This and that

Trying to play a little catch-up! Finally. :)

One of the coolest things that happened while I was incognito is that the amount donated to Doctors without Borders from Brandywine pattern sales has reached :drumroll: $19,000!!! Isn't that amazing?! Knitters are completely and totally awesome! And for Sakaki, funds donated to Direct Relief International and earmarked for Japan (from pattern sales through May 31, 2011) were $2,705! (For pattern sales in June of 2011 and forward, $5 of each will be donated to Doctors without Borders and will not be earmarked.) I got little thank you letters, and you were all such a part of it, that I wanted to pass on the thanks to you!

Mail has been unusual of late. About a month ago, I got a very interesting post card.

At first, I couldn't figure out who I know that might be traveling to Pakistan, and this card was not signed. Then I started reading the front of the card.

"Postcards from Pakistan. Saving our image one postcard at a time." And then, of course, I went to the website. So very amazing to be randomly touched by another part of the world. I haven't yet catalogued my card, but I am looking forward to uploading it.

Hmmmmmmmm. What else has happened? .......

I have signed on with Deep South Fibers to wholesale my patterns, and have begun reformatting my patterns for them to print. So far, only a few are available, but I'm working on it!

And then there's my Live Oak Shawlette in the fall Knitscene. I love that magazine! Lisa Shroyer (the editor) is a complete genius.

For Live Oak, I used some gorgeous Madeline Tosh sock yarn in Glazed Pecan. I love one skein shawls using sock yarn. They're like little knitted bonbons: bite sized, relaxing and satisfying. Lisa let me go on this one and I hope I made her feel good about her trust in me! I had had another idea in mind, but when she sent the Glazed Pecan color, it reminded me of the ground cover of leaves around the base of Live Oak trees. Even though the trees are evergreen, they shed their leaves throughout the year, and the dead leaves are incredibly close to this color. The shawl takes one skein, but you can easily make it larger.

I had a few good mail days, and this is the lovely Road to China Light that came my way for a secret project.

I sent off pins and lace club July packages. I will show you the goodies soon. :)

I know you all want to hear about the Muses! And hear you shall. And see, as well. Coming up next post!