Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Sometimes I start a blog post but, for whatever reason, fail to publish it. This is one of those. But now seems like the time.   The Echo I started by writing this in the autumn 2019: Sometimes the universe is just . . . strange. That's what makes it interesting. I am coming out of one of the most tumultuous periods of my life. A quick run-down of what has happened in 2018-2019. September: the passing of my knitting mentor, Jan Stephens. October: both cats sick November: the passing of Brûlée December: father-in-law ill January: the passing of my father-in-law as well as members of knitting guilds; Cuddly Hubby moves back to Maryland February: The Whole Nine Yarns closes June: return of STITCHES to Atlanta after a long hiatus October through June: intense care giving for Vincent, followed by his passing June: arrival of new cats, Ozymandias and Ramses August: arrival of expensive piece of fiber arts equipment, an Ashford 16-shaft table loom . There was also a lot of expens...

You never know where you are going to find something worthy of your attention. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I shopped at the JoAnn's in California, Maryland. Yes, this is a big box store. This particular JoAnn's is not large. It is maybe half the size of the typical grocery store? The aisles are narrow and the store is packed with craft materials. I was shopping for a roll of plain paper so I could draft a sewing pattern. They didn't have it because, as the nice clerk explained, they are a small store relative to other JoAnn's locations. Quilters and sewists must compromise much of their clientele, if the shelves of beautiful cotton print fabrics are any indication. As long as I was there, I figured I might as well browse the craft books. There was a cute Star Wars -themed recipe book. There was a crochet book with adorable animal blankets. And there was a copy of Adventure Cables by Meghan Jones. I didn't buy the book ini...