glove, gift, book

Here's a shot of the first Regia Crazy glove. I finished the thumb gusset last night:



I think it's pretty successful. I'm using the simple glove pattern in the Vogue on-the-go book.

I gave the campus nurse her baby present yesterday. It's probably good I did, she's looking VERY pregnant now and said that her replacement would be in next week to "shadow" her so she'd get a chance to see how the office runs.

Both the hat and the books were very well-received. She said she "loved" Little Bear and that she prefered the "classic" (well, I'm not sure I'd call books published around the time we were children "classic," but, whatever) children's books to the newer ones.

She also said, after exclaiming over the hat (and hugging me [as best as someone eight months pregnant can], and calling in everyone else working in that office to see it) that "I hoped there was something you knit in that bag."

She also said she was happy to receive one thing that wasn't pink. (I had honestly forgotten if she had even told me if it was a boy or girl so I went with a nice leaf green color).

She's probably about my age (or maybe a couple years younger). She knows a lot of the children's authors I liked - mentioned Richard Scarry, which was one of my favorites (the carrot car! the banana car!). She's also the only other person I've ever met who knew what Puzzletown was (sorry, that's the best link I could find). It was a toy based on Richard Scarry's books - sort of fiberboard "building pieces" with a slotted base so you could build the buildings of the city. They were all printed with Scarry's drawings - so, for example, the inside of the department store had racks of clothes and a cash register and all that printed on the inside walls. There were also little figures of the characters, and vehicles. (It's the kind of toy that I wish they still made). I had several of the sets (still have, as far as I know - they were at my parents' house last I checked. And NO, I will not sell them.). Fun, fun toy - I was probably a bit old for it already when I received it but I still really had a lot of fun building and trying out new configurations.

I also told her about Bill Peet, another of my favorite children's book author/illustrators.

And the book - I broke down and ordered myself a copy of "Handknit Holidays." It came yesterday (this is the new Melanie Fallick book, not the other similarly titled book that's out right now.). It boasts patterns for "Christmas, Hanukkah, and Solstice." Well, it does have a menorah pillow, and a Solstice-themed (or so they say, I'm no authority on Solstice) table runner, but most of the decorating projects are Christmas. (So if you celebrate the other holidays, it may not be as useful to you). There are some cute garments though. Probably the most-likely-to-make-first are the cabled "Log Cabin" socks - worsted-weight and warm-looking. There are also a number of interesting hats. And a very cute knitted dog and cat. And several shawls, including a lovely, Swedish-folkloric-pattern-inspired Fair Isle shawl made out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot. And there's a nice gansey in there that I might be making with the dark green alpaca I've had in stash for over a year.

It's similar in style to "Weekend Knitting" (but with fewer "diversions" - there is a cookie recipe but there's less of what some derided as "extraneous" or "frou frou" stuff than in "Weekend Knitting") or "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts."

It does have a number of "unexpected" items in it - things I'd not think to knit (and still might not, but still, it's interesting to consider them) as well as some scarves, hats, mittens, afghans, etc. that are more "typical" and would be good for gifts.

My one complaint - and I don't know if this is just the grumpy comment of someone with no LYS - is that many of the patterns use unfamiliar yarns. Or yarns without a wide availability. I know, I know, I can and usually do substitute a yarn in a pattern, but sometimes, it's kind of exhausting to flip through page after page of patterns featuring "Exotica's Obscurofiber" or "Teeny Tiny Farm's Limited-access Mulespun" or "No-See-'Um brand Fancy Shiny Yarn That You Really Need to Use For this Project or it Won't Be The Same Even Though You Can't Find the Yarn ANYWHERE."

Now, maybe the lucky souls in Manhattan or San Francisco or even Taos have yarn shops that carry all this exotic goodness. But the catalogs I get - and most of the online shops I frequent - don't. (I will say there are some patterns calling for Brown Sheep or Mountain Colors or other more familiar yarns. But still.)