I lost two friends this month. Not a very auspicious start to the year, and certainly not something I ever anticipated happening, at least not right now, in this way. Let me tell you a little about them. When you socialize on a site like Facebook, you quickly see the phenomenon that I call the “internet interpropagation of friends.” A…
Category: Blog
Pattern for an amazing weekend: VK Live recap
VK Live: New York 2014 This action-packed weekend features a combination of passionate knitters; knowledgeable instructors and lecturers; and a marketplace full of gorgeous products, all set against the exciting backdrop of one of the best cities in the world. Attend once, and you’ll want to go back time and time again! Skill level: Suitable for all skill levels,…
Magazine preview: Noro Fall/Winter 2013
It’s always fun to pick up a new knitting magazine–and it’s especially a kick for me when I know I’ve got a pattern published in the magazine. (It never gets old, seeing my name and design in print…) I was recently sent a copy of Noro Magazine Fall/Winter 2013, so I figured I’d give you a quick preview of the…
No-Bull Book Review: Green Gables Knits, by Joanna Johnson
Although I was a voracious reader as a child, and thought I’d read just about every children’s classic book that our library had, I never stumbled across Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This shocks me, as the charming story of orphan Anne Shirley, who is sent to live with an older couple on Prince Edward Island, is…
Happy new year!
The past few weeks have been even busier than I anticipated. We are (I hope) nearing the end of the unplanned home reno project. Christmas is over. Apart from other deadlines that are imminent, I’ve been trying to get a book manuscript in. Things are going very well, but I always am a bit too optimistic when it comes to…
Catching up
It’s always chaotic at my house, but it’s been especially crazy here lately. Right after I returned from Rhinebeck, a sewer pipe got blocked, spewing filthy water all over our ground floor. We had to rip up flooring and do lots of cleaning to avoid mildew. Feh. This is what the family room looks like now: We’re hoping the floor…
A new generation
My oldest rediscovered knitting this summer, and it’s been wonderful to watch him produce some beautiful handcrafted items almost effortlessly. Before school started, he and his friend (you may recognize her as one of my gorgeous Black Bunny Fibers pattern models) made a video about learning to knit hats, featuring the Schachenmayr yarns used for the My Mountain promotion. Although…
No-Bull Book Review: The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook, by Melissa Leapman
I have a pal in the industry who, when she isn’t sure what the right or best thing is to do, asks herself “What would Melissa Leapman do?” I know exactly what my pal means, because my admiration for Melissa is sky-high. She is such a class act; incredibly productive but everything she produces is wonderful (I wish I could…
Book Look: Hitch, edited by Stephannie Tallent
An ordinary knitter wakes up one morning. It’s not a special day; just a typical get-dressed-and-head-out-to-work day. She walks outside and sees a cluster of black birds hovering overhead in a frenzy, their raucous caws sending chills up her spine. She pulls her Bodega Bay Stole closer, shaken by the fact that the bird motifs of her shawl so closely…