Dear Ann, Popping in with exciting pop-up news. This all started a few months ago when I heard that my friend Lisa Fox’s shop on East 7th Street, lf8 (Elevate) would be available for a short time in January. Hmmm, I thought. I asked Gale Zucker, who is connected to a vast network of shepherds and dye pots, if she knew of a yarn maker who’d like to bring her wares to New York. I can hardly believe it really happened. Dreams do...

Dear Ann, I don’t know about you, but during life’s persistently hectic patches, I find that it helps to knit small log cabin squares. Or whatever unchallenging yet absorbing thing one likes to knit. For me, right now, it’s 18-stitch log cabin squares in Noro Silk Garden. I have a few (cough) spare skeins of the stuff, plus a whomping bag of leftovers from my many log cabin blankets. Some of my leftovers are just a yard or...

Dear Ann, Guess what! I get to visit another college (or 2 or 3) this weekend. Rhinebeck fades into the mist in the rearview mirror, and we proceed ONWARD. For about a year and a half, I had a ball of handpainted cashmere weighing heavily on my conscience. In a fit of I Don’t Know What, I had bought it at Vogue Knitting Live in January 2013, from String, a yarn shop in my own city that caters to the big-gauge cashmere crowd. There was...

Dear Ann, It’s Wednesday and I’ve just finished hooking a small rug and I’m still floating on the fumes of my Saturday at Rhinebeck, aka the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, aka my annual renewal of my vows to knitting. I know that, for people who don’t (a) live in the Northeast and/or (b) organize their personal, family and religious calendars around knitting, Rhinebeck is a kind of Emerald City that they read about...

Dear Ann, I know. Two posts in a row. You’re sick of me. But now that I’ve figured out the “Hero Image” (hey thanks for emailing me that 12-point clip n’ save on how to post the hero image–my favorite is Number 11: “This is where I get stuck”), I just want to blawg, blawg, blawg. Blog like the wind! I have news, and a Finished Object that can’t wait until Finished Object Friday. There is a...

Dear Ann, This post is for my brother and sister commute-knitters. Commute-knitting is perilous, especially if you are prone to startitis. Here are Kay’s Rules of Commute-Knitting (clip n’ save). 1. ABC: Always Be Casting (On). You must always have something to knit that can be worked on in Adverse Conditions, because, even if you embark at a spot where you can get a seat, the subway is full of distractions. You must keep an eye out...

Dear Ann, What is this big box I’m typing into? Why doesn’t it cut me off after 140 characters? Where is the RT button? My dear Ann. We have experienced the powerful, dark psychology of Not Blogging. The upside of not blogging for 5 months, though, is looking at the pictures on my phone and marveling at everything I’ve knitted, sewn, and eaten (remember Annie’s Beer Garden?) in 5 months, all the places I’ve gone in...

Dear Ann, Last Sunday I spent a glorious day at French General’s indigo dyeing workshop in a 19th century building at the South Street Seaport. (19th-Century turns out to mean “very badly lit,” but intrepid dyers were not deterred.) All I can say is, here are some photos of heaven in a 5-gallon bucket.   The background music: vinyl.  There is no digital in indigo. Our leader, Kaari Meng, a tower of indigo power, at the...

    Dear Ann, In celebration of Fashion Revolution, make yourself something cute, of course–that is a priority. But also please run over to Gael Towey’s brand-new website, and watch her short film telling the story of Natalie Chanin and the Alabama Chanin clothing line. Three members of our sewing circle are involved, along with assorted sons-in-law-to-be and husbands (the call of the sewing circle is irresistible). Leaving...

Dear Ann, Wow. Wow. Wow. Your India Instagrams of sissy’s wedding are thrilling. The vibrancy of color and texture make my white Leaves of Grass shawl feel pasty by comparison. But hey, I’m a pasty person. All my people are pasty. Pasty is as pasty does. My point, and I do have one: everybody go follow @annshayne on Instagram. The hashtags #sagarmeadorwedding and #Bangalorewedding are also excellent. Here, I find myself at round 25...