August 2024 Handwork - Finished

New-this-month projects:

Indigo Hexie Flower Quilt

23 appliqued onto indigo

4 pinned on, ready to applique

10 flowers ready for pinning

42 hexies complete

(total flowers:  37, total hexies: 299)

Ongoing projects:

Cotton Dishcloths

knit 6 fairly good-sized dishcloths in Calfifornia, need to sew in ends.

Grey Hexie Quilt

20 rows (x28) all sewn together = 560

1 row ready to add = 28

36 triples, 19 doubles, 32 single hexies waiting

766 hexies total

Completed Projects:  

None in August, but plenty of headway on hexie projects!

I've got to make this

Gorgeous shawl.  Made from bits and pieces of really nice worsted weight wool yarns.  Originally, the owner of "Wool Workshop" in Roanoke, Va., wound big balls of 1/5 and 14 skeins of yarn, connecting each with "magic knot." She sold these to make the shawl, you'd need several of her big balls.  I think she said 10 different yarns on each ball.  

Using the pattern Boneyard Shawl" by Stephen West, free on Ravelry.  The pattern calls for fingering/DK weight, but this was done in worsted.

Wool Workshop

2130 Colonial Ave.

Roanoke, VA 24015

Knitting, Crocheting, and Quilting Patterns

Patterns:

Amigurumi Octopus

Linen Stitch Dishcloth

Bathroom Mat using leftover yarn tied together

Other Stuff:

Knitting Book Reviews

Picture Books About Knitting and/or Yarn

Yarn Bombing

2020 UFOs - If Only!

Okay, it's been a super tough year, mentally and physically, and I've been depressed.  Granted, I've read 130 books vs. 80 or so in the previous years, but laying in my bed THINKING about all my wonderful projects is not optimal.  I've got to get off my duff -- and I know I'll be in a better frame of mind working in my sewing room.

First, I've got to clean and organize.

Then I have to re-evaluate.  I've got so many more projects stated in the last year, so I have to pull everything out and take a gander.

Here's my new list of projects without looking (I know this will change in the next few days):

QUILTING

1.  Kaffe Fassett quilt for Ashley

2.  Cacophony quilt

3.  Dede's picnic quilt

4.  Pink rag quilt for Charley

5.  Josh & Julie's wedding quilt

6.  My yellow rag quilt

7.  Cowboy book wall hanging

8.  Prairie point pillow

9.  Rainbow wrap stole

10.  Kokopelli bag

11.  Blue Mystery quilt

12.  Suzy's window-style wall hanging

13.  Houses Mosaic

14.  Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

Jelly Roll rug

KNITTING

1.  Pink entrelac scarf

2.  Lt. grn/blue neckwarmer

3.  Bright mustard scarf

4.  Linen-stitch scarf

5.  Beige sweater

6.  4-color (yellow/orange/red) shawl

7.  Fingerless mitts - 2018 started

8.  Knitter's Day Out diamond scarf

9.  Fingerless Mitts - 2019 Knitters' Day Out class

10.  Soft, ribbed Catarina scarf

STITCHING

1.  Crazy Quilt wall hanging

2.  White Mittens centerpiece

3.  Halloween woolie piece

4.  Santa (half Moon Handwerks) woolie piece

5.  Molly Pitcher cross stitch

6.  My first Sashiko project

ONGOING HEXIES

Status on 1/1/20

Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

Christmas Hexie Quilt

Third Row Hexie Quilt

B & W Hexie Quilt

Orphan Gray Hexie Quilt

Big Hexie Scrap Quilt

First Finished Project of 2019

Lisa's Baby Blanket and Receiving Blankets
YeeHa!  Ready to send to Portland tomorrow!
Link to Ravelry.

UFO Challenges

APQ UFO Challenge found here.
And my RAVELRY page is here.

As of 1/1/19 I have three different UFO themes:

Quilting - Yarn - Stitching

Can I finish them all in 2019?

QUILTING

1.  Cacophony quilt

2.  Cowboy boot wall hanging

3.  Charley's pink rag quilt  This is January's challenge

4.  Ella's 5-inch squares

5.  My yellow-backed I-Spy rag quilt

6.  Shower curtain

7.  Rainbow wrap/stole

8.  Prairie Point pillow

9.  Dede's picnic tablecloth

10.  Blue Mystery Quilt

11.  Josh & Julie quilt

12.  Kokopelli bag

 EXTRA:  Suzi's Window-style wall hanging

                  Crazy Quilt wall hanging

YARN

1.  Pink entrelac scarf

2.  Lt. grn/blue neckwarmer

3.  Bright mustard scarf

4.  Linen-stitch scarf

5.  Beige sweater

6.  4-color (yellow/orange/red) shawl

7.  Fingerless mitts

8.  Knitter's Day Out diamond scarf

9.  Freeport Not-Quite-a-Celebrity Scarf

10.  Soft, ribbed Catarina scarf

STITCHING

1.  Molly Pitcher cross stitch

2.  My first Sashiko

3.  Woolie FROSTY MITTENS kit

4.  Golden Gate  Bridge

PICTURE BOOK - Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

Illustrated by Jon Klassen
A Caldecott Honor Book

2012 Balzer & Bray

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.08 - 13,707 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers a darkish sage green

1^st line/s:  "On a cold afternoon, in a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color."

My comments:  Start with a great story....about yarn! ....and knitting! ... and doing for others! ... add great illustrations ... make the protagonist a YARNBOMBER! ... and you have one happy knitter/reader/picture book enthusiast .... me!    I've read this over and over, but this is the first time I've written about it.  I think I'll take it to my "stitcher's group" next week and read it aloud to them.  Good idea, huh?

Goodreads:  This looks like an ordinary box full of ordinary yarn.

But it turns out it isn't.

PICTURE BOOK - The Pink Hat by Andrew Joyner

Illustrated by the author

2018, Random House

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.56 - 151 ratings

My rating: 5

Endpapers: Bright Pink

Illustrations: Black & white except for the pink hat

1^st line/s:  "First, there wasn't a hat....
                     Then there was."

My comments:  Why do people's expectations divert their liking for a book?  This is a subtle story, not the in-you-race-story with lots of political information that many reviewers wanted.  The message is there, it's quiet, and it's perfect for today's kids as well as today's young women.  It was fun to see where the story was going.  Let it BE what it IS, sit back and enjoy.  This is a fantastic book.  Another will be written to satisfy those who want more political references!

Goodreads:  Celebrate the 2017 Women's March with this charming and empowering picture book about a pink hat and the budding feminist who finds it.
          Here is a clever story that follows the journey of a pink hat that is swiped out of a knitting basket by a pesky kitten, blown into a tree by a strong wind, and used as a cozy blanket for a new baby, then finally makes its way onto the head of a young girl marching for women's equality. 
          Inspired by the 5 million people (many of them children) in 82 countries who participated in the 2017 Women's March, Andrew Joyner has given us a book that celebrates girls and women and equal rights for all! 
          With themes of empathy, equality, and solidarity, The Pink Hat is a timeless and timely story that will empower readers and promote strength in the diverse and active feminist community.

PICTURE BOOK - A Hat for Mrs. Goldman by Michelle Edwards

A Story About Knitting and Love
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

2016, Schwartz & Wade Books

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.34 - 386 ratings

My rating:  5 stars

Endpapers:  Front:  vague knit stitches  Back:  the same vague knit stitches plus pompoms!

Hat AND PomPom instructins follow the story...and they're really easy!

1^st line/s:  "When Sophia was a tiny baby, Mrs. Goldman next door knit her a tiny baby hat to keep her warm."

My comments:  Okay, I love this book.  LOVE it!  Mrs. Goldman knits hats for everyone she knows, many, many hats.  Sophia tries to knit, but discovers she'd rather make pomp poms for Mrs. Goldman's hats.  She's really good at that, and Mrs. Goldman assures her that it's a mitzvah.  Okay, I'm sold.  Knitting.  Mitzvahs. Hooray!  You could end right there and I'd be happy. But then Sophia discovers that Mrs. Goldman has given her own hat away, and their long winter walks are cold and blow Mrs. Goldman's hair everywhere.  Sophia comes up with a plan....and problem-solves through issues she encounters until the story reaches a very satisfying conclusion.  Bravo!

Goodreads:  Here’s a heartwarming winter picture book that’s sure to appeal to families who love knitting. 
          Mrs. Goldman always knits hats for everyone in the neighborhood, and Sophia, who thinks knitting is too hard, helps by making the pom-poms. But now winter is here, and Mrs. Goldman herself doesn’t have a hat—she’s too busy making hats for everyone else! It’s up to Sophia to buckle down and knit a hat for Mrs. Goldman. But try as Sophia might, the hat turns out lumpy, the stitches aren’t even, and there are holes where there shouldn’t be holes. Sophia is devastated until she gets an idea that will make Mrs. Goldman’s hat the most wonderful of all. Readers both young and old will relate to Sophia’s frustrations, as well as her delight in making something special for someone she loves.

PICTURE BOOK - Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story by Deborah Hopkinson

Illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

2013

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.80

My rating: 3.5

Endpaper: five WWI era photos of children - mostly boys - knitting

Illustrations: a little too Tin-Tinny for my tastes....

1^st line/s: "When Pop went to be a soldier, I wanted to go with him."

My comments:  I'm drawn to picture book about knitting and quilting, and this historical fiction - about World War I - is a good one!  I'm not drawn to these illustrations, though (apologies to Mr. Guarnaccia).  Yes, boys can knit, too!  Check out:  Knitting for Charity at knittingforcharity.org!

Goodreads:  Mikey’s dad has left home to fight overseas during World War I, and Mikey wants to do something BIG to help. When his teacher suggests that the class participate in a knitting bee in Central Park to knit clothing for the troops, Mikey and his friends roll their eyes—knitting is for girls! But when the girls turn it into a competition, the boys just have to meet the challenge.
                                  Based on a real “Knit-In” event at Central Park in 1918, Knit Your Bit shows readers that making a lasting contribution is as easy as trying something new! 

Knitting Yarns - edited by Ann Hood

Writers on Knitting
Yee Ha!  I'm reading nonfiction!
This ones Dewey Decimal number is 746.432K749
I borrowed it from TPPL
294 pgs.
2014 WW Norton & Company
Goodreads rating:  3.73
My rating:

(I've decided to add this book to my blog, even though I'm in the midst of reading it.  I'll do this for any/all short story/essay collections, or I'll never get some of them posted!)

Intro by Ann Hood, the editor (5 pgs.)
She began knitting in 2002 to help lessen the grief she bore after losing her 5-year-old daughter to a strep virus.She drives 40 miles from Providence once a week to Sakonett Purls in Tiverton, RI.

The Pretend Knitter by Elizabeth Berg (6 pgs.)
"Can someone who loves everything about knitting -- the yarn, the tools of the trade, the knitted projects -- actually learn to knit?"
     Elizabeth Berg loves to knit; she loves all the physical and "spiritual" things that go along with it. She tells of knitting a long, long, l o n g garter stitch scarf for her college roommate.  She thought if she made it longer, the dropped stitches wouldn't be so noticeable!

The Perfect Gift by Lan Samantha Chang (7 pgs.)
"Is it possible that we need and like to knit so badly that we don't really care if the recipients of our knitted goods find them aesthetically pleasing or even bearable?"
     Lan Samantha Chang compares knitting a gift to preparing a meal...and then discovering, after everyone sits down with great anticipation to enjoy it, that it doesn't taste very good...at all.  She tells of people giving gifts to her mother, who frequently didn't like or care for them and put them aside, never to look at again.  And she tells of the one perfect sweater that she spent forever knitting, ripping, reknitting, that her mother absolutely loved.

Blood, Root, Knit, Purl by Andre Dubus III (12 pgs.)
"Knitting becomes an unexpected avenue to a Christmas gift for his aunt, and a way to knit his relationship with his young, rich girlfriend"
     What lovely writing!  Andre Dubus tells of his upbringing, living with his divorced mother and three siblings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire  mill towns in the 70's.  And he tells of the re-connection with his mother's family in Louisiana.  He tells of the somewhat strained relationship he has with his then-girlfriend in their tiny (8 x 13 - truly?) NYC apartment/room and how she taught him to knit so he could make a scarf for his aunt for Christmas.  Super memoir.

Projects - Using Up Leftover Yarns

     I'm trying to greatly reduce my yarn collection - it takes up one complete wall in my junk room.  I filled one huge garbage back with stuff that I knew I'd never use and gave it to Tucscon Yarn Shop during their  Dollar a Pound in March.  But I still had lots and lots of great  yarn left; single balls, big and little, of all sorts of yarn - specialty yarn, fuzzy yarn, thin yarn, fat yarn.  What should I do with it all?
     I came up with a brainstorm that has really worked for me, and for my fourth graders who love love love to work with their hands. So many kids try to learn to crochet, but their fine motor skills and low frustration levels keep them from persevering until they've learned it.  However, I've discovered through the years that the kids can learn to chain.  And chain.  And chain some more.  But I've never come up with a decent way of USING those miles of chains.  Until this year.
   

     Rugs.  We make rugs.  We've completed four rugs - bathroom rugs - for Ronald McDonald House.  First I tie pieces of yarn together - pieces that range in length from 12 inches to 12 yards.  I tie them with a triple knot, leaving about a 1-inch end.  We don't do anything with those ends, they stick out and look just fine (thank goodness).  If the yarn is thinner than worsted, I add something to it.....another skinny yarn, crochet cotton, even thick threads.  It doesn't really matter, that's the great thing about these rugs.
     Then the kids take the balls of yarn I've wound and chain using an H hook.  Some of them chain really (REALLY) tightly.  Some chain very loosely.  Some learn to chain to gauge!  It doesn't matter, it all works!
     And what's the final step?  It's fast and easy, and the perfect thing for me to do during recess duty or staff meetings.  I knit the rugs using the crocheted chain and a size 19 circular knitting needle.  The knit up fast.  They are ultra-soft and pretty darn cool to look at.  We've even had requests to sell them!
     Some are totally multi-colored, some are cut bits and pieces from just three or four skeins. Some are all done in a coordinating colorway.  I'm currently knitting my 10th rug and am getting low on yarn (I never thought that would happen!)  But parents are so happy to see their kids crocheting, that they've been happily donating more yarn.
     I'll take some photos on Monday of some of the kids crocheting and add them to this blog.  Yee ha, what fun!

5. Mason Dixon Knitting - Kay Gardiner & Ann Shayne

The Curious Knitter's Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions Questions, Answers, Jokes and Pictures
(Created for Knitters everywhere who share the give 'em hell spirit of just picking up the needles and making stuff) - Now who can resist THAT?

This is #2 in a series - the second is called Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines

(read on my phone through Kindle) (audio read by…)

2006 Potter Craft (Random House) $22.99

158 pgs.

Written for anyone who has even a little inkling about knitting for wanting to...

Finished for the second time on 1/25/2014 - and scanned frequently

Genre: NonFiction: Knitting/Handwork

Goodreads Rating: 3.97

My Rating: 5/Love this book

Acquired years ago at Tucson Yarn Co.

My comments on Goodreads:  I love this book.  It's the second time I've read it.  It's inspiring, clever, fun and gets my creative juices soaring!  It's time for me to start a log cabin afghan.  Yup, gonna go pick out the yarn and needles right now.....

I've probably made over 100 sets of dish cloths and "scrubbies" over the past year.  Those dish cloths were inspired by my first reading of this book a couple of years ago.  It's got great patterns, true.  But the insight and information (including about knitting for charity) is extremely extra-enjoyable.

Goodreads Review:  Mason-Dixon Knitting authors comfort, inspire, amuse, and brighten the life of the lucky reader who steps into their world. This book features stories, patterns, advice, opinions, questions, answers, jokes, pictures, and more!

Franklin Habit - Knitter, Writer, Humorist

I have now been introduced to a writer, knitter, designer, and humorist that I've, somehow, previously missed. His name is Franklin Habit, and he's a pure delight!  His blog, The Panopticon, is widely read, and he teaches knitting classes all over the country. His blog is a blast to read - and he's interested in "stuff" that I would never have even thought about!  Three cheers!

And how did I discover him?  Reading his article "It's a Purl, It's a Chain, It's..." in the Lion weekly newsletter.  It was a fluke that I even scrolled down that far on the page.  Guess it was meant to be!

It’s A Purl, It’s a Chain, It’s…

January 7th, 2014 by Franklin Habit

     I was sitting in an airport, waiting for the flight to a teaching engagement, winding yarn. Travel with a swift being sadly impractical, I was making do with the back of an empty chair. Without warning, a screeching ninny plunged into view and grabbed at the unwound skein.

     “So cute!” she screamed, jangling a fistful of wool in one painted claw. “Are you, like, doing some crochet or something?”

     “That was the plan,” I said.

     But it was too late. The skein had become a tangle so dense not even light could escape from it.

     Working out occasional small snarls is part of knitting. There’s no avoiding it. But really big messes like this? Forget it. I’ve always taken them as a sign that I wasn’t supposed to knit with that yarn, anyway.

     When I got to the guild I mentioned what had happened and displayed the ruined skein.

     “It was so pretty, too,” I said. “But now it’s dead.”

     “No it’s not,” said the Chief Guild Lady. “Somebody get Eileen.”

     There was a general chorus of agreement: Eileen must be got.

     There’s was nothing in Eileen’s physical appearance that would have made you look at her twice. She was nice-looking. Pleasant. Neatly dressed. Polite. But Eileen had a special talent.

     “Give it to me,” she said. I handed her the tangle.

     Ten minutes later, she handed back the yarn–not only free of snarls but wound neatly into a ball.

I was gobsmacked.

     “How did you–?”

     “I’m just good at it,” said Eileen, smiling shyly. And she melted back into the crowd.

     I think Eileen was selling herself a little short. That had been no run-of-the-mill jumble; you could have lost a pack of hounds in it. No, Eileen wasn’t merely “good at” untangling yarn. She had a super-power.

     Everybody in the guild knew it. They all laid their hopeless cases at her feet, trusting that in short order she would have set matters to rights. To be a proper superhero, all she needed was a cape, a mask, and a lair.

     The more of you I meet, the more I firmly believe that every needleworker is a bit of a superhero. It’s a rare practitioner of the yarn arts who doesn’t possess a knack for something that reduces most others to tears. It may not enable him to leap a tall building in a single bound, but it may get him unscathed through a chart more riddled with hazards than a minefield. It may not stop a plot to destroy the planet, but it may stop an otherwise law-abiding knitter from stabbing random passersby with an angry needle.

     Every villainous tangle in Gotham has a sworn enemy–and she or he may well be sitting in the chair next to you. More likely, she or he is sitting in your chair right now.

     What, I would very much like to know, is your superpower?

—–
Writer, illustrator, and photographer Franklin Habit is the author of It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons (Interweave Press, 2008–now in its third printing) and proprietor of The Panopticon (the-panopticon.blogspot.com), one of the most popular knitting blogs on Internet. On an average day, upwards of 2,500 readers worldwide drop in for a mix of essays, cartoons, and the continuing adventures of Dolores the Sheep.

     Franklin’s other publishing experience in the fiber world includes contributions to Vogue Knitting, Yarn Market News, Interweave Knits, Interweave Crochet, PieceWork, Cast On: A Podcast for Knitters, Twist Collective, and a regular column on historic knitting patterns for Knitty.com.

     These days, Franklin knits and spins in Chicago, Illinois, sharing a small city apartment with an Ashford spinning wheel and colony of sock yarn that multiplies alarmingly whenever his back is turned.

Bay Area Knit Shop Hop August 2011

OOOO-EEEEE, What fun.  Three days of leisurely browsing in a number of yarn shops in the Santa Rosa/Sebastapol and South Bay areas of northern(ish) California.  Beautiful weather, really nice people, the best sidekick ever, and wonderful privately-owned yarn shops.

First stop: 
Balls and Yarns
899 Gravenstein Hwy South
Sepastopol, CA 95472
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  4

There was a cozy sitting/ knitting area and the owner/ proprietor was super friendly, helpful, and encourag- ing.  There was some frilly black yarn that I didn't get and now wish I had.  I did get some really cool slippery lime & cranberry rayon ribbon yarn (Gelato made by Fiesta Yarns) to make a long, horizontally-knit scarf.  Wonderful shop.  Will happily return.


The next stop, also in Sebastopol was an unfriendly, unforgettable shop, so I won't even mention it here.

Shop #3:  Cast Away
Santa Rosa, CA
Service & Friendliness: 4
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  4

On a quiet, tree-lined main street sits this inviting yarn shop with a seafaring decor.  The windows have white paper-mache birds wearing brightly knit scarves, and as you enter the shop you're greeted by an old wooden dinghy heaped with colorful yarn.  There was lots to drool over and lots of beautiful project ideas.  I tried on a beautiful, draping scarf that I would have never picked for myself in a zillion years...and it looked really, really good on me.  The pattern was designed by one of the employees, Ramona Gaynor, so I splurged and bought not only the pattern ("Ruffle Scarf"), but the yarn to go with it, Rowan's "Kidsilk Haze" in a deep aqua color.  What a beautiful sheen it has!

Next stop,
Knitterly
#1 Fourth St.
Petaluma, CA 94952
Service & Friendliness: 4.5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 5

I've been here before, it's a really special shop.  It's on a great side street with a tree-lined parking lot across from it.  The store is older, dark wood, comfy sofa, huge oak table to knit at.  Great books and patterns....and they even sell stuff that comes in the packages separately.  In other words, if you want one stitch holder instead of the 20-in-a-package, it's yours!  Now that's customer service!

She had samples of an "Improv Scarf", where you hold two yarns together, gartering and putting in a couple of lacy/eyelet stitches in any way that you desire to create a pattern.  I loved it....so of course I went hog wild and bought enough yarn for three scarves!  One of the yarns was Koigu KPPPM by Koigu Wool Designs.  It's 100% Merino Wool.  I got a cranberry with touches of orange, an aqua/green with touches of orange, and a beige with touches of aqua and pink.  Debbie Bliss' "Angel" Super Kid Mohair & Silk yarn is the second yarn in each sweater.  Delightful, huh?

I also bought some Denim Blue Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn to felt myself a belt -  I'm tired of my capris falling down after I've worn them for a couple of hours.  This was her suggestion.  She's says that after it's felted you can even cut it!  Sounds like the felting shrinks it about in half....can't wait to get this one done!

The next morning we headed west from Novato to
Black Mountain Weavers
in Point Reyes, CA
11245 Main Street
Point Reyes Station, California   94956

Although they have a small amount of gorgeous hand-dyed and locally spun yarns, needles, and pattern books, this is a coop of knit and fiber artists, who show and sell their crafts.  It was ultra-inspiring, the creativity, the elegance, the, the, the.....glory! ! of the beautiful works in this shop.  I wish I'd taken some photos of some of the items.  It was a very small shop, and the woman who was holding down the fort was just lovely.

(We ate lunch just down the street at  the Station House Cafe --  I'd LOVE to go back there, mmmmm.) and also did a bit of Christmas shopping next door in ,which carries handmade goods from all over the world...for incredibly reasonable (inexpensive) prices!

Yarn Bombing!  I've finally seen it with my own eyes!  In the middle of Point Reyes Station, on Main Street!  I've GOT TO DO THIS MYSELF! ! !

After leaving Point Reyes, we headed to south Marin Country and
Bluebird Yarn & Fiber Crafts
328A Pine Street
Sausalito, CA  94965
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  4
Knit Samples:  5

What a darling shop!  It's just off the main street and a little half-door greets you, allowing the clean ocean air to flow in with you.  The shop has a little entry way with displays of  yarn and samples to greet  you, then goes quite a ways back.  There are overstuffed chairs to sit in while reading the pattern books, and dark shelves filled with all sorts of yarns.  The lovely girl working today, Chiaki, was helpful and so very nice.  She had designed the felted clutch pattern that I couldn't leave without.    She has her own website, chiakiknit.com. Both Dede and I bought yarns to make a beautiful cowl that was on display, it looked terrific on both of us. (We both started on the knitting of it that night -- Maggi's Mist Slub (100% Viscose) was a very frustrating yarn to work with.  The colors Dede chose....blues....made a beautiful cowl.  I'm not so crazy about mine, but I couldn't get the second yarn with a sparkle in it, like Dede did, so mine was without sparkle and is probably why I like it less than hers.  



 Still in Marin County, we headed a little north to
Atelier Marin
217 San Anselmo Ave.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  5

 Dede's taken lots of classes here, and I've been here before, too.  The gal that owns and runs the store has terrific taste and has set up the quite-large shop in a very appealing way, putting all the baby yarns, fingering yarns, sport-weight yarns, aran-weight yarns, worsted, bulky, chunky...all together with their like kinds along the perimeter of the room.  In the middle are samples, yarn displays, needle racks, chairs, and a big table in the front.  Wonderful shop (she has one in San Francisco, too, although the floor space is smaller, the shop is crammed with yarns of every type and variety...been there before, too.)  I didn't buy anything at Atelier today.

3. Hereville - Barry Deutsch

How Mirka Got Her Sword
A graphic novel
Amulet Books, 2010
HC $15.95
For: Middle Grades
142 pgs.
Rating: 5

Now here’s a winner. The first graphic novel I’ve really enjoyed…enjoyed enough to finish, too! Hereville is a fairy tale, set solidly in an Orthodox Jewish community somewhere in contemporary America. However, it could have been set just about anywhere. It is isolated and totally Orthodox. Residents speak Yiddish and Hebrew, words are sprinkled thorough the story. The translations are thoughtfully stuck onto the bottom of the page, but most of the text is in English.

Clever. Funny. Fun. And even educational, when it comes to learning about Orthodox Judaism. I can’t even begin to go into the plot, which is multi-layered. The protagonist, Mirka, is one of nine children in a blended family. She respects and cares about her stepmother, Fruma, who is wise and my favorite character in the book. Mirka has studied monsters, she keeps a hidden book about them under her mattress. It his her great desire to become a dragon slayer. She has a younger brother, Zindel, who spends much time with her, and a stepsister, Rochel, who seems wise beyond her years.

The characters, including a huge talking pig, a witch that lives in a nearby house just discovered, and a knitting troll are wonderful. Fresh, believable, fun, and funny. Adventurous, animated, well-illustrated, clear…a wonderful book!

Barry Deutsch has a Hereville BLOG that he writes almost every day. It’s fun.

Stephen Frug has a blog that reviews Hereville beautifully and thoroughly. So does the Bob Hayes Online blog. So I'd suggest reading one (or both) of those for more in-depth information about the plot.

The Mitten Tree - Candace Christiansen

Illustrated by Elaine Greenstein Fulcrum Publishing; Golden, CO, 1997, 2009 Paper $7.95 32 pages Rating: 4 "Old Sarah" (okay, let's stop right now and say I hate that that's her name) watches the neighborhood children play. She misses the time when her own children were young. One day she notices a boy standing to the side, watching the kids make a snowman. His hands are shoved in his pockets and she realizes that he has no mittens to wear. Sarah hunts through her house for her old supply of leftover yarn and begins knitting a pair of mittens. She works all night and then hangs them on a tree near the school bus stop for the boy to find....which he does. She begins to knit more and more mittens for the neighborhood kids, leaving them anonomously hanging on a big decidious tree (thus: the mitten tree). And when she runs out of yarn , a big basket of yarn appears at her door. No one's paid any attention to her, so the book ends with this small, wonderful, mystery. Who's been watching her and who cares enough to do this? Cool book. I just bought five copies and I've been knitting mittens like crazy for the last couple of days. I've also found a fleece mitten pattern that looks pretty easy, and fleece is pretty inexpensive. So as my list of new nieces and nephews begins to add up, I'm happily creating this year's Christmas present for all of them - a book, and two very different pairs of mittens! My favorite Christmas story when I was a kid was "Granny Glittens and her Amazing Mittens." Maybe I'll find a copy of the story and include it. I really loved that story! I'm not even sure why.

65. Yarn Bombing - Mandy Moore & Leanne Prain

The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti
Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, 2009
paper, $19.95
(TPPL 746.43 M7851y)
230 pages

I stumbled across this book last Sunday as I wandered through the Valdez/Main Library in downtown Tucson. I don't go there much, you have to park underneath in this huge echoing parking garage. But I do love, on an occasional Sunday, to drive up and down the uncrowded-Sunday-downtown-Tucson streets, not worrying if you make a wrong turn, and watching the oneway signs with a little more ease since it's not as busy as other times.

That being said, this book fit perfectly with my mood. And I've taken all week to read through it and check it out. This is all new to me. And newS to me. I want to see this myself! How could I possible have been missing it? I KNOW I would notice knit or crocheted pieces decorating a lamp pole, or car antenna, or chain-link fence. And sure, I've never been to Sweden (where it appears a lot of this takes place), but I have been all over the U.S., where it looks like it's been happening, too. I think it's time for me to begin a Tucson trend.....

What is yarn bombing? What is crochet and knit graffiti? Just what it sounds like! The easiest way to explain is to quote directly from the book:

On city street corners all over the world, yarn graffiti artists snake their work around telephone poles, wrap it through barbed wire, and flip cozies onto car antennas. Originally started in Houston, Texas by a crew named Knitta Please (a.k.a. Knitta), there is now an international guerrilla knitting movement embraced by artists of all ages and nationalities. Knit and crochet graffiti has been seen in countries from Canada to Chile to China. This book has been written to inspire you to take up the needles (or hooks) and join us in world yarn domination!

Merging the disciplines of installation art, needlework, and street art, yarn bombing takes many forms. It generally involves the act of attaching a handmade item to a street fixture or leaving it in the landscape; however, this varies from artist to artist. Yarn graffiti can be aw complex as a sweater that has been created to cover a statue or as simple as a crocheted rectangle wrapped around a lamp post. Some artists tag items as tiny as door handles, others create works large enough to cover a public monument.

Yarn Bombing blog (written by the authors of this book).
An austratlian fiber artists "bombs" a VW bug!
The Knitted Mile - installed in Dallas, Texas this very weekend, 9/25 & 26, I think....

14. Knitting for Peace - Betty Christiansen

Making the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time
Photographs by Kiriko Shirobayashi
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006
$19.95
for: Adults (Well, it could be for kids and young adults, too, but it's written primarily for adults.)

What an interesting book! I've actually let my fiction reading go for a couple of days so that I could read this NON-FICTION from cover to cover. Me....non-fiction! A miracle. But I've been knitting and knitting and knitting lately, and this book really called out to me.

What a wonderful book. It tells of all sorts of organizations, big and small, that knit (or crochet) for charity. Helping make the world a better place. One person CAN make a difference. Yup. There are background stories behind all the projects, how they got started, how one person was affected by another and created a mission that grew. It includes simple patterns, website information, photos, and interesting stories. I enjoyed this book immensely.

I wondered if in the four years since this was published if any of the organizations have gone belly-up. I did an internet search and found all of them seem to be still flourishing - at least the ones I looked at. I also found these:

The Daily Knitter is a website that gives a huge list of charities to knit for. (It even features a list of yarn shops all over the country - something I look for before some of my travels!)

Charities of interest to me:

The Mother Bear Project, knitting bears for children in South Africa, touched me. Many of these kids are homeless or suffer from HIV/AIDS themselves or in their families. For some, this bear is the only toy they own. All kids should have toys! And all it takes is a little leftover yarn...

The Snuggles Project provides cats and dogs in shelters with small blankets to sleep on when they're family-less and sleeping on a concrete floor in a cage. You can use all sorts of leftover yarn and do the simplest pattern - and even sport a mistake or two - and these recipients won't care! For some reason, this charity really appeals to me - and I wouldn't even call myself an animal lover. Okay, okay, I do like cats a lot.....

afghans for Afghans, run by the American Friends Service in San Francisco, sends WOOL hats, mittens, socks, sweaters, and afghans to poor kids in Afghanistan. The suffering the people, especially the women and girls, of that country have had to endure. The website includes a great deal of information about Afghanistan, as well as patterns and ideas.

Peace Fleece, a farm in Maine, gets wool from Russia and blends it with American wool to sell at a very reasonable price to American consumers. They also have started a wool blending/sharing program between Israel and Palestine! Their colors are terrific, and patterns are easy and great -looking. They even sell handmade Russian knitting needles! What a great concept.

Then I found HAP (The Handmade Afghans Project). This group collect hand knit or crocheted 6" x 9" squares that are then sewn together into a twin-size afghans. These are sent to wounded US military personal in several Army and Air Force medical centers around the country. Each afghan contains 49 different squares, knit or crocheted by 49 different people . It's a wonderful idea, and another great way to use leftover yarn and make a small project for charity. However, they may not be accepting any rectangles right now, I've emailed them asking. (Note: I got a lovely reply...they have 1800 knitters and cannot deal with a larger amount. Maybe it's time to start a HAP work arena on the west coast?)

The Surprise - Sylvia Van Ommen

Front Street/Boyds Mill Press

2007, originally Pub. in the Netherlands, 2003

28 p.

Rating: 4.5

Endpapers: Shelves of colored bottles (dyes)

A wordless delight - especially for a knitter. Sheep weighs himself (can't tell which gender, so I'll go with male), then hops on his moped and heads to the dye shop where he buys a bottle of red dye. At home he covers, rinses, dries, his wool, then shaves it all off. Hopping back on his moped he takes it to a fancy pink poodle who spins it into yarn. At home, he knits and knits and knits, then wraps. Again on his mjoped he zooms off to give a very long-necked sweater to his friend Giraffe, who rewards Sheep with a kiss on the cheek. Very sweet story. And a great one to write!

Illustrations are simple, very bright, and totally enjoyable.