Noble Resolve
Having successfully sent of every single one of the preordered books (more than a week ahead of the deadline, thank you very much!), and given the unseasonably awesome weather, a little trip to the Great Lakes Fiber Show seemed to be in order this weekend. This has become something of a tradition. We went in 2012, 2010 (no blog entry, shameful I tell you, shameful), and 2009. Once again, I exercised uncharacteristic restraint. I swear I'm getting pickier about yarn by the day. I'm able to resist most yarn, no matter how tempting. It's only the really good stuff that still [...]
Easier than Expected
Well, that went even better than expected. The postman took all those packages (I harbored doubts...I imagined him taking one a day for the next few years or something equally dreadful). But no, they all went! I'll be putting out more packages today and Friday, and then they'll all be shipped! And, because someone will come say 'but I didn't know!' on Saturday and I'll feel terribly guilty, here is the very last reminder. Preorders end tomorrow. Tomorrow morning. As soon as I set the last package on the porch and have a cup of tea, I'll come up here [...]
One, Two, Three
Step 1: addresses and postage on labels Step 2: labels on envelopes Step 3: things in envelopes, envelopes sealed Step 4: envelopes on the porch for the postman (I made an appointment...after last year's incident, I vowed we'd be doing it from home this year) Step 5: feel just the tiniest bit bad for the post man Rinse and repeat. Another day or two, and they'll be done!
I Don’t Think You’ll Mind Too Much
You know how I often come on here and explain that I've not been knitting much lately? And then I say I'm sorry, both because I like knitting (would be a bit awkward if I didn't) and because I like to show you my knitting? Yeah, well, I've not been knitting, but I'm also not sorry. I'm not sorry, because I've been doing this (ahem, these are not all the envelopes, not by a long shot, these are just what fits on the table at once). And this (and no, that's not all the envelopes either, that's just what got [...]
Stick it in Your Ear
And no, I'm not being rude! 'Stick a book in your ear' is the motto of the delightful CraftLit podcast (and the sister production, Just the Books, which leaves out all the crafty bits...but I figure you guys likely don't mind the odd bit of crafty talk here and there). Craftlit is the brain child of Heather Ordover, mastermind behind the delightful What Would Madame Defarge Knit? series. I've been listening to the show for more or less forever, and I had the pleasure of working with Heather on both of the first two Defarge books. This past week, Heather [...]
Process
I am a firm believer in order of operations. Having a set of steps (and then following them) helps ensure things get done the right ways and that things don't get missed. Given that, it should come as no surprise that the books (or at least the patterns for the books) follow a set process. Step 1 is picking the yarn. Step 2 is swatching like a fiend. Step 3 is making myself a page of charts and notes (on graph paper, it has to be graph paper, I don't know how anyone writes on lined paper) for each pattern. [...]
One Down
The first sock is done! See? All the way done, right down to the pretty little toes. And don't worry, the little bars of yarn all lay a bit straighter when my foot (as opposed to the blocker) is filling the sock out. That's String Theory Merino DK in Didgeridoo. Now, 1 skein of that yarn has 280 yards. Knowing that I have big feet, and knowing that I wanted to make socks from this yarn, I bought two skeins. When I finished up the first sock (after the requisite amount of preening), I popped it on the scale. It [...]
Scoundrel
And now, the result of yesterday's little adventure (that is, the pretty pictures that will likely show up in some format in the pattern, as opposed to the one that shows off the moment of 'look, train!' that yesterday's post featured). And just so you know, these socks will be part of another mini book (something on the scale of Rabble Rousers). It should be out this fall in both paper and electronic versions, and will have 6-7 patterns (some socks, some accessories). These socks are going to be called Scoundrel, and they will be on the cover (it's about [...]
I Play Chicken with the Train
I'm not sure what you were up to at 6:45 this morning. If you are a sensible reasonable person, you were likely tucked up in bed, sound asleep. If you are one of those alarmingly industrious types, you might have already been on your way to work. If you are, by some unlikely chance, someone who writes knitting books and thus needs to take a lot of rather peculiar pictures (or the astonishingly accommodating spouse of such a sort), you might have been perilously perched on the side of a railroad track, racing against the rising sun, snapping sock pictures [...]
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