A Good Day For Knitting!

Today has been a day filled with little knitting moments that make me smile. First, an email from my library:

Dear Katherine:

Thanks so much your suggestions. In response to your email and other requests for works by Elizabeth Zimmerman I am ordering a number of her titles for the Brooklyn Public Library including "Knitting WithoutTears"; "The Opinionated Knitter"; and "Knitting Around."

17 Copies of the "Knitters Almanac" have recently been ordered for the system and are now available for borrowing.

I am also ordering two DVD's featuring Elizabeth Zimmerman "KnittingWorkshop" and "Knitting Glossary."

You should see these DVD's in our online catalog in about two weeks andyou can place holds on them at that time.

Then a non-knitting blog I follow, the Cool Design Concept + Ideas blog, had this as their latest Cool Design:

Says the blog, "The Needle Holder is a convenient way to hold needles while on-the-go, and even at home." The device looks handy, and I love when knitting shows up in the mainstream.\

And finally, an order from Amazon.com that proves I'm just not patient enough for the Brooklyn Library System:

Hooray!

-Katherine Jane

Problem with working at home

Cat on lap.
Cat on lap disturbed.
Cat goes to knitting.
-Kathy

Missed Connections: Celebrity Edition

Since moving to New York, I have become notorious in my friend circle for my complete obliviousness to the celebrities that wander around in our midst. Walking through the Upper West Side on a warm summer evening, for example, I can't figure out why my friends are all suddenly suspiciously silent and wide-eyed as we move to one side of the sidewalk to let a hand-holding couple pass by; only after we're a block and a half away does someone explain, "That was Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore!" Or, walking back to work from lunch, at least twice now my co-worker Sarah and I have had the following conversation: "That was Chris Noth!" "Oh. Wait, who?" "Mr. Big from Sex And The City." "Oh. Where?" "Well, he's gone now."

But today, walking back from work Sarah grabbed my arm and said "That was Mary-Louise Parker--and she was talking about yarn!"

Setting aside the "Who?" question (I can Google it later), I skip ahead to the far more important concern: "What was she saying about yarn?"

"I don't know," says Sarah, "Something about how she knew this amazing place to buy yarn. I'm surprised you didn't notice!" She wasn't the slightest bit surprised I didn't notice the celebrity, of course; but she and I were both surprised my ears didn't perk up at the mention of the word yarn nearby.

So anyway, Mary-Louise Parker, if you're out there reading this--won't you share your tips on where in the city to buy amazing yarn?

Maybe we could get together for a stitch-and-bitch some time?

-Katherine Jane

P.G. Wodehouse on knitting

You'll notice the novel pictured above is not P.G. Wodehouse, but Barbara Pym, who is equally wonderful but in a Jane Austen-ish way. Please pretend the photo is of Cocktail Time, by P.G. Wodehouse. Here is an excerpt on knitting:

Old Mr. Howard Saxby was seated at his desk in his room at the Edgar Saxby literary agency when Cosmo arrived there. He was knitting a sock. He knitted a good deal, he would tell you if you asked him, to keep himself from smoking, adding that he also smoked a good deal to keep himself from knitting. He was a long, thin old gentleman in his middle seventies with a faraway unseeing look in his eye, not unlike that which a dead halibut on a fishmonger's slab gives the pedestrian as he passes.
Later: "You came to discuss business of some sort. I don't suppose you got far with old Mr. Saxby? No, I thought not. Was he knitting?"
Cosmo winced, her question had touched an exposed nerve.
"Yes," he said coldly. "A sock."
"How was it coming along?"
"I understood him to say that he had turned the heel."
"Good. Always the testing part. Once past the heel, you're home. But except for learning that the sock was going well, you did not geet much satisfaction out of him, I imagine. Not many of our clients do."

- Kathy

Fiber College, Searsport, Maine

Last weekend we were at the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival in Hemlock, NY. But didn't get a chance to take any pictures, rats! The weekend before we were at Fiber College, where we did manage to take pictures. Debbie Bergman of Purple Fleece, is a weaver. I have given her glorious hand towels, pictured above, as presents to many very grateful friends.
This wonderful yarn is from String Theory, a delicious yarn shop in Blue Hill, Maine.
I found this very charming hat, pictured above and below, abandoned in the restroom at Fiber College. It took a good deal of will-power to turn it in at the office. But they knew immediately whose hat it was, so I was happy.
I fell in love with this shawl, knit from hand-spun yarn. The pattern can be found in Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. It is the Wool Peddler's Shawl without the lace border. Easy and comforting.
I have these beautiful tall yellow flowers growing in my garden, and can't remember their name. Leave a comment with their name and I will give you your choice of audiobook.
This weaving of grass and flowers was lovely.

I couldn't quite figure out what this was supposed to be. But I liked it. Detail above, whole tableau below.
I also loved this basket in their shop.
Till next year!
-Kathy