• Updates
• 8

Sooooo, anyone wanna see what’s sitting on my shelf?

That looks suspiciously like a book.  A real live physical book.  The kind with ink and pages.  The kind you can pick up and hold and sniff and give yourself a papercut with.  And guys…it’s likely immodest to say this, but wow does it look good.  I love the e version too, but somehow the paper one always wins first place in my heart.

So, what does this mean for the folks who have ordered the book?  Well, the ones on the shelf are the author advance copies (the printer sends a tiny stack to the author before the big shipment goes out).  I can’t send you those.  There aren’t enough to go around, and I’m too busy petting them.  But, the good news is that the rest of the books have reached the distributor, and they should start shipping out late next week.  I’ll keep you updated as things progress, but it’s looking like everything should be in the mail before June 15!

Which brings me to one little reminder.  Up until now, the physical book has been offered at a pre-order discount.  Next week, when the book starts shipping, the discount will end.  So if you’ve been holding off on ordering because you wanted a firmer shipping date, but you still want the discount, this is the time to order.  And, on a similarly administrative note, the summer sale ends tonight, so if you’re looking for any individual patterns, this is a good chance to stock up.

• More Milestones
• 4

I showed you last month when I had half of the swatches for Book the Third finished up, so it seems only fair to show you the second half.  Now of course I’m mean, and I want to keep the details secret, so I’ll only show you a tiny picture (and one with all the good bits blurred out too).  Hopefully it will at least serve as proof of concept and reassure you that I have been up to something, even if I haven’t been turning out finished objects with any regularity.  I have a sneaking suspicion you’re really going to like that orange bit at the back when it’s revealed in all its glory. And I’m totally smitten with both the gray bit on the left and the brown bit on the right, both those  yarns are really yummy.

• Restraint
• 1

In a fit of unexpected restraint, I managed to purchase only two yarns at the Great Lakes Fiber Show.  Well, three skeins, but two of them are the same and will be used to make a pair of socks, so that’s practically only one skein, right?  And they’re both eye shatteringly bright.  We’ll pretend it’s a nod to the resurgence of neon, ok?

Up at the top there is Superwash Merino Worsted by Fiber Optic Yarns in the color Ellie.  Yes, that’s a thick yarn, and yes I’m likely going to make socks with it.  I love thick socks, both to wear and to knit (they feel like they’re done ever so much faster).  And most importantly, yes they really are that orange.

Down below is Superwash Wool Yarn by Steam Valley Fiber in the color Jewels.  This is destined to be a hat for The Boy.  He’s got very definitive feelings about purple.  There is one shade of purple he likes, and this is it.  I think there’s going to be plenty of yardage to do two hats, so I may have one out of this yarn too.  I promise not to wear it at the same time and place he does, so we won’t be overly matchy.

• More Critters
• 2

Earlier this month, we visited Maryland Sheep & Wool and got in our yearly recommended dose of sheepy goodness.  Yesterday, we stopped by the Great Lakes Fiber Show to round out our furry animal intake.  We also consumed our yearly ration of sugar-coated fried dough products (yes I know funnel cakes will kill you, but I’m hoping that eating half of one every other year will kill me fairly slowly).

These cuties were freshly shorn and wanted to show off for the camera:

I just can’t get over their fluffy giant heads on their tiny skinny necks.  They look like toys.  The Boy swears they must have been the inspiration for ewoks.

And of course, the bunnies.  Their cuteness needs no explanation.  One of these guys (one of the white ones, though I can’t swear which one) was playing Houdini and escaped from his enclosure.  He was safely retrieved, but I fear he may have been plotting another field trip.  He seemed like the sneaky type.

• Summer Sale
• 5

Somehow it slipped my mind that it’s a holiday weekend and the unofficial start of summer and all those lovely things.  Just to ward off any of that silly ‘the summer isn’t for knitting’ nonsense, I thought I’d have a little sale to encourage you to keep right on knitting, despite the thermometer!

So from now till the end of the day (eastern time) on May 31, all the individual patterns and small collections (so everything except the two big books) are 40% off.  All you have to do is go here, find what you like, and add it to your cart.  When you’re ready to checkout, look for the button that says ‘use a coupon code,’ it’s to the left of the ‘checkout now’ button.  Type in the word SUMMER, hit apply, and you’ll get 40% off.  Happy knitting!