Fun With Thumbs, and More

Wanna spend my birthday with me?  On April 19 & 20, I'll be teaching at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival!  On Saturday the 19th, we'll spend the whole day covering Selbuvotter (Norwegian Mittens), their history, cultural significance, and of course, construction.  I'll be covering two different thumb architectures: 

1.  Traditional, gusseted thumbs:

And 2.  Sassy, slotted thumbs:

Attendees get BOTH of these patterns, and everything you need to know to make them!

Then, on Sunday the 20th, I'll be teaching "Start to Finish", a workshop on project planning and finishing techniques, where your homework is just to pick out a new knitting project. (Really?  Sanctioned Start-itis? Yes!  You're welcome!).

Visit HERE to sign up.  We'll be in beautiful Hood River, Oregon; home of microbreweries, windsurfing, and YARN.  Did I mention there'll be a fantastic marketplace?  Well, there will, as well as classes with Sarah Anderson (spinning!) and Linda Gettman (weaving!). 

You cannot lose, unless you don't come.

Spring Break

We took Monday afternoon off, to celebrate a day of clear weather which coincided with Phillip and the kids being out of school.  The wind at the beach was wicked, so I hunkered down in a sheltered spot and worked on JWS while the gang cavorted.

Notice anything new on JWS?  How about now?:

There's a finished neckline now!  Worried that I would run out of yarn, I pulled the opposite end from the center of my ball and worked the neckline ribbing from it, leaving the main working yarn in place at the bottom.  Once that was done, I returned to working the rest of the body.  I'm so close to the end!  Too bad I'm totally going to run out of yarn.  Story of my life.  On my tombstone, they will chisel "Failed to Estimate Yardage Correctly".

Trying not to let that knowledge harsh the rest of my afternoon, I grabbed some loved ones and squished them.

Good medicine, that.

Got the Message

Some e-mails are more fun than others.  If you've ever shopped at amazon.com, you know that they data-mine your every move, and then send you mail suggesting that you buy other things just like the thing you already bought.  This morning I got a message from amazon suggesting that I should really buy some new knitting books.

Not a bad idea, I thought, and checked their list of suggestions

Call me crazy, but that one there at the very bottom looks like a real winner...

Seriously, is there anything more surreal than getting an email suggesting that you buy a book you have written?  Ha Ha.  Thanks Amazon!