join me in the Reverse-A-Week machine

Back to Tuesday, last week at The Point.
Yay Patty & staff, whatt yarn store, my only regret is I didn't get to browse, and that someone else bought up all those great needle cases on the counter. If you scroll down on the link, the Ruby Splash fabric is the one that I was eyeing. I think they are getting more in, be poised to pounce.

To bring you up to speed, my co-author, the Cali based Joan Tapper, was in NY on the very date our book was published, so we feted. I highly recommend fete-ing, if this is any indication of what it's like. Thanks a zillion million to all who attended.


I was feeling kind of run down when I got to NYC that afternoon, so slugged back a double espresso just before the author talk time. I underestimated the energizing effect of entering a charming knitting store/cafe packed to the gills with people I love or really really like or would like to know better. The result : I am pretty sure I spent ! The whole night ! talking ! ! with exclamation points !!!

I can be an enthusiastic person when blabbing on say, a project I worked on obsessively for 18 months, but I may have pushed the limit. Lesson learned in the caffeine department. Joan was more centered, and I hope balanced us out.

Another lesson learned, in the signing department. I hadn't thought what one actually writes when you sign your books, it isn't quite like a yearbook Stay as Sweet as UR or the guest log of an art exhibit, so Nice work, so inspiring! didn't quite cut it . I plan to get this aspect of knit book event-ing under control before the next time at... drumroll..Maryland Sheep & Wool.* There, I plan to leave in a teensy bit of time for shopping. Lots of time to shmooze and take pictures of all I meet. And, maybe, I'll stick to coffee ice cream as stimulant.

One last lesson learned: you can't be talking, signing, enthusing and taking pictures, so my sister did the honors , grabbing my camera at the last minute. (thanks Lulu!) Thus, you don't see her nor sweet baby Meli , nor a bunch of other folks I'd like to have in pixels but she couldn't have known which way to point the big lens.

I can offer you this evidence that Cara has already been an excellent knitting influence on her little sprout of a daughter, aided by the obviously smitten knittin' Kay.

and proof that I should stick with photography because the hand modeling career ain't gonna happen. Woo, is it the espresso that causes hand vein pop?

* for the signing locations at Maryland Sheep & Wool , and other events, click over to the Shear Spirit book blog sidebar . Besides, it has a good post up this week, written by Joan.

a pass off

You know things are bad when I title with a sports metaphor.
Better reading today over on our bookblog, come back here in a day or two when I have something fit for knitterly digestion!

not entirely irrelevant to what follows. although unrelated in time

What I really want to show you is a fun report from the book signing party in NY last week.
I haven't had a moment to put it together, I've been mostly in traffic between Washington DC & CT for the Passover holiday weekend. It was an overly dramatic ride each way-- heavy traffic augmented by a backseat teenaged size overdose of hideous fast food *(almost as revolting on the way in as it was spewed out voluminously in the car) heading south on Friday , and a shootout on I-95 on the way back last night.

At least I had a decent amount of knitting time in the passenger seat.

Wow, that was TMI, wasn't it?

* until just a couple of years ago we were all in synch , a mostly vegetarian natural foods loving family unit, but adolescence has a funny way of separating the hatfields from the mccoys in terms of eating choices. Although I overheard a couple of hatfields swearing off the golden arches after this ride.

honk, blab, and vino too!

HONK: April 15th is the day Shear Spirit hits the shelves.

If you happen to be near New York New York on Tuesday evening,
join me and co-author Joan Tapper at our book party
6-7:30 pm at The Point Knitting Cafe , 37a Bedford Street

BLAB: It'll be a rare double sighting of us in the same space, we'll talk about the book, show some samples of projects from within , you'll knit, we'll sign books, we'll celebrate and hand out silly favors.
Buy the book and The Point will give you 10% off any yarn you buy.
Just because they're nice like that.

VINO: and we'll all drink wine. What could be bad? Hope to meet you there.

Space Is Limited! Please RSVP info@thepointnyc.com

and just one more honk:
there are some other Shear Spirit talks/signing/chances to blab coming up, check out the Shear Spirit blog sidebar.

sprung (annotated)

Out of my late winter knitting doldrums, some progress broke out:

The stripes line up in real life, this was a sloppy arrangement.
the Heartbreakingly Cute Kimono * NOW WITH MATCHING EDGES**.
The designer Cristina *** commented that the heart is not symmetrical and I should work that uneven overlap . The door creaaaked open in my brain.
Unfortunately I'd already ripped when I saw the light. Her statement reinforced a couple of thoughts: 1) Cristina is a crafting genius, 2) how limiting it is to see only the oh no! there's only one way and I have not followed it. In a blink I thought of how cute it would have been to embroider X's and O's along that longer bottom layer.

While procrastinating on the fix I knit this,

Love to accessorize them babies. No particular pattern.

Off this goes to 6 week old Beck who lives in a cabin in Maine , he'll have plenty of wool wearing season left in his first year.
pattern: from Mason Dixon Knitting
yarn: Cascade 220 superwash, 2 skeins needed for striping, tons leftover
needles: aaack! I've already forgotten. maybe US7's?
thoughts: Lovely little project, and an excuse to go diving in my button tin. I just love my button tin. I used the eyelet edge as button holes. The inner edge is tied with a small length of crocheted yarn sewn in.

The altitude/attitude troubled alpaca beret**** is flying right now, too.

Originally intended as a gift to someone in NYC, somehow a cozy warm alpaca beret in April seems more penalty than pleasure. So this might be part of my permanent collection. Come see me at a Shear Spirit event and you'll probably notice it flourished it around as part of our trunk show. (and when I say trunk what I really mean is.. modest size tote)

pattern: fr Shear Spirit, the Taos Beret*****. Sorry only a glimpse here but in 2 weeks I spills all. It has some really cute detailing on the brim. Really!
yarn: machine spun natural alpaca from Victory Ranch
needles: size 6
notes: Another button tin expedition. These are some handpainted ceramic beauties made by(I think) a local artist. ****** I love this pattern and getting to stick a button on is the proverbial cherry on top.

Lastly , moment of silence for poor Juliet.
It wasn't the surgery that got her. I spent a ridiculously long time cutting and 3 needle bind off-ing, and unraveling and then reinforcing the join so it hung just right. I washed and reskeined the cut out yardage and just as I was going to knit that last 3 inches of the bottom lace, I decided to have a good try-on . In a moment of honesty I saw this garment was all wrong on me. Never, never let me knit something with garter stitched cap sleeves again. To say unflattering is too kind. Since I already own a uniquely unflattering Klaralund that is my only-around -the-house-and-for-errands, yarn-that-I love -paired-with-poor-pattern -choice-for-me sweater, I didn't need this one. I now have aprox 600 yards of Araucania Chunky with no purpose, I need a vest or tank top project. Ideally one knit side to side, I decided the variation in this yarn makes for some broadening horizontal effect. Let me know if you have any suggestions,what I really want is to make it into an Imogen but I lack the yardage.

and now for the annotation, everything needed more explanation today than parantheses could bear:

* That's the Ravelry link to almost one thousand of these little bits of sweetness.

** I still need to steam down the new bottom edge, sorry about the flippiness.

*** I linked to an arbitrary page, just surf around hre site and you'll find something inspiring

**** The beret is discussed waaay at the bottom of this post

***** It is unblocked in this photo.

****** turns out they are buttons from South Africa, info here, but I bought them locally. Oh well. It is shown balanced on the unblocked hat with display thread, I'll use a less bright white to sew it on.