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.

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.]

This photo is by Nina Pope, who graciously allowed a different photo from this knitted wedding to be used in the book.

For more information, see Abundant Yarn’s class listing.

[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%. :)

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.

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…