Books and Magazines

I LOVE to read. I LOVE to knit and craft. So combine the two and I am one happy girl..or woman..or old lady, whatever!

So this week has indeed been a special one.

First of all the magazines. You may be one of those who visit Pat Winter's crazy quilt site. If you aren't, you should be LOL. She does the MOST incredible work. My eyes and fingers ache just thinking about all those stitches! And she dyes, and and and. She's also a truly nice person, and the one who sent me all the incredibly wonderful snips of trims and pieces of fabric so that I too could try out crazy quilting. alas, I am still trying to get up the nerve. I don't want to mess any of them up. Of course, I've fondled them so much they are probably all worn out already. But here's the thing. She's an entry in the $100,000 Quilting Challenge. And I just could not find the most recent issue of the mag so I could see her entry in all it's non-blogged picture glory. But finally, at Hobby Lobby, there it was. Was it silly to tell all the people in line that they must go vote for her? I even showed the checker her entry! So, in case you haven't seen it, here's the cover..go look. AND VOTE.

Her entry is on the right hand side and is called Life Within a Garden. If I could, I'd hold your hand and help you vote LOL.

Second, I was intrigued awhile back when Cat posted about a British knitting magazine called Simply Knitting. I love all things British and this was just so cool that this magazine was available at Borders. But um, not at mine. At least I never found it. I looked all over the internet thinking surely some of the big yarn places would carry it, but nada. Recently though I discovered Angel Yarns which is a British yarn company, and shazamm they had it!!!! And thy have wonderful yarns too, with magical names. Doesn't Fairy or Folly sound like magical yarn?So through the wonder of Paypal I ordered it. And it arrived this week. Oh what fun! Wonderful patterns, an additional little magazine from Rowan and a knitting calendar for the new year. And wonderful yarn stores that I haven't seen before. Of course, they are across the sea LOL
Lots of patterns...even a hedgehog in a bathrobe and slippers and carrying a hot water bottle! And it's BIG..big pictures make me happy! So, just now, when I went to get the link (and they have some great yarn too, I discover that there is a new issue. I have to go to a funeral at 10:30 (how strange is that timing on a Sunday morning) and then I shall head off to the City to check my Borders and see if they have the new one. If not...I guess it's back to Paypal! Must have.

And last, but certainly not least, is a new book. Crafter's Companion. This was truly a strange buy. I was at work one day, surfing during my lunch time. It had been a horrid day, and a not very good week and I was feeling quite put upon LOL. So when I saw a notice about this book, I ordered it. Having no real idea of what it was, who did it yadda yadda. I just wanted something for ME. And it arrived this week too! All of the participants are young (to me)bloggers, and some of them were even blogs I have read. It has projects, but the most fun for me was reading about how they each got started, what them, and where they create. Great fun for a craft voyeur. If you get a chance to see this, check it out. You may not be interested in the crafts shown, but it's still fun.

Knitting? What's that? Just kidding. The seed stitch scarf goes on slowly and I think I shall start another Farrow Rib for a Christmas gift. I was doing it in a 4x4 rib but the thing was curling way too much and shhhh it's acrylic. No comments, it just needs to be. So I couldn't block it. It's now unraveled and napping in the Hobby Lobby bag. And since I needed to rest my wrists from the seed stitch madness, I started a Irish Hiking wristwarmer/mitt for me last night. I didn't even know there were mitts to match but thanks to Victoria I learned better LOLHave only gotten through the first repeat, and I must say I need to not chew on my bottom lip so hard when I do the cable LOL. Maybe pics of my progress when I'm a bit farther along.