Freedom Day

For the sake of my sanity (and thus, his own) Oscar likes to be certain I get out of the house once a week, when at all possible. Today was another Diana Freedom Day and quite a good one, at that.

It all started when one of the editors of Knit Circus posted in Ravelry that they would like a sample knit of an upcoming design. I offered to do one of the smaller projects, and they arranged to have one of the LYS (local yarn shops) hand over some yarn to me. Visit a yarn shop? You betcha!!! I think it's been almost a year since I was in a yarn shop.
This was my first time visiting the Old Village Yarn Shop in Plymouth, Michigan (about 20 minutes from our house). I had a wonderful time, of course :-}
The shop was spacious and EXTREMELY accessible. I mean, I only found two tight corners, and my manual wheelchair is larger than average (had to go manual today because of the rain). Also, everything was within sight distance, and the clerks (and one of the teachers) were there to help with any questions, or to reach something for me if it was beyond my stubby arms. :-} MOST of the yarn was within reach of me in my chair. An unusual situation in some yarn shops.
I picked out the yarn colors for the Knit Circus project, then shopped for a shawl/stole I have in the works. It's based on a stitch pattern I found in a Weldon's book. I have every volume except for volume three, and I find loads of inspiration thumbing through them. Anyway, I found yarn for the stole and a matching scarflet, then enjoyed chatting. (I chose Plymouth Kudo in color number 42) Oscar enjoyed himself too, and impressed them with his knowledge of yarns. I guess I'm rubbing off on him!

When we got home, I received a package from Amazon, with a special book in it.
LynnH, Oscar's sister, has one of her patterns published in Joy of Sox! Her design is called Hot Waves. Although I purchased the book because of knowing Lynn, I really love some of the other patterns, too. It has a good balance of beginner projects to way 'off the cuff' designs that require a good amount of enjoyable concentration. The editor, Linda Kopp, has also included tips and tricks and washing instructions. I'll review the book more fully in another blog post, but even browsing through I am delighted to own it.

In other news, I have been offered an opportunity to do book reviews for Knit Circus!
I have done book reviewing before, mostly fiction, but I am really excited about reviewing some non-fiction in my chosen field.