Knit With Love

Yesterday my Culver's Knit Wits group had the pleasure of Lisa Bogart visiting us and talking and autographing  her book, Knit With Love. Stories to Warm a Knitters Heart. I truely enjoyed reading the book and it inspired me to get back to my charity knitting!

While on tour, Lisa is collecting rectangles for Warm Up America and this wonderful group of women knit and crochet 58 squares for her. (Lucky her-getting to sew them all together!) www.craftyarncouncil.com/warmup

A Knitter's Home Companion

Here I am with Michelle Edwards, author of A Knitter's Home Companion. This is a delightful book with essays, read a longs, recipes and knitting patterns. Michelle 's drawings help illustrate the book. She was at the Yarnery Friday where I saw her and listened to her talk about the book, show the projects, telling how they related to the stories, read one of the essays and I was able to taste one of the goodies from the book.

After seeing this picture, I made an appointment to get my hair cut! I also figured out why my pictures are sideways. When I rotate my camera to take a picture, that is how Blogger posts the pictures even though I have rotated it on my computer. Now to figure out how to fix it.

Book Shopping Today

Went to Barnes & Noble today specifically to look at this book. I don't go there very often anymore even though this used to be one of my favorite places. Now I buy books for my Kindle or buy them from a "mom  and pop" mystery book store, Once Upon a Crime.

This book is "A Heartwarming collection of stories, patterns, and recipes" and the author, Michelle Edwards is going to be at The Yarnery in St Paul on Friday signing books and reading from the book.  

The Knitter's Life List by Gwen W. Steege says, "1001 Inspirations for Every Knitter, 122 Techniques & Tips to Learn, 69 Styles & Traditions to Explore, 64 Personalities to Meet, and 33 Yarn Fibers to Try". Sounds fun.  

My Grandmother's Knitting by Larissa Brown is Family Stories and Inspired Knits from top designers with contributions from Ysolda Teague, Jared Flood, Meg Swansen, Cookie A., Anne Hanson, Teva Durham, Wendy Bernard, and many more. Many of these designers I have learned about from Ravelry and the family stories look interesting.

New Books

The last two days, I've received 3 new knitting books. One I have been waiting a long time for: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knit One, Knit All. The designs are ones that she wanted published in a book, but publishers never agreed with her. Now, her daughter and grand son together with some volunteer knitters have put together the designs and published this book. Many of the designs had no written instructions so the patterns were put together from her notes or drawings, her journal, or the actual garments were disected. I have made one of the designs many years ago-the Suspender Sweater at Door County Knitting Camp with Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations. I thought the book contained patterns never before printed, but they are patterns not in any of EZ's books. The Suspender Sweater was from a Wool Gathering and is a sweater I get many compliments on every time I wear it and it was fun to knit-interesting construction.

The second book is the book completely about charts. This I ordered as a reference for my teaching. Anything you ever need to know about charted knitting.

The third book, 10 Secrets of the Laidback Knitters, A Guide to Holistic Knitting, Yarn, and Life I bought just from a blog and pictures on the internet and it turned out to be an absolute gem. The picture on the cover of the little lace scarf is the one that yelled out to me as it looked like it was made from the stainless steel yarn I bought last year at Stitches and which had about 3 inches of a scarf which I wasn't very crazy about. The big surprise was seeing the pattern and seeing that it-plus one more in the book-are designed by Romi! This book has stories, pictures, patterns, history, and lots more.

Oh, for more time to knit!!

Larry Millett

Larry Millett, author of The Magic Bullet, was autographing books at Once Upon a Crime on Tuesday. I was glad to see another book by him, as I've liked the other ones I've read. They are fiction, but based on MN/St Paul history and since I grew up in St Paul, they are fun to read.

Quotes Meaingful to Me

I have never been able to explain why/how knitting helps me listen and learn, so I loved this quote from Perri Klass in Fall 2010 Knitter's Magazine. "Knitting was my way of tying up-or soothing that restless roaming piece of my mind which couldn't relax and open up to a story I really wanted to hear, or to information I knew I needed to learn."

Two quotes I like from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's 2010 Page A Day Calendar:

Saturday, August 14/Sunday, August 15.

"'Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.'--Anonymous"

Saturday, October 16/Sunday, October 17.

"'The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.'--Dave Weinbaum. In case you missed it, I think that's permission to start another sweater."

Thanks, Perry and Stephanie.

Fun Shopping

Tuesday I had a fun day in Anoka, MN. My first stop was Shepherd's Choice yarn shop which recently moved from Ham Lake to Anoka. Such a fun, friendly shop and they carry the Spud & Chloe brand of yarn which I want to try. Besides yarn and books they carry soaps and lotions made by the owner. I got this sock yarn, so after the Christmas knitting is done, I'll try.

The next stop was Avant Garden which is a coffee, gift, sandwich shop on Main Street. The first thing that caught my eye was this mug, called the hand warmer mug. I always hold my cup with my hand wrapped around it, so this was perfect-plus it was made in my favorite blues.

Of course, it came home with me and I'm enjoying my morning cup of tea.

Perched on the shelf just below the mugs was this book. I am focusing a lot of my reading on local authors, so it almost jumped into my hands. It is inspired by a true story and tells of a woman who has been in a nursing home her adult life and finds a man to love and wants to get married. Her feelings, her frustrations, and her situation really comes through to the reader. Peripheral View by Rita Kuehn. Excellent book! And I'm sure the fictional town of Rum River is Anoka!

Vesterheim Museum

Last week, my husband and I took a road trip through parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Rather than posting one long entry, I am going to divide it into 2 0r 3. Our first stop on a cold, rainy day was in Decorah, Iowa at the Vesterheim Museum, a Norwegian, American Museum documenting the immigration of the Norwegians to America. This is the display of knitted items.

A new book has just been published, Norwegian Handknits-Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum, by Sue Flanders and Janine Kosel. It is a good book based on items from the museum-behind-the-scenes, as they say in the forward as this picture shows just about all that were on display.

The special display when we went was called, Knitting Along the Viking Trail, featuring knitted items by Elsebeth Lavold, famous for her Viking Knits Project. All the Viking Knits patterns are inspired by Viking Age artifacts. Sadly, the display closes October 11. After seeing the display, I HAD to go to the yarn shop in town and got this book. Her fist book is called Knitting Along the Viking Trail, and now three more Viking Knits Collections have been published. I must get the others!

This blanket is made up of some of her swatches, some have been used in her designs. The following pictures are a couple of the sweaters on display. The pictures are not of real good quality because I could not use flash.

This is the inspiration for one of her designs.

Jan Dunlap

Another picture of the flower, Desert Rose.

Another local author I got to meet! This is Jan Dunlap at the launching of her second book, Murder on Warbler Weekend, a good, light read.

William Kent Kruger

The second passion in my life is reading and lately I've become enthused with local authors. Tonight was the launch party for William Kent Kruger's new book, Heaven's Keep. All of his books have been excellent, so am anxious to read this one. The party was held at the neatest book store, Once Upon A Crime, in Minneapolis. Last week, a book by the same name and dedicated to the store was launched, but I couldn't make the party. The book is short stories by many local authors and other well known authors. I have about 20 pages left of that one and am enjoying it.

Because it was a party, there was cake.

Missing Mark

Julie Kramer is a local author who wrote Stalking Susan as her first book which won many awards. Her second book, Missing Mark, came out last week so my daughter, husband and I went to the launch event. Here Gloria and I posed with her while my husband took the picture. Both books are excellent! The party was fun-bottled water, wine and cookies were available with the new book logo. Sorry-I ate the cookie so you can't see how cute they were, but it was good!

Blogger did it again, turning my pictures whichever way it wants!

The Funeral Home Murders

Tonight Rob Hahn, a local author, was at Barnes and Noble in Maple Grove to talk about and sign his book, The Funeral Home Murders. The book was fiction, centered around the two murders a couple years ago in the Hudson, WI funeral home. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the author was very enjoyable to listen to. He claims the main character is based on himself, but I had difficulty equated the two. His main character is an arrogant male chauvinist-although his tender inner self did show itself later in the book. Rob was such a pleasant well spoken person-and good looking!

Mailman Was Good Today

Oh, the mailman's delivery was good today! First of all, no bills, then 3 packages! The first book is written by my cousin's wife describing her life on Isle Royale. My cousin has been doing the wolf study on the island for many years and the book talks about the work and life from her point of view. Not only is it enjoyable because of the relationship to me, but the writing is good and the topic very interesting. (It is available from Amazon.com )The second book is by Carol A. Anderson of Cottage Creation fame and is her memoirs written in her fun, witty way. The book is available from her-Cottage Creations, At the Farm on Deer Creek, Carpenter, Iowa 50426.
The 3rd package was the December Shawl Club yarn/pattern from Joslyn's Fiber Farm. The pattern is by Sunflower Designs, Cherry Country Shawl and the yarn is red/black from Joslyn's Fiber Farm.

Mason Dixon Knitting

Today was a fun day! The Yarnery sponsored Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, authors of Mason-Dixon Knitting and their new one Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. Hopefully, the singers performance will show up on the Yarnery's blog. http://theyarnery.blogspot.com/. (Tuesday-Check out You Tube for The Yarnery Family Singers for all their songs-the one they sang on Sunday and the ones they sang when Stepanie Pearl-McPhee was here.)After some fun songs by the Yarnery singers, both spoke about themselves and how the books developed, showed the actual items from the books and signed books. See their blog for more fun and pictures. www.masondixonknitting.com. The book has some fun patterns I would just love to knit! The things look so much better in person (and on a real person) than in the book.

Pattern Tamers and New Books

My Pattern Tamers arrived today and I love them! The set comes with 3 different lengths (the top three) and has many patterns available. The bottom shows what they are-2 magnets on a length of fabric which grasp together on both sides of the pattern so it is very secure. I've always used Post-It Notes but find the sticky looses its stickiness and they fall off.They are available at www.patterntamers.comSeveral new books are out. Retro Knits, edited by Kari Cornell and Jean Lampe is a book of vintage patterns for men, women and children from the 1900s through the 1970s. It is fun to page through and see the original pictures-several I have had. Several patterns are included which have been updated with schematics, sizing and yarn and needle recommendations.

Kari was at the MN Knitters Guild meeting this month and autographed books.

Sorry, Blogger turned this picture on its side and I don't know how to rotate it. Knitalong, Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together is by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown. Knitalong is defined as any organized event where people knit together for a common purpose or goal and talks about Knitting Cafes, Knitting Circles and Meet-Ups, Knit-ins, Knitting in War and Peace, Online Knitalongs, Knitting Blogs, Competing at the State Fair, Challenge Knitalong, Swaps and Giving to Friends, Giving to the Earth and Giving to People in Need. Each chapter includes a pattern.

Knitting Through It, Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble edited by Lela Nargi. The book tells stories of knitting through adversity from war and poverty to imprisonments and political anxiety. Also included are black-and-white photographs from the Library of Congress archives as well as some patterns.

New Book

Things I Learned from Knitting..whether I wanted to or not by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is another fun read. Among her list of 45 things are: Beginning is easy, continuing is hard (this is so me!); You can't win them all; Look before you leap; Idle hands are the devil's workshop; if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Scattered throughout the book are lists of things "Knitting is still trying to teach me" and random lists like, "5 things I'd rather do than swatch for my new project" with things like, "get a spinal tap". Love her humor!

Winter Study

Winter Study by Nevada Barr was an exciting read, more so for me as my cousin is actually a character in the book. It is centered around the wolf/moose study on Isle Royle which my cousin, Rolf Peterson, has directed for 50 years. I laughed out loud when one of the characters talked about keeping another member of the team from falling asleep after an overdose of drugs/alcohol and states she learned a lot from her questioning including that Rolf Peterson had great legs. I'll have to check that one out!

Kiki's Hats

This is a delightful book about a woman named Kiki who knits hats and gives them away. It shows how giving can benefit the giver and the receiver. It is written and illustrated by Warren Hanson, who also illustrated the Cup of Christmas Tea and the Peef books.

This afternoon, Warren Hanson was at Amazing Threads and told the story of the real life Kiki and read and autographed the book.

More New Books

I love to buy new books! Just happened to find these in the book store a few days ago. Obviously I can't read the books I buy as fast as I buy them. (Sounds like my knitting projects.)Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting by Betsy Hosegood is a hodgpodge-in a good way-of knitting. It talks about history, important people in knitting world, yarns, fibers,knitting in the 21st century, and care of knits, among other things. Knit One, Haiku Too by Maria Fire is poems, stories and stitches, inspirational.

Books on CD

Knitting books on CD's! I found them at my LYS but they can be purchased at www.knittingoutloud.com