Hi Knitters,I have things to share with you today. I want to quickly share a couple yarns I picked up at Purl while in NYC. I am so excited about this gorgeous Koigu KPPPM #P854. It is so fall-inspired with dark chocolate, rusty oranges and reds, golden honey and luscious greens. The colorway is rich and full and beautiful and dark and cozy. I am not sure what type of socks I will make but they need to be worthy. The yarn is full with color already so the pattern will need to be a simple one.
One more quick find from Purl is this kettle dyed skein from Farmhouse Yarns. It is 400 yards of Fannie's Fingering Weight in the Rainforest colorway. I have been completely drawn to greens of all sorts lately. The greens here could be from any forest really. Check out this collection of yarn, it all looks like candy or ice cream or something decadent.Which brings me to these. My daughter and I will be making up a batch later this aft. Can't wait. I haven't made this recipe before so I'll let you know how it goes.
My daughters both had birthdays this summer and had a couple gift cards to use up from Barnes and Noble. Right when we walked in we spotted Kevin Henkes' newest release, Old Bear. We are huge fans, huge. We have all of his books. Not only does he live in Madison, which always makes my heart grow fonder, but what a genius talent he possesses. I think one of the most difficult things to do in story writing is to limit your words right down to the bare bones and still convey the feeling and detail that is the meat of the story. Kevin achieves this with so few words. Old Bear is one of the top picture books I have read lately. This author clearly shares a love of the seasons right along with the old bear. You feel the seasons shift and change as the old bear vividly dreams away the cold winter to awake to a glorious spring. It is a joyously short story with simple but magical illustrations.
Here is the book my other daughter picked with her gift card, How to Find Flower Fairies. Talk about a magical book (this is one of a series of books). It is set in the 1930's and is written by Cicely Mary Barker. She is a woman who has found proof that fairies exist and she tells you the secrets to finding fairies in 5 different settings: the tree tops, the forest floor, the garden, the wayside and the marshes. The book is written in a scrappy, journal style but best of all it has fantastic pop-ups along the way.
The tree top pop-up page is wonderful, it is my favorite. You have to look in all of the creases and crevices between the leaves to see all of the magical finds in here.
The garden page is my daughter's favorite due to the colors. The book even has "actual" photographs of fairies taken by Cicely's camera. What a great, fun book.I have some links to share with you. I have been searching patterns lately, you know, for the p.o.a. So here are a few patterns that you may want to add to you p.o.a. along with me:
yummy
cozy (this is a ravelry link, couldn't find another one for you)
springy
loopy
Check out these posts from Kristin for some great inspiration:
zinnias
sunflowers
Country Home tribute (I've got to get this issue, quick.)
Fabric Printing (This has to be done with a certain someone over here.)
Check out this flower tutorial from Betz. Little rosettes are the best.
Okay, for now I must leave you. Have a beautiful holiday weekend if I don't get back sooner. It's supposed to be a glorious one in Madison, hope it is for you, too.
best, susie