Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Knitting America — from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press!
- It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The new fall Knitty is online and I’m like a kid in a candy store. My three faves are Jasseron, Indigo Cones, and Heart’s-Ease Bouttonière (I include the latter in no small part due to the fact that I worship the ground Franklin Habit walks on).
- Three novels that feature the dark, figurative, “kick butt” complexity of quilting, as recommended by Tracy Chevalier. I’ve read two of them (Alias Grace and Beloved) and although I wouldn’t strictly call them “quilting novels,” they’re wonderful. I’ll have to read the Carol Shields novel now to complete my quilting trifecta. The comments section also has some suggestions. Alas… so many books, so little time.
- For any knitter in the Los Angeles area: the Craft and Folk Art Museum (on Wilshire Boulevard across the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the La Brea Tar Pits) is having an amazing sale on yarn and other knitting- and crochet-related items from their yarn bombing campaign(s). Every ball of yarn is $1. Support a great cause and replenish your stash!
- The Great Tapestry of Scotland. In keeping with the theme(s) of this blog, some of my favorite panels include, of course: “David I Fosters the Wool Trade c.1130s” — an important moment in history for any knitter to celebrate (in fact, sheep are a recurrent image throughout the tapestry which even includes a tribute to “Dolly the Sheep”), and “Mary Queen of Scots” which depicts the queen (and famous needlework enthusiast) working on her embroidery, the panel celebrating “Shetland Knitters” and the panel devoted solely to “Fair Isle Knitting.” The Victorianist in me loves “Victoria at Balmoral 1850s/60s” and “Robert Louis Stevenson” And, of course, I can’t possibly not mention “Charles Rennie Mackintosh Designs Glasgow School of Art.” This entire project is so amazing; words fail me.
- Il faut souffrir pour être belle.
- And, speaking of fashion, the knits aren’t the only beautiful items in this collection, but they do remind us (if we needed it) that knits have a lot of contribute to haute couture. (Thanks to my friend, Ashley Gormley, for pointing out this collection to me).
The Lyf So Short 