The Great Christmas Knit-Off by Alexandra Brown

Summary from Goodreads:
Heartbroken after being jilted at the altar, Sybil has been saved from despair by her knitting obsession and now her home is filled to bursting with tea cosies, bobble hats, and jumpers. But, after discovering that she may have perpetrated the cock-up of the century at work, Sybil decides to make a hasty exit and, just weeks before Christmas, runs away to the picturesque village of Tindledale.

There, Sybil discovers Hettie’s House of Haberdashery, an emporium dedicated to the world of knitting and needle craft. But Hettie, the outspoken octogenarian owner, is struggling and now the shop is due for closure. And when Hettie decides that Sybil’s wonderfully wacky Christmas jumpers are just the thing to add a bit of excitement to her window display, something miraculous starts to happen….

Let's see...knitting, Christmas, romance, tiny English village, nerdy things...yes, please, I will read a book about all these things together.  The Great Christmas-Knit Off by Alexandra Brown seemed to have the Venn diagram intersection of all these things.

This is a sweet, heartwarming, and lovely book to read in the run-up to the holidays. Civil servant Sybil (Sybs, to her friends) has been coasting on auto-pilot after her fiancee left her standing at the altar - dressed in Princess Leia's hair-buns and white robe - and ran off with her identical twin sister.  Her parents are clueless and image obsessed.  She's not sleeping.  And now that there's a massive mistake in a council estate claim, one that Sybil worries she might have caused, she needs to escape London for a weekend.  Lucky for Sybs, her best friend has just opened a pub in the picturesque town of Tindledale so she packs up her adorable dog Basil and her knitting for a weekend away.  Sybs stays for the month. The welcoming people of Tindledale - from the flamboyant American proprietor of the B&B to the perfectly dressed owner of the vintage clothing shop to the local estate owner - bring Sybil friendly ears to listen and shoulders to cry on and the occasional life-lesson.  There's even an adorkable Irish doctor.  When Sybs discovers the local knitting shop, Hettie's House of Haberdashery, and Hettie's own troubles, Sybil finds the one thing she has been lacking: purpose.

Now, as wonderful and heartwarming and charming as Sybil's story is, I have to comment on the writing style.  The first-person, present-tense point-of-view narration with lots and lots and lots of adjectives used in this book is not for everyone.  "I kick the door with my red Converse sneaker" is not a sentence that sits well with me and there were times where Sybil's memory and Sybil's present situation got entangled.  There were times when the tense and descriptions worked really well - in Hettie's shop or the vintage clothing store - and other times it just grated.  There were also a few switches to a third-person perspective for scenes with Hettie when Sybs wasn't present and these felt unnecessary.

Style aside, the heart of this book is in the right place. If you are looking for a heartwarming December read and a romance that is, if not a Happily-Ever-After ending, at least a Happy-For-Now ending, complete with knitting, Christmas sweaters, snow, quaint villages, quirky villagers, and cute dogs The Great Christmas Knit-Off is for you.  Snuggle up with a blanket and hot cocoa and you'll be a happy camper for a few hours at least.

Dear FTC: I received a finished review copy of this book from the publisher.

My hobbies are expensive!

I was listening to an old Bookrageous podcast the other week and Rebecca made a comment that reading is her hobby - she spends money on her hobby.

Well...my hobbies are expensive.  And, let me tell you, yarn is hard to pass up (books, too, but that's another story)! Between this weekend and the last I'm pretty sure I've gone past SABLE (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy) at the rate I've been knitting.

Last week's trip to The Knitting Shoppe yielded two skeins of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot:


Headwaters



Lilac

Today I stopped by Home Ec Workshop for a bit of fabric and to eyeball their yarn selection.  Eyeballing turned to buying of course.

I'm intending to make more drawstring bags for storing bits and bobs. when I'm using my totebags so I picked up two cotton prints:

I also picked up a sweet little print to use in a gift for my new little nephew (his room has an elephant theme):

This is from a Japanese company whose name I didn't quite catch but all their prints were terribly whimsical and sweet.










And then I got captured by the yarn.  I couldn't pass up this beautiful colorway from madelinetosh:

This is Tosh Sock in Robin's Egg.  Perfectly evocative of an actual robin's nest.











I also was captured by a beautiful lace-weight from Juniper Moon Farm.

Findley in the Bloom colorway.  I am in love.  I had just finished reading through the new Interweave Knits' publication Jane Austen Knits Summer 2012 issue and found a beautiful shawl pattern: Anne Eliot's Fichu.  They used A Verb for Keeping Warm's Requilary II but I think it'll look gorgeous in Findley.

It's mine.  Mine, mine, mine.


Sorry.  Yarn fumes.  I gotta put my credit cards in a vault or something before I get anywhere near a yarn store in the future.  Ack!  But it's fun!

A Life in Stitches: Knitting My Way Through Love, Loss, and Laughter

It's strange how my reading and my life intersect.

I picked up Rachael Herron's A Life in Stitches on a whim because it has writing about knitting (I'm an easy mark). 

And somewhere in the middle it hit me in the gut.  She was writing about her mom and my mom was sick...wow, too much coincidence.  But this is a short book and other essays - making a canary-yellow sweater, an afghan for a boyfriend which backfires, pets - held me over when things started becoming too much.

This is a great book of essays about not just knitting but finding an activity that impacts your life in a positive way.

A hat for my mother

I am knitting a hat.

I am knitting a hat using a pattern I like.

I am knitting a hat using a pattern I like out of a yarn I loathe. 

I am knitting a hat using a pattern I like out of a yarn I loathe because I am sitting in the waiting room of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit waiting to go back and see my mother.

I am knitting a hat using a pattern I like out of a yarn I loathe because I am sitting in the waiting room of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit waiting to go back and see my mother because my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor less than a week ago and underwent brain surgery yesterday.

My mother needs a hat.

My mother is allergic to wool.

This yarn is acrylic. I hate acrylic.  It's a royal pain in the ass to cable with and it feels wierd.

But my mother needs a hat when she goes home because it is December in Iowa.  It is cold and I don't want her head to be cold. 

It took two hours of searching through my stash two days ago trying to find a non-wool yarn because I didn't have time to go to the yarn store.  It took two hours because I was crying so hard I couldn't see.

My mother has one of the best neurosurgeons available.  I know he does great work.  I know he does great work because I work at this hospital.  I know the SICU nurses are the best nurses you could find anywhere.  I know because I have worked with them on some of our research studies.  I know they will take good care of my mother.  I work here and I have made sure she is getting the best care anyone could ever find.  I know all of this and I am scared as hell.

I am wearing my staff ID and pager like a shield.  I slept with my pager last night, a talisman against the phone call in the night.  I work at this hospital and they will take good care of my mother.  They will.  I tell myself that with almost every stitch of this yarn that sticks to my fingers as I knit.  I tell myself this as I struggle to make this inflexible yarn work a C10F or C10B.  Every single stitch of this infernal yarn keeps my mother here.

This yarn is acrylic. I hate acrylic. It's a royal pain in the ass to cable with and it feels wierd, but it is going to be a hat for my mother whether it wants to or not.  When it's a hat, I will find time to go to the yarn store and get some natural-fiber, warm, non-sheep yarn and do the hat over again.

Because my mother needs a hat and she is allergic to wool.  I take a deep breath at the end of each row of stiff stitches and give thanks that my mother has come through surgery with flying colors.  The road ahead is still bumpy, though, and she will need a hat.  Many hats.  As many hats in as many colors as she wants, as fast as I can knit them for her.  Because she's my mommy and I still need my mommy.

So....I am knitting a hat using a pattern I like out of a yarn I loathe because I am sitting in the waiting room of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit waiting to go back and see my mother because my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor less than a week ago and underwent brain surgery yesterday and she will need a hat when she goes home.

This is why I can't be allowed in the craft store alone...

...with coupons and credit cards.

Exhibit A:

I will make flower arrangements.

Exhibit B:

I will overdose on Martha Stewart papercrafting punches.  Entirely too fun.

Yes.  Those are sheep.  I will now be attaching little sheep to gifts of knitwear (it's a pretty small sheep - hey, Martha - any chance on making a bigger sheep punch?).

Exhibit C:

I will be crafting a Christmas tree to hang on the wall where it will be free of evil kittehs who want to knock it down and chew on the branches/needles/ornaments.  It's not done yet.  I promise pictures.

I think the crafting bug double-dosed me since I was moving during the holidays last year.

All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin

I am a regular reader of the Yarn Harlot.  She's just what you need when your yarn, needles, and life in general have you in knots. 

And she has a new book:  All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. 

Sadly, I've never met her.  Iowa has yet to figure on any of her book tours.  Le sigh.  Maybe once in my life I'll get lucky and I'll make it to Rhinebeck and she'll be there.  I might bring a washcloth with a Hawkeye on it.  Or perhaps an ear of corn....

Back to the book.  The topics Stephanie covers range from knitting in public, destashing when S.A.B.L.E (Stash Acquision Beyond Life Expectancy) looms, the paradoxical problem of swatching, growing daughters, and the ever-present love she holds for Sir Washie, her long-suffering washing machine.  The essays are drawn from her blog and expanded from some of her daily posts.  Her family has grown up over the course of her blog and previous essay collections (Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter and Free Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again) making this book a treat not just for knitters and crafters, but mothers, grandmothers, and anyone with a boisterous family and a century-old house.

Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously

Some of us knit to make small things, knitted-up while watching TV.  Some of us knit to learn a new technique.  Most of us knit to keep our sanity.  And then sometimes, we knit something to prove that we can despite our sanity.

Adrienne Martini decided to knit Alice Starmore's Mary Tudor sweater.  In one year.  And she wrote a book about is:  Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously. 

For those who don't know, Alice Starmore is the (in my opinion) undisputed Queen of Fair Isle colorwork and Aran knitting patterns.  Beautiful, complicated, gorgeous (sort-of boxy in fit, but that's just me).  Only Alice Starmore could take the colors she does and make such lovely patterns.  The Mary Tudor is like the Holy Grail of sweaters.  The pattern book, Tudor Roses, is out-of-print (Adrienne will tell you exactly how much she spent online...be ready to have a lie-down).  The exact colors of the yarn aren't available in the US and the yarn company actually quit making the original yarn.  You can substitute colors but it doesn't come out looking quite the same (Ravelry link - there aren't many users with completed projects). 

Adrienne recounts her adventures in finding yarn, finding substitutes, knitting such fine-gauge colorwork, keeping her family (kids, pets, husband) and work going while knitting this crazy sweater.  She's a really funny writer and I chuckled and groaned right along with her.  She interviews other knitters and visits a "con" for knitters - if you ever want crazy-amazing support from other knitters go to Rheinbeck, Sock Camp, Stitches...Ravelry (that would be me, since I have no travel moneys).  Sweater Quest was a great, fun book not just about knitting to finish a project, but knitting to appreciate the process.

Waterfall Socks

Since I luuurrve sock yarn, I occasionally make socks:

These are made from Wendy Johnson's "Waterfall Socks" pattern.  I think it was published in her book Wendy Knits but is available at her site for free.

The yarn is Mini Mochi from Crystal Palace Yarns.  The striping pattern makes "fraternal twins", completely unpredictable, and I love it.

The pattern calls for a Turkish cast-on for the toe and a short row heel (after finishing the second sock I realized that I had done the toe increases slightly different on each sock - one is pointer than the other, oh well).  The eyelet pattern is pretty easy to memorize - if you can count to four; I pretty well borked up the first sock because I forgot how to count to four.

Of course, I had to put them on right away, I made them for me! (My feet get cold at night while I'm asleep - not sure why, since they're under the covers, but I have cold feet.)

Pretty!!

I already casted-on for my next project - Melissa Wehrle's "Origami Shrug" from the Brave New Knits book.  408 stitches in the round to cast-on - oy!

Two loves, one stone: knitting and new books

I love knitting and I love new books so a new knitting book totally hits both happy spots.  Behold what arrived:

This is really fun.  It's organized like an encyclopedia and has an entry for just about everything.  Techniques, equipment, fibers, designers, styles, and even important knitting locations like the Faroe Islands.  ust open it up to find anything you want to know (and it's got a blue dust jacket, pretty).

What I'm really hoping for is a reprint of The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt; it is amazing but used copies (sold by anyone with even half an idea of how in-demand that book is) are selling for $200+.  Do you hear me Simon and Schuster??  There are a lot of knitters who would be willing to buy a $35-$45 hardcover if you reprint it! (It's always been a rumor that the reprint is coming out "next year").

Orchid Thief Shawlette (and other knitted things)

Knitting has occurred in copious amounts at my house.  Knitted gifts galore.

First, there's the shawlette for my boss.

The Orchid Thief Shawlette by Ysolda Teague from Brave New Knits, knit from Malabrigo Sock in Primavera.  The boss has an enormous garden and is a knitter, too, so I think she'll love this.

Then a hat for one of the secretaries - she helps me out a TON throughout the year.

A water bottle/coffee mug cozy for my Secret Santa at the office.

And last, but certainly not least because it was the first one done but last given, is my little niece Alexis's Christmas Stocking.  All three girls' stockings were laid out by the fireplace on Christmas Eve and they looked so sweet together, just like ours did when I was little (it's the same pattern my Grandma used).

I'm still working on a sweater (for me), the DNA scarf (for whoever - maybe me), a pair of socks (half-done, for me), and a summer blouse (also, for me).  I need to knit faster!

What I do when I'm not reading (or working)...

Reading has been hard as of late - whenever I sit down to read I fall alseep in about 2 seconds (the last several nights I've fallen asleep with the bedside lamp on, Pandora streaming through the Blu-Ray, my nook on my face, and the cats snuggled under my arm only to wake up when my alarm goes off and wonder what idiot left the TV and light on; I blame the cats for activating the "sleep" neuro-chemicals).  I do have two reviews to finish writing but I've been so busy with work and knitting I haven't had much time to write.

Speaking of knitting....

I finished the shawlette for my boss (shhhh.... she doesn't know that it's for her).  I have to get it blocked out - challenging because this is a curved piece so I don't have a straight edge to pin out first.  Edyie gave me some pointers so we'll see how it goes.

While I was in the yarn shop I was captured by yarn fumes.

Cashmere yarn fumes - they held me ransom until my debit card freed me.  Araucania Trauco Cashmere in a beautiful berry colorway.  It was on sale, not quite half off, and I can't wait to see what I can make from it.

Then I bought my Christmas present to myself because it also went on sale.  I've been salivating over D-SLR cameras for quite some time.  My little Canon point-and-shoot is nice to just take quick pictures/videos but it never quite satisfied for taking really nice shots; nothing came out looking quite like how I saw it.  I learned to take pictures using my Dad's 35mm camera with it's lenses and manual aperture/exposure settings so I wanted a more "professional" level camera.  I stopped in at Best Buy to see what early holiday deals they had and the Canon EOS Rebel XS/1000D I'd been looking at was ON SALE!  Merry Christmas!  I already tried it out on the shawlette and cashmere yarn, but I got the cats into the act....

and they weren't quite up to cooperating, choosing instead to come and "love" the camera lens (I felt like I was on Wild Kingdom with the animals ganging up on me).  They kept licking their noses when I clicked the shutter:

Dante finally let me take a nice profile picture of him. 

Isn't it nice?  No "lazar kitteh eyz" in sight.  All the pictures are wonderful and I just need to learn about all the bells and whistles on my new baby (I already figured out that if I fiddle with the "White Balance" I can take pictures that are blue - wicked!).  I plan on taking TONS of holiday pictures (this is also part of the plan, if I take the pictures then I don't have to be in any of them, hah).

Knitting 24/7 and Brave New Knits

Readathon reading took a left turn due to my being waaay too tired to concentrate and I decided to soldier on with two new knitting books.

Veronik Avery's new book Knitting 24/7: 30 Projects to Knit, Wear, and Enjoy, On the Go and Around the Clock has a variety of garments and accessories with clean lines.  They are each eye-catching in simplicity.  An ostrich plume-patterned stole is easily knitted up as a rectangle using a repeated lace pattern but it is truly a statement accessory.  A sturdy triangle shawl is designed for warmth and versatile functionality.  A cloche-like hat uses a fleur-de-lys Fair Isle pattern to catch the eye.  Many projects can easily be toted around while in-progress so you can either wear knitted items or work on knitted items 24/7.  Veronik's style is timeless so the beautiful yoked "Elemental Pullover" will go with everything in your closet for year.

Brave New Knits is the brainchild of Julie Turjoman, a collection of interviews and projects from knitters who got a major boost from the blogosphere.  Knitwear designers like Stephanie Japel, Jordana Paige, Grumperina, Jared Flood, Shannon Okey, Ysolda Teague, and Melissa Wehrle all share their path to knitwer design careers as well as a signature project designed for the book.  Their styles are all over the map - classic to funky, functional to delicate - and a variety of patterns to match.  The book is divided into garments - sweaters, jackets, blouses - and accessories - scarves, hats, socks, shawls.  I've already fixated on Melissa Wehrle's "Origami Shrug" for myself and Ysolda's "Orchid Thief Shawlette" as a present for someone (I might make one for myself, too, who knows).  Jared Flood photographed all the projects in Brave New Knits and that makes for a very pretty book to look at as you are inspired to go out and knit something and then blog about it.  Right.  Now.  I also did some Twitter/Ravelry/blog-stalking and added all the designer to my feeds and friends.

A long-overdue update from the "sticks and string" front

 I've been so busy I completely forgot to post about my Icarus shawl - I finished it in July!

First, it got a sink bath in Eucalan.  You would not believe how long it took to do the bind-off, it just kept going and going, the neverending shawl edge.

Then rolled in a towel to get as much water out as possible.

Here it is, pinned out on the floor.  I did some local investigating and no one seemed to have knitter's blocks or interlocking foam blocks that didn't smell like a gasoline factory.  I made do with vacuuming the carpet extra-good and scowling at the cats since they were more-than-a-little interested in what I was doing with thread, pins, and that big blue thing I kept yelling at them for standing on.  Chaucer insisted on being in the picture so you can see how big Icarus is compared to little, old him.

I think I used about 120 T-pins between the top border and the edge points (I don't have blocking wires, either, *le sigh* ).

Icarus Shawl by Miriam Felton, Interweave Knits Summer 2006 and/or The Best of Interweave Knits: Our Favorite Designs from the First Ten Years.  Knit in Classic Elite Yarns Silky Alpaca Lace, 2.33 skeins.

I also bought a pretty shawl pin of copper to wear with Icarus at the AXS Kuebler Banquet in August (it was pretty, sorry no pictures to show, and Icarus unblocked itself in my luggage on the way back to Iowa; it's currently making-do as a pretty scarf until I get a chance to re-block)

 My next project was started at AXS Conclave in order to teach a fellow brother how to knit cables.  The pattern is June Oshiro's DNA Scarf (but only the DNA bit, I didn't want to knit the border cables).  I bought some beautiful Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Sotobosque to use.

 As you can see, I had a little trouble getting the yarn to wind up properly and spent several hours in ball-winder and swift limbo untangling all the crazy knots before I could get it into two pretty yarn cakes.

It's coming along nicely, albeit a bit slow because you cable on every right-side row at least twice in a very long repeat.  It's not very memorizable.

I also cast-on for Wendy Johnson's Waterfall Socks to use my gorgeous Mini Mochi yarn from Crystal Palace.  I think I borked the eyelet pattern already so I may need to rip back a few rows.  Boo.

And then I bought more yarn.  Why?  Ummm, I was in the yarn shop?

Three very pretty skeins of Manos del Uruguay, mint, berry, and pink.  I think they'll make a nice scarf together.

I am sure this is why I buy yarn all the time, it's for the colors.

Except, in this case, it was the soft luxury.  Plymouth Yarn Paca Tweed.  Alpaca.  I have no idea what I want to do with this yarn, I just had to have it.

I also recently (as in last night at dinner) casted on a new project (no pics yet) for my niece Alexis - her Christmas stocking.  I've become a better knitter in the several years since I made her older sisters' stockings so I should be able to get this done by Christmas.  I'm more experienced in intarsia colorwork and I can knit with both hands now so this should go faster (I refuse to give it to her for her second Christmas).

Knitting rules!  Knit on, knit on.

Happy Birthday, USA!

I spent the afternoon at my parents' house alternately spoiling my neices (mostly Alexis, since she's the baby and the twins were occupied with building things with Duplos) and knitting.

The highlight of the day came when Ana came over and silently watched me knit.  After a few minutes she pointed to my shawl and asked what it was.

"It's a shawl," I said.

"A shauuuu...." Ana mused (the "L"s aren't quite there all the time).  "What's that?"

"It's like a very special, fancy blanket" (I have to use four-year-old logic here).

"Are you making it?"

"Yes, I'm knitting it."

"You knitting it with string?"

"Sort of, this is called yarn" (it's lace-weight, so it looks like string).

"Oh, you have blue string."

And off she went to build a duck out of Duplo blocks.

So yeah, I'm making a shauuuu out of blue string.  Happy 4th, everyone!

I've been KIP-ing all week

On Sunday I KIP'd at church for Alexis's baptism:

Hi, baby!

And then I KIP'd at my parents' house for a bit:

The twins were completely uninterested in my knitting - they were busy sending Cookie Monster into outer space.

 The rest of the week I KIP'd on the bus - I got plenty of knitting time, too, thanks to the weather.  On Tuesday the bus got stuck in traffic (approximately a 45 minute delay) caused by flash flooding:

The driver of the small blue car (near the center - in the middle of the puddle) tried to do exactly what you're not supposed to do when there's water over the roadway...he or she got the car stalled when they tried to drive through the water.  So not only did the police have to re-route traffic through the shallow part of the flooding they also had to have the blue car towed away.


Then we had a few road obstacles on Thursday:

That's a very large tree blocking 23rd Ave; the bus had to turn around and go back.  We had a ton of downed trees due to straight-line winds estimated at 70-80 mph - yikes!
I must have looked like the most unperturbed person in the world, knitting away on my shawl while everyone freaked out.  However, a few words of wisdom: never interrupt a knitter when she's counting.



The net result of WWKIP is that I'm started on the third repeat of the first chart:

The shawl will get much wider faster than it will length-wise so I switched from a 24" circular to a 40" circular.  This is the easy part of the "Icarus" pattern, very easily memorized.  The "feather" portion on charts 2, 3, and 4 will be far more complicated and with longer rows.

Chaucer is doing a very good job of "helping" me take a picture!






I have a large backlog of book reviews to finish - they might have backdates (sorry) since I'm that far behind.  But I am still reading - I didn't just KIP all week.

The Gentle Art of Domesticity

I have to admit - the first time I saw The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket sitting on the store shelf I went, "Oh dear, another pink book about how nice it is to stay home" and didn't give it much thought.  Over the past year or so I braved opening the pink jacket (I'm not much of a pink person) and flipped through it.  It seemed more like a book about inspiration in your creative life...hmmmmm....I recently found a bargain copy and decided to buy it.  I'm glad I did - this was a really fun book to read/peruse.

The basis for The Gentle Art of Domesticity is Brocket's blog yarnstorm (now found here, her author site is here), started in 2005 to write about knitting and everything else she liked to see or do.  In her introduction Brocket makes the distinction between "domesticated" - meaning the scut work of cleaning, scrubbing, laundry, etc. - and "domesticity" which is the fun stuff like baking, knitting, gardening...in short, creating.  Which I kind of like because if faced with a nauseatingly difficult lace knitting project or folding the laundry, I'll take the lace knitting over the laundry any day (I can always fish clean knickers out of the basket if necessary; the lace won't knit itself, haha).

She creates a lot in her life - yummy cakes, colorful quilts, lush garden plots, flashy socks.  She writes a great deal about the inspiration for her crafts, from books to paintings (the book shows some great scenes of knitting circles), movies to toenail polish, and garden colors translated into a quilt. Brocket also takes beautiful pictures of all the things she loves to create, making me quite jealous because my pictures never come out the way I think they will. The book is worth the pictures alone - if you don't believe me check out her blog; the post about lettuces is a prime example.  She also writes wonderfully about her children and husband who like to help her with her creative endeavors and have learned from her example.

I think a considerable amount of her creativity comes from having the time to observe and plan (although, I think one could make the argument that she has "made" time for herself since she does have kiddos to care for). If I had her time - instead of squeezing knitting and sewing in along side vaccuuming the cat fur out of the furnishings when I get home from working 60+ hours per week - who knows what I'd create. I had a lot of fun reading this book - all the entries and pictures are a testament to finding activities you love to do and sharing that love with others.

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2010

Knitting outside today was a wash.  Literally.  We had rain all morning meaning the event at the Farmer's Market (even though sheltering in the parking ramp) was not in my future.

So I started my KIP day at Bruegger's with a bagel sandwich and a cast-on.  I decided to set aside my blue sweater (which sheds everywhere) for a more summer-y project.  Hence, Icarus (Miriam Felton's "Icarus Shawl" from The Best of Interweave Knits).  I have some super-pretty blue "Silky Alpaca Lace" from Classic Elite Yarns.  Yay!

Then I went to The Knitting Shoppe (of course, since knitting in public was kind of a bust) intending to get some stitch markers then leave...but I was captured by sock yarn.  Again. 

Schaeffer Yarns' "Anne" in colorways "Gloria Steinem"

and "Elizabeth Zimmerman".  Then I stayed to knit and chat with some of the other ladies (and spoil Milo, a therapy-pug-in-training who was visiting the shop with his human).

Then I went to work where I KIP'd in the breakroom.  And now I'm home.  Don't forget to KIP all week!