Piles of Yarn and Knit and Crochet Today Goodness

I’ve been knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting some more. I’ve been topping it all off with duplicate stitch, French knots, chain stitch and more. There are piles of swatches. It began a couple weeks ago and finally ended last night with a trip to the last minute Fedex annex in Hatfield where they take packages up until 7 p.m. Thank goodness for them even if it does take me 35 minutes to get there. So there you go – my last bit of swatching is done for my next book and I can just sit here and wait to hear how the photos of the swatches turned out. Fingers crossed for that photo session in NYC organized by the indomitable girls at Soho Publishing.

(In between it all, I taught two classes at Webs in Northampton on Saturday. It was so nice to meet all the fabulously talented knitters and introduce a bunch of them to my creative embroidery techniques. Thanks for asking me Pixie!)

All that knitting and I have nothing to show you right now except for a pile of colorful threads that have been littering the floor in the kitchen, the studio, and the library room. Yesterday we had a very large snowstorm (for March) with 8 inches of powder dumped outside our snug little farmhouse windows. Pretty to look at but I was too busy knitting to partake in the late winter wonder. Julia had the day off from school and she was under the weather with a bad cold which if you want to know the truth was good for me so I could keep knitting and sit next to her on the couch and say kind mommy what-nots to her. The Farmer built us a warm little fire in the fireplace and if I hadn't been knitting under pressure, it would have been one of my dream days. (Under my breath.....Knit a row, take a breath - knit another row - can I finish this on time? Just one more swatch - what colors am I going to add for the embroidery? Take another breath... Have another cup of french roast.... How am I ever going to get that darn 3 x 4 foot bulletin board into a box for Diane and get it to NYC on time?)

During my knitting madness, I stayed up late, late, late – watching t.v. but not really concentrating on it. I was flipping through the channels Sunday in the wee hours of the morning and what did I find but Knit and Crochet Today – the PBS TV show I taped last April in Detroit. It was on PBS’s Create Network which I am now receiving with the advent of digital TV. I had heard it was showing on that and watched with trepidation – not being the kind of person who really enjoys watching herself on the tube……. But I did okay - even if I did say yeh 8000 times. (Gotta watch that if they ask me again.)

I’ve been hearing from lots of folks that they are enjoying the show immensely. I’m glad – that was the point of putting myself through it all that make-up, wardrobe, jittered nerves, and travel. I’m hoping that my no nonsense approach to knitting (and crochet) comes through on my episodes - I taped 12 episodes for 2 seasons that will air slowly. I think that Brett Bara is an excellent host – putting a nice spin on the needlecrafts. (Not to mention that she is a lovely person to spend time with.) If you haven’t watched it, make sure you check out your local listings.

Which leads me back to this project – my crocheted granny square blanket. Click here to receive the free pattern for my granny square afghan via the Knit and Crochet Today website. I started it while on vacation in Maine a few years ago and got enough done to show on the TV show. I still have more squares to add to make it larger but it is a very fun project for knitters just exploring crochet.


If you don't receive the show locally - contact your local PBS station and BEG PLEASE! You can also buy the DVD direct from Candi Jensen - the producer of the show. Candi has been a friend of mine for 25 years and she is the reason I got into the whole mess. (Just joking Candi.) Click here to buy the Knit and Crochet Today DVD.


That's it for today - I've got to clean up this messy house so we can find what we need underneath all the partial balls of yarn laying about. Oh - and the book --- next November. Stay tuned here as I let you in on little bits of book progress.