Saturday

Cast On Magazine

by Phoebe
Winter 2010. 
Great gloves, Bavarian Traveling Stitches, Olympic Hats, Ruffles, Machine Knitting, and... Phoebe's Sweater!   Check out page 6 in the book reviews.  How does it make me feel to be reviewed alongside Nicky Epstein, Maria Erlbacher, and Judy Sumner?  Thankful.  Extremely thankful.  Who knew that I, a humble little knitted mouse, would end up here? 

Monday

LambShoppe

by Phoebe
This is Morgen, a brand new friend I met at the LambShoppe in Denver.  An aspiring knitter, Morgen had a great time playing with the knits in the trunk show... trying on Phoebe's Sweater, making sure I had mine on too, and dressing and undressing Freddie Platypus.

We had a great time at the LambShoppe, which, we decided, is very much like the candy shop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except that the shelves are stocked with yarn, not candy.
They certainly have shelves and shelves of yarn here.  And I have never been to a shop with quite so many people sitting and knitting- it was great! 

Our youngest visitor was Maddie, whose knitting mama was already looking for the perfect yarn to knit a Phoebe's Sweater for her next fall.  She and May got along just fine!

In addition to being a busy shop full of knitting knitters, I have yet to see such a dog-friendly yarn shop.  Friendly and well-behaved pups streamed through the shop all afternoon, and, they even have a book at the shop (called, of course, Dogs) featuring the LambShoppe's favorite dog.  I just love the flying fur!
We had a great time sharing our book and our knits with the knitters and readers at the LambShoppe this weekend...

Thank you for having us!

Thursday

And the winner is....

Stephanie~ who wrote, "What a beautiful book! Thanks for introducing us to it! I would love to win!"  Congratulations, Stephanie!  Thank you all for the kind comments about Mandy's new book.  She is giving away a copy of Phoebe's Sweater this week on her blog if you want to check it out!  I wanted to share a photo of one of Mandy's other designs, published as a single pattern called "i heart you"- this has been a favorite pattern of ours for some time now.  Happy Knitting!


Tuesday

Meet May

by Phoebe
Meet my new friend, May.  She is making her debut this winter in our new storybook, Freddie's Blanket, and will be on the road with me this winter.  Mother and Father are busy in their studios this very second putting finishing touches on this new book... I can't wait to show it to you!  The illustrations are coming along so well...


...and there are four new knitting patterns to accompany the story!

This is our wonderful photographer, Christa, holding her nephew, one of our models for the knitting patterns.  We love that this book is truly a family affair!

May is named after a wonderful Australian author named May Gibbs. We are captivated by her characters, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, and have fallen for them just like we have fallen for our new knitted friends, the platypodes (this is the proper pluralization of platypus, in case you were wondering).

Welcome to the Slate Falls Press family, May!

Thursday

Book Giveaway~ The Red Collection by Mandy Powers


Thank you, this giveaway has ended.
We are happy to announce we are giving away a signed copy of The Red Collection by Mandy Powers!  This is a great new indie-published knitting pattern book and we have simply fallen in love with the dynamic patterns for knitted accessories worked in a simple color palette of black, white, gray, and red.  The photography is awesome, the color charts are clear and easy to read, and the book includes a great tutorial on how to block your hand knits.  Congratulations to Mandy for publishing her collection of knitting patterns on her own like this- we are seeing so many interesting self-published knitting books this year!

Ziggity Hat

Holly Jean Mittens

Drifty Hat
(this is my favorite!)

To enter, please leave a comment on today's post- a winner will be randomly selected a week from today!
Thank you, Mandy, for providing a signed copy of your book to one of our lucky readers!  The giveaway also includes the digital pattern pack so you can store all of the patterns digitally in your ravelry library!

Sunday

Hill Top Jacket ~Joanna Johnson

The Hill Top Jacket, named in honor of Beatrix Potter’s farm, is a “grown-up” version of Phoebe’s Sweater, the girl’s pattern from our children’s knitting book of the same name. After dozens and dozens of requests for a women’s version of this sweater, we are happy to offer the Hill Top Jacket for sale in nine sizes ranging from 29”-62”. The Hill Top Jacket is a seamless garment knit from the hem up in a bulky weight wool.
As a special feature of this pattern, the pdf includes stationary (drawn by Father) of an English Sheepdog overlooking a flock of sheep on a hillside. Of course the dog is wearing a handknit sweater! You may print as many of the illustrated cards as you like for your personal use. We decided to do this after many requests for stationary of Father’s artwork, and hope you enjoy this addition to the knitting pattern’s features.
Teresa, who models the jacket, is a modern day Beatrix Potter. She has raised sheep since she was given a pair of orphan lambs at the tender age of 12. An avid spinner and knitter, Teresa has helped students at a local high school log over 10,000 hours knitting hats for charity, and is currently writing a chapter book about a favorite family horse, that is, when she is not caring for her flock of Registered Rambouillet sheep!
The Hill Top Jacket is available for purchase here online in PDF format.

Prints of Eric's illustration are available here in our Etsy shop.
Thanks for reading!

Saturday

~Fancy Tiger Crafts

by Phoebe
My first trip to Fancy Tiger Crafts was so much fun!  This is a very special shop that carries knitting, sewing, and crafting supplies for the savvy crafter.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks!

This is a wall of yarn that makes you go "mmmmm...." 
Mmmmmalabrigo.... Mmmmmadelinetosh......
The color palette of the yarns was simply stunning!

Mother (pictured here) and I met a fabulous group of kids at the book signing...
Here you see a creative pair- one is a writer and the other is an artist.  Maybe they will write a children's book together someday!

This sweet baby girl liked me a lot.  She is fortunate to have a knitting mama- maybe she will knit her a Phoebe doll someday!

Something that made this night really special is that my little cousin came to the book signing!  He was such a good little boy at the book signing and had a nice time visiting with Freddie Platypus... I hope we can come back to Fancy Tiger when Freddie's book is done!

I had a great time meeting Anya, who was born in Russia, and loves to swim, ski, and ice skate. 

Mira made a special trip to the shop with her mother (who is a talented seamstress) to have her copy of Phoebe's Sweater inscribed.

She also had a fun time playing with Freddie's sister May and her handknit doll clothes.

Zoe and her grandmother came into the shop for a book, too, and while they were there, they picked out some pretty purple yarn for Zoe's very own sweater.  What a nice grandma she has!

Thank you Jaime and Amber, for hosting our book signing at your fabulous shop!

Thank you Fancy Tiger and your friendly, helpful staff, for welcoming us this week!

Thursday

Cricket Loom Love

by Phoebe
A 1984 Fisher-Price Weaving Loom captured our creative interest last winter, if you recall, and Sister has quickly moved on to this clever loom- the Cricket Loom, which is made right here in our home state of Colorado by Schacht Spindle Company.

The loot bag of yarn we brought home from the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair has been put to good use... with a few enjoyable afternoons of practiced weaving, Sister completed her first "real" weaving project:

And we are making plans to do it all over again. 
And again and again.


Tuesday

A Phoebe for Ruby

I would like to introduce you to Ruby.  Ruby lives in Kansas and is the daughter of a long-time family friend.   Ruby's grandmother was one of the very first people to purchase Phoebe's Sweater last spring when it was first published.  She gave the book to her granddaughter and then secretly arranged for Aunt Dagne to knit Phoebe Mouse and her sweater for Ruby's recent birthday.  So although Phoebe's Sweater has been a favorite bedtime story for months, this is the first time she has seen a very real Phoebe Mouse doll!

This little princess will have a lot of fun with her very special handmade gift for years to come.  Look how she is commenting on the fine stitches crafted with love by Aunt Dagne!