This weekend the Ball & Skein & More in beautiful Cambria, California, will be hosting book signings for my Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues. I’ll be signing books on both Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 3:00. The trunk show of samples from the book will be up, too, if you’d like to see the scarves in person!
And so it begins. The yarnie love-fest that is Stitches West. It’s always such fun to see friends from near and far. The preview session was last night, and here’s the crowd waiting for the official opening today.
Excitement is in the air, as the line snakes down the hallway!
I’ll be doing three book signings during Sitches West this year:
Friday 1:30
Saturday 11:30
Sunday 12:00
All the signings will be at the Yarn Barn of Kansas, Booth 404. Hope to see you there!
I’ve been in Ohio most of the summer, taking care of family. I’ll be returning to California for a short time in September for a special collaboration with the Ball & Skein & More, the LYS in Cambria. Kris and Oz have been enthusiastic supporters of my book, right from the very first swatch. Now they’re not only selling my book, but also giving me a trunk show and an opportunity to teach a workshop!
Samples from my book Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues will be on display from September 8th – 16th. Come see the wide variety of techniques my book has to offer! With over 30 patterns, there’s something for everyone.
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Linen Stitch Workshop
The workshop I’ll be teaching at the Ball & Skein & More is on September 15th from 5:30 to 7:30. One of my all-time favorite stitch patterns for scarves is the linen stitch. It’s perfect for variegated yarn, is attractive on both sides, and lies flat. Its versatility can be seen in the photos above – all three scarves are made from this one simple stitch, yet have completely different looks! Using the technique and pattern from my book, I’ll show you how to create the stitch, step by step. Then you’ll be set free to experiment and, if you want, to start a project scarf.
If you’re interested in taking the workshop, you can sign up on the Ball & Skein & More’s registration page or stop in. Or for more information, call (805) 927-3280 .
Recommended yarn for the project scarf: 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima (the Ball & Skein & More has a zillion great colorways to choose from!)
I’ll sign books during the workshop, and one lucky workshop participant will win a book!
I’m just now finding time to take a breath after Stitches Midwest last weekend. What a whirlwind! My book, Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues made its debut Thursday night. The books were literally hot off the press! It was a thrill for me to see the stacks of my book in the Cooperative Press booth along with so many titles I’ve admired over the years. Notice the boxes of cookies – dessert seems to be a good lure for the knitting public!
During the weekend I signed autographs, along with my friend Stephannie Tallent. She was signing her fantastic book California Revival Knits.
Steph and I are each others’ biggest supporters!
The other exciting news from Stitches Midwest was my trunk show in the Foofaraw booth. I’m grateful to Lindsay Gates for giving me a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the scarves from my book! We paired each scarf with one of the beautiful Foofaraw shawl sticks. I was amazed at the range of colors and materials Lindsay uses in making these. Everyone who came into her booth found exactly the right color and texture for their projects.
Here we found just the right sticks to style the “Cables & Knots” and “Diagonal Ribs & Little Fountains Lace” patterns from my book.
I thought the scarves (and here, the wrap from the book too) and Lindsay’s sticks were a marriage made in heaven!
Resources:
Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues by yours truly, Audrey Knight
California Revival Knits by Stephannie Tallent
Foofaraw shawl sticks
Yes indeed, my book Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues arrived just in time for the opening of Stitches Midwest. Yay!
I’ll be doing a book signing today, Saturday, at noon in the Cooperative Press booth, #631. Please come by and say hi. I’d love to meet everyone!
I want to thank everyone who has come by to look at the book since the show started. Your enthusiasm has been wonderful. Knitters are the nicest folks!
It’s hard to believe Stitches Midwest is coming up so soon!
I’m thrilled to tell you that sample scarves from my new book Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues will be featured in a trunk show at the Foofaraw booth. Here are some of their beautiful stick pins:
My scarves will pair perfectly with the Foofaraw shawl sticks, don’t you think?
I’ll be at the Foofaraw booth during the Market Session on Thursday evening, August 9th, and Friday morning. Come find out why the pins are called Foofaraw….[Hint from their website: (fõõ´f∂–rô´) NOUN: 1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation. 2. A fuss over a trifling matter.]
I want to thank Lindsay Gates for this wonderful opportunity, and I hope to see you there!
I just got back from TNNA. That, in industry jargon, is the show put on twice a year by The National Needlearts Association. It’s where yarn manufacturers show off their new lines to shop owners, and where publishers show off their titles. It’s pretty much like a giant kindergarten, where we all get to see our friends in the industry. We have parties. We play (with yarn, mostly). And like little kids, we spend a great deal of time talking about and indulging in ice cream. It’s hilarious to follow the Tweets from the people attending the show – a huge percentage talk about what flavor they’re having at the aptly named Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream near the convention center.
The most exciting part of TNNA for me, besides seeing my buddies of course, was the poster in the Cooperative Press booth showing photos from my upcoming book. Shannon Okey (in the photo below) and her team work very hard to bring excellent books to the market, and I’m thrilled that my Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues will be among them.
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I’m working with CP’s miracle-worker-Assistant-Editor Elizabeth Green Musselman to comb through every detail of the book to get it ready for publication. It won’t be long now!
I was lucky enough to go the the Best Workshop Ever this weekend. Kris and Oz, owners of the fantastic Ball & Skein & More in Cambria, California, combined their talents as crazy-fun hosts with Gwen Bortner’s excellent instruction style. The result? An intensive workshop sandwiched between sociable wining and dining.
Gwen’s workshop had something for everyone. The new skill for me? Using plastic canvas to add structure to a project. The pace of instruction made it so we could follow along, without getting overwhelmed. And we ended up with a versatile, cute little project at the end (or at least one we could finish up at home).
Gwen’s teaching style is clear, and she makes it a lot of fun.
For people coming from out of town, the workshop included accommodations at the Cambria Pines Lodge. It was the perfect location. It’s beautiful, set in the pines overlooking the village of Cambria. We had our own dedicated room for the workshop, and our own dining room as well. Kris and Oz greeted us at breakfast every morning.
Kris welcomed us into the shop Friday night for a special shopping spree. While most people ended up with armloads of gorgeous hand-dyed yarn, I finally gave in to temptation and bought a set of Addi Clicks lace needles – the ones with the very cool slit in the cord for carrying a life line.
The meals in our Very Own Dining Room gave the students a chance to get to know each other. On Saturday, we were treated to an extraordinary dinner at the local Madeline’s restaurant. Not only was the food and camaraderie fantastic, but we got to learn about Oz’s talents with a blow torch. If you want to find out what THAT was all about, you’re just going to have to come to the workshop yourself next year!
Day two of TNNA in Phoenix. It’s been fun showing some of the yarn companies sneak peaks of my book. I’ve had the pleasure of walking the convention floor with one of my very favorite designers, Stephannie Tallent. She has a fantastic book coming out, called “California Revival Knits”, also to be published by Cooperative Press.
Stephannie and I also have In common that we’re part of Knit Picks Independent Designer Program. Here’s me in my brand new February Lady Sweater, Stacey from Knit Picks, and Stephannie. Stephannie is wearing her gorgeous Wrought Iron Cardi from her upcoming book.
When I signed up for Cat Bordhi‘s Moebius workshop, I had only the vaguest idea of what a Moebius actually is. Wikipedia describes it as “a surface with only one side.” In knitting, I knew of it from intriguing shawls, scarves and cowls that look like strips with a twist in the middle.
The picture below shows the surpise supplies that greeted us in the workshop. No, the apple is not a lilliputian variety – I just put in in the photos for scale to show that the ball of yarn is really, really huge!
I couldn’t understand, why the giant yarn? Turns out the big yarn and big needles are just right for learning the special Moebius Cast-On. It also helps when creating a new design – it means fewer stitches to rip out when the unexpected happens. See the variegated yarn in the center of the work? That, oddly enough, is the cast on that Cat so brilliantly teaches. Yes, the knitting starts in the center and works outward! This is just the beginning of where the design process is turned on its head.
Here’s the strip I made to start conceptualizing how to create a pattern for the Moebius shape. Not only does it start in the center, but also patterns that slant one way in the beginning slant the other way when they come around the second half of the knitting.
If this sounds like gobbledy-gook, I can highly recommend Cat’s workshops. She also has a terrific YouTube video called “Intro to Moebius Knitting.”
My Moebius design will soon appear in… well, the Really Big Project that I can’t talk about yet.
ShiBui provided the lovely Highland Wool Alpaca yarn for Cat’s students, and the fabulous Addi Turbo needle came from Skacel.
What can I say about meeting Alasdair Post-Quinn at TNNA? That he’s the ace of double knitting design? That he shows great heart in the face of writing complicated patterns? No longer a diamond in the rough, he will soon be joining the club of published designers with a book?
If you suspect a playing card theme here, you’re right. I had the privilege of meeting Alasdair in the Cooperative Press booth at TNNA:
It turned out he was knitting playing cards!
He tells about his ingenious double knit scarf design in his Fallingblox Designs blog. A hint as to the fun, unexpected twist to this pattern is in its name: “Fifty-Two Pickup”.
I wanted to learn more about Alasdair, and was delighted to find him in Ravelry, as (no surprise) fallingblox where I found more examples of his patterns. Some very exciting news is that he will soon be coming out with a book titled Extreme Double Knitting. Anyone wanting the scoop on when the book will be available for pre-order can sign up for the Cooperative Press mailing list. Shannon Okey, of Knitgrrl fame and Cooperative Press publisher, tells me, “Extreme Double Knitting is going to be featured in an upcoming issue of Interweave Knits.” I’m really looking forward to that!
I leave you with one final image. Are these not the cutest baby booties ever?
Once again, TNNA was a lot of fun. I took great classes from Melissa Leapman and Cat Bordhi, re-connected with friends, and of course ogled beautiful new yarns.
I was lucky enough to stay on the 19th floor of the Hyatt. The view was incredible!
The down side to being that high was that when a terrific storm whipped up Friday night, the building swayed creepily. Even though I understand that tall buildings are designed to sway so they don’t break, I found little comfort in that knowledge as I watched the water in my glass gently slosh back and forth, and the drapes sway. I high-tailed it for the lobby, ending up on the elevator with a fellow wide-eyed knitter. We hunkered down in a first-floor room together, happily knitting and getting to know each other until the storm blew through.
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