The Lazy Blogger...

It has come to my attention that I may have come down with the "lazy blogger" syndrome. No blogging for over a week. On the surface I am guilty as charged, but under the surface troubled waters churn and send their waves to crash against the tender walls of my brain. All that to say, the life has been getting ready for the season by using DH and I for spring training. However, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger or so I've heard and I"m not dead yet. Hurrah!!! 

So, in today's installment you're getting a 2-fer. Two reviews instead of one. One book, one toy insert from Simply Knitting Magazine. Ready - set - read....

The book in question was actually published in 2008 and I've owned it since then, but at that time I was hip deep in thesis research and personal reading was the lifestyle section of the NY Times on Sunday with coffee and DH at our local Starbucks. Anyway, the author I"m sure is well known to many of you, Debbie Macomber and the book is Twenty Wishes. It is part of her Blossom Street series and tells a lovely story of love lost, and love found for a woman yearning for a child and for a child in desperate need of a loving mother. It is easy to relate to the characters and for me it was a story of Seattle. The story is set in that Great Northwestern city and as a 21 year member of that citizenry, I can tell you that the independent neighborhoods in Seattle are for the most part as charming as Blossom Street is described in the book. And as with all of Debbie's Blossom Street books, knitting prevails as  it's own character within the book. If nothing else you certainly get your creative juices flowing and are ready to grab your needles and knit, knit, knit. After you have read this story, you will want to know that Debbie has published A Twenty-First Wish in an anthology titled The Knitting Diaries by Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, and Christina Skye. This short story is a nice rounding off to the original book.

Review Two goes to non other than toy creator extraordinaire - Alan Dart. I only started knitting toys back before this past holiday season. I wanted to gift a hand knit bear to a sweet little girl of 2 years. You can see Bella Bear on my Ravelry Projects page. Anyway, every month when my copy of Simply Knitting arrives there is invariably a toy pattern from Mr. Dart or pictures from other knitters that have made his patterns. Heavenly mercy ,but they are beautiful. I thought toy knitting would be difficult, but it's not actually - you make a bunch of sections and then work them together. Not bad at all. Well, in the May 2011 issue of Simply Knitting (issue 80) there is a free extra insert by Alan Dart - a complete chess set, including the board and it is spectacular. Even if you don't play chess the pieces can easily be adapted for other toys, but if you are looking to make the ultimate gift for your favorite chess champ - you won't go wrong with this set. And let me just say that the only way to get the complete instructions is to purchase the magazine for that month. On Alan's website you can purchase older patterns ans let's just say I've stocked up!!! You can find Alan's website at -  http://www.alandart.co.uk/. Some patterns are free downloads and some are sold at a nominal cost.

So, there you go - two more items to add to your summer fun to do list. I'd love to see pictures of any items that were knit from these selections. The chess set is on my holiday gift giving list for this coming year.

Read on, Knit on...
The Knitty Scribe.