Where Hands Create.

Whew - the past couple of weeks have flown by - and I didn't even get a blog post in last week.  To catch everyone up....

The Boston trip was great - and I learned a great deal at the Harvard Colloquium on Quality & Safety.  The speakers were great - and obviously you can imagine, there was a lot of discussion on healthcare quality reform, etc.  In between sessions - we were able to visit four shops in the Boston area - two in Cambridge, one in Brookline, and the best one was from our afternoon in Lexington! 

The shop in Lexington was fantastic - Wild and Woolly on the Green.  The owner Jacquelyn Katzenstein has had a shop in Lexington for 32 years - and has even survived a shop fire 18 years ago.  Truly she had a wealth of patterns, fantastic yarn, etc.  I did have a bit of envy that she has a "first floor" under the shop that is just as cozy and useful as you could imagine.  While visiting with Jacquelyn, she was impressed that Scott and I knew the history of Lexington.  She said far too many people don't realize the impact.  In case you are not a history nerd:

It was here, on the morning of April 19, 1775, that "the first blood was spilt in the dispute with Great Britain," as George Washington wrote in his diary. In this first skirmish, 77 Minutemen (local colonists who had volunteered to be first responders to military and other threats) faced British Regulars. Eight Minutemen lost their lives and 10 were wounded. Two British soldiers were also injured. After the battle, Samuel Adams exclaimed to John Hancock, "What a glorious morning for America!"

Fall is here no matter what the weather says.  It is August - kids are getting ready to go back to school - and our Fall yarns are coming in each week.  Oh, what fun!  As we received a great new shipment of Classic Elite Yarns this week, we had to move some stuff around to make room.  Mom and I did go a bit overboard with a bit of furniture shifting too!  I really love the comfy knitting area - really makes the stitches fly while sitting there admiring the yarns....  For some reason, it makes the shop look bigger.  What do you think?



As for the new yarns, many go along with the new books.  I am particularly taken with the Jared Flood book entitled, Made in Brooklyn.  The patterns are what you would expect from Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed fame.  If you haven't heard of him, definitely check out his blog, and you will see many of the new projects in the book.  You can see that Laurel, too, is a fan - and I am thinking she likes that pure cashmere that goes with one of the patterns....


We had several new knitters come into the shop today to check in with their progress or further their skills a bit more.  One is Silvia who finished her first scarf!  Look at that smile!


We also had a knitting group from Central Texas (e.g., Lampasas, Marble Falls, Burnet) - and many were knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman's Adult Surprise Jacket.  Fun seeing the yarn/color combinations.  Min had finished hers - and it is a work of art!


Well, tomorrow I am off to Boston so I am sadly not going to be able to get my two days of the shop.  Sob!  However, I am sure I will have a great time in Boston.  Scott is coming along - but this is a business trip.  I am excited to be able to participate in the Harvard Quality Colloquium.  It is a four day conference focused on healthcare quality and patient safety.  My brain will be full - and with the travel, I should get some great knitting done too!  AND I did find a few knit shops to check out in between classes....

Yes, even the best of us can succumb to Hat Envy....   There are a multitude of THE cutest baby hats in the world with a variety of techniques, yarns, and generally just call to be knitted.  

I did catch a touch of Hat Enby this past Friday when Darcy shared her wonderful selection of baby hats with us!   Many of the patterns have come from Baby Beanies,  but there are several other great sources of patterns to adorn pint-sized heads that have inspired Darcy.  Each one is a work of art.  Going from the top left - look at the sweet big and little sister hat set...  The little purple one in the top center is a pie-tart hat that includes a crust edging - and you cannot miss the red and white "Seussical" hat in the bottom center.  What fun!  Truly you cannot help but smile when you see these.

On Friday night, each member of the group had a different hat as their "favorite" and often couldn't pick just one.  I do think the "martian" hat (green with dots) is one of my faves - but look at the cherries....  Darcy - thank you for sharing these with us!  It has inspired me to get the seeds on my watermelon hat today - and oh, I do want to make a fall hat for a kiddo too!

There are several new yarns that we have gotten in that I am really enjoying!  I know you all must be tired of hearing me type on and on about Spud & Chloe Sweater!  BUT it is wonderful - and the blog patterns from Susan B. Anderson are wonderful.   I finished the cute frog, Ribbit, this week (no longer missing his head) - and I immediately had to cast on for the watermelon hat.  These projects are so much fun, and the yarn is just a dream.