Knockout Knits (review and giveaway)
I've known the delightful Laura Nelkin for a while now. We first met back when she was the design director for the (dearly departed and much missed) Schaefer Yarn. She was kind enough to ask me to design a pattern in their yarns when I was a very new designer and just barely starting out. We've kept in touch over the years (we tend to show up at a lot of the same fiber events), and I was so excited when I heard she was working on her first book. And now that the book is here, and I've had [...]
The Reference Shelf (review and giveaway)
Remember when you first started knitting? You probably had a ball of yarn, a pair of needles, a pattern, and maybe some sort of basic guide (online or on paper) that walked you through a few simple stitches. Then, once you realized you liked this tying fancy knots thing, you started acquiring stuff. Yarn and needles sure, but also patterns. I'm guessing you eventually got around to having lots and lots and lots of patterns. The next step, at least for me, was to begin acquiring what I always think of as The Reference Shelf (I hear the capital letters [...]
Keep Your Cool
My desk chair is positioned squarely in the path of my office's air conditioning vent. This is neither an accident nor a mistake. I'm one of those people who just runs hot. This tendency sometimes conflicts with my deep and abiding fondness for sweaters. Apparently I'm not alone in this dilemma, and Julie Turjoman has stepped in to save the day! Her new book, Knits that Breathe is full of sweaters that work beautifully for everyone, but especially for those of us always looking for the nearest ceiling fan. The garments in this book are all carefully designed to be [...]
Explanations
There's an art to explaining things in a way that leaves your audience energized and eager to get started. You have to provide enough information to make people feel confident but not so much that they start wondering what they've gotten themselves into. In her first book, Everyday Lace: Simple Sophisticated Knitted Garments, Heather Zoppetti does a marvelous job of striking just the right balance as she demystifies lace and shows you all of the lovely ways you can incorporate it into a host of practical, wearable garments. She starts by providing a lace primer (including sections on tools, charts, [...]
Coop Knits Socks, Review & Giveaway
One of the most charming parts of TNNA (and yes, I do still owe you the official TNNA post, but I seem to have brought back the traditional TNNA cold, which has taken up residence in my ear and kept me more or less in bed, so this week has sort of gone spiraling away from me and I'm just the smallest bit behind)...ahem, as I was saying, one of the most charming parts of TNNA is finally meeting in person all those folks you've only known online. Matching up names with faces (or let's be honest, blogs and twitter [...]
Educational
Let's talk yarn. The yarn I'm using on the current mitts is Bijou Basin Tibetan Dream Sock Yarn. It's 85% yak down, 15% nylon, and working with it has been a bit of a learning experience. Now, let's get this part in right up front. The reason it took me a little while to get comfortable with this yarn is that it is made from a fiber I've not used before. It's not that there's anything wrong with the yarn, it's that it was new to me and I didn't know how it would behave. My ignorance is not the [...]
Bits and Pieces
There is absolutely no coherent theme to my life this week. This means there is very little in the way of cohesion in the blog posts either. Sorry guys, it's that sort of day week life. So, in no particular order: Rabble Rousers is up on amazon now if you happen to feel a terrible itch to buy it there as opposed to from me directly (sometimes it's easier for folks overseas, so I like to have both options for everyone). The marvelous Carol Sulcoski has a review of Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet (plus one to give away) if you're [...]
You Should Know
There are a few things you should probably know about me. First, I often take my socks on field trips to things like yarn store events or TNNA. When I take them on these field trips, I like them to look their best, so I often take them on sock blockers. Second, despite being a tiny bit nuts about wanting my house to be clean, I don't really care all that much about my car. It's not that it's dirty exactly. It's just that things tend to migrate to the trunk and stay there. Like that bocce ball set I [...]
You’ve Got to Have Rules
One of the best parts about TNNA is getting to put faces to the people you've been communicating with (sometimes for years) only through email. This time, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Chrissy Gardiner in person. She's a member of the Visionary Authors group and was at the booth to show off her brand new book, Indie Socks. And when I say brand new, I mean it. She had just gotten the box of author advance copies days before the show. Chrissy was kind enough to offer me a copy of the book. This was absolutely delightful, but [...]
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