Well Bust My Buttons!

Our very own knitting group alumna Anne Merrow has a book!

Double billing with Ann Budd. That's like playing golf with Juli Inkster.

Knit me up some vinyl

For one serious moment today, I considered ending the yarn thing and taking up records.

After a very nice brunch here, during which Emily experienced the joy that is Eggs Benedict for the first time in her life, we went to this record store and life slowed down to thirty three and a third. This store was strangely like a LYS: the old stand-bys in the back, the stuff you've read about but never touched on the left, and and the completely unnecessary but satisfying impulse buy (in my case, a compliation of cover songs of The Carpenter's Greatest Hits) on the right.

And just like a good LYS, the fellas behind the counter were gossiping about someone I met briefly 15 years ago and to whom I took an instant disliked for no reason at all; it was good to catch up on old friends.

We ended the day by a quick trip to Yarn Tree which has a great selection of Frog Hill yarn, but also had a funky gas leak smell inside, so we just stayed a few minutes. I would hate to be blown up while shopping for yarn.

I'm A Frayed Knot

I spent the better part of this last week - the last week, no lie! - unwinding this skein of yarn that I got from Briar Rose at Sheep and Wool. It's 1,000 yards and if you stood on 14th Street holding one end and I walked down Washington Street holding the other end, I could go all the way to 4th street and not even pull the yarn tight.


I'm guessing it took about 6 hours to unravel and rewind the sucker, but I multi-tasked by celebrating golfer/non-knitter Jerry Lewis' 81st birthday by watching The Nutty Professor, and The Caddy .

And Mrs. Miniver, which I know is not a Jerry Lewis movie, but has a lot of knitting in that movie. The best knitting part is when the family is cozily hunkered down in their air raid bunker and Mr. Miniver - ever the gentleman! asks Mrs. Miniver to make sure she has everything before the bombing starts because he won't risk his life for her knitting needles.

Back in the Saddle Again

You know, for the past few weeks, I really haven't felt like knitting a damn thing.

I think it is a bad case of Fiber Fatigue. I'm coming off several months of thrilling hardcore holiday/birthday knitting, plus the Sockstravaganza, and don't forget the orgy of Sheep and Wool. I knew something was wrong when I had so much trouble with that f-ing Jaywalker sock.

But I hit rock bottom with the Majolica Sweater. It's a beautiful sweater, fun to knit and simply constructed. But I didn't buy enough yarn to finish it. I ran out of the green with only 2 inches of sleeve to go. I always over- buy, so this is a real shock to me, not having enough yarn.

So, what would you do? Start another project of course.

I picked this super cute pattern from Kristin Nicholas. If you don't know about this designer who is a regular contributor to Interweave Knits, I recommend you check out her site. She designed that aboveforementioned short-armed Majolica sweater.

Beyond the super cuteness, this is a fast knit. I used these colors because they look great, and I took some liberties with the solid color design and made just a plain basketweave stitch instead. This pattern calls for lightly felting the sweater to give it a warm fuzzy look, but I have not decided if I am going to do that.

You are always in My Hall of Fame

She doesn't knit, but her husband was a golfer, and she is my hero.

Strickarbeit

I seem to have recovered enough from the jet lag caused by our vacation to this yarn store in Berlin last week.

First, the vacation was great. If you want to read a whole lot more about it, you can check out our overachieving- family travel blog here.

But of course you want to know about the knintting scene and I'm telling you: send your widows and orphans to a needy German knitter. Don't go to Berlin for the yarn. Or the golf, for that matter! I did have a pleasant visit to Fadeninsel, which unfortunately translates to "String Island". Lots and lots of acrylic in bright colors for about $1 a skein, which I will confess to you that I purchased, since I wasn't sure I would find a better score during my trip and frankly, dope is dope, right?


Surprisingly, I could only discover one other yarn store in the city, at the supercalifragilisticexpialadocious KaDeWe Department Store. They had an entire little annex with arts and crafts supplies, fabric and sewing notions and this wall of - you guessed it, largely acrylic - yarn:


Imagine a whole country where they just aren't into knitting! It forced me to fill my days in other ways so here are some things I discovered:

• Berlin's answer to MaryKate and Ashley.
• Curry wurst.
• Exquisa - thought it was yogurt, but it is actually cake frosting, and I served it to my family every day for breakfast until a helpful shop keeper gave me the 411.