Donna Druchunas's Blog

I'm in the waiting stages regarding the first book in my Ethnic Knitting series. It's coming out this October, and I'll be at the Taos Wool Festival for the book launch, where I'll be teaching and having a book signing.

On the same weekend, my editor will be at the Nordic Knitting Conference in Seattle.

With that in mind, I'd like to offer this sneak peek at the Norwegian sweaters from Ethnic Knitting: Disvcovery. The drawing below is from the actual book and the snapshot shows a version of the Norwegian Ski Sweater from the book that will be featured in the Interweave Knits Gifts Issue this fall. The child and adult pullovers were designed by my friend Debbie O'Neill, using the recipe provided in the book. The recipe lets you choose your own gauge and size, and provides a selection of charts as a starting point. There are three versions of instructions included in each recipe:

1) A schematic drawing where you fill in your own numers and go for it

2) A spreadsheet to help you with the arithmetic if you need some pointers

3) Step-by-step instructions if you've never designed your own sweater before or need some extra help getting from the schematic and spreadsheet to a finished sweater



The sweaters shown in this drawing are made with no shaping. You cut slits into the body for the armholes and sew in the sleeves, and the pullovers both have boatnecks. The turtleneck option is added separately, and is sewn on. I got this idea from several old books on Norwegian ski sweaters. I really liked the idea because it is so simple and the knitting can go on uninterrupted, with no fuss about shaping while you are doing the colorwork.



The article in Knits will include a pattern for these sweaters in six sizes, along with an explaination of how Debbie used the recipe in Ethnic Knitting: Discovery to design these sweaters. One of the neat features of this design is that the whole thing is knitted in the round with absolutely no shaping, even with the crew neck. You cut slits into the body for the armholes and sew in the sleeves (as for the boatneck versions), and you cut out a neck opening and then pick up for the neckband. The sleeves and neckband both have facings to cover up the cut edges.

We'll be having a design-a-long this winter, so start thinking about joining us. If you've never designed your own sweater before, you can use Ethnic Knitting: Disvoery as a jump-off point, and get additional help along the way when we start working on our designs together on the new blog I'll create just for that purpose. I hope you're as excited as I am about this idea!

Without comment from AP via Yahoo!:

BAGHDAD - Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling—and expected to rise in coming months.

In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.

“It could be a bloody—it could be a very difficult August,” he said last week.

...


As of Saturday, May 26, 2007, at least 3,451 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,817 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military.

I'm thrilled to announce that Arctic Lace has advanced in the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) competition from semifinalist to finalist to bronze award winner in the How-to (Crafts/Hobby) category (#46).



This broad category includes all sorts of crafts and hobbies. The winners' group this year includes scrapbooking, flower design, beading, and sewing, plus two knitting books: Donna's Arctic Lace and Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby (from XRX Books).

Here's the idea guiding the IPPYs and the criteria for entries: "The Independent Publisher Book Awards were conceived as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and are open to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market. We define 'independent' as 1) independently owned and operated; 2) operated by a foundation or university; or 3) longtime independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year."

In an economy where most books are published by five international conglomerates, these are awards for those still going it "alone," although "alone" covers the gamut from a one-person operation to a well-established company with a large staff.
Here's an article by one of the IPPY judges from a past year.

(I've stolen this announcement from my publisher's blog, because I couldn't think of anything else to say but YIPEE!!)

Hi all. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-long writing writing retreat at Windbreak House in South Dakota. I'll be working on a new book that has nothing to do with knitting.

I have several new knitting books in the works, three already at publishers, two more started, and one future project. But I want to do some other writing as well. I love that Barbara Walker moved on from her knitting obsession to write about feminism.

I won't have any internet access while I'm gone, so that's why the blog will be silent for a while. Enjoy your week!

I am addicted to books. I'm sure there are worse things you can be addicted too, but sometimes I feel suffocated by all of my books and I feel like my books feel suffocated by each other. I got rid of all my books once, after I stopped being a Christian and now I wish I hadn't because I want to write about my previous life and if I still had all of my books, I wouldn't have to track down used copies on the internet. Plus, I'm quite sure I read things that I'll never remember. So now I never give away a book. And I buy every book I read. I can't stand borrowing books from friends or the library because after I read a good book, I want to own it. And then I feel stupid buying a book I've already read just so I can put it on the shelf.

I buy a and read a book or two a week. I used to read a lot more, but now that I knit, my reading time has been diminished. I think it's a good balance. A hundred books a year is not bad, but they do tend to clutter the house after a while when you don't have enough shelf space. Now I have enough space to last at least a couple of years. Dom just finished building this!



As you can see, there's plenty of open space. I kept my knitting books, Alaska books, and some books related to my current writing projects upstairs on the shelves Dom built in the living room last year (they didn't take long to fill up). Most of the others are in the new library room, and I have an unread stack on my nightstand.

For those who want to know, yes, I have actually read almost all of the books I own. There are a few I filed away that are unread, but I know what they are and exactly where they are and they're in line to go with me on my next vacation.

What I discovered as I put the books on my new shelves is that I have too many books about how to write. I need to stop buying and reading these books and spend more time actually writing.

I also noticed that my fiction section has hardly grown at all since I moved to Colorado. I hate bad fiction, so I tend to avoid fiction when I haven't been given titles by trusted friends. I think now I'm going to read some Salmon Rushdie and some Viginia Woolf (I want to read The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway at the same time). I also have missed the last couple of books by my favorite fiction author, Richard Powers.

My religion section has grown again, but the books are much more skeptical and sometimes outright anti-religious, as well as books on spiritual growth that are not based on Christian doctrine. I did save a few of my favorite Christian books, too.

The science section grows steadily, as this is my favorite topic with a mixture of cosmology, physics, biology, and cognitive science titles. I only had 2 self-help books, so I didn't know where to put them. One got tucked into the writing area and the other got stuck in with the business books.

What other topics are on my shelves? Gardening, cooking, other crafts besides knitting (crochet, sewing, dyeing, spinning...), photography, computers and technology, travel, nature writing, history, and general nonfiction. I think that's it.

They say you can learn a lot about a person by seeing what books are on their shelves. Maybe one day I'll type up a list. In the meantime, I am cleaning my house. Now that I've moved all the piles of books onto the shelves, there are holes in the dust.

I'm stealing this post from my publisher's blog because I have way too much to do this weekend, and then my husband went and bought movie tickets to Spiderman 3.....

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A quick post . . . it's been a while, because I've been paddling hard to keep my head above water.

Today the Independent Publisher Awards semifinalists were announced. Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas is a semifinalist in the How-to (Crafts/Hobby) category. Of the semifinalists, only two are knitting books—Arctic Lace and Victorian Lace Today. I'd say we're in good company! Finalists will be announced next week, in advance of BookExpo America.

Sales conference (in Alexandria, Virginia, a week ago) went well. Our presentation took place in a new format: instead of presenting to more than 50 people in a big horseshoe-shaped ring, I gave my talk to a smaller group of 15, each of whom represented a different sales area. The reps always ask great questions about the books (the answers help them when they meet with their accounts to place the books in the stores), but this time we seemed to be able to have actual conversations. Since they're great folks, I liked that.

Now I'm back at the computer and (literally) drawing board, working on the fall title: Ethnic Knitting Discovery, another of Donna's books.

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Hi All,

In case you didn't know, April was Sexual Assault Awareness month and during the month, I had several guest posts on that topic at Knitting for Change.

I've also got (at the top of the page) a free shrug pattern.

And there's a free lesson on working single crochet edging.

I didn't include any charity knitting links this month, because in this area, I think the best thing you can do is to contact your local womens' shelter about donating hand-knit items there. They often need items for women, children, and babies. And they might be interested in having knitting classes, if you think you could teach a learn to knit class.

The pattern and articles are here: http://www.sheeptoshawl.com/charity