the cankles continue

This second pair of "cankles" jumped off my needles a few days ago. I'll pop them in the mail to go to my nephew's house in Virginia. Fortissima Cotton blend sock yarn, #2(2.75mm) needles with the ribbing done on #3 (3.25mm) and just a few hours of knitting.

With the first excitement of the book's publication past, I now need to concentrate on getting ready for all the book events and presentations this spring. The first event will be local, at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest. Then, I'll travel 750 miles east and give a talk (with power point images) in Northern Virginia, right before Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, where I'll also do a book signing. I'll also be giving another talk, along with a workshop and booksigning, at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, the next weekend. After that, I'll give the after dinner talk at the Tennessee Fiber Festival, as well as teaching two workshops there.

OH, and that's just the teaching,presentation and travelling schedule for 5 weeks--from mid April 'til Memorial Day weekend. I'll also have to squeeze in final edits of book #2 in there, too, since it is coming out in September. Just talking about it all makes me agitated and anxious, so I'm going to stop now. However, when Willow asked, in the comments to:

Please remind us each time another interview is going to happen.

I got panicked. My mouth went all dry. My heart beat too fast. I promise, I'll update the blog as best as I can over the next few months...but my weekly average is roughly 2-3 posts. It would be a miracle if I could do more, especially with all the added fun of the blog tour and real life travelling! I'll do my best...but there really aren't more hours in my day, despite day light saving's time!

Meanwhile, the knitting creativity bug has come back. I'm hard at work at a fabulous pair of mittens (if I do say so, myself) with a Turkish stitch pattern called "Ram's Horn" embedded inside. I'm dreaming of swing coat designs, too. In a fit of retail enthusiasm, I splurged on lots of Jo Sharp's Silkroad Aran yarn on closeout and somehow bought even more Jo Sharp DK wool. (what can I say, I've always been seduced by occasional Australian temptations.)

The urge may have come from a discussion with Terri Shea, a friend and designer for the book. She is currently running a contest on her blog. Tell her a joke, and enter a contest to win a WHOLE BAG (10 skeins!) of Jo Sharp DK wool. That's enough for knitting this whole amazing vest! (Sounds good to me...but I'm not eligible:)

That's the knitting news for now, dear readers! I look forward to hearing from you soon, but first, go tell Terri a joke, please.