I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving! The holiday season begins for us when Longwood Gardens’ Christmas display opens. This year the theme in the Music Room is “books.” There are some incredible books with the ends of the pages folded in such a way to make words and pictures. What artistry! Truly inspiring. The wreaths and some of the poinsettias are also made of paper.
Backing up a bit, our family was fortunate to spend two weeks in Italy in October. We stayed one week in Rome, with excursions to Pompeii and Monte Cassino, and one week in the Tuscan countryside from where we also explored Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, and Lago Trasimeno. (I did pop into a yarn shop in Siena and of course forgot to take a picture!) It was the perfect balance of city and countryside, and museums and more active pursuits. We ate very well—it’s impossible not to in Italy!—and walked miles and miles every day.
St. Peter’s at sunset
A couple of weeks after getting home, I was on the road again, this time to the Crochet Guild of Prince William County, VA. I taught four classes over the weekend (beaded crochet, tapestry crochet, more techniques in Tunisian crochet, and crochet patterns demystified). Guild chair Rhonda Reese deserves a huge thank-you for arranging everything. We had the perfect size room and table space, plenty of snacks and lunch foods, etc. I really enjoyed meeting the group and seeing their progress. A couple of people who took classes the first day worked on their projects in the evening and brought them in the next day! Since then, I’ve received several photos of completed items. It was a great experience! (If your guild or group is interested in having me come teach, please send me a message and we’ll see what we can work out.)
Speaking of teaching, I submitted some class proposals to be considered for the Crochet Guild of America conference next summer. They are supposed to report back the first week in January. I hope they say yes!
Meanwhile, the exciting news is that DELICATE CROCHET HAS BEEN PUBLISHED! I wish this blog had smell-o-vision so you could inhale that sweet “new book” smell that greeted me when I opened the box of my author copies. The photos, the way the symbol diagrams and schematics look, the projects from the other contributors…I’m thrilled to see how the book came out!
Upcoming signings:
12/4/18, 7-8 p.m., West Chester Public Library, West Chester, PA
12/6/18, 6-7 p.m., Lion Brand Yarn Studio, NYC
12/9/18, 1:30-3 p.m., Luv2Knit&More, Jenkintown, PA.
More information is on the “Classes and Events” blog page. There is no snow in the forecast—with the blast we got the week before Thanksgiving, that’s a relief. Hope to see some of you at the events! (Mrs. Costco will be providing snacks for the Pennsylvania signings.)
My Etsy shop here has been up for a couple of months. If you’re looking for any holiday gifts, take a look. (And if you want to say you made them yourself, my lips are sealed!)
On a totally unrelated topic, we have a lot of wildlife in this area. However, even for us it was a treat to spot a beaver in a pond in a Wilmington, DE park. We saw one a couple of years ago in the Brandywine at Hagley Museum, but this one was a surprise. It had made a huge lodge at the other end of the pond. A good reminder that winter is coming. Wishing you wonderful days enjoying brisk weather outdoors, and a place to come inside that’s snug and warm.
A beaver at Talley-Day Park!