Greetings from Toronto!

The tour doesn’t kick off for a couple of days, but Humphrey and I wanted to get settled into east coast time and explore the city a bit before all the excitement begins. Plus, my good friend’s celebrating a birthday tomorrow and I’m excited to spend it with her. (Happy birthday, C!)

Anyway. Here’s Humphrey all geared up for our flight this morning from Vancouver. Those pins help keep his hat on what with all the moving around. You understand.

When I was setting up this photo, the woman sitting to the right of us looked down and asked, “Is it an internet thing?” What. Is it only internet people who photograph monsters in the airport? Anyway, I replied that “Yes. Yes it is.” And we shared a chuckle.

So. Toronto’s easily navigable by public transit, which seems to be fairly ubiquitous. I must say, though, that I’m not entirely sure why everyone says it’s so clean. I mean, sure: I wouldn’t eat off the ground in the New York City subway system, but it’s not like TO’s is immaculate. See:

Tomorrow: Yarn!

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, toronto

At long last, we’ve got the Monsters of Teen Craft book tour mascot patterns ready! You can download the PDF file (240KB) by clicking here. Whip up some monsters and bring ‘em with you when you come to a MOTC event! And if you’re a photo nut, tag ‘em MOTCmascot on Flickr so all the mascots can have a party.

Pre-Tour Haircut
Originally uploaded by kpwerker.

T-minus 8 days till I leave for Toronto for the Run For The Cure and the tour launch! In addition to a massive book deadline (um, tomorrow), I have a million loads of laundry to do. And I’ve already begun to think about packing. And today - because clearly I needed a three-hour break when I have such a big deadline tomorrow - I got my hair cut and dyed (and Humphrey came along for the fun).

This is the before photo. Come on out to say hi to see my new ‘do!

MOTC Mascot: Meet Humphrey
Originally uploaded by kpwerker.

Shannon and I are gearing up to launch our book tour next weekend, and I’m happy to introduce you to Humphrey.

Humphrey loves Twizzlers, hand-dyed yarn, and his best friend - Sally the sock monkey. He’s one of the official Monsters of Teen Craft book tour mascots, and he takes his job very seriously.

The pattern is being prepared now, and will be published for free in the next few days. Stay tuned so you, too, can make your own Humphrey and bring him to one of our events so he can play with all the other mascots!

The Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Crochet has just come out, and they include a great review of Get Hooked! Here’s what they say:

“This funky, retro-inspired project book provides step-by-step crochet instruction, tip tidbits, and projects in an easily digestible, colorful format sure to hook the teen or preteen crafter.”

I’m not sure about the retro-inspired part, but I’m so glad they liked it!

I wrote the Ravelings essay in this issue, and Get Hooked designer Annette Petavy has two patterns in it (they’re my favourites, too).

Woo hoo!

Technorati Tags: get hooked, interweave crochet, review

This past Saturday, photographer Pamela Bethel and I had a photo shoot for the follow-up to Get Hooked - it’ll come out in about a year. (We don’t have a title yet! Soon…) Imagine my amusement when I discovered this behind-the-scenes shot also features Modern Yarn’s awesome Daily Fiber t-shirt (it’s one of my faves - so comfy!). How appropriate! We’ll be stopping there on our tour next month, so come on by and get one for yourself!

Technorati Tags: get hooked, photography, pamela bethel