Stitches on The Bridge (to the isle of Skye)

This summer I finished knitting a panel for the Stitches on The Bridge project for Highland Homecoming Scotland. I made my panel with 2 skeins of Kiparoo Farm Skye yarn (very appropriate) in a beautiful colorway of heathery purples, and greens. There are 2 shots of it on the top.
Here's a description of the project from their Ravelry page:

An invitation from Luib na Lùban (In Amongst the Stitches), a new textile art group in Skye and Lochalsh, to Scots, ex-pats, Scotophiles and anyone else to take part in an ambitious project to cover the Skye Bridge in knitting!The Skye Bridge links the Isle of Skye with the mainland in the West Highlands of Scotland.Our aim is to link this (rather large!) piece of guerrilla knitting with Highland Homecoming 2009, which celebrates Scotland’s great contribution to the world, in October 2009.

The panels were hung on the Skye bridge this past weekend of Oct. 24th-25th.
There are several links to videos on YouTube.
The best are: BBC and my favorite in Gaelic on BBC An La.

Sheep in New York : Rhinebeck!

I attended Rhinebeck for the first time last weekend with my friend Martha. The weather was challenging on the drive up (rain) and Sunday (light rain), but it was worth it! Rhinebeck is very awesome (can you say very awesome because awesome is a superlative already). I loved the opportunity to see vendors I'd never seen before at either Stitches East or Maryland Sheep and Wool, including: Black Rose Fibers, Hope Spinnery, Buckwheat Bridge Angoras, Decadent Fibers, Foxfire Fibers and familiar favorites from MSW Brooks Farm, Green Mountain Spinnery , Carolina Homespun and Spirit Trail. My new favorite yarns are cormo (expensive!) and yarns from small farmers - especially naturally dyed (plant dyes rather than acid dyes) and natural colors (brown sheep). I just took pictures of the yarn I got and put it on Ravelry this week. I bought yarn from Hope Spinnery (6 skeins), Decadent Fibers (1 handpainted skein of bulky), Carolina Homespun (Elemental Affects), Green Mountain Spinnery (Wonderfully Wooly), some alpaca, and another natural colored skein of something soft and wooly- have to find the name which I wrote down somewhere. My sister Christine drove over from NW Connecticut (under 2 hours) and I ran into my friend Rose from Texas, Mary Alice from MA (both friends from Golden Gate Fiber camp), Heather and Kate from (Red) Sox Knitters who came down in June for a Red Sox game, someone I know from work (totally random), and 2 friends from Maryland Cheryl and Monica (who was somewhere on the grounds but we didn't run into her). It's amazing to see so many people you know at such a big festival.

Book swap IRISH

In the summer of 2008, I met someone at a professional conference in Lake Como, Italy who turned me on to Paperback Book Swap. Recently I have focused on requesting books by Irish authors, or on Irish topics. Out of the 93 books I have received in the past 14 months, 36 are Irish-related. Check out the hyperlinks for more info on each title. The books I have gotten include literature, fiction, memoirs, poetry, mysteries, history, women's studies, and more.

Mysteries
1. Divorcing Jack Author: Colin Bateman
2. Stone of the Heart: An Inspector Matt Minogue Mystery Author: John Brady
3. Walking On Water Author: Gemma O'Connor
4. Whispers of the Dead (Sister Fidelma, Bk 15) Author: Peter Tremayne
5. The Marching Season Author: Daniel Silva

Non-Fiction
6. Border Crossings: Irish Women Writers and National Identities
7. There You Are: Writings on Irish and American Literature and History Author: Thomas Flanagan
8. Those Are Real Bullets: Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972
Author: Peter Pringle, Philip Jacobson
9. Politics and Performance in Contemporary Northern Ireland
Author: John P. Harrington (Editor),
10. Wild Irish Women Author: Marian Broderick

Memoirs
11. Under the Eye of the Clock: The Life Story of Christopher Nolan
Author: Christopher Nolan
12. The Star Factory Author: Ciaran Carson
13. The Bend for Home Author: Dermot Healy

Literature
14. The Portable James Joyce
15. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation Author: Seamus Heaney

Poetry and Drama
16. The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry Ed: Edna Longley
17. Selected Poems 1966-1987 Author: Seamus Heaney
18. The Spirit Level : Poems Author: Seamus Heaney
19. Selected Poems of Louis Macneice
20. New selected poems Author: Les A Murray (not Irish, but an influence on the poet Sinéad Morrissey)
21. Modern Irish Drama (Norton Critical Editions) Author: John P. Harrington
22. Selected Poems (Cape Poetry) Author: Michael Longley
23. The New Poetry Author: Michael Hulse, David Kennedy, David Morley

Fiction
24. Nocturnes Author: John Connolly
25. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Author: Brian Moore
26. A Son Called Gabriel Author: Damian McNicholl
27. The Thief of Time Author: John Boyne
28. Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas Author: Morgan Llywelyn
29. Titanic Town Author: Mary Costello
30. The South Author: Colm Toibin
31. For the Love of Ireland: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers
32. The Christmas Tree Author: Jennifer Johnston
33. Dislocation: Stories from a New Ireland
34. A Green and Mortal Sound Author: Louise DeSalvo
35. The Tea House on Mulberry Street Author: Sharon Owens
36. An Irish Country Doctor Author: Patrick Taylor