in person.

I'll be off to Rhinebeck tomorrow, with faithful traveling companions Jim and Laura. Traveling with us will be the inimitable Swatchy, of Travels With Swatchy fame. Swatchy is a little shmoo who serves two purposes: he serves as stand-in for the lovely Knittah, who cannot travel very often or very far due to her disabling CFIDS (learn more about the disease here) and he thereby helps to raise awareness about CFIDS. You'll see lots more photos of Swatchy as he treks with us to Rhinebeck and back....but here is Swatchy, bonding with the BBF yarn until it's time to depart.

In fact, this particular Swatchy is made with some BBF yarn.... adding to his overall handsomeness, if I do say so myself. (Rest assured that I have checked Swatchy's ID to make sure he is over the age of consent, something I always do before crossing state lines.)

I'll try to update the blog over the weekend with some shots from Rhinebeck. The weather is supposed to be grim -- cold and ~~rainy~~ snowy? -- but I can't wait to be in the company of some of my favorite fiber friends. If you see me, please stop me and say hi. It always tickles me to no end to meet readers, especially the lurkers.

No-Bull Book Review: Haiku Knits, by Tanya Alpert

2009-10-14T07:47:00.000-04:00

Pretty book inspired
By Japanese design
Untraditional

When presented with a review copy of a book called Haiku Knits (Watson-Guptill 2009; MSRP $29.99, available for pre-order at $19.79 via the link), I could not stop myself from breaking into the ancient Japanese form of verse. So, you ask, what does Japanese poetry have to do with knitting? Well, inspiration is where you find it, and author Tanya Alpert has found inspiration in combining Japanese yarns with elements of Japanese aesthetics:

Two of the main tenets of Japanese aesthetics are economy in the use of space and materials, and asymmetry. As in a haiku, in the expression of emotion and thought, an economical use of space and time seems especially appropriate today. As for asymmetry, it suggests fluidity and motion. Bridging elements of Japanese aesthetics with our Western fashion was very exciting to me and became the genesis for Haiku Knits.

Alpert points to a few specific characteristics of her vision: combining different textures, using twisted cables, asymmetric shapes, and using decorative seams. She describes her style as "feminine without being frilly and minimalist without being severe." So bearing Alpert's vision in mind, let's take a look at the patterns.

Snowflake

Alpert presents 25 patterns in Haiku Knits, organized into five chapters. Each chapter is named after a haiku that appears on the first page, which acts as an organizing theme. For example, the first section is titled "Lingering Snow," and features the following verse:

Soft winter wrap
Yochino cherry petals
Caress the waiting earth

The patterns in that section are "Snowflake," a rectangular wrap with sleeves kit in an openwork stitch; a 3/4 sleeve cabled pullover called "Cocoon"; "Pagoda," a looped hat and scarf combo; and "Fallen Leaves," a cabled short vest/wrap.

Fallen Leaves

The second section, titled "Wind and Stream," contains an interesting kimono-style cardigan knit with a cashmerino aran yarn and a laceweight linen-mohair blend (the cover sweater); a pretty lace scarf with diagonal edges; a simple sweater with asymmetrical lapel; a vest or shell made with both Noro Kochoran and a bulky-weight Rowan Cocoon (which, by the way, is a gorgeous, gorgeous yarn);

Half-Moon Rising

and a pullover knit with Rowan KidSilk Haze and a Habu silk yarn for the large shawl collar and ruffly bottom edge.

Next you'll find "Ocean Breeze," which features a tank-sleeved tunic with an asymmetric edging and a tie;a cap-sleeve pullover knit in a very lacy stitch with a textured Habu yarn; a fringed wrap knit with 3 different Habu yarns to create a kind of scribble lace-ish effect;

Fisherman's Net

a simple summer tank top with side button closure and a decorative back seam.

Seaweed

"Fading Light" contains an eclectic assortment, beginning with a filmy scarf with a ribbon edging to mimic petals; a top described as a "shift," knit in a very fine mesh created with wool/stainless steel yarn; a felted top and skirt combo, using a merino wool in fingering weight, plus a silk/stainless steel blend for trim;

Lantern Floating

and an unusually-constructed capelet, which gets its style and shape from strategic increases and decreases.

Long Night

Last, "Beauty in Motion" contains a cropped jumper ("jumper" in the American sense of a scoop-neck, tank-sleeved tunic layered over an undershirt), a second tunic but longer and flared at the hem, with a racerback;

Running Brook

a drapey cardigan with raglan lines and a large tab closure; a long-sleeved pullover with a wide v-neck (the model wears it over one shoulder, a la Flashdance); and a mohair cardigan with a ruffled ascot (shown below).

I know that you, my clever readers, have already figured out that the book contains all patterns for adult women -- nothing for the menfolk or kids or even home here. By type of garment, you'll find:

5 cardigans/jackets;
4 long-sleeved or in one case 3/4-length sleeved pullovers;
one wrap;
one hat;
three scarves;
2 vest or wrap layering pieces;
6 tank or sleeveless tops, some of which also might fit into the vest/wrap category depending on how you wear them.

As you can see, these pieces have their own sensibility: many of them have untraditional shapes or are made to allow the fabric's drape to be a prominent part of the design, and many of them are designed to be worn as layering pieces. This makes it hard to assign them to a specific "category" such as "cardigan" or "vest."

Flickering Flame

When it comes to sizing, you'll find that the untraditional construction and shaping of these garments makes sizing difficult. Leaving aside hat, scarves and wrap, which are one-size-fits-all, the sweaters are a mixed bag. Finished measurements start at around 34 inches as a size Small for most of them, running up to 38, 40 or occasionally 42 inches (finished measurement) for a size Large. Even taking into account the flexibility due to their less fitted construction, the very petite and the very large-bosomed may find themselves out of luck unless they are adventurous enough to experiment with altering size and fit. In the same vein, you would do well to take a closer look at the patterns, including the schematics and instructions, if you prefer to wear close-fitting garments. Most of these garments are not body-hugging and most do not feature set-in sleeves, or even traditional sleeves at all in some cases. That means that some people will love them and others will not feel comfortable wearing them.

Bird of Passage

Alpert has selected lovely yarns, predominantly Rowan/RYC and Habu Textiles (with an occasional Louet, Sublime or Berroco thrown in for good measure). While it may not be particularly hard to substitute for a yarn like Berroco's Pure Merino, a heavy worsted -- although it's such a nice yarn I don't know why you'd want to -- it will prove difficult, even impossible, to substitute for many of the less mainstream choices. For example, the Hazy Moon scarf uses a Habu yarn described as "paper moire," consisting of 50% linen/50% nylon, at a lightweight gauge, combined with another Habu yarn described as "fringe tape," an acetate novelty yarn.

Hazy Moon

Together, they are striking and create a lovely ethereal effect in the scarf, but if you aren't inclined to order the exact yarns from Habu, you may find substituting for these yarns to be a bit challenging, at least if you want to achieve the same kind of ethereal effect. The same goes for the stainless steel blends, for example. You may even find that substituting for a widely available yarn like Louet Euroflax has a more significant effect than usual on your finished garment, since texture is such an integral part of many of the designs. Please note, however, that people have vastly different attitudes toward yarn substitution, and by observing that it may be hard to substitute yarns, I'm only making an observation, not a value judgment. Alpert obviously selected the yarns that she did for aesthetic reasons: texture, feel, the play of light, contrast. Let's not hold her artistic adventure against her simply because it makes the yarns harder to swap for.

When it comes to thinness and thickness of the yarns used, Alpert is all over the map. The fine-yarn-lover in me was pleased to see lots of finer yarns, and clever use of the fine yarns to create interesting effects like drape, gauziness and sheer mesh. But there are also garments featuring some thicker yarns, including the luscious Rowan Cocoon.

Last but not least, the technical stuff: Haiku Knits is a hardcover book, about 144 pages, with a clean, almost minimalist (well, for a knitting book!) layout, in keeping with the author's design mission. The lovely color photographs by Michael Turek are also minimalist, featuring models shot against muted, hazy backgrounds. There are close-ups of some of the garment details, and most garments are seen in at least two full-length photographs - both very helpful features. There are large charts and schematics for the non-accessory garments, essential in many cases where the garment is knit in one piece side-to-side or features some other unusual structural element. There are a few pages of specific techniques illustrated in the back, along with some handy conversion charts.

My overall impression? Haiku Knits is a very pretty book with a unique and distinctive style. I really like that Alpert's publisher was willing to take a chance on a book that does some things that are often frowned upon in pattern publishing -- mixing yarns of different weights and textures, for example; using yarns that aren't available at every knitting or craft shop in the world; and playing with unusual structure and design features -- for by and large, Alpert succeeds beautifully. The flip side for the knitter is that you'll want to take a good look at this book before purchasing to make sure that the style and the size range of the garments will suit you. I suspect that some knitters will ooh and aah over every pattern in the book, especially those who like Eileen Fisher, Hanne Falkenberg and Carol Lapin. I suspect that some knitters will find the garments less appealing given their body type or personal style, but I hope that even these knitters will give Haiku Knits its due for creativity, fresh style and adventurous spirit.

Photographs copyright 2009 by Michael Turek

Pumpkins, picking and petting (zoo)

2009-10-13T06:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Columbus Day in the U.S. (Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, Canadians!) and the kids had no school. The chill in the air made it a perfect day to go to the pumpkin patch.

We started out by picking apples; only Granny Smith were left, but that's okay since they're good cooking apples.

The most popular aspect of the apple-picking was the stick with a claw on the end of it, to get the ones on the highest branches.

Then it was over to Pumpkinland, a massive display of pumpkins and other gourds,

as well as various Halloween decorations ranging from the typical

(there is a comment to be made about my daughter appearing as a witch, but I am not the one to make it) to the terrifying (Dr. Mel, say it isn't you!):

After we picked up some small pumpkins for decorating,

we walked through the petting zoo, and saw sheep

and goaties (obligatory goateh shot for Mindeh)

and - is it an emu? or an ostrich?

We then spent some time on the large playground, and returned home happy.

P.S. Among the decorated pumpkins, we saw this:

Do you think it's an omen?

Happy National Coming Out Day

2009-10-11T20:13:00.000-04:00

Imagine living in a world where you ran the risk of getting the crap beaten out of you just for being who you are, or giving your boy- or girlfriend a kiss in public.

Imagine your spouse getting critically injured in a car crash, and when you went to the hospital to sit by your loved one's bedside, and make medical decisions the way you know they'd want them to be made, the hospital wouldn't listen to you and didn't consider you next of kin.

Imagine not being able to marry the person you loved, or adopt a child you loved and could care for.

Imagine enlisting to serve our country in the armed forces, serving honorably and to the best of your ability, and getting kicked out because you refuse to hide who you are.

Imagine being told you were going to hell, were a sinner, were wrong, were evil, simply because of who you fell in love with, or having your loving, committed relationship likened to pedophilia or bestiality.

These are some of the challenges -- just some -- that the LGTB* community faces every day.

I have said before, and I will say again, that I believe that the struggle for equal rights for our LGTB fellow citizens is my generation's civil rights struggle. I stand by that.

I cannot be in Washington, D.C. today to march with you, my LGTB friends. But I want you to know that I love you, I support you, I am committed to your struggle.

You add immeasurably to my life. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me think, you make me proud. I honor you for the way that you slog on, day after day, with dignity and humor, in the face of ignorance and bigotry and cruelty and even well-meaning cluelessness.

As our President said last night, "I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight."

I am proud to stand by you.
I hope to be still standing by you, still proud, when equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, become a reality.

*Is it "LGBT" or "LGTB"?

No-Bull Book Review: 99 Yarns and Counting, by The Green Mountain Spinnery Co-op

2009-10-09T06:32:00.001-04:00

I was very pleased to receive a review copy of a new book, 99 Yarns and Counting: More Designs from the Green Mountain Spinnery (The Countryman Press) by the Green Mountain Spinnery Cooperative.

Green Mountain Spinnery, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, was founded in 1981, in Putney, Vermont. Its founders wanted to create a business that, yes, produced beautiful yarn, but did so in a way that was environmentally conscious and supported small-scale wool producers. It's probably safe to say that GMS succeeded beyond its expectations. In its first years, GMS offered only one basic wool yarn in five colors. GMS currently offers 99 different yarns* (hence the book's title), using fibers such as wool, cotton, alpaca and mohair, and including organic lines; they produced a very successful and beautiful book, published in 2003; and more recently, after the majority of the founders reached readiness for retirement, transitioned to become a co-op -- a business enterprise owned and run by its workers.

Retro Ribbed Turtleneck

My experience with GMS yarns has been uniformly positive. I like that they consist of mainly natural fibers -- wool, cotton, kid mohair, alpaca, (I'm not intending to start a debate about whether tencel is considered a "natural" fiber or not; it is derived from wood pulp, but requires extruding; decide for yourself what you want to call it). They have beautiful palettes and their patterns incorporate interesting techniques like stranded knitting and cabling. I like that they strive to have a minimal effect on the environment, and I like that they support small sheep and other fiber producers in the U.S.

Turkish Rose Mittens

So with all that background out of the way, let's take a look at 99 Yarns And Counting to see what's inside.

Meadow Lark Lace Scarf

The basics: the book is paperback, but oversized (a little bit larger than a typical magazine, oriented landscape instead of portrait). It's got lots of color photographs and the page quality is nice. MSRP is $24.95 (purchase it via the link above for $16.37 at the time of this writing). You'll find about 120 pages and a whopping 36 patterns inside.

The book begins with an introduction to Green Mountain Spinnery. With understandable pride, the book describes a bit about the history of GMS, then tells about its transformation to a worker's co-operative. Next, the reader is taken on a "tour" of the shop and mill, going through the processes of scouring fleece, spinning it, skeining and dyeing and plying it. The introduction section finishes with a two-page description of GMS patterns, then two more pages listing some definitions and techniques used in them. There are lots of sheep and wool photos, as well as more casual photos of the garments (and I do like the fact that the models are real people, with real bodies rather than model ones -- and I also like the way that doggies were included in some of the shots).

East Putney Aran

The patterns are written by Maureen Clark, Eric Robinson and Margaret Atkinson, who are all members of the GMS co-op, as well as Melissa Johnson and Cap Sease, who are staff members. If you are a GMS aficionado, the book notes that some of the patterns have been published previously in individual form (though if you're a GMS fan, that might not bother you, since this is such a pretty book).

Melissa's Hat

For those of you keeping track, rough tallies are here (note that some of the patterns are flexible in size or are designed so that a size small will fit a child while a large will fit an adult; the overlap means that the tallies will add up to more than the 36 patterns advertised on the cover):

Patterns designed for kids: 15
Patterns designed for adults: 26
Home: 1

Juliet Shell

Breaking it down by type of item:

Sweaters for babies & kids = 8
Hats for babies & kids = 7 (but some adult hats may fit bigger kids, too)
Sweaters for adults = 9 (includes cardigans and pullovers)
Hats for adults = 8, plus the bag can also be worn as a hat
Vests/shells = 3
Socks = 2
One each of shawl, scarf, afghan and bag
Mittens = 2

Leafy Lace Shawl

If you are interested in the guy vs. gal vs. unisex ratio, I would say about 10 of the patterns, mainly sweaters, are pretty clearly women's garments, while about 16 or so could be considered unisex. (Again, it's hard to quantify these because to some extent, it depends on your taste and color choices; also, a pickier guy might want some simple modifications, like making the neckline higher on the potentially-unisex Istanbul Aran.)

Istanbul Aran

While there are some simpler, mainly-stockinette patterns included (like a basic pullover sweater, sized from child through adult), many of the patterns feature stranded colorwork or cabling. None of them appear incredibly difficult, but inexperienced knitters or those who want simpler, plainer patterns should take note. You'll find a mix of drop shoulder, raglan and set-in sleeves, even a yoke or two.

Size ranges are generous. Sweater patterns start at around 34 to 38 inches finished chest measurement (sorry, uber-petite ones, although at least one sweater has a 30-inch finished chest) and extend to 44, 48, sometimes even 52 inches finished chest measurement. Children's sweaters include some smaller sizes (for the 6- to 12-month age range) and in several cases, go right up to size 10 or 12. Some items, like hats, include a small/medium/large that should accomodate larger kids as well as adults.

Evening Shadows Afghan

Yarn weight tends to hover around the DK to worsted weight range, since the majority of GMS yarns knit in this range. The sock yarn is a regular sock (fingering) weight, but only the scarf (which can be expanded to shawl size) and the two sock patterns use the GMS sock yarn. Given that most of the items are knit in very commonly-found gauges (e.g. 4.5 sts to the inch, or 5.5 sts to the inch), it would be very easy to subtitute yarns from your stash for the vast majority of these projects -- although GMS yarns are very lovely.

Great Meadows Hat

To sum up, then, I give 99 Yarns and Counting two thumbs up for a collection of classically-styled patterns, using pretty, natural yarns in interesting ways, with a generous number of patterns, and options for just about everyone in the family. GMS is scheduled to have a booth at Rhinebeck next week, and also has on-line shopping at its website here.

* In reaching the 99 tally, GMS counts each color of each yarn base as one individual yarn, i.e., there are not 99 different yarn bases.

Photos by Marti Stone, reprinted courtesy of the Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Co.

No-Bull Book Review: One More Skein, by Leigh Radford

2009-10-05T08:07:00.000-04:00

I am horrendously overdue on book reviews, and now that the fall season is really underway, new books are being released at a furious pace. I'm going to try to catch up a bit, so let's get started with one of the new releases from Stewart Tabori & Chang: One More Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit by Leigh Radford (MSRP $19.95; available for $13.57 by clicking on the link).

Leigh Radford has already written some must-have books for knitters. I really enjoyed Alterknits (STC 2005) and the sequel, AlterKnits Felt (STC 2008); both were stylish, creative and beautifully presented. Radford's previous small-project book, One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet (STC 2006) was extremely popular for its quick-knitting yet fashionable projects that, as the title suggests, only require a single skein of yarn to complete. So it's not a big surprise that Radford chose to write a sequel.

Nash's Garter-Stitch Baby Sweater

One More Skein has a lot in common with its predecessor: thirty projects, all knitting, nearly all for small (meaning no adult sweaters) projects.* But Radford discusses in the introduction how enrollment at art school has changed her design sensibility somewhat:

Early on in my classes I began exploring how I might incorporate knitting into my paintings, for example, by knitting my own canvas out of laceweight linen. And now when I review the collection of projects that I've put together for this book, I clearly see that what I am learning in art class is seeping into and re-energizing my knitting.

Radford notes that while her first book included only projects that could be completed with one skein of yarn, One More Skein takes a less restrictive approach, allowing projects knit with one or two skeins of yarn (again, the single exception is the afghan, which is made from multiple leftover balls of yarn in many colors).

Radford divides the projects into four chapters; let's take a closer look at them.

"Put It On," as the name implies, contains an assortment of adult wearables: the ubiquitous fingerless gloves, an earflap cap, a lightweight linen cap with ribbon embellishment, a felted wool/alpaca cuff or bracelet, a bulky cowl, a smart-looking men's scarf knit in other-way-around rib;

Horizontal Rib Scarf

two versions of a striking "circle and stripe" scarf (a regular scarf and a shorter "cravat" version), and a jewelry set of necklace, braclet and earrings.

"Dress Up Baby" contains six quick-knitting items for babies: knit pants (thank you from the bottom of my heart for not calling them "soakers"; nothing puts me off my breakfast like the image of urine-soaked wool), a charming garter-stitch baby sweater with a tab closure, a cute (if impractical) "capelet", which is a kind of wrap designed to slip over baby's head, without sleeves or other closures,

Sadie's Capelet

another pair of baby pants, a mohair baby kimono, and a pair of "baby legwarmers."

"Take It With You" contains patterns for simple bags: drawstring gift bags, a sling tote or purse,

Summer Satchel

a small accessory bag with a zipper and lining, a felted bag/purse, a silk ribbon clutch, and a felted handbag (my favorite in this chapter).

Connected Squares Felted Handbag

The last chapter, "Make Your House A Home," contains home dec items: a cute nubby felted cat toy (gorgeous cat in the photo, by the way), a hot water bottle cover, a button-cover pillow designed for filling with dried lavender and rice (Radford microwaves hers for an alternative to a heating pad), a patchwork blanket made from leftover balls and odds and ends of worsted weight yarn, pillow covers, a pleated "vase sleeve" (Radford instructs you to slip it over a plain vase for a new look),

Pleated Vase Sleeve

small felted bowls, linen placemats, and a linen serving tray (fabric stiffener is used to make the tray sturdy enough to hold items).

Basic Pillows

As usual, all the technical aspects of the book are top-notch, including lots of lovely yarnie photos by photographer John Mulligan. The book just teems with color and beautiful images of yarn; even the inside covers include full-color yarn pr0n shots. Most projects are shown in more than one photo, and some are shown in different colors and variations (e.g. long and short versions of the fingerless gloves), which isn't always feasible when a book contains highly complex or labor-intensive projects, but is a terrific bonus when the book contains smaller projects. The layout (by Anna Christian) is elegant and coordinates beautifully with the projects. There are a few schematics and charts where appropriate, but most of the projects are small and simple enough not to need them. The back of the book contains a few special techniques, like how to knit I-cord, and instructions for felting.

Circle & Stripe Scarf

Looking at the tallies, you'll find 30 projects, broken down into 6 baby items; 14 items for adults (mostly women); and 10 home dec items. Baby items are mainly sized for tots one year and under. The adult items (no, not THOSE kind of adult items, you perves) vary; the earflap hat is thoughtfully written in a wide range of sizes from XXX-Small to Large (a size for everyone in the family!), the fingerless gloves come in S/M/L, and so on, with many, like scarves, not requiring sizing. The yarns used in the book tend to worsted weight and thicker, and range from workhorse wools like Cascade 220 to luxury ones like Alchemy Bamboo.

So should you buy this book? If your book budget is limited, I'd suggest considering two things. First is the simple question of whether the patterns, lovely as they are, are to your taste. Second, think about the kind of knitter you are. If you want sweater patterns, well, there aren't any in here. If your stash consists of lots of skinny yarns, these patterns won't work unless you alter size or knit your stash double-, even triple-, stranded. If you like really complex or technically challenging knitting, again, that's not what these projects are designed to provide. On the other hand, if you are looking for some simple but elegant ways to knit up your stash, want some inspiration for holiday gift-knitting, and/or like easy and quick-knitting projects, you'll probably be very pleased with One More Skein.

*There is one large project, an afghan designed to use up leftover balls of worsted-weight yarn.

Book report: September

2009-10-04T08:52:00.000-04:00

Another month drew swiftly to a close. Here's what I read during September:

The Art of Breaking Glass by Matthew Hall. This book was recommended by a commenter during one of my last book reports -- and I did enjoy it. The main characters are Sharon, a psych-ward nurse who is recovering from the death of her husband and son in a car accident, and Bill, a patient in her ward who strikes Sharon as unusually intelligent, albeit seriously disturbed. The relationship between Bill and Sharon is complex; as it turns out, Bill is a brilliant guy who uses a sort of Robin-Hood-inspired terrorism to make New York better for everyday people, and has pretended to be schizophrenic to avoid being arrested for breaking and entering. Sharon feels a connection to Bill, although she is bothered by the violent means he uses to accomplish his ends, and doesn't know where his sanity ends and his underlying madness begins. When Bill hatches a complex but well-meaning scheme to finance a large-scale community development center, at the expense of a Donald-Trump-like real estate mogul, Sharon decides to use her instinctive rapport with Bill to help the FBI stop him. It's a fairly quick read, with a fast-moving plot, and an unusual spin on the typical thriller.

The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason. More brooding Scandinavian police inspectors; this time, an Icelandic detective tries to determine the identity of a decades-old murder victim, found in a lakebed. We see how the lives of the inspector and his colleagues interplay as they untangle a crime that may stretch all the way back to Cold War East Germany.

The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum. Scandinavian police inspectors, part II: This one's set in Norway, and thoroughly creeped me out, not because it was graphic or salacious, but because it was thoughtful and nuanced. The crime to be solved is the murder and molestation of a young boy. Fossum shows how the crime has a ripple effect in the small community where the boy lived -- the effect on the victim's teacher and classmates, his mother's attempts to cope, even the way that discovering the body alters the status quo for the married couple who happened across the corpse while hiking. Inspector Sejer must also contend with the disappearance of a second boy, while examining his own ideas about ped0philia. (Believe me, this book does not defend or glamorize ped0philia, I'd have no patience for that, but it does talk about how difficult it is to discover what "makes" someone into a ped0phile and how hard it is for convicted offenders to avoid recidivism.)

Dream House by Valerie Laken. I read a review of this book in the NY Times Book Review, and I was a bit intrigued since it was set in Ann Arbor, where I went to school for a few years. It's the story of a couple, Kate and Stuart, who buy a somewhat dilapidated old house. Kate becomes fascinated -- obsessed? -- with renovating the house and plunges into the intense work of gutting the house. Stuart is ambivalent about the house, and as it turns out, ambivalent about being an adult. When Stuart is laid off, their marriage fractures. At the same time, Kate starts to learn more about the history of the house; it turns out that twenty years ago, someone was killed there. I thought that Laken did a great job of making the house itself a kind of character in the book, winding Kate and Stuart's story -- and the story of Walker, who lived in the house at the time of the killing -- around it. Some of the reviews describe this as a ghost story, but I think it's more a story about how houses can develop a kind of atmosphere and character of their own that seems to transcend the people living in them.

Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin. Yes, another brooding Scandinavian mystery.... am I in a brooding Scandinavian mystery rut? But they're just so good -- and this one is no exception. The main character is Julia Davidsson, whose young son Jens went missing in 1972. Twenty years of grief and uncertainty have taken their toll on Julia. One day she gets a call from her elderly father, who has just received a small sandal in the mail. The sandal looks just like the ones Jens was wearing when he disappeared. Julia heads north, to a rural Swedish island to see the shoe; her father tells her that together, they'll ask around and see if they can learn anything about Jens' fate. The book slowly but inexorably leads to an exciting finish (I thought I knew where it was going but I was wrong), and Theorem mixes flashbacks from the past -- the post-war years through 1972 -- with the action to keep things interesting.

Local action

2009-10-03T19:15:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, local crochet luminary Kathy Merrick will be signing books and teaching a hat class at Ewe and I in Narberth. Come get your Crochet In Color book signed and meet Kathy! For more details, go here. Class is from 1:30 to 3:30; book signing goes from 3:30 to 5.

And Mr. Franklin Habit will be appearing in Newark, Delaware (that's New-ARK, for those of you who aren't local) at Stitches With Style, on Saturday, October 10th; details in the right sidebar of the shop's website.

Mix tapes

2009-10-01T12:45:00.004-04:00

Back when I was in college, we used to love making mix tapes, you know, cassette tapes (readers under 30, go here) where you copy a bunch of your favorite songs so you can listen to them on your Walkman (readers under 30, go here). We always used to talk about what songs we would put on the Ultimate Mix Tape. Sometimes we'd come up with themes, such as the ultimate dance party mix tape, or (my favorite) the ultimate fuck-you mix tape. This would be the one that you played when your boyfriend or girlfriend done you wrong and broke your heart, or your roommate totally made out with the guy YOU had a crush on and she didn't care about. In honor of a dear friend who I think would appreciate such a tape right about now (she knows who she is), I present the following list:

Goodbye to You, by Scandal
I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
Hit the Road Jack, Ray Charles
These Boots Are Made For Walkin', Nancy Sinatra
Cold-Hearted, Paula Abdul
The Sign, Ace of Base
Positively 4th Street, Bob Dylan
Unhappy Birthday, The Smiths
Fuck You, Lily Allen

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments...

Four out of five doctors agree that Pringle's potato chips will cure most foot problems

2009-09-25T16:22:00.006-04:00

Today, Little Miss wanted Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips to take to school as a snack. ("Ev'ry single Pringle's po-tay-to chip, is a perfect, po-tay-to chip, they're not broken, fresh and crunchy too -- the canister keeps them that way for you") Avoiding the whole "are potato chips, even newfangled ones, an appropriate school snack" debate, I informed Her Nibs that we were in fact out of Pringle's potato chips -- or indeed, any brand of potato chips.

A snit ensued. (This will not surprise my regular readers, I daresay.)

But even the snittiest of snitters must realize that if there are no Pringle's newfangled potato chips in the cupboard, they cannot be taken to school, even if one's mother would allow one to do so.

Suddenly Little Miss was stricken with an amorphous pain. In her, um, foot.

I examined the foot, and there was no splinter, no bruise, no bump, no mark, no redness or swelling, no bug bite, no anything that might conceivably cause foot pain. Yet there she was, hobbling around. This foot had given her no trouble when she leaped out of bed onto it, nor did it seem to cause her any distress when she began stamping it upon realizing there were no potato chips.

This foot pain was so crafty, so Machiavellian, that it sometimes appeared to be in the left foot, then, in a dastardly stroke of deviousness, would cause Little Miss to limp on the right foot. (In Lyme disease, this is known as "migrating joint pain." In childrearing, this is known as "a huge pain.")

Because I am a mother who does not know how to love, I insisted that Little Miss limp down to the bus stop, turning away, in my typical not-knowing-how-to-love manner, from her obvious pain and suffering.

At the bus, she asked what would happen if her foot still hurt when she got back from school, and I told her about the very large needles full of painkillers that most emergency room nurses will inject in one's foot when a patient presents with Amorphous Pringle's Deprivation Syndrome ("APDS").

Little Miss was unmoved, but her twin brother turned white and said "Mommy, I think I'm getting nauseous."

The timely arrival of the bus put an end to our struggle, and the brave patient -- and her nauseated brother -- climbed aboard the bus to face another day of second grade.

P.S. No children were limping or nauseous by the time the bus returned. I cannot, however, vouch for the condition of their mother.

CashSock update is live

2009-09-24T10:09:00.001-04:00

at Black Bunny Fibers.... go get 'em!

P.S. 20 free crafting patterns -- some great knitted hats! -- plus a chance to win free STC books here.....