The End is Drawing Nigh...

...I am starting to sell my knitting books.

The Alice Starmore books (second shelf on the right) are the first to be listed, at Treechild's Books on Amazon or on Ravelry (sign in required).

I am hoping they go to a good home (although, with knitting books, there's not much worry there).

Drop Spindle Spinning Class

If you're in the Pasadena area, make time tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, January 25, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM, to learn how to spin using the ancient, simple but effective technology of a drop spindle.

For details, click here.

EZ Pi Shawl - At the Border

Elizabeth Zimmermann Pi Shawl - Lace Border Bind-off

FINALLY, my EZ Pi Shawl from Knitter's Almanac: Projects for Each Month of the Year is being bound off! I have completed about 36 inches of the lace bind-off band, following the pattern, "Loop Edging," Elizabeth Zimmerann selected from Barbara Walker.

Another Knit-Together

This event is a highlight of my month! We get together to learn, to show how, to show off (!) and just to talk. It's fun watching projects taking shape!

Tomorrow, May 13, 7-9 pm. Click for details.

Knit-Together at +Urban Homestead 

Let's Knit Together, Again!

There is so much I want to post here--hopfully soon! In the meantime, for those in the Los Angeles area, this is a fun, relaxing opportunity to get together with other knitting (and/or crocheting) enthusiasts.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014, 7:00 - 9:00 PM - click for details.

Knit-Together or Learn to Knit!

Let's Knit Together

I look forward to knitting in a group (maybe because that's where I first learned to knit). It is fun being with people who have the same interest and who "get" why knitting can be so addicting!

So, I'm excited to be joining some friends this Wednesday to sit around a living room, knit, chat and eat goodies!

Event details here.

Knitting stories - Part I

Prompted by a new series of knitting books, Stories in Stitches, I want to tell part of my knitting story and record some of the more recent influences on that story.

Little Girls Learning to Knit and Embroider. ~1974 Sakeji School, Zambia. Photographer Unknown.

I learned to knit on Saturday mornings at boarding school when I was six (early 1970s) in Miss Hoyte's sitting room (or outside). Every term we were assigned a knitting project and some type of sewing project. Church ladies from Canada or England or the U.S. would send drawstring bags to the school, and we would pick out the bag we wanted to use for that term.

Besides at Saturday morning handwork, we would work on our projects throughout the week, especially during the midday rest hour, when we were required to quietly stay on our beds and read or do handwork (or sleep--but I don't remember that anyone did that).

Knitting with Mrs. Hess at The River after Swimming. Early 1970s. Sakeji School, Zambia. Photographer Unknown.

Another favorite time for handwork was "down at the river" after swimming or in the evenings when we were read a bedtime story.

One of the teachers who read to us was an excellent lace knitter. She had a book stand to hold the book on her lap so that she could keep knitting while reading out loud to us. Occasionally, she would have to stop reading and attend to her knitting, but mostly she read and knitted uninterrupted. She knit a lace tablecloth for every former pupil who got married.

(To be continued.)

Cooperative Press birthday celebration

My recent entry into the Twitter world brought this independent knitting book publisher to my attention--and a contest: http://www.cooperativepress.com/2013/01/happy-birthday-to-us-want-an-ipad-mini/

While, yes, it would be nice to win, I am happy merely to have learned about the books the press publishes. Here are just two:

History on Two Needles by Annie Modesitt -- from whom I took my one and only paid knitting class.

Ancient Egypt in Lace and Color by Anna Dalvi -- because it combines my interests in ancient history and knitted lace!

The celebration runs through the end of the month--check it out!