A Stark County husband is facing a misdemeanor domestic violence charge. He is accused of trying to shove a ball of yarn into his wife’s mouth.

The wife also accuses her 55-year-old husband of trying to flip her off the chair she was sitting in. The woman is ok.

Police Chief Harley Neftzer says a dispute over the upcoming holidays apparently lead to the incident. The chief does not recall any prior problems at the residence.

(link — thanks to Nancy for the heads up!)

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I organize the Cleveland branch of Bazaar Bizarre, the fantastic indie craft show you know and love. We’re getting lots of attention this year…probably because we’ve practically tripled the number of vendors. Very exciting. If you’re within a reasonable distance of Cleveland, I highly recommend a trip here for the weekend.

And hey, Cosy is going to be there! How can you beat that? I bet she’d sign your book for you if you asked nicely.

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Thanks to Brenna for the heads up on this one!

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Oh yes. You heard me. The washer.

(Delicate cycle, I’m not crazy).

My sweater’s knit with Beaverslide 2-ply fisherman’s weight and it is beyond amazing stuff. It seems stiff — practically stands up on its own as you’re knitting it! This is nice for getting your cables good and tight, etc. The yarn is slightly thick-thin, enough to give it some interesting texture and then… pow! you wash it and it goes WHOOSH! and blooms right open and forms the most gorgeous fabric, you just cannot believe it.

It’s drying on my dressform now. I tried it on when it was mostly dry — couldn’t resist — and it is so soft. Much softer than it was before washing. I will get a photo of it tomorrow when there’s proper light outside, and perhaps with a bit of the buttonband knit so you can see the difference between washed and unwashed. There must be some serious spinning oil on there to keep it so compact while you’re knitting it, yet allow it to bloom so fabulously. The only yarn I’ve seen that opens up as much is Noro sock yarn!

(Speaking of sock yarn, River Colors next door got Malabrigo sock yarn in Friday. It’ll be lucky to make it til Tuesday given the weekend feeding frenzy).

Photos to come!

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By the way, if I do not find time to knit this pattern, I will CRY. How fabulous is that? Too fabulous even for me, I think.

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The always-thoughtful people at CRAFT have sent over a PDF page with their review of Alt Fiber. Here you go:

And speaking of, CRAFT zine editor Natalie is due any day now, so early congrats to her!

(Now I’ve just doomed her to a long labor, you watch. Sorry, Nat. My mom went into labor Friday night when my dad’s band was playing — she was at home, not the club — and they did full congrats, etc on stage when it happened. That was Friday. I was born Monday night, by c-section. Do the math…this is why I am an only child).

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“Children in acrylic have mommies who don’t love them.”

So now I have been inspired to knit something hilarious for his daughter. Just wait. I’ve got the yarn, it’s all getting the top bit correct now.

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Read The Battle Song of the Valkyrieson this page:

According to Njal’s Saga, on the morning of the Battle of Clontarf, a Caithness man, named Dörruðr (Daurrud), watched the "choosers of the slain" — the Valkyries — as they worked on a grisly loom, on which they controlled the fates of the armies in far off Ireland.

Their song, known as Darraðarljoð, was still recited in the Norn language in North Ronaldsay in the late eighteenth century.

So, what about this loom? Oh, it’s not your ordinary loom, kids.

“This woof is y-woven
With entrails of men,
This warp is hardweighted
With heads of the slain,
Spears blood-besprinkled
For spindles we use,
Our loom ironbound,
And arrows our reels;
With swords for our shuttles
This war-woof we work;
So weave we, weird sisters,
Our warwinning woof.”

As someone who studied her fair share of ancient Germanic literature, and who counts among her favorite, favorite poems the Hildebrandslied, you can practically hear the influence of various contemporary Germanic works dripping off each word. Like At The Humming of the Wheel: A Collection of Textilely-Correct Fairy Tales (available here), someone needs to collect all these amazing ancient textile-related poems and epics into one big book, no?

I’d do it if no one else steps up…could make my mom do watercolor illustrations to accompany it!

(Oh, and speaking of the Hildebrandslied, here is a REALLY good translation that conveys a lot of the sense, more so than a straight-up translation. Recommended for linguistics geeks, German history and lit geeks and people who didn’t mind reading Beowulf in school or who love the Seamus Heaney audiobook version — one of my faves).

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And you, lucky reader, can buy a copy of her PDF book A Fair Isle Workshop in her Etsy shop. Just got my copy and it is stunning. You cannot believe the amount of information and photos she has managed to cram into 124 pages, including things you won’t find anywhere else, such as photos of vintage knitting from Shetland, Fair Isle, etc as well as detailed how-tos on speeding up your knitting, steeking, etc. LOVE this book, and highly recommend it.

Fun coincidence: shortly after I started speaking with Liz about current projects for the magazine, the History Channel aired a special on Skara Brae, the Neolithic settlement on Orkney. I am reserving the right to visit Skara Brae and be a big history geek when I go over to the UK office next year.

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Love her dress, love her hair, love her lipstick. Although I was a total Leanne fan on this season of Project Runway, you can see why I liked Kenley, too, eh?

If this kind of style is what you love, too, you will adore Stefanie Japel’s new book Glam Knits. It’s shot with a completely retro vibe. I’ll be doing a full review soon, but that’s just a quickie heads-up.

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