Lela Nargi News

EXTRA YARN

2012-01-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

For the past decade, knitting has been such a part of mainstream American culture it's hard to believe it hasn't stitched its way into a kids story before now. EXTRA YARN by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray 2012) remedies the deficiency.

In this simply-told picture book, Annabelle discovers a box of yarn, with which she knits sweaters for herself and her pup. These two sweaters morph into four, then forty; soon, Annabelle has wrapped everyone in town, and the town itself, in her yarn-y creations. And still, miraculously, the box of yarn shows no sign of running dry.

Subtle references to the hot topic of yarn bombing, as well as the not-at-all subtle messages of the enlivening aspects of generosity and of making something with your hands, will appeal to knitting- and non-knitting kids alike.

We Have A Collar

2012-01-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

And not much else to show for the weekend, unfortunately, since I couldn't seem to pick up enough stitches around the armhole in order to follow the pattern. Maybe I'll try over a cocktail later. Cocktails may be the secret to Fair Isle. We'll see how this hypothesis holds up as the sweater-knitting (hopefully) draws to a close.

Meanwhile, a big thanks to Carla Meijsen of Sampler M fame, for her mention of Knitting Around the World. Unfamiliar with the Sampler M knitalong? Find it here.

Behold the Steek!

2012-01-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

I steeked my first sweater yesterday at my beloved LYS, Brooklyn General. The mighty and excellent Heather stood steadfastly by my side as I brandished the scissors. (A special thanks to Cricket for snapping a couple of pictures).

I know a lot of people suffer angst at the idea snipping something they've been working on for months. But honestly, the steeking itself wasn't the least bit terrifying. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was having a counter-reaction to another would-be-steeker at the shop, who was experiencing a mild freak-out just before I began to cut; maybe I'd just listened to Heather telling me that all would be well for long enough that her words finally sunk in. At any rate, the Fair Isle between the blades yielded perfectly smoothly; actually, it felt kind of good - physically, that is - to cut it. Now I just have to finish the thing up: neckband today, sleeves hopefully by the end of next week.

"It," for the detail-minded among you, is the Child's Panel Gansey from Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. Only, as usual, I've switched out the pattern to suit what yarns I had on hand: Green Vale Alpaca 2-ply in undyed natural brown and cream - a gift from a very generous friend - and a variety of Schoeller & Stahl DK weight wools from the stash. Wish me fortitude in wrapping this up quickly! I'm seriously ready to be done and to see my daughter wearing her sweater at long last. She's been patient since September - no mean feat for an eight-year-old.

A Nice Review in the Trades

2012-01-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Nanette Donohue and Library Journal! (December 1, 2011):
The history is the heart of [Knitting Around the World], but there’s so much more here, including interviews with well-known knitting experts, descriptions of unique yarns and techniques, and projects focused on each region’s styles and traditions. This excellent – and very readable – reference to global knitting traditions belongs on the bookshelf of any knitter interested in the history and development of knitting.

(Sigh) – KAW Errata

2012-01-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in every book's life when the mistakes pebbling its pages have come to the fore. And this time has now come to pass for Knitting Around the World. No matter how diligently a book team strives to put out an error-free tome - well, let's just say it rarely happens. The mistakes in KAW follow an interesting theme: most goofs seem to have occurred in the captions. So, in case you were worrying that you'd lost your mind and couldn't distinguish a mitten from a glove, or a sheep from a goat, worry no longer. Below, a list of the most obvious errata:

Page 17: You're not reading wrong; a caption that belongs to a photo on Page 30 is wedged in here. The offending, displaced text: “French knitting project realized for Crafts Council (England) with the London-based Somali Women’s Group”

Page 21: A little bit of a copyediting glitch here. The sentence should read “They’ve engendered many speculations about who KNIT..."

Page 99: The Napoleonic Wars started around 1803

The caption for a Sami mitten (page 109) has changed places with a Gotland-related glove (page 129)

Page 125: Of course, the entrelac sock pictured here was knit with 2 colors, although 3 or more could be used

Page 135: Yes, those are soft-soled SHOES shown here

Page 136: And yes, those are GOATS, not sheep

Page 147: The two glove captions are transposed - the fringed gloves are wedding gloves and the plainer were made by Ann Magiste

Page 157: in the top photo, those are hand-knit socks and HATS for sale

Page 195: The Prince of Knitting is named MITSUHARU Hirose

Page 243: The differentiation in language names for these hats is: ch’ullu (in Quechua) and chullo (Spanish)

Those are all the significants mistakes I've found to date. Give a holler if you've got questions about anything else in the book!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL!

Coming Soon!

2011-12-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

New and improved...in Estonian!

Win! Win! Win!

2011-12-05T05:56:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Christmas, you can win books (including 2 of mine) and yarn. Visit Craftside for details!

Book Reviews from Around the World

2011-11-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

Literally and officially a ton of people contributed to Knitting Around the World. They contributed historical background, commentary and edits on text, their personal and professional knitting stories, photographs, and just general good will. Not surprisingly, a lot of these people are knitting experts of one stripe or another. And over the course of the past few months, their own, excellent, books have been trickling in to me through the mail.

Lis Stender’s sweet little volume, Knit Tajarutit Greenlandic Wrist Warmers, shows you how to do just that. There are five patterns offered in all, and of them, the oak leaf is apparently the most traditional. Shown with silver beads on burgundy yarn, they certainly are dazzling. But if, like me, you’re a novice bead knitter and not sure you can handle the most challenging pattern straight out of the gate, “Black Gold,” with its repeating small crosses, and “Hearts” are good for simple starters.

I made “Aurora Borealis” as a gift for a friend’s 50^th birthday. The instructions were perfectly clear and once I got the hang of placing the beads as I knit (a snap, really), the wristlets stitched up in no time. The only minimal challenge is stringing the beads onto the yarn in the first place, which is more tedious than difficult. Both the wristlets and the booklet itself will make great holiday gifts. And if you need even more inspiration, check out the autumn issue of Keitodama for a few more pattern ideas.

Estonian knitting has captured the imagination of so many knitters over the past couple of years. Including, most recently, Carla Meijsen and Hilly van der Sluis of the Dutch Knitters. (Some of you may also know Carla from her Sampler M knit along.) The two have just released Warm Hands: Estonian Mittens and Wrist Warmers, a pretty volume written in both Dutch and English that documents the women’s journeys through Estonia to learn about knitting there. Photos throughout do a good job of showing techniques (like two-color stranding and various braided cast-ons), as well as some more personal aspects of their trips. Eleven mitten patterns in all – some traditional (like the snowflake motif from Helme in southern Estonia), some hybrids (like my favorite, featuring windmills); plus two patterns for (beadless) wrist warmers, each using several Estonian knitting techniques.

Three other Dutch knitters – Henny Abbink, Anke Grevers and Connie Grevers – have dedicated themselves to preserving certain knitting traditions from the region of Gelderland. They wrote about gebreide mutsen (knitted bonnets) for KAW; these, they reported, were worn in the late 19^th century by farm women who could not afford to buy lace bonnets, at a time when all women, at all times, kept their heads covered, even when they slept. Gelderse Gebreide Mutsen features 2o bonnet patterns they worked out and recreated themselves. Gebreide Kralen Tasjes gives the same treatment to beaded coin purses – yes, more bead knitting! Both books are written in Dutch only, but the charts are straightforward, and the photos alone might inspire you to pick up some (tiny) needles.

I wrote a through review of Annemor Sundbo’s book, Knitting in Art, for Twist Collective several issues ago. Pretty much anything Annemor writes is well-worth reading; she’s the Norwegian knitting historian/archivist supreme, and it’s fascinating to track with her all the various ways in which traditional knitting impacts art, fashion, and daily life. She’s got a brand new book out, which has yet to show up on her website, but be sure to stay tuned.

Finally, some knitting that appeared not in KAW but in Astounding Knits – and aptly so. Because Alasdair Post-Quinn isn’t kidding when he calls his creations Extreme Double-Knitting. We’re not just talking about patterns that duplicate on the reverse side here. Post-Quinn has worked out an elaborate method for stitching up one pattern on the right side, and a whole other pattern on the “wrong” side. You’ll find the pattern for perhaps the most remarkable of these, his “Falling Blocks” hat, in this his first book. There are also patterns fallingblox aficionados will recognize from Post-Quinn’s blog: the “Four Winds” hat, with its nifty little trick of managing to have the letters of the compass points successfully reverse; the “Whorl’d Tree” bag; and just to make sure I’m sticking with themes here, “Wrist Chakra” wrist warmers; plus much-needed instructions and explanations galore. I heartily recommend this for all you knitting brainiacs out there. You know who you are.

"Live" on Subway Knits

2011-11-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Maria of Subway Knits fame, who trekked all the way from Queens to Brooklyn a few weeks ago to interview me about Knitting Around the World. I sure do love to chat about knitting with like-minded souls. Check out the podcast!

Big in Japan

2011-11-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

“Do you have a favorite chapter in Knitting Around the World?” Why, yes indeed I do – thank you all for asking!

While it’s true that in my research I explored the history of a slew of fascinating techniques native to many noble countries, I admit, I have a soft spot for Japan. And likewise, for its somewhat underreported knitting traditions.

Thanks to the expert assistance of Jun Miyamoto, my “correspondent” in Tokyo, I was given a view onto what is a rich, conflicted, still-developing, but not entirely new art/craft in the country – in fact, the knitting historian of Japan, Yoshihiro Matsushita, postulates that Japanese knitting dates back at least to the times of the samurai, and to samurai themselves.

In the U.S., knitting has lately become such an accepted and integral feature of our culture – it permeates daily life, fashion, craft, art, to such a degree that some younger knitters may find it difficult to remember a time when this was not the case. But the various facets of Japanese knitting life that Miyamoto reported on illuminated a community still somewhat in flux: an old guard determined to maintain rigorous, professional standards of technique and construction, versus a new generation of knitters looking for a modicum of creative freedom.

Members of Tokyo's Stitch 'n Bitch group. Photo by Jun Miyamoto

Thanks to the Internet, writes Miyamoto, “the new generation can read EZ’s words for themselves and see how contemporary knitting goes far beyond what Japanese culture has to offer, from Nora Gaughan’s newest stunning designs, to Dave Cole’s American flag swatch made with gigantic knitting needles and a pair of excavators. Now we can freely combine dignified, stringent chart knitting techniques and relaxed, unconfined knitting methods, right alongside our computer screens.”

Honestly, I can’t wait to see what develops!

Jeanne d'Arc: The Costume

2011-11-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here is Ada in all her knightly splendor, just as we were heading out to collect our requisite 100 lbs. of candy.

My only gripe: metallic yarn knit in the round on metal needles is quite the slippery challenge.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

"Do you knit?" I get this question a lot. Halloween offers the perfect opportunity for me to answer. Because yes, I do knit. Mostly, I knit for my daughter, Ada. And every Halloween, I knit at least some of her Halloween costume.

This year, obsessed with knights and horses and all things sharp and dangerous, Ada's chosen to be Joan of Arc. Naturally, I knit her some chain mail - stay tuned for a photo of the full-on costume, which she could not be induced to model for me yesterday.

In previous years, Ada's been a Kitty Cat Vampire Outlaw (with knit ear-balaclava and tail):

A mermaid (the coral necklace was crocheted; I actually delved into the dreaded sewing for this one):

A bouquet of flowers:

The Strawberry Flower Fairy:

And a beetle (more sewing, but also some knitted extra beetle legs):

Great art it ain't, but it's been a lot fun to create something new and (hopefully) just-right for Ada's costume every year. I dread the day when she no longer wants my help or my input!

Answers, answers, answers

2011-10-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was asked some deliciously difficult questions by people who stopped by my book-signing table at Rhinebeck. Difficult, not because I didn't have any answers, but because I had too many. People who know me know, too, that I have a tendency to gush information. It's a clear indication that I am grappling with a preponderance of answers, which are fighting to make their way out of my mouth. This may be one reason I write; I can tackle answers in a logical, non-gushing sort of way and present them on the page in an orderly fashion. On this virtual page over the next few weeks, I'll be presenting some questions and answers inspired by conversations I had with some of you at Sheep & Wool about my book, Knitting Around the World.

First, though, an answer that takes care of a small matter of business. Some of you wanted to know how I could sign copies of the book that you'd already purchased. Answer: email me your snail mail address and I will send out signed bookplates sometime in the next few weeks. And yes, of course, this goes for copies of Astounding Knits, Knitting Memories, and absolutely any other book I've ever written.

Now on to larger answers.

Fingering-weight wool mittens, of a design that's common in Finland. Photo by Tuulia Salmela

The above photo, which appears in KAW in the Finland chapter, is my jumping-off point for another answer. What, a super-smarty and engaging knitter wanted to know, were some of the threads that tied the book together? This was a terrific question, and after gushing at its asker for about 20 minutes, I proceeded to think about it for the whole rest of that day. And for many days to come.

One answer is the eight-pointed star that decorates the backs of these mittens. As most knitters know, it's a motif that turns up through the centuries in the knitting of many parts of the world. But for me, it's a symbol of the movement of people. How did the star get around Scandinavia, the Baltics, Russia, Scotland? There's no coincidence here. The star traveled with people - people who knit, or wore knitting, or both. Fishermen, tradesmen and -women, migrant workers, conquerors, merchants. From this one simple design we can begin to intuit the whole history of knitting, which is really just another way to look at the history of people: how and where they've lived, what they've worn and why, how they've made money, how they've responded to social conditions both good and bad.

There are other answers, of course. And other questions. Stay tuned, and meanwhile, if you have any questions of your own you'd like me to address, send word!

Thank You Rhinebeck People!

2011-10-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

I really felt the love yesterday. A huge thank you to all of you who stopped by to have me sign Knitting Around the World and Astounding Knits. It was so gratifying to meet so many of you in person and to be able to have real live conversations with actual live humans - when so much of my time is spent chained to my desk typing and muttering to myself.

I'm especially grateful to those of you who made it a point of your day to seek me out. To the bizarrely coincidental four Debbies and three Susans - in a row - who came over to buy KAW. To the two ladies from Sweden who returned hours after our first meeting, having decided they could fit heavy copies of KAW in their luggage after all. To the woman who dropped a handful of tiny chocolate bars on my table when I was about to pass out somewhere around hour five. To the packs of kids who shrieked and chortled over the pages of AK. And to all the folks who bought neither KAW nor AK but wanted to let me know how much they'd enjoyed books I'd written in the past. It was just a great day and I look forward to seeing and hearing from you again soon.

Love, Lela

Rhinebeck, Here I Come

2011-10-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

That distinctive chill in the air could only mean one thing: it's time for Sheep & Wool & the signing of books! These books, to be exact:

On Saturday, October 15, from about 10AM-5PM, I'll be sitting behind stacks of KNITTING AROUND THE WORLD and ASTOUNDING KNITS, pen in hand, at the Merritt Bookstore booth in Building B. Whether ye be olde friend or new, tootle on over and say hello. I'll not only sign your books, I'll even hand-correct any errata on the pages within (Icelandic goats, alas, have been misidentified as sheep in KAW, and AK's knitimationist Max Alexander as a he instead of a she).

Can't wait to see you all out there!

It's Autumn in My Heart, But Christmas on My Bookshelf

2011-09-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

What with all the news of books about knitting, and bees, and more knitting, I have been completely remiss in reporting the following: Christmas on the Farm, the seventh in the series of Farmer's Wife cookbooks that I've been compiling and editing since 2005, has hit the shelves at a bookstore near you!

Part cookbook, part homage to the do-it-yourself spirit that infused so much of life on the farm throughout the early decades of the 20th century, Christmas on the Farm also sports my favorite feature of all the books in the series: a hard cover! Order a copy and come December 25 you'll be able to dazzle your dinner guests with your proficiency in scalloping oysters, glacé-ing fruit, and whipping up your own hand-sewn holiday gifts.

While you're at it, look for all my other Farmer's Wife titles; they make great gifts any time of the year:

The Farmer's Wife Comfort Food Cookbook
The Farmer's Wife Baking Cookbook
The Farmer's Wife Slow Cooker Cookbook
The Farmer's Wife Canning and Preserving Cookbook
The Farmer's Wife Cookie Cookbook
The Farmer's Wife Harvest Cookbook

Just look what the dog dragged in...

2011-09-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

And even I have to admit, it looks pretty fabulous. In real life, it's not even blurry (photo evidence to the contrary). The tome - that's right, folks, a nice big hardcover - hits stores October 11. But thanks to the miracle of pre-ordering, you can click now, forget all about it, and receive a happy surprise in the mail a month hence.

In other news, here's how I spent my summer vacation: traipsing around the south-western region of France's Périgord, in search of bees. I didn't have to look long. This delightful little booklet turned up on my first week:

And in case you were wondering, no, the correct translation of the title is not the delightfully thriller-evocative "Savage Bees," but rather "Wild Bees." We encountered quite a few of these enormous violet carpenter bees (Xylocopa violacea) on our doorstep, sweet, slow, and oh-so-blue:

And of course, there was honey. Although selecting just two jars from the farmer's market to squeeze in to the luggage proved a challenge. In the end I left it to my 8-year-old daughter to decide. Acacia honey, on the left, has a direct, up-front sweetness to it; rosemary, on the right, is subtly minty.

One More Post Before I Go

2011-07-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

France, here I come. But before I do, here's a little South of the Border shout-out to someone many of you know and love: Cyntha LeCount Samaké.

Knitters in highland village. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké

I'll be honest, a book like Knitting Around the World doesn't happen in a vacuum. It requires the support and knowledge of whole troves of experts. And when it comes to Andean knitting, no one knows quite so much as Cynthia. I'm incredibly indebted to her for her myriad contributions to the book: scads of trustworthy information, gorgeous photos, even a little backup fact checking.

Cynthia's goddaughter, Anita, wearing a ruffled bonnet typical of Lake Titicaca.
Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké

Here's a preview from the South America chapter:

LeCount discovered that Andean knitters “have adapted the intarsia method to their circular knitting in order to introduce many more colors into their work. Normally, if intarsia is worked in the round, the yarns end up on the opposite side of the motif, inaccessible for the next round.” Andean knitters use an ingenious method of working around the ch’ullu in one direction, joining the yarn with one of two methods, then turning the piece and working around in the other direction... Presto! The colors are in position to use in the next color motif.

I've only met Cynthia online. You can meet her in person – if you're very, very lucky. In Spring 2012, Cynthia, along with Nancy Thomas, will be leading a two week Textiles and Culture trip to Peru. Titled "Easter in the Andes" and geared, obviously, toward fiber (especially knitting) enthusiasts, participants (I wish one could be me!) will visit Lima, ChanChan, and Machu Picchu, among many other historic cities and sites. Find out more about this trip – as well as a Textiles, Arts and Culture tour of Ghana – at Cynthia's website.

Yarn junkies, this one's for you: natural-dyed yarns in Cuzco. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké

Are You Ready For a Preview?

2011-06-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

In about three weeks I'll be heading to France - the land that brought you such knitting marvels as berets, Tchanguès stilt knitters, Les Tricoteuses of the French Revolution, and that fabulous interpreter of Icelandic tradition, Hélène Magnússon. Who knows what yarn-related wonders I'll unearth on my trip? I'm excited to find out.

Before I go, I thought I'd give you a a couple of nuggets to nosh on, while you wait out summer's swelter for the advent of Knitting Around the World.

"French" Knitting
The simple wooden spool around which children have been wrapping wool for ages has more names than you can count on three hands: Knitting Nancy, Knitting Jenny, Knitting Nelly, Knitting Nana, Knitting Nobby, Knitting Noddy, Bizzy Lizzy, Corker, Strick Susel, Knitting Bob, Knitting Doll, Muhroom, Flower and Bee Toy Knitter, Peg knitter, and of paramount interest to us here, French Knitter. Whatever the moniker, the tool accomplishes the pretty little function of creating a tube of wool...which...has an enormous variety of uses.

Such as seen in the work of French-born sculptor and installation artist Françoise Dupré:

My concern is with the everyday and the "art of making in the everyday" concept developed by the sociologist Michel de Certeau, she tells us in Knitting Around the World. [Such] concerns have brought me to work with textile materials and processes, and in contexts where the practice of making objects continues to be seen as an integral part of the individual and communal sense of identity.

Two examples of Dupré's work are:

de fil en aiguille...snáth nasc (Ireland, 2003-2004). This was a collaborative knitted project [in which] the knitting was used to create a floor installation inspired by the [Museum of Modern Art/Dublin]'s formal garden. It brought together different kinds of knitting: French (spool) knitting and Irish knitting stitches used in the traditional Aran sweater.

Visions of Fujaan. Photos courtesy of Françoise Dupré

Fujaan (London, 2005). This was a collective French (spool) knitting project with the London-based Somali women's group Back to Basics...[which] was used by participants to create small vessels/baskets which were then joined together to make a totemic sculpture, a Brancusi textile version of the Endless Column.

Want to know more about Dupré, "French" Knitting and how it got its name? All will be revealed, on October 11!

Vampire Bees!!!

2011-06-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

No, not really. What we've really got here are some pictures of medieval bee boxes and skeps, taken by my cousin Hannah on a recent trip to Transylvania. She reports that she found them "in a fortified Saxon church in a village called Viscri in Transylvania. I'm not sure when the boxes themselves date to but the church was built in the 13th century...like a fortress, so everything important (including bees) was stored inside its walls in case of attack."

According to my old friend John Howe, boxes of this vintage, as well as skeps from any era, provided only empty space in which bees could build their honeycomb. An apiarist would have had to destroy the hive in order to harvest the honey, killing most of the bees in the process. By contrast, modern Langstroth, moveable frame hives allow a beekeeper to remove frames of honey with no damage to the colony itself.

Finally, all you Westchester folks, come hear me read The Honeybee Man next Sunday at the Village Bookstore in Pleasantville. I look forward to seeing you there from 11:30-1:00.

All the Buzz in Denmark!

2011-06-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

As if it weren't enough that this forward-thinking city features some of the most extensive and progressively-designed bike lanes in the world, in May, Copenhagen became host to 3 million honeybees. It's not the first urban setting to officially incorporate my favorite pollinators into its long-term plan to keep its green spaces, well, green - Paris, London and Chicago already boast similar programs; but it may be the first public works project that seeks to boost the skills of various "unempowered" social groups by teaching them to harvest honey. You can read the full, fascinating article here.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Copenhagen, my dear friend Noreen O'Sullivan Krogsgaard reports that her five-year-old daughter, Oona, and other members of her preschool skovbørnehave (literally, "forest child garden," because the kids spend most of their day playing in the forest), have gone crazy for bees and The Honeybee Man. That's my kind of preschool!

Oona and friends reading The Honeybee Man

A Danish "forest child garden"

I've been learning so much about bees since the book was published. Recently, I discovered that, completely contradictory to all my assumptions about bees, solitary bees "comprise the vast majority of bee species throughout the world," according to Evelyn Fetridge, who did her master's research at Fordham University on the topic. Explains Fetridge, "A single female bee constructs her own nest, lays her own eggs in it, and provisions the larvae with food. There's no queen and no workers. Often multiple solitary bees will build nests near one another, but they don't help each other with the labor involved with reproducing, and again, each one lays her own eggs."

Have any amazing bee facts or stories of your own to share? Please send them in!

A Little Sneak Peak to See You Through the Long Weekend

2011-05-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

Knitting Around the World: A Multistranded History of a Time-Honored Tradition

What I've been Editing Today

2011-05-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Coming October 11, 2011

Here's some of the great stuff you'll find crammed into its pages:

* a Japanese knitting report from Jun Miyamoto
* the knitterly stylings of Françoise Dupré, Hélène Magnússon, Kazekobo, Veronka Persché, Sharon Miller, Vivian Hoxbro, Tuulia Salmela, Solveig Hisdal, Elizabeth Lavold, and MANY MORE
* tons of historic pix
* info galore!!!

Can I pre-order this, you ask? You bet yer sweet patoot you can!

Westchester Bees, Here I Come!

2011-05-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Later this month, I'll be visiting Purchase Elementary School. I'm so excited to share The Honeybee Man with all the K-2ers up there!

And I've been wondering, what are the differences between urban and suburban beekeeping? To find out, I asked Christine Lehner and Charles Branch of Let It Bee Apiaries, who keep hives both in Westchester County and in Manhattan. "Ease of access," says Lehner. In Westchester, "We can walk to our hives or drive to them very easily. Tending city hives involves... climbing up to rooftops and then hauling hives and gear up a ladder and through the trapdoor to the rooftop." (Actually that's an exact description of Fred's Brooklyn routine in the book!) Continues Lehner, "Hardest of all is bringing down the supers when they are loaded with honey, and hence very heavy." Although she and Branch counteract this hurdle with an ingenious platform that can be lowered down from the roof with a rope.

Another advantage of suburban beekeeping, says Lehner, involves swarming - this is when a queen leaves her hive with some of her workers to start a new colony. When city bees swarm, "It is generally impossible to catch them, and they often cause alarm and consternation among neighbors who are bee-phobic," said Lehner. In Westchester, "We can often catch and re-hive them fairly easily." To prove it, she sent along a couple of photos of Branch capturing a swarm last year:

Branch capturing the swarm. That's sugar water in the spray bottle, "To keep the bees happy."

Success! Photos courtesy of Christine Lehner

Country beekeepers often worry about attracting bears with their hives; city beekeepers have nervous neighbors to contend with (which is why so many of them keep hives on their roofs, instead of in backyards; "Out of sight, out of mind," Lehner maintains). Suburban beekeepers sometimes have trouble with skunks. But like city beekeepers, suburban beekeepers have less worry than their country counterparts about pesticides from large industrial farms - significant sources of toxins for beleaguered honeybees. Enthuses Lehner, "One of the fun things about having bees...in Hastings is that there are so many wonderful and organic gardens - and we often get calls from friends to tell us that our bees are gathering pollen & nectar in their gardens; and certainly for all of us who have blueberries and cucumbers and fruit trees, the bees are helpful in pollinating and encouraging better crops."

Read For Yourself What Real Live NYers Have to Say About Honeybees

2011-05-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

In preparation for a school visit that I'll be making in Westchester later this month, I went online today to see if I could find any compelling facts about suburban bees and beekeeping. I stumbled upon something else entirely: the public record of letters from ordinary citizens, sent to the NYC Department of Health to urge the overturning of the law that banned beekeeping in our fair city until last spring. It's pretty riveting reading; have a look for yourself.

Bees - That's What I'm Talking About

2011-04-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Kyrsten Brooker, from the end papers of The Honeybee Man

Yesterday, I was a guest on June Stoyer's show, The Organic View, discussing bees, honey, and The Honeybee Man. It's been a loooooong time since I've done a radio interview but that didn't stop me from talking, a lot - 45 minutes almost straight, without commercial interruptions (big surprise to my friends and family).

I was especially grateful to all the listeners who Twittered in with their thoughtful questions; it's nice to know there are so many bee-lovers out there!

You can get an earful from me by visiting the show's site and downloading the podcast...

And find another great review of the book at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thank You!!

2011-04-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to all of you who came down to BookCourt on Sunday, to hear me read The Honeybee Man and to fold amazing origami bees and cherry blossoms with Mao. Hopefully, your handiwork will soon be gracing the windows of the shop - stayed tuned for photos.

Meanwhile, this photo was taken by my friend Josh at the Queens County Farm Museum; the license plate belongs to none other than the Farm's own resident apiarist. For those of you who thought urban honey was only found in Brooklyn, take note! It's coming to a borough near you - if it hasn't arrived already!

BookCourt & Bees

2011-04-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

The photo says it all. Except this: after reading the book, we'll be making bee and flower origami to hang in the window of BookCourt. Come discover how truly rotten I am at this ancient Japanese craft!

And in case you missed it, here's the latest nice write-up of The Honeybee Man.

Two Books In My News

2011-03-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

Did you miss the launch reading of The Honeybee Man? Never fear - I'll be reading it again next Sunday, April 10 at BookCourt (163 Court Street in Cobble Hill), from 11:00-12:00. I'll also be doing a bee-related craft with the kiddies, so please come on down!

Long before she discovered the delights of bees and honey, my daughter, Ada, was crazy about clothes. And here I mean crazy in a frenetic, difficult and daily challenging way. It took me a long time to understand that it was her extreme sensitivity to the things she was wearing – socks, shoes, shirt sleeves under sweaters, the label stitched at the back of her dress – that caused every morning to culminate in a boneless, shrieking meltdown as we tried to get out the door. To other parents who find themselves desperately attempting to cope with Tactile Defensiveness, here's a book that's certain to help: I'll Tell You Why...I Can't Wear Those Clothes, by my oldest friend on the planet, Noreen O'Sullivan. Its interactive format offers the opportunity not only to talk to your children about what plagues them, but for them to explain themselves as well. Noreen's currently working out US distribution, but the book is available to order on Amazon UK right this minute (just follow the link). I wish I'd had this in my motherly arsenal way-back-when!

Meet Renée

2011-03-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

That's right, Renée is a tiger pelt. A knitted tiger pelt, to be precise.

This gorgeous and exacting wool specimen was created, on three sets of circular needles over the course of about three months, by artist Ruth Marshall, who I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing yesterday at the Museum of Arts and Design. Not in time to grace the pages of ASTOUNDING KNITS, alas, but in plenty of time to appear in the Fall 2011 of Twist Collective. While I'm busily writing her profile, visit Ruth and her ever-growing tribe of tigers, ocelots and snakes.

Ruth and a nameless - though nevertheless technically excellent - ocelot.

THANK YOU!!

2011-03-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

To all my old friends and new who attended the launch of THE HONEYBEE MAN, a humongous THANK YOU for making the event such a great success. powerHouse Arena was sold out of books by the time I left the building. Wow!

I hope you all enjoyed learning a little about honeybees – and here I need to proffer another giant thank you to apiarist John Howe for sharing his knowledge, not to mention those excellent sparkly bee antennae. NYC Beekeeping, which John founded a decade ago, is an excellent source for learning even more about these vital, pollinating members of our community, especially if you think you might be interested in becoming an apiarist yourself.

Finally, I share here two more terrific reviews. It's such a thrill to know that the book is out there in the world, being read and appreciated.

She Is Too Fond of Books
The Record

ARE YOU READY FOR SUNDAY?

2011-03-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

Dear friends:

I can't wait to see you all at the powerHouse Arena in DUMBO for the launch of THE HONEYBEE MAN, this Sunday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM! Here's a fascinating bee fact to get you in the mood: honeybees actually prefer to forage for nectar and pollen in trees, such as Brooklyn's own myriad lindens. Why? Simple - more flowers per square inch than in your average flower garden. Apiarist John Howe will have lots more facts to share on Sunday – come with your questions!

Meanwhile, here's a fabulous review of the book by a librarian in Wisconsin.

For My Friends in Japan

2011-03-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

This ASTOUNDING entry was created by Kiyoko Yoshikawa of Kyoto. Positively famous in some international knitting circles for her amazing little book, FOOD KNITS, a few years ago Kiyoko turned her needles to knitting up animals - this one, for the sportswear company Descente.

Feeling utterly useless from this distance of thousands of miles, I virtually offer this extraordinary handmade penguin today in honor of all my friends in Japan – those I've heard from and know to be safe, and those from whom we are still awaiting word. And much love and optimistic wishes to all.

Get ASTOUNDED!

2011-03-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hungry for knits? ASTOUNDING KNITS features Kiyoko Yoshikawa's luscious bento boxes and whole roasted fishes; and such knitted dainties as Leslie Sudock's Passover feast (excerpts pictured below). For two years, Sudock toiled at her task, stitching up not only the usual assemblage of bitter herbs, shank bones and roasted eggs, but also items that make appearances on seder plates in some progressive homes: potatoes, beets, oranges. And an olive branch, she says, "in recognition of the shared suffering of the Palestinian people...." Some of the strands this 50-something grandmother used to knit the meal came from a stash she started amassing in high school. What yarn junkie doesn't relate?

ASTOUNDING KNITS hits bookstores March 27, 2011.

Leslie Sudock's seder plate...

...and gefilte fish platter.

Happy 0th Birthday to THE HONEYBEE MAN!

2011-03-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Back jacket illustration by Kyrsten Brooker

Today, MARCH 8, is official publication day. To celebrate, here are 8 FACTS about honeybees and THE HONEYBEE MAN. Have some facts of your own to share? Post them posthaste!

1. Honeybees were domesticated even in long-ago times. The Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians; ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all kept bees for their honey.

2. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that honey distilled in water would dissolve gold, rendering it liquid and therefore, drinkable.

3. Now as then, one honeybee can travel up to 8 MILES a day to forage for nectar and pollen.

4. If this tireless bee were to reach her full life expectancy of 12 weeks, she could fly a total of 672 miles - that's the distance from Brooklyn, NY to Lafeyette, IN.

5. And still, this bee, having visited tens of thousands of flowers, would collect only enough nectar to make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.

6. Some of a honeybee's favorite flowers are:

Black cherries

Lindens

Sweet pepperbush

Purple flowering raspberries

Locusts

Woodland sunflowers

Clover

Bergamot

Black-eyed Susans

Asters

Goldenrod

Mountainmint

Blueberries & Cranberries

7. Fred, the apiarist in THE HONEYBEE MAN, takes his likeness from illustrator Kyrsten Brooker's Grandpa Fargey, a dedicated flower gardener whose beautiful peonies Kyrsten (and no doubt, a fair number of bees) remembers with great fondness.

8. John Howe, for years an apiarist in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and the founder of the NYC Beekeeping meet-up, was the heart and brains behind Fred. He told me almost everything I know about honeybees and even introduced me to his hives. Even though until March 2010, it was illegal to keep honeybees and other "wild animals" in New York City. Now, almost everyone seems to have gone crazy for urban bees and honey!

http://www.lelanargi.com

While You Wait for Spring, Warm Up With Some ASTOUNDING KNITS!

2011-03-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

Now available for pre-order!

"Silver Darlings," knit of 0.25 mm copper wire by Anita Bruce.

Close-up of Theresa Honeywell's motorcycle cozy.

Robyn Love's "Knitted Mile" awaits unfurling...

...through the streets of Dallas, Texas.
"Knitted Mile" Photos by Shannon Stratton.

MEANWHILE, back in the land of knitting...

2011-03-03T06:42:00.000-08:00

... Astounding Knits: 101 Spectacular Knitted Creations and Daring Feats (Voyageur Press) hits bookstore shelves on March 24. This book was great fun to write - and hopefully, will be great fun to read! It features some truly amazing artists and craftspeople: from Dave Cole and his "Knitting Machine," which stitched up an enormous American flag using utilities poles and excavators as needles, to Alasdair Post-Quinn, whose revolutionary double knitting features one pattern on the front and an entirely different pattern on the back; from Tatyana Yanishevky's anatomically correct flower garden, to Helen Pynor's representations of human organs knitted up with strands of human hair. From the sublime, to the outrageous, and everything in between, this book will be available soon for pre-order via my website. Look for it!

Tatyana Yanishevy's incredible passionflower, top; and hibiscus.

2011-02-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends:

I'll be kicking off the publication of The Honeybee Man on Sunday March 20, 2011 at powerHouse in DUMBO. From 4:00-5:00 PM, I'll be reading the book and giving the floor over to beekeeper John Howe, who is sure to have some informative surprises in store. Please join us at 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY - it's not a party without you!

Meanwhile, please check out what some nice folks have been saying about The Honeybee Man:

Kirkus starred review

Publishers Weekly

Time Out NY Kids
Waking Brain Cells

Also look for great reviews in the March/April 2011 issue of the Horn Book review, and the March 2011 issues of School Library Journal and Booklist.

More great news!

2010-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to everyone who's put in for a pre-order of The Honeybee Man! The latest greatest news: it's been chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection. Stay tuned for more info.

It's Almost Here!

2010-07-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Coming Spring 2011...so close I can almost taste it!

A Sweet Way to Knit In the New Year

2009-01-05T07:31:00.001-08:00

Ever since I stumbled upon a mind-boggling little book titled Food Knit on the Amazon Japan website, I have been salivating over the possibilities of knitted food. Published by Toho Shuppan, by an artist/author whose name eludes me because I can't read Japanese, Food Knit greatly pushes the possibilities of materials and techniques . Never has eyelash looked as elegant as on the tiny cakes displayed within; or mohair as mouthwatering (pickled ginger, prosciutto, lettuce on a hamburger); or felting as worth the effort (small rolled pancakes rolled again in leaves, blushing-pink peaches).

Problematically, even if you could read Japanese, you'd never unearth the artist's secrets to knitting up a whole fish on a platter of roasted vegetables, or a giant chef's salad, or a prickly chestnut open at the top of its outer shell to reveal three smooth nuts within, or bento boxes filled with a host of Japanese lunch specialties. Because: the book provides no knitting instructions. And even if it did, well, they'd be in Japanese.

You could certainly wing it (provided you were able to track down the book first). Or, if winging it makes you break out in a cold sweat, you could start simple and sweet in the knitted food department, with a new book called Knitted Cakes by Susan Penny, published by Search Press and available now for pre-order. There are, as the subtitle promises, 20 sweets to make. And, relievingly, there are also 20 accompanying well-written sets of instructions, which appear right alongside the photo of the sweet in question rather than at the end of the book. The latter circumstance I always find slightly uninspiring - prefer to have the finished item in plain site as I am grappling with knitting it.

Most alluring of the sweets in the slender volume: a slice of double-layer chocolate cake with a fuzzy cream filling. A little square of pink birthday cake topped with a knitted candle. A fruit tart festooned with cherries and grapes and strawberries. Lemon meringue pie. A poof of a Viennese Whirl. And a Raspberry Heart Cake (note to self: a small, easy project to keep in mind for Valentine's Day). Those of you with sweets-loving children are advised to keep this book under wraps unless you are prepared to knit up the contents of an entire bakery shelf.

Up-Coming Events

I'll be appearing at the end of February at Knitty City in Manhattan, with Sabrina Gschwandtner, author of KnitKnit, and Kathy Goldner, founder of Knitting Out Loud. Stay tuned for more info.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

Lots of lovely press lately, including a three-page

profile of none other than me in the Australian craft magazine, Get Creative (page one at left, featuring my lovely daughter in Halloween 2007's knitted Strawberry Flower Fairy costume). And a nice plug for the audio books of Knitting Lessons and Knitting Memories in Knitting Daily (just follow the links to buy your very own copies, just in time for the holidays).

Those of you looking for Hélène Magnusson's Rose Pattern Scarf: fear not, it is available still, from Hélène's own site, where you'll also find patterns galore from her excellent book, Icelandic Color Knitting.

Finally, have you knit something strange for someone as a Christmas or Hanukah present? Send photos and a brief description. The strangest (by my estimation, anyway) will win an audio copy of Knitting Lessons. Deadline: January 15.

2008-12-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season begins to descend in earnest, some of us (namely, me) prefer to think back to the dulcet days of Halloween than ahead to the lurking chaos of yule. Also, I'll be honest, I was just plain too lazy to get around to posting about this year's costume. Well, finally, here it is: Ada in her Bouquet of Flowers ensemble, the usual hodgepodge of knitting improv and the splicing together of other knitters' terrific ideas. References include Jan Messent's Knitted Gardens and Hannelore Wernhard's The Knitted Farmyard, and for the third year running, I-cord was the workhorse of the whole operation. Anyone else out there knit a Halloween costume this year? Please give me a holler (and send photos) and I'll post here.

In other news, I've finished editing three new Farmer's Wife cookbooks for Voyageur Press, on Slow Cooking, Cookies, and Canning & Preserving. They're coming out soon, so stay tuned for updates!

It’s Autumn: Break out the Books & Knit!

2008-09-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

A brief roundup of potentially promising titles.

All manner of knitting books land on my desk and I greet each newly-arrived title with a goodly amount of enthusiasm. I'm as ready to be dazzled as the next knitter. Not just ready, desperate to be dazzled. Because I'll be honest: I haven't knit a thing since my daughter's Strawberry Flower Fairy costume last Halloween, and it looks like the only project that's bound to rouse me from my summer knitting doldrums is my daughter's pot-of-flowers Halloween costume this year.

Unfortunately, the majority of books I flip through these days are a disappointment: filled with garments I wouldn't (shouldn't) wear, knickknacks I don't need, and gift ideas appropriate for no one I know. They are quirky and challenging often for the sake of it, it seems, rather than truly original and inspiring. Needless to say, I am downright thrilled when a book offers even a few projects that pique my interest.

Nordic Felted Knits by Gerd Fjellanger (Search Press). Mostly it's the small details that catch my eye and get my mind to conjuring in this new release from the Norwegian knitting designer. The bobbles on the cuffs of a Fringed Poncho. The contrasting topstitching along the edges and armholes of a girl's sweater. The embroidered flowers on a pair of mittens, which look slightly humdrum before they're felted but irresistibly fuzzy and adorable once they've taken a spin through the hot wash. I confess a lifelong infatuation with Mary Jane style shoes, so it's not surprising that I am helplessly drawn to the square-toed strappy house slippers that Fjellanger offers in sizes suitable for both children and adults. And finally, I am not likely to crochet, let alone crochet and felt, a white rug that will skid underfoot of one manicure-needy black-haired dog and one paint-spattered five-year-old daughter. But the snowflake-on-snowdrops pattern of Fjellanger's Crocheted Rug, replete with scalloped edge, is lovely enough to make me want to reconsider it as a scarf, or a spring blanket.

Find the book at Amazon.

Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard (Stewart, Tabori & Chang). Alas, my days of short-short sweater wearing are long behind me. Wait a minute, I never wore short-short sweaters. Nevertheless, among the myriad pages of designs-for-people-much-younger-and-less-sloppy-than-me are several that make me want to whisk up my needles. Firstly, a top-down Lion Neck Cardigan, with a ruffled collar and front that manages to look both causal and elegant. A little further along there's a Skinny Empire sweater that has a couple of appealing details, aside from the slender fit: an I-cord edging to enhance the Empire waist; and a two-tone double-ruffle neck which, I swear, looks sweet and un-fussy. The crewneck variation of an otherwise turtleneck saddle shoulder sweater, with a really nifty cable down from the armhole on each side, is probably my next knitting project. I'm not sure why I'm so taken with it except that it's simple, with graceful lines and nice detail; and it's shown in a soft green alpaca, which just seems irresistible to me.

Find the book at Amazon.

Finally, I can't help myself, I'm going to flat-out squawk with happiness about two Search Press classic re-releases: Jan Messent's Knitted Gardens and Hannelore Wernhard's The Knitted Farmyard. I'm a sucker for those little knitted hothouse beds of cabbages and silly, sweet bobbing hens and roosters. If my daughter were three years younger I would instantly set to knitting her up the entire farm-and-garden caboodle.

Find the books at Search Press.

Whole Lotta News

2008-08-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

For starters, my new website is up and running! Please visit for a look at designer Kathleen Kearns' fabulous work on my behalf, and learn all about, well, me. In answer to the question many of you have already asked – yes, those are my daughter, Ada's, drawings of birds, butterflies and bees gracing the pages.

Secondly, the audio version of the first knitting book I ever wrote, Knitting Lessons, is now available from Knitting Out Loud. A little-known fact: the first 20 people to purchase it from the KOL site will be entered in a drawing to win a signed first edition of the print book. Signed by me, that is. So don't delay!

Finally, for those of you who have been inquiring after John Howe, the Brooklyn Bee Man who was the inspiration for my first children's book (to be published by Schwartz & Wade), here's an update: John and his two colonies of bees have been very busy indeed this summer on their Fort Greene rooftop. Thanks to a relatively mild winter, John had an early, abundant harvest of honey at the beginning of July and has been selling jars of it at Provisions in Fort Greene, and Marlow and Sons in Williamsburg. Supplies, as always, are extremely limited so hie on over to either location to stock up. John reports that the honey from one colony tastes strongly like mint, while the second colony produced a honey that is floral and fairly light. If all goes well, he hopes to make a second harvest closer to Autumn. Stay tuned to this newsletter for more honey updates, for info on John's wildflower seed giveaway (coming up in late September) and of course, news about the book.

Rose Pattern Scarf by Hélène Magnússon

2008-07-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here it is, and much sooner than anticipated!

Click the link to the right to purchase this pattern for Hélène's dazzling scarf, inspired by inserts knitted by Icelandic women of yore to cozy-up their fish-skin shoes. While you're at it, check out my review of Hélène's latest book, Icelandic Knitting: Using Rose Patterns on Knitter's Review, pre-order the book from Amazon, and visit Hélène at her website.

Kudos for Comfort Food

2008-07-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

While I'm busily editing three new cookbooks compiled from the pages of the sadly defunct Farmer's Wife magazine, earlier books in the series continue to receive notice. The latest: this mention in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune for the first of them all, The Farmer's Wife Comfort Food Cookbook, published by Voyageur Press this year. Brown Betty, pot pie, baked beans - they're all in here. Peruse the review then by all means, purchase your very own copy of the book.

The Farmer's Wife Cookies, Preserving and Slow Cooker cookbooks are all coming soon. As is my website. Check back often!

Hello, and Please Stand By!

2008-07-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

A muggy July 4th in Brooklyn, NY but six time zones east of here, in the grand duchy of Luxembourg, designer Hélène Magnússon is already dreaming of winter. In a few weeks her pattern for this festive rose-pattern scarf will be offered exclusively here for sale. So you'll have plenty of time to stitch up a few for your most-beloveds before the holiday season comes crashing down around us. Concurrently, my article on Hélène's latest book, Icelandic Knitting Using Rose Patterns (Search Press, February 2009) – a slightly dry title that belies the bright, happy and often elegant designs between the covers – will run on knittersreview.com. You can pre-order the book from Hélène's blog; or contact Hélène through her website to be the first knitter on your block to own the original Icelandic-language version (sure to become a collector's item).

It's going to be a wooly summer, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, my website is undergoing an extensive redesign. I'll have an update on its estimated arrival in a week or two.