Friday

Friends of the Library Bookshop


A nearby library has a great little bookshop in the lobby, run by their Friends of the Library group. I check it out every single time we stop in, and today was a great day.

The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, Cross-Stitch Patterns in Color, and six hardback Nancy Drew mysteries. $12. A banner day. 

Miss Terwilliger's Skirt to Knit


Do you know who Miss Terwilliger is? She is one of my favorite fictional knitting heroines. Her story is told in the children's chapter book, Homer Price. Miss Terwilliger's Skirt, my newest pattern, named in her honor, is found in the September/October issue of Piecework Magazine. 


If you haven't read Homer Price, you are missing out on an American treasure. A superhero in crisis, a donut machine gone wild, an adorable skunk... and a yarn ball contest grace its pages. Are you interested yet?


Miss Terwilliger, the town's local knitting instructor, enters a yarn ball contest with two of her suitors. I won't give away the punchline, but let's just say she is the cleverest of them all.

I designed a top-down skirt in a chevron lace for this literary project. The yarn is Savannah, from The Fibre Company, and it was the perfect yarn for this project. I love its subtle texture and body.


I was able to get a snapshot of the skirt before I sent it out to Interweave last spring. Do you see the ginormous ball of yarn in the illustration? It is the stashing knitter's worst fear-- having your complete stash exhibited to the world!


In Miss Terwilliger's case, a wall of her home had to be removed to make way for the yarn. Did you read Homer Price as a child? I didn't discover it until I had children of my own to read to.
I hope you enjoy the skirt, the article, and the "yarn" about yarn.


Monday

Hot August Knits Yarn Crawl


The family hit the road for another mini-aventure this past weekend as a part of the Hot August Knits Yarn Crawl here in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. We stopped in at Ewe Count in Cheyenne and Cowgirl Yarn in Laramie. It is always nice to see the friendly folks in Wyoming, check out the new yarns and things, and take in some scenery along the way. The weather was perfect, and we were home in time for dinner.


This young lady has been to a book signing in Cheyenne for all three of our books. She is growing up too fast! It is so much fun to see her and her family at Ewe Count.

We are getting near to the end of our summer book events... we have a book signing in our hometown of Loveland, CO, next weekend, at a sweet little shop called the Wool Basket. Fancy Tiger in Denver is hosting us on the evening of September 14, and I will be high-tailing it up to Scottsbluff, NE, first thing the next morning for the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair. After that, the calendar is pretty open, and I am planning on settling in for lots of knitting, spinning, and designing (shhh! there are two new books in the pipeline!) before the snow flies. I can't wait!


Wednesday

Our First Skype Interview!




This week we had a new first here at Slate Falls Press-- our first Skype interview! It was hosted by Veronika over at Yarn on the House. If you haven't checked out her website, you are missing out on a great opportunity to win beautiful yarn and read about some really inspiring designers and yarns!

Veronika is giving away a great package to a lucky commenter, which includes a copy of Phoebe's Birthday, 8 skeins of Cotton Fleece in Provincial Rose to knit Phoebe's Party Dress, a set of our stationery cards, and a Phoebe Mermouse doll kit.

photo courtesy of Yarn on the House

To watch the interview (Eric makes a guest appearance at the end) and read about how to enter to win, go check out the Yarn on the House Giveaway #93!



Tuesday

Phoebe Mermouse Doll Kits


Something new for us this summer- Phoebe Mermouse doll kits! The kits include:

- fat quarter of 100% cotton fabric in ivory
- fat eighth of Amy Butler Soul Peacock Feathers in Sea Glass
- 5" x 8" piece of Amy Butler Temple Tulips in Cinnamon
- 1 pink shell heart button for the nose
- 1 red heart button for the belly button
- Embroidery Floss in pink
- Embroidery Floss in brown
- 2 yards of 1/8" satin ribbon in teal
- 2 3" x 3" squares of quilt batting

To create the doll, you will need to supply sewing thread, toy stuffing, button eyes, and a flower button (optional).


Isn't she just adorable? 


The kits cost $8 and are available here in our Etsy shop.
Happy Stitching!

Friday

Little House Shawl

Shown in child size, yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Primavera

Inspired by the wonderful series of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I decided to design a lace shawl for our daughter, who recently started reading the books on her own. This surprisingly simple shawl is knit from the hem up, using very basic lace and shaping techniques. It makes for a great first lace or shawl project, as the only techniques needed to knit the Little House Shawl are: knit, purl, knit 2 together, and yarn over. Although it was designed specifically to fit the shoulders of a child, I was pleasantly surprised to find it makes a lovely shawlette for an adult, too, so I quickly cast on and made a second one for myself!

Shown in adult size, yarn is Lorna's Laces Honor in Hullaballoo

For more information on this pattern please visit our Ravelry page here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-house-shawl




This pattern was originally published in the Autumn 2011 edition of Rhythm of the Home magazine.

Wednesday

Phoebe's Birthday Book Tour, part 3, a photo diary

Our route, 5,500 miles in all. There and back again!

Crossing the river into Pennsylvania, Delaware Water Gap.

Heading into Amish country, the laundry lines are beautiful. Monday is washday!

First yarn shop on our way west is Lancaster Yarn Shop.

Another friendly knitter, by an antique spinning wheel.

I finally got to meet this friend from Ravelry in real life!

A Waldorf teacher and her daughter, they are both knitters, and she plans to share our books with her students.

My table of books and knits in Lancaster. Wendy, the owner of the shop, is just wonderful.

Amish tourism, roadside.

Marblehead Lighthouse, on the south shore of Lake Erie, is the oldest operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes.

The view from the top of the lighthouse was breathtaking.

We climbed a long set of spiral stairs to get to the top...

And going down made me just a little dizzy!

The view from the stairs.

Leaving the lighthouse.

Next yarn shop stop was Whitemore Lake Yarn Company in Michigan.

What a fun shop! Do you see Melynda from French Press Knits in the background?

Eric makes an appearance and talks with the knitters about his illustrations.

A candid moment with Maureen, the owner of the shop.

A little princess in her Phoebe's Sweater!

Maureen's granddaughter in Phoebe's Sun Romper, a pattern from the new book. It looks adorable in a nautical navy and white.

Our son with Melynda's daughter, looking across the way to Whitmore Lake, which is across the street from the shop.

We had a lovely dinner with Melynda and her husband and daughter, who graciously hosted us for the night in their beautiful home. We awoke to scrumptious freshly-baked scones, made by French Press Knits herself.

We headed west, into Chicago, up Lake Shore Drive.

We spent the afternoon watching the children swim in Lake Michigan. The water was beautiful and the company (my two cousins and their families) was fabulous.

We stopped at the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp in Eau Claire, WI.

I loved the authentic cookhouse.

And these enormous hand-knit mittens, just Paul's size. I wonder who knit them?

We passed through miles of fields, 

and saw a lot of grain elevators throughout the midwest. After a night in Minneapolis (oops- no photos!) we headed into South Dakota.

Athena Fibers, in Sioux Falls, is a lovely shop in a large home that was once a tea house.

I had a great time there signing books and chatting with the knitters in South Dakota!

Room after room of yarn and knitting supplies...

and I lovely selection of roving.

(Rabbit trail- I received some really exciting news, spinning related, while driving through Minneapolis. I will be able to share it soon!)

As we were leaving town we saw planes from a nearby airshow. This is our view from the highway. (Whoa, that windshield is getting dirty!)

We drove across South Dakota to our next destination, the Badlands. It was breathtaking during an early evening lightning storm.

Our youngest child thought perhaps we had traveled to the moon.

We had a great night in a "Kute and Kosy Kamping Kabin" at the White River Badlands KOA, which is owned by some dear family friends of ours from Colorado, the Kyles. 

Our last yarn shop stop was at C R Yarn in Rapid City. Rita, also known as Castle Fibers, was a great hostess and I enjoyed getting to know her more.

Eric on his last round of signatures, for this trip, at least!

We drove through northwestern Nebraska, and made a quick stop in at Brown Sheep Co, which is right next to the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

East, West, home is best. 
What a true joy to return to our home in beautiful Colorado. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our big adventure! The evening chats, cups of coffee, fun in the sun, and goodbye hugs are with us still, and we will treasure the memories forever. Maybe we will do it all over again some day!