I can't imagine staying organized without my planner. And each year I buy the same one -- a 5.25" x 8.25" moleskine diary with one page of writing space per day. At the end of December, I put my old one on the shelf with the others from previous years, then start a new one for the year about to begin. It is a small ritual that I enjoy. However, this year I  made a minor change. I stitched a reverse-applique cover for my journal out of recycled cotton jersey . . .

 

. . . following the instructions in Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin (founder of Alabama Chanin). Natalie's book will be in stores in March, one of the four new STC Craft books to be released in the first four months of 2008.

With my new planner ready and looking so special, I can hardly wait for the new year to begin. 

About a month ago, Heather Ross, a friend and the author of the upcoming Weekend Sewing, came to my house so we could do some work together on her book and also to make holiday cards using her portable printing machine called the Print Gocco Kit. The Print Gocco comes from Japan, where--according to the people who sell it--one out of three families has one. Basically, you create your artwork (or Heather creates it for you), then using the Print Gocco, burn a screen (as in silk screening), then one-by-one print your cards. Heather knew what she was doing (she actually created her wedding invitations this way) so it didn't take us very long and it was lots of fun. The artwork depicts my dog Maggie catching a Frisbee (her favorite activity). I present this card here as my way of wishing you that kind of pure joy this holiday season and in 2008!

Check out this great article about knitalongs--and, in particular, Sock Wars--from the 17 December issue of the Wall Street Journal. If you like the article, you'll probably like Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, a new book by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown that is currently at the printer and will be in stores in April or maybe a little sooner.

While reviewing the traffic here, I regularly notice that the galleries are quite popular. So, in an effort to give you more of what I think you want, I have added three new galleries this evening: Knitting Classic Style, Knitting Nature, and Save this Shirt. At this stage of the process, when the books are completed and I have a chance to look at--and enjoy--the images inside of them without worrying about the myriad tasks that go into making them, I always feel somewhat  amazed that we actually reached this point, that the author and I and the rest of the publishing team actually finished.  Of course, there are always new books to work on. It is, in fact, an ongoing cycle--one book is delivered to stores at the same time that another proposal lands on my desk. Often people ask me how many books I am working on at one time but I've never sat down to figure that out as doing so feels rather overwhelming. Tonight I will continue to put off that task and simply enjoy the galleries, which make everything look so easy. I hope you will as well.

As a knitter, I have developed a deep appreciation for sheep. How could I not, considering all of the beautiful fiber they so generously share with us year after year? And so I am particular intrigued by Andy Goldsworthy's new book called Enclosure. It recounts in words and photos his Sheepfolds Project, for which he restored over 40 stone enclosures once used by farmers to shelter, count, and wash their sheep in six districts of Cumbria. In the introduction to the book, James Putnam explains: "Sheepfolds are beautiful and graphic reminders of the days of early shepherding out on the hill, on common land."

The book also includes a collection of fascinating works related in various ways to sheep, for example, this shot (part of an 8-part series called "Wool Throws") of Goldsworthy tossing wool fleece into the air.