Recently in Knitting Category

I've always envied those people who could bake scrumptious cookies, decorate them, package them in pretty tins, and give them as gifts.  Or bake a loaf of moist homemade bread, and put it in plastic wrap with a big red ribbon on top.  Or take a glass canning jar and artfully layer it with the ingredients for something indecently good (like butterscotch brownies), screw the top on tight, and tie the recipe on with a ribbon.

Being a knitter, I think about homemade gifts a lot.  Actually, how can I not? 

Maureen Johsnon has suggested, in a comment to my last knitting-related blog, that rather than my trying to figure out how to adapt hat patterns myself, I ask readers to send them in.

OK, readers. Here’s your chance. I’m looking for childrens’ hat patterns to knit with sock yarn. If you have one, send it on in. You can do that either by adding a comment to this blog, or by sending me a note here. Thanks!

I’m a knitter. But then, you probably already know this. My passion for knitting shows up in Family Tree. More and more, when I talk with groups about this book, someone asks me about my current project.

What am I working on right now? With winter not far in New England’s future?

Hats. I’m making hats. Some alpaca. Some merino. Some with ear flaps, some without. Some in garter stitch, some in stockinette stitch, some in seed stitch. Some with pom-poms, some with curlicues, some with I-cord knots. But all hats.

Lots of them are newborn hats, to cover the tiny heads of babies about to be born to people I know. But I’m also making toddler hats and kid-sized hats for some special little folks. I’ve actually found several fabulous hat patterns that use sock yarn, and since I have a huge stash of sock yarn, I’m delighted to dip in. Most are hand-painted, and so warm and soft, you could die!

But that’s not what the contest is about. I’m not raffling off my sock yarn, and I’m certainly not raffling off one of my hats.

No, I’m offering a Family Tree Knitting Collection kit. It includes twenty skeins of Berroco Pure Merino yarn, plus needles, plus the patterns that make up the Family Tree collection. We’re talking a shawl, a throw, a baby layette, and a diaper bag – all items that one of the characters in Family Tree either knitted or wore.

To enter, simply go to the Contact page here at my site and send a note indicating that you are entering the Family Tree Knitting Contest. The deadline is October 30, 2007, which is the day that the new trade paperback edition of Family Tree goes on sale.

One entry per person. Enter now!

Have you been wondering this? I haven't made a blog entry since before Thanksgiving. But please know that I am here, that I am writing, that I am preparing for the holidays, and that I am knitting. The latter is the subject today. I promised you more on the Berroco Yarn Company connection to the Family Tree tour, and here it is.

With a yarn store in the background of Family Tree, Berroco is in the process of designing four Family Tree patterns. One is for a woman's wrap, one for a baby bunting, one for a felted tote, one for a small afghan/throw. Once these are fully designed and samples are knitted, Berroco will schedule a photo shoot and produce a glossy brochure containing the Family Tree patterns. I've started to knit one of them myself -- the throw. It's done in hexagons, one connected to the other in an exquisitely artistic design by Norah Gaughan. You knitters out there will recognize this name. Norah and Margery Winter, the creative director at Berroco, are both incredibly talented.

The Family Tree pattern brochure will go on sale in early February, coinciding nicely with the publication of Family Tree. Berroco will be putting together gift baskets for each of the stops on my tour. AND I will be wearing Berroco sweaters during my tour! So check out those cities and see if you can't work a visit into your schedule.

You know I'm a knitter, right? I've been one since I was a child. My mother died when I was 8, and she was sick for 5 years before that. One of the few memories I have of her is of holding my hands up so that she could use them to wind a hank of yarn into a ball. I learned to knit soon after she died and haven't stopped. I knit Fair Isle sweaters in college, and, later, I knit big long vests for my pregnant working self. I crocheted sweater coats when the kids were little so that I could spend clothing money on THEM.

And it goes on. Today, I knit on airplanes, on weekends, and daily, during the evening news. I'm in a weekly knitting group, and my stash here at home is getting out of control. But I love it. I truly do. Which is why the latest twist to the Family Tree tour in February is absolutely delighting me.

Berroco, a major yarn company with distribution in every state in America, will be co-sponsoring this tour! I'm going out to the company headquarters this Monday to meet with the Berroco creative powers that be, and I'm beside myself with excitement. Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of knitting two projects with Berroco yarn -- an olive-colored, cabled beret made of "Ultra Alpaca" and a ruffled scarf in a bright sapphire shade of "Pure Merino." Sound luscious? Well, here's another lure. During our meeting Monday, we'll be discussing Family Tree patterns that Berroco will be designing to coincide with publication of the book.

So if you're a knitter, warm up your needles. More to come on the Berroco connection in my next blog.

That said, knowing knitting is NOT a prerequisite to loving Family Tree. Trust me on that.

What should I give Robert for Christmas? He's an adorable 37-year old who just bought a house with his partner, but I have no idea how they're decorating it, so forget something for the house.

A bottle of fine wine? Or champagne? To join all the other bottles of fine wine or champagne his clients will give him? Yawn.

But Robert has a dog he loves. She's a toy poodle, and she spends her day going from lap to lap of whatever client is willing, which means mine, when I'm there.

So I've decided to knit Lollie a sweater. I've never knit a dog a sweater before, but there are some new books out, so I pored over different patterns. The one I picked is very simple. I mean, do we really need cables and glitz on a sweater for a dog with furry white poufs according to season and multi-colored streaks on her ears according to her owner's whim? No, we do not.

The sweater is actually mostly done -- toy poodles don't take a very big size. It's worked in stockinette stitch, striped hot pink and lime green, with hot pink ribbing at the neck, arms, and hem.

Will Lollie love it? I don't know. But Robert will, and that's what counts!

With the coming of Thanksgiving, I take to heart those who have posted notes in the GUESTBOOK about missing the old website. I am touched by your loyalty and gratified that the old features worked well for you. So ...

First, I apologize for the disappointment I've caused and do hope that, in time, you all will see the advantages of this new site -- not the least of which being this blog, which is far better than once-a-month news, don't you think?

Second, as a novelist, my bottom line -- indeed, my obligation to my readers -- is to write the best book possible. I am grateful for the gift of time that I've been given for that.

And third, I wish all my readers, whether they celebrate our American Thanksgiving or not, a very happy and healthy weekend!

That's right. I'm knitting with buffalo wool. One very wise woman, Ruth Huffman, apparently felt it was wrong for buffalo to be used for meat and hide but not for wool, so she developed a yarn made from the soft fleece that grows underneath the more coarse hair of the American buffalo.

It's pricey stuff, but I was curious. So, at americanbuffaloproducts.com I ordered a kit that includes a 2-oz skein of yarn and a pattern to make a cable headband (I wear these in winter over a ballcap to keep my ears warm).

The yarn is sports weight and, yes, a chocolately buffalo brown. Hey, I'm game. Will let you know how it plays.