My Sweet Daughter

Allie precious . . .

Nothing's sweeter than my grandgirls . . . 

and baby Kate. 

But their mommy surprising me with 56 wool, cashmere, angora, and camel hair sweaters was pretty daggone sweet.

My Blue Italian Lake of a daughter has a two-month old but still managed to scour thrift stores to surprise me on our last visit to Chicago.

She had them in two big piles--one on the
couch and one on the ottoman. 

I couldn't stop laughing as I sorted through them. It felt surreal to see so many luxury sweaters in one place.
God bless the well-dressed people of Lincoln Park.

A sampling . . .

55% Merino, 45% Alpaca. Now in my Etsy shop.

100% Merino. Now in my Etsy shop.

100% Wool

Arriving in my Etsy Shop

and in Phat Fiber Sample Boxes in mid-October.

Contest Winner!

Congrats, BunnyKnut!

Just like the proverbial white rabbit, your name jumped right out of the hat (actually a snowman ceramic vase).

Email me your address at TaddieBeeKnitting at gmail dot com and I'll get your Green Apple Wool right out to you!

Thanks everyone for participating!

Box Day Contest -- Farmer's Market

Because I like reading as much as knitting, this month's contest will again feature one of my favorite books, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

In the book, Kingsolver journals about the year her family spent as loca-vores—eating ONLY local foods or whatever they grew or raised themselves. 

Correctly answer TWO multiple choice questions from the book for a chance to win TWO hanks of this Green Apple Wool. The winner will be chosen at random. Let me know if you post on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, etc. about my Etsy shop. Your name will be entered once for each post.

100% Wool, 150 yards, upcycled from a J.Crew sweater

Hint: Answers can B deduced by context clues. I want it to B fun!

1.  Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into their refrigerators as their cars. Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of ________  miles. 

• a. 15 miles
• b. 1500 miles
• c. 150 miles

2.  Kingsolver explains that small changes in buying habits can make a big difference:  "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over ________  of oil every week."

• a. 1.1 million gallons
• b. 1.1 million barrels
• c.  it doesn't matter, meat and vegetables grow in supermarkets

The winner will be announced on Monday evening, September 20.
Have fun visiting your local farmer's market this weekend :)

Farmer's Market Samples

I wasn't sure I was going to make it in time this month....but I got my samples off to Jessie just in time to make it into the September box--with the theme Farmer's Market.

Each sample includes a fruity tea bag--in honor of the theme.

Samples include 100% camel hair, cashmere, alpaca, wool, and one mohair blend....from sweaters like J.Crew and Ann Taylor.

My favorite yarn this month is this 100% Camel Hair. I'll have six 200-yard hanks available (DK weight).  I read online that camel hair is usually not dyed, but left in it's natural state "a buttery golden brown." So, this appears to be undyed. Absolutely luscious! 

My daughter found the perfect-condition sweater in a thrift shop in Chicago. Labeled "CoxMoore of England" with European sizing.

It's fun to wonder about this sweater's history. Evidently bought in England, belonged to someone in Chicago, then unwound into yarn in North Carolina....and now where will it end up next?

Please visit my blog again on Box Day for another fun contest...which will be based on one of my favorite books. 

Hint: It might be helpful to have a copy of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" handy.

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews

The author recreates implausible childhood scenes of four men associated with plant engineering: Norman Borlaug, Henry Wallace, Moses Carver and George Washington Carver. The text somewhat clumsily connects these stories as it introduces each boy and then explains his future accomplishments. 

The prose doesn't engage me. Each boy's story begins with, "I want to tell you a story about the boy who changed the world". Ugg. The story reads like there was at one time maybe a spark there, but having to make all those connections in the chosen format sucked the life out of it.

Having worked in children's publishing, this book feels to me like there were too many cooks in the kitchen and someone tried to make them all happy. Like my favorite publisher ever (Sherrill Flora of Key Education), used to tell me, when you try to make everybody happy, nobody will be.

Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias

Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend is a collection of essays by editor Ravi Zacharias and other apologists.  The essays include the existence of God, the problem of evil, the evidence for intelligent designs and Eastern religions.

The book is challenging, but worthy of rereading and study. It would be especially good for youth groups, college courses, or book club study.