Newsletters

Ever since I decided I must post to my blog in a regular fashion, I was concerned it would be difficult to find enough news to write about. However, it's turned out to the contrary. I'm finding that I have lots of ideas, although I admit I really should be adding photos. (Will work on that!) It was Garth, my talented, long-suffering 'website guy' who strongly encouraged me to start a blog.

At least I know one person reads it. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an email from a couple in PEI, literally hours after I'd posted the one about PEI. Have a look at their websites: http://www.briarcliffeinn.com/ and http://www.experiencepei.ca/.

Each week I receive number of newsletters, mostly by email. One which I always look forward to reading is the Knitter's Review by Clara Parkes (also the author of The Knitter's Book of Yarn). Her newsletters are always informative and even it's a review of a new yarn which I doubt I will use (at least in the short run), I enjoy reading Clara's thorough analysis of the properties of the yarn, washing instructions and a background of the mill where it's processed. Have a look at http://www.knittersreview.com./ The subject of the latest issue was a review of a new yarn company, Quince & Co., owned by Pam Allen. In reading more about Quince, I ended up spending way too much time on that website and especially found the associated links very interesting.

Last week my mail brought several newsletters from the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers & Dyers. They really do a great job and offer a variety of interesting articles--in fact there were a number of photos and an article of our group visit last July, when we spent another wonderful afternoon with the Guild. http://www.joycejamestours.com/. This get together is always something I treasure and a highlight of our tours to Scotland. It's like visiting old friends--they make us very welcome, bring along their knitting and spinning and to top it off, serve a delicious, homemade lunch. Each year, a member of our tour presents the Guild with a group contribution to help them with their endeavours to keep the traditional textile crafts alive. In a future blog, I'll share more of their articles.

Update on the Piecework Blanket: I've picked up at least 800 stitches and am knitting the seed stitch border. It's going to take awhile until this stage is completed.