Archive for the Uncategorized category
June 28th, 2009
Thank you so much! We’ve received 400 squares for our Sock-Summit related Barn Raising Quilt project. I’m sure they’re going to add up to some incredible blankets.
At this point we don’t have time to accept any more squares, so we’ll be taking the free pattern offline. Naturally it’s still available in the book. If you’d like to be involved in sewing the squares into blankets (to be auctioned and/or raffled off for Doctors Without Borders at the Summit) please check Larissa’s blog post here.
And make a small toast to yourselves while you’re at it.
April 14th, 2009
Even our knitting-crazy town of Portland has little idea it’s sitting in the path of a juggernaut: Sock Summit 2009, where thousands of knitters will descend on the Oregon Convention Center to grok all things sock.
Not least of which, I should say, is the sock yarn blanket from Knitalong the book, the Barn Raising Quilt. From scraps can come such art. Consider SenoraFuerte’s version, one of my favorites:
Now we’re releasing the Barn Raising Quilt pattern for free for a few months, because Sock Summit impresario Tina has okayed Larissa’s idea for a Sock Summit charity effort based on the Quilt.
Larissa needs volunteers to make Barn Raising Quilt squares and mail them to us in Portland by June 9, 2009. Here they will be sewn into individual socktastic works of art by even more volunters, and then, during the Summit in August, auctioned or raffled off as a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders.
There is no need to formally sign up, though it might be useful if you left a comment here noting how many squares you anticipate sending. The pattern, including yarn suggestions, and mailing instructions can be found in this document.
Sock on! (And watch this space for updates)
[update 6/21/2009: we’ve collected 400 squares! thanks so much! the pattern is no longer available for download, but is still available in the book.]
February 25th, 2009
Well, it happens to the best of us. Every knitting book seems to have a few errors in the patterns. Only one pattern in Knitalong seems to be affected: the Blessingway Blanket. Please follow this link for the corrections.
January 15th, 2009
Thanks for the recognition, Betsy Sue! We’ll enjoy some knitted cake and bubbly to celebrate.
This photo is by Nina Pope, who graciously allowed a different photo from this knitted wedding to be used in the book.
October 22nd, 2008
If you’re in the Portland area, the host of Neither Hip Nor Funky will be teaching a colorwork class using the Entomology Mittens pattern and Abundant Yarn’s naturally died yarn. Some nice colors combos here:
For more information, see Abundant Yarn’s class listing.
June 10th, 2008
There can be few things more perfect than a summer night at the ballpark.
[photo by addknitter]
“You can’t experience it on TV,” I write in Knitalong. “You have to be there to understand. On a good day, a baseball game is a pleasure as subtle and fine — and unknowable to the uninitiated — as running your fingers through 100 percent cashmere.”
“You settle into your plastic seat while the sun is setting and leave the world outside of the ballpark behind. On the green expanse below, grown men in pinstripes and high socks fidget around a brown dirt track, pause a while to jabber and point, and occasionally toss a ball. No matter how much trash talk sounds from the stands around you, somehow the stillness of the summer night remains. This is a game with a different, more thoughtful pace. Plus, here, the hot dogs and beer come to you.”
And now, finally, after years of toiling in the minors, Larissa, Sebastian, & I are heading to “the big show.” Which is to say, we’re tentatively scheduled to throw out the first pitch this year at one of the biggest, baddest knitting spectacles around — the Seattle Stitch N Pitch. The first 3000 knitters buying knitting-section tickets will get a special event t-shirt, and if you buy tickets through Pacific Fabrics & Crafts, you can get an additional goodie bag of knitterly stuff to boot.
It’s traditional for authors to complain about the burden of promotional events, but I am absolutely not pulling that crap for this one. I will be there giving 110%. :)
May 9th, 2008
4pm, Saturday May 31. Talk about the book! Free tote bags! More info here.
May 2nd, 2008
Larissa will be signing books and leading a Magic Yarn Ball project - perfect to give as a Mother’s Day Gift. You can buy the yarn and all the little gifts to go inside at Twisted. Designer and photographer Sarah Gilbert, who has one pattern and many photos in the book, will join me.
Dads and children, this is your opportunity to get a great knittin’ gift for mom, a signed book and a Magic Yarn Ball!
At Twisted on NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon. May 8. 6 pm.
April 29th, 2008
Larissa will be talking about the book and signing copies at the Tattered Cover (Highlands Ranch) on May 22nd, 2008, at 7:30 PM. You’re invited to bring your current knitting projects.
Cloth “Knitalong”-logo tote bags will be given away with the purchase of the book, while supplies last. The bags are really nice! Here’s the logo art…
April 24th, 2008
Powells.com gave me the chance to write a neat little essay about the creation of Knitalong from a writer’s (and non-knitter’s) POV. Check it out here.
April 12th, 2008
Larissa will be talking about the book, and signing it, at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington, 4/14/2008 at 7pm. More info at the Third Place Books site.
(Sebastian and Martin may put in an appearance as well and will try not to break any store displays.)
March 21st, 2008
Well, we did strive for a diversity in contributors. Thanks again for the cover shot, squacco!
March 14th, 2008
Alison at 6.5st has done a really exquisite version of The Pillow of Sei Shonagon from the book. I hope it’s ok to show Alison’s pictures. Click on the photos to read the many adoring comments on Flickr.
I personally have a very strong opinion about how such pillows should be used. They shouldn’t just sit around looking pretty. If you’re really going to soak in the poetry, you have to put your head on them. :)
March 14th, 2008
There’s an extensive Q&A with Larissa, by Mims Copeland, in today’s OregonLive K2TOG. If you want to learn more about Larissa’s background or the process of doing the book, check it out.
March 4th, 2008
It’s too bad our book is about knitting, and is already printed, because this piece of collaborative craft and activism is simply too cool to ignore. It’s a reef executed in hyperbolic crochet forms. Wow!
Read more about it in the NY Times and at the Institute for Figuring.
January 13th, 2008
March 15, 2008
Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks in SE Portland, Oregon
Please join us from 4-6 pm at Abundant Yarn in Sellwood. We’ll have cocktails for the adults, choices of messy and dry activities for the littler ones, food for all, door prizes, and books to buy, with authors and a few designers on hand to sign them.
The party coincides with the store’s Ides of March Fiber Festival, which will be going on all around us and in the parking lot.
See you soon!
January 8th, 2008
Larissa and I will be at TNNA trade show in Long Beach, California, talking about the book and showing off lots of the projects. We’ll be there the whole day Friday the 11th, and a little of the 10th and 12th. The most likely place to find us is the Stewart Tabori & Chang booth. Hope to see you there.
December 6th, 2007
But it can be pre-ordered now from your local yarn shop or bookstore, or online retailers including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble; Booksense member stores; and Borders.