As If I Needed New Patterns...

ipping through to tell you about...

Véronik Avery, who has a new book out, featuring some truly gorgeous designs.

Knitting 24/7: 30 Projects to Knit, Wear, and Enjoy, On the Go and Around the Clock (Stewart Tabori and Chang 2010) is reviewed here, and available here.

I've got to finish these dresses and start on something new!

And, All Beatrix Potter All The Time - here's a recent post on Beatrix Potter, to go along with my photos here and here of knitting in some of her books.

Okay, so I'm a little behind...

've been forsaking my knitting projects and have been busy wrapping up the first draft of my latest novel. Also, I'm hosting a writers' houseparty on the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum! Invitations are up now, so if you're a writer, come play - everyone's invited!

Helen, however, has been knitting up a storm: here's her cowl neck sweater and a leaf pattern tee.

I'm only a few rows away from finishing the second summer dress; then I've got to make one more, and then start on socks for Christmas gifts...

Football and Knitting?

ho'd have thought that football season and knitting would go together? Yet Kathleen of Knitting Daily is right, while the men watch game after game, it's a perfect time to get together and knit.

Of course, you don't always need football as an excuse. Any ol' movie or tv show will do for me. Still working on dress #2, which is taking longer not because I've been slacking lately *cough* but because I chose to make the largest size given in the pattern... That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Meanwhile, a question for you:

Harem Scene

ourtesy of the wonderful website, The Orientalist Gallery, here is a 19th Century painting by Rudolph Ernst, featuring spinners:

Knitting Funny - Don't Try This Yourself

ajor spew alert!


A hilarious post from the Panopticon, courtesy of Pam.

I'm still laughing.

Almost Complete...

issing only the crochet round the collar! On to the second one, in green...

New Pattern and Promised Photos

have started a new pattern! The only UFO I have at the moment is the kilt hose - I'm halfway up the calf - but it's too hot to be knitting in alpaca, so I've chosen a cotton pattern to make for my niece's and goddaughter's upcoming birthdays.

The pattern is here, but I've reproduced one of the images below:

Also, as promised, here are two beautiful photographs of Hortense, taken by Ani:

Another Diana Gabaldon Knitting Reference

iana's posted a new excerpt on her blog that features knitting!

Alpacas!

iven the photos of Sam at the bottom of this blog, I think it's obvious how much he loves alpaca wool. While travelling through Pennsylvania recently, I saw an advert for an alpaca farm! Turns out there are over a hundred such farms in PA alone.

We visited one near Punxsutawney called Flocks by Knight. Unfortunately, they didn't have any wool, but I came away with some wonderfully soft fibre to try - once again - to spin, courtesy of Lucky Pierre (he's the tall black guy if I remember right), and a bag of short bits (un-spinnable), which I'm planning to sew into a pillow for Sam.

Thanks to Tracy for taking the time to show us around!

Also, being a city person, I was just as impressed by the hay and the tractors and the chickens.

Truckers Who Knit

ow awesome is the news in this article from the Wall Street Journal? Truckers who knit! And quilt and sew and... Like shepherds and fishermen of old, a new generation of men are finding ways to keep their fingers busy during their downtime. I've always loved truck stops - someday, I hope to run into one of these guys, like Kevin Abraham-Banks, "a 37-year-old trucker with a shaved head and dragon tattoos, [who] passes time at truck stops with his cocoa and knitting... 'The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that's awesome I think,' he said."
I agree!