I hang my head. I’m still catching up on blogging our tour stops. But it’s kinda like prolonging the excitement, so I’m not complaining. Are you complaining? No, I didn’t think so.

Next stop: Rosie’s Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia. But not yet. For now, check out the latest episode of Knitty D & The City, wherein Wendy interviews me and Shannon about crochet and spinning and knitting. (Our interview goes from about the 3-minute mark through minute 21.)

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, podcast, Knitty D & The City

I just discovered that I didn’t take any photos at our event at Knitty City. D’oh! See, it was a weird kind of night.

When I got to the store early to meet Dora Ohrenstein (hi Dora!), the weather was grey but not terribly threatening. By the time Dora and I headed back to the store after grabbing some tea, the skies weren’t holding back as the rain pounded the concrete jungle – sideways. And it didn’t stop all night. Poor Shannon arrived soaked to the bone.

Oh, and that was also the night a Yankees pitcher had a plane accident on the East Side. I imagine all but the handful of people in the store were bundled up at home on the couch watching CNN.

That said, Knitty City is a fabulous store. Pearl, the owner, is super friendly, and the yarn. Oh, the yarn. I bought Sea Silk at Knitty City. Yum. And it was great fun to hang out with Dora and to meet Kimberli, who came by to see Shannon.

We’ll have to visit Knitty City again on a day with lovely weather. For your viewing pleasure, here I am on the train the next day with my newly-wound ball of Sea Silk.

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, new york, Knitty City

Oh, yeah! Humphrey loved New York City. Here he is taking a break from wishing he had legs so he could ice skate at Rockefeller Center:

But he realized it’s not so bad not having arms, since he’d hate to have to bear the weight of the heavens like Atlas has to:

Here are Shannon and Humphrey outside the Donnell Library Center branch of the NYPL…

… where we had a blast with Teen Central’s Teen Advisory Group.

Lynn really dug Humphrey, and he had a blast with her, too:

Nina’s left-handed and she was jacked to learn how to crochet. I’d been meaning to teach myself to crochet left-handed, and I had a crash course thanks to Nina. My brain hurt, man! Nina took to crochet like she’d always done it, and I hope she’s making lots of stuff now:

Jordan gave both knitting and crochet a try. I think crochet might have come out the winnah.

Jose had fun with Knit.1 stickers. We had fun chatting about writing and publishing.

There were yummy snacks, too (I can’t remember the last time I’d had Capri Sun!), and I think everyone had a great time. I know we did.

Technorati Tags: book tour, monsters of teen craft, MOTC, new york, New York Public Library

Let the great MOTC Book Tour Blogging Catch-Up begin! I’ve watched hours and hours of Buffy, caught up on sleep, and done my laundry. So, here goes:

On Monday, October 9th we spent the afternoon in lovely Montclair, NJ at Modern Yarn, where lots of kids and moms showed up to play with yarn (room at the table quickly decreased after this photo was taken).

Kristen, the store owner, was awesome.

Hannah already knew how to crochet, but would sometimes end up with too few stitches. We worked on it, and I hope I was able to help. She started a scarf I’m sure will be awesome.

Sophia picked up crochet like she’d known how to do it all along. We’re of a similar mind, too. Instead of frogging her very first chain – that was about 18″ long – to make a shorter one to start a scarf, she decided just to make a really wide scarf. Emma (on the left in the photo) is a whiz knitter.

Chantal and Hannah loved the Monkey Bauble from the book. We had an awesome time!

Thanks, everyone at MY!

Technorati Tags: book tour, crochet, get hooked, monsters of teen craft, MOTC, Modern Yarn

Guido interviewing Kim
Originally uploaded by knitgrrldotcom.

I had such a blast meeting Guido of It’s a Purl, Man fame when we were in Somerville, MA at Spark last week. It’s way weird to hear my own voice.

The interview is here (mp3 file).

Guido learned how to crochet in about 1.8 seconds. And he came to our event at Mind’s Eye Yarns the day after the interview to learn how to crochet in the round. Thanks for such a fun time, Guido!

They were with it enough early enough to register yarn.com. They’re located in the loveliest of New England towns. Their warehouse makes me swoon. They’re friendly and generous. They’re WEBS, and I love them.

We began our day in Northampton, MA by brunching with Tara, who rocks and who recommended the chocolate chip pancakes that changed my life.

Then we went to WEBS. Here’s Cathy:

My parents went foliage watching that day, so they came out to say hi, too. My dad even convinced my mom to knit him a sweater. Awesome. Shannon gave him a spinning demo, too. It wasn’t quite the power tools he was missing in a massive room filled with yarn and women, but he seemed to be pretty transfixed by it.

Here’s Maryanne, proud recipient of a pair of Ariel’s socks:

This is Sally, a volunteer from Cancer Connection. Sally helped to run the event at the store — knitters and crocheters made scarves and chemo caps to donate. WEBS supplied the yarn. It was amazing. Dozens of knitters and crocheters were all over the store, stitching all day. I managed to pretty much finish a hat while we were there (I’m hoping the fine staff at WEBS weren’t too put out that I left my hat without having had time to weave in the ends!).

Lexie stopped by to say hi, and as always it was way fun to see her.

And then… there was the warehouse. Oh, yes. With a domain name like yarn.com you didn’t doubt the need for a storage facility, did you? I knew it was there. I didn’t know it’s attached to the store. And I also didn’t know you’re allowed to just go in there without being debriefed and suited up and shot up with powerful drugs that might help you remain conscious during the experience.

Here’s poor Humphrey, also passed out, for scale:

Not surprising that I did a bit of damage:

Technorati Tags: book tour, monsters of teen craft, MOTC, WEBS

Meet Lucy, the amazing owner of Mind’s Eye Yarns, who had us over on Saturday despite her wicked cold. Before the event started, when there happened to be enough time to chill for a while, Lucy sat me down in front of an Ashford Joy and she taught me how to spin. Spin. On a spinning wheel. I am in love. Lucy’s the kind of teacher who doesn’t make you feel like you’re being taught — suddenly you’re just doing something you’d never done before, and she’s standing there at just the right moment to tell you how to do it better. Then, when we were ready to head out, Lucy gave me some roving. She is an enabler. And I am a spinner. Oh, yes. I feel it.

Meet Julia and Rick, a knitter and spinner, respectively. We had fun chilling out and talking about our favourite things. Um. Yarn and fiber.

Meet Rose & Ariel. Dude. Ariel’s knitted 32 pairs of socks this year.

It was such a lovely afternoon. I’m sure by the time I get to Boston next, I’ll be able to show Lucy some handspun. Oh, yeah.

Technorati Tags: book tour, Boston, monsters of teen craft, MOTC, mind’s eye yarns

Have you been to Spark in Somerville, MA? It’ll change your life. It’s huge; it’s bright; they have yarn, beads, paper, and dare I say a bevy of crafty tools; they have workshop rooms. I’m in love.

We hung out with a small group of peeps tonight, and it was wild fun.

Jan

and Renee

and another fabulous woman whose name I can’t remember and whom I didn’t catch in pixels (oops!) welcomed us so warmly.

I loved meeting Jessica and Christine (Christine’s doing the Forecast Knit-Along, too [and not making any progress either]!):

I chatted lots with Guido (of the It’s A Purl, Man podcast — I did my first podcast interview! He insisted I didn’t sound like a dolt), and attempted a 5-minute crochet lesson. He seemed to really get it. Maybe soon he’ll start a podcast called “It’s A Front Post Double Crochet, Man” [har].

Finally, I met Leah Kramer, of Craftster.org. That was awesome. She’s awesome. Had I any doubt she would be? No. I was a little star-struck, though.

Tomorrow: Mind’s Eye Yarns!

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, spark craft studio

I’m totally in love with Adirondack Yarns. We were surprised the drive from Albany was going to take so long, and it was totally worth it. Not only was the foliage stunning, Lake Placid is gorgeous, even in horrid weather. And the store owner, Sue, has the genius to serve coffee and warm sandwiches in the store. So, so welcoming. A full house of teens and adults came by, and much fun was had.

I totally wished I had eight arms cuz so many crochet lesson were in order. Good thing everyone had quite a knack for picking it up! Marina battled fuzzy yarn before switching to a smoother one, and Kate made two flowers (the second without looking at the pattern):

See that blue yarn? Grace made a HUGE flower with it.

Lindsey crochets lightening fast. It was so cool to watch.

Tomorrow I’ll hop a Greyhound to Boston. I love Boston! Come say hi:

October 6th (Fri.): Spark Crafts – Somerville, MA
6:00-8:00pm

October 7th (Sat.): Mind’s Eye Yarns – Cambridge, MA
12:00pm

October 8th (Sun.): WEBS – Northampton, MA
12:00-4:00pm

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, adirondack yarns

Less than halfway through the tour and I’m already behind on posting about it! I’ll dive right in.

We spent Tuesday afternoon at Yarne Source with the fabulous owner Susie and yarn enthusiast Patti. The weather was pretty wretched, but some folks managed to come out.

Meet Adrienne. Adrienne left work early to drive a half-hour to the store to say hi. She came with books in hand (I was bowled over flattered by this), her wicked mascot, and some crochet (of course). We had a great time, yo.

Adrienne took some of the cable patterns from the Adventuring Sage Cable Vest and is making a super warm scarf out of Brown Sheep wool. It was really, really cool to see and touch someone’s Crochet Me project.

Over the course of the afternoon, Adrienne whipped up most of a hat from TYV Crocheting:

Eve is about the most precocious knitter, ever:

Christie overcame her fear of spinning:

Here’s what our spread looked like:

Big thanks to the fabulous Yarne Source community for having us!

Technorati Tags: monsters of teen craft, MOTC, yarne source, rochester