A Stitch in Time - We have touch-down!

I took a trip to the Elegant Ewe to view the new books, A Stitch in Time, in all their beauty...



They have them on the shelves behind the counter, with one out on the counter for people to look through. The stack is quickly diminishing...both to local folks and to Ravelers calling or emailing or have one sent to them. The Elegant Ewe told me they are charging $6 for shipping within the US.

The very first copy was bought by a famous knitting person, Stitchy McYarnpants! HERE she is, looking very happy to have snagged a copy.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating - Arbour House Press and Knit on the Net did a fabulous job with the production of this book. The choice of patterns, the updated yarn, needle, and sizing information, the large and gorgeous photographs combined with original photos and illustrations from the 1930's, all perfect.

we definitely believe in a joyful future

I had a birthday on the 16th and I managed to extend the fun for a week and a half. My celebration included good food, good friends, and good yarn. Usually birthdays are cues for serious thinking and pondering of the future, but I was not so serious. The closest I came to that was when I pulled out some non- digital photos and contemplated life, the universe and all that...



Don't I look very 80's!?

The yarn was good - from Webs in Northampton, Mass, where my bf and I made a lunch of eclairs and fruit tarts, to Patternworks in Center Harbour, NH, where we went grocery shopping and found homemade jams and local chocolates and watched a small airplane land on the iced-over lake...



Right in front is a wonderful sock yarn Zauberball that my friend Nad sent me from Germany. And there's Mini Mouchi and Malabrigio and a Namaste sock needle case, and my friend Melanie gave me a really beautiful green and blue "Knit Kit" from SlipStitch Studios.

I have been knitting several things at once: diaper covers from bright colours of Knitpicks Riasta, Shur'tagal in STR Oma Desala (shhhh! don't tell anyone - it's a KAL that doesn't start until next Wednesday!), a drapey shawl-sweater in Malabrigo Baby Lace, the Stone Chat colourway; a hooded baby towel in Knitpicks Crayon 100% loopy cotton. So rumours of slacking are totally unfounded. Knitting has been happening! But no designing. Last year I was so full of creative designs that I made something new almost every month. This year, 3 months has already passed (almost) and I've spent my time making other people's patterns...

I suppose it's because I've been knitting for comfort since January. There have been some hard parts to recent life, and stomach-constricting thrift that sucked the joy out of each breath... for a while, just a little while. Things are on a more even keel just now. We definitely believe in a joyful future.

A final interesting note - One of my local yarn stores, The Elegant Ewe, just told me that they've ordered 12 copies of the book I did sample knitting for, A Stitch In Time. As far as I know, it's the first store in the US to carry it! More and more projects from this beautiful book are popping up on Ravelry and each one is so lovely. I want so much to keep my copy new that I've been reluctant to take it around to show it off. So if you're one of my friends who has been trying to get me to share by prying it out of my clutching fingers - neener neener! Get yer own book!

A Stitch in Time - the Official version

I had a nice message today with permission to post the official photographs of the knitting I did for A Stitch in Time, courtesy of Arbour House Publishing in the UK.

Here is "Accessory for your Spring Suit"



and here is "Can You Crochet a Toque?"



Soooo much better in the professional photographs!

The Vintage in me....

Do you remember when I was doing sample knitting for the new publication of the vintage book A Stitch in Time? I wasn't allowed to show you what I was working on (standard practice in publication), but now the book is published and photos of the projects are going up in Ravelry!

Here is one of the patterns that I knit - the cloche! (Ravelry.com link) I got to choose the yarn and colour myself, as the time to the photography shoot was too short for the editor to send me another packet of yarn from England. I think it worked out beautifully and this pattern from the book currently is the "most favorited" of the Stitch in Time patterns on Ravelry!

For those of you not on Ravelry, I'm trying to get permission from the editor to post the official photo on my blog.

for now...here is a very poor photo of me modeling the sample model in my mirror....(believe me - it looks so much better on the professional model!)



I also knit a beautiful cabled blouse for the photography, but don't know if it made it into the book because there was problem with the post getting the supplies to me, so the editor and I cut it very close with the blouse finishing. I wish I could have done more of the knitting and crocheting, but the timeline for completion was so short and it took 3 weeks to get the packages back and forth from England to here!

Check out all the patterns on Ravelry - there are many sweaters, jumpers, and blouses, a bathing suit, underthings, hats, scarves, and on and on! I think there are about 60 patterns in the book...I'm supposed to be receiving a copy of the book for the sample knitting, and I just cannot wait! This book is my dream Vintage pattern book!

Edited to add: Oh My Bob!! I just saw that the blouse I knitted was included in the book and has been posted to Ravelry! HERE it is for Ravelry users. And here it is, carefully waiting to be finished and sent to the publisher...

taking tea...

Good Morning!



I am feeling cosy and happy this morning because we have a 3-day weekend! It's Memorial Day weekend, which means no work on Monday. Instead, there will be the sounds of trumpets and drums as the big Memorial Day parade passes along the street at the end of my road early in the morning. Shops will be open, but offices will be closed. Many - if not most - people will be grilling dinner in their back yards and picnicking on thier decks and porches. There will be fireworks in the evening, organized by the city over in the ballpark, as soon as it gets dusky. The cat will run and hide under the bed when she hears the booms and crashes.

But meanwhile, I enjoy the weekend, knowing that I can be more leaisurly about chores and things because I have an extra day. So, I am making tea and popovers for breakfast today, to be served with butter and strawberry jam.

Popovers

Whisk together 4 eggs and 1 cup milk, at room temperature, in a fairly large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and whisk again. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt and whisk until the batter is smooth and pours like heavy cream.

Grease an 8-muffin pan and dust each cup with a little flour. Place in the lower part of an oven pre-heated to 450 degrees F. Bake for about 20 - 30 minutes or until popovers are browned and puffed high. Don't open the oven while they are baking, or they'll collapse! When they come out of the oven, you can pierce each one with a skewer to let the steam escape - some people think this keeps them from collapsing, but I always eat them too quickly for this to matter!

Enjoy hot will plenty of butter and jam and a nice pot of tea.



As for knitting & crocheting, I am working on the most beautiful 1930's hat I have ever seen, for the book A stitch in Time. It's such a pleasure to work on the photographic samples for this book because the patterns being included are the best of the best of vintage. You can believe me because I've seen so many patterns from times past, and there are definitely some that rise above the rest due to design, timelessness, and well-written directions. The editor allowed me to choose the yarn that I thought would work best for this pattern, both in terms of fiber and colour (with her approval of course), so I'm in heaven.

I can't wait for you to see all the lovely! September!

By the way, the tea cosy, above, on my kitchen table wasn't made by me, but is one I found in a thrift store. After I got it, I did find the pattern for it in one of my old books though, and if anyone wants, I'll search it out and post it...

golden oldies

I got my package from Plimoth Plantation for the re-enactment knitting! A beautiful mellow cornsilk colour shetland wool from Harrisville yarns. Because this is the closest, according to their research, to the type of yarn used then, and the colours made from natural dyes...



When I imagine the stockings all finished and on some unknown person, I picture Tom Bombadill:

Old Tom Bombadill
was a merry fellow
Bright blue his jacket was
and his boots were yellow

The pattern is for long - perhaps over the knee - stockings with a clock on the ankle. They are the most awesome stockings ever! And I plan to do then perfect justice so that all the re-enacters say "I want to wear Sophia's stockings!!" hee hee

I promise to keep you updated with periodic photographs.

In fact, this has been quite an eventful week for the needle and hook! I'm making an afghan square for Thom, Ravelry's grandpa and Casey's dad. Thom fell from a ladder and was quite badly injured. We all wanted to do something to show him that we care, so we're each making a square and several folks are putting them together into a big warm full-of-Ravelry-love blanket! The squares have to be 4" by 4" and be in the blue/grey range... My square is crocheted and is looking good....I think its a surprise, so I won't show it just yet.

I got my contract/agreement and information form from Knit on the Net today! I'm going to be a knitter/crocheter for thier book, A Stitch in Time, which is being updated and re-knit! I'm so excited. Being a sample maker is the perfect outlet for my obsession with vintage patterns! I literally cannot wait to get my assignments! No pictures allowed, folks, but I'll keep you posted about the book progress as we go along. It should be brilliant!

And last but not least, Ravelry sent me the best of gifts for winning in the Bobby's! I got two shot glasses - one says "frogged" and one says "ripped", A big project bag with the Ravery logo and green straps, pins with snappy sayings, a big Bob decal, and the bestest enameled Ravelry pins of Bob, and of the Ravelry ball-of-yarn logo...And...a frame-able award certificate! {{{sigh}}} Colour me happy. Is that too 80's an expression? Somehow it makes me think of Three's Company on the oldie's channel... anyway, it made my day...(erm, that's even worse! wasn't that saying from some Western movie?)...uh. It's fierce. really really fierce. And that's the truth!