I usually shop in libraries

I haven't really knitted anything in a while. I did about 3" of The Olympian while sitting in the hospital with my grandmother but didn't enjoy it a bit and haven't picked it--or anything else--up since. In lieu of knitting-related posts and in order for people not to think I fell off the face of the earth, I give you a book post that I wrote a while ago:

I usually shop in libraries.

Several weeks ago we went into a *huge* bookstore near our house and I went straight to the knitting & gardening area. I've been really interested in growing my own veggies lately (see below) and wanted to get a book that would be basic enough to teach me how not to make them die (I have a black thumb). I found several good ones and will check them out of the library. Next I moved to the craft books and then upstairs. By the time I met up with Dennis I had narrowed my pile of books-to-buy from 15 down to 5. When I saw that I was being greedy--he had only one book in his hand--I further narrowed my pile to 3, still feeling a bit guilty.

I bought:

• The Free-Range Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
  I love it! The essays are short and make me smile or laugh (often out loud). If you like her other books, you'll enjoy this one, too. I somehow forgot it had been released and was thrilled to find it on the shelf.


• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
  For the past few weeks I've been listening to the audiobook version of this; I love it so much that I went out in search of the paperback. For one year, Barbara Kingsolver and her family documented their attempt to eat only what they could grow themselves or buy from local sources. The result is an informative book about agriculture, Americans' relationship to food, the government's contribution to our current state, and much more. I plan reading AVM (in print) when I'm done listening and think I've convinced my husband to join me--even though he's heard a million highlights already. He said it sounds like Fast Food Nation for farming. If interested, check this out - it's what piqued my interest.
  
  As an aside, we've been trying to be conscience consumers for a while and eat organic when we can and have talked about growing our own vegetables since we bought our house. My grandfather had a *huge* garden (probably bigger than my current city-sized house) and I have fond memories of walking through it and picking tomatoes, beans, zucchini, etc.


• Survival Sewing: emergency fixes for the rips, snags & tears of everyday life by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader & Nathalie Mornu
  I've been wanting to learn the basics of sewing for quite a while, mostly in order to hem pants, hem curtains, and line knitted bags. Well! I saw this book and couldn't resist. The other books all seemed to be for sewing projects or learning to use your sewing machine. I gave my grandma's sewing machine back because I just didn't see myself actually using it but that doesn't mean that I don't need some help in this area. I've looked through most of this book and think it has good information. You can tell the authors are trying to grab young, hip readers and that can be annoying at times. Good info overall. So far I like it.

p.s. For Christmas I'm asking for Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard, which has an ugly cover but really nice patterns!

My grandmother

My grandmother, whose 89th birthday would have been tomorrow, passed away on Sunday. She was a dear, sweet lady with a big heart and I miss her a lot already. There are so many things I could say about her but since this is my craft blog, I'd like to share some fibery reminiscences.

Grandmam was a crocheter who made us blankets and colorful ponchos when we were little and things for the house when we were older. When I moved into my first "real" home, she gave me a package containing hot pads, doilies, and other items that she had crocheted in advance--just in case she was unable to make them when she/we got older (she had made a package for each grandchild). I use those items all the time and always think of her when I do; as a knitter, I know how much love goes into each stitch.

She wasn't able to make big projects anymore but she still crocheted (mostly for families in need) and our phone conversations always included a discussion of what we were working on. She was one of the people I most enjoyed showing my FOs or WIPs to and she always had glowing things to say about my project even after I pointed out the parts that had gotten away from me.

These things seem trivial when I think of all the other reasons my Grandmam was such a wonderful person but they show some of her caring, generous side. She loved being with her family and friends and was there for every important event in my life; I consider myself blessed for knowing her for as long as I did and I hope she's happy up there with my grandfather.

Of all places

I'd been carrying Maude Louise's finished button band around since it was done--and before that, the swatch had been a permanent fixture in my purse for weeks. I had no idea where to buy buttons but checked local craft stores and Target. When none of them had what I needed, I was a bit stumped.

Last week I went to my LYS after work to see if they had dark brown, preferably wooden, buttons. They had a whole corner filled with options, but nothing was the right color. The sales person helped me look through everything and said that dark brown was definitely a hole in their collection and that she'd buy some with her next order.

Eek! What to do now? She said that, when this happens, she directs people to an all-button store in a nearby town. (Ooh!) I went home to Google the address and didn't find a match. The store was in a different town than she mentioned, but it was nearby, and the town she mentioned had its own button store. (Ooh!) Someone on Ravelry told me about a store in Queens so now I had three options.

I tried to plan trips around my work, school, and personal schedule but didn't have much luck because of the time the stores closed on my free days. While in Walmart buying birthday wrapping paper (for the record, I rarely shop there), I saw the craft section had not only *buttons* but also the yarn I needed for my charity knitting!

Let me explain what I mean: my local knitting guild is knitting scarves for the Special Olympics. We were all asked (by the Olympics people) to use Red Heart Super Saver yarn in #885-Delft Blue and #311-White so each scarf would be the same exact color. At the guild meeting last time, people were saying that it was difficult to find the Delft Blue so I was going to order it online. I didn't want to pay shipping for yarn that I didn't really want to knit with and therefore held off. When I was looking at the buttons, I saw the Red Heart yarn and figured I'd take a look. Success! The Olympian will be started asap. It's due at Christmastime so there's no rush.

Okay, back to the buttons. I was glad that I'd brought the button band because I was able to make sure the button would go through the hole. It sounds like a silly thing, but it's really essential to wearing your cardigan properly. ;) The buttons I ended up buying were much smaller than I thought I'd need. They're 3/4" and plastic and I think they'll look lovely. If only I'd given my button-money to some small family-owned shop somewhere instead of a mega-store. *sigh*

Quick going

Chaussettes de Montréal are about 40% done. I'm knitting the foot of the first sock and am a little disappointed in my "design modification" - I didn't read the directions carefully enough and held the cable needle in front for both cables. That means they both lean the same way and only one curves nicely into the foot of the sock (the cables were supposed to mirror each other).

I noticed this was going to happen when I set up to knit the heel flap but by then it was entirely too late for me to correct the problem. The socks are for me so it's not a gigantic problem. After input from helpful fellow knitters, I've decided to make sock #2 have cables leaning the opposite way (hold cable needle in back for both).

I'm hoping to finish sock #1 by Friday night so I can start knitting sock #2 Saturday. I'll be either on a plane or in an airport quite a bit this weekend and hope to make good progress. Unfortunately homework reading will be squeezed into that travel time, too.