Thank you for all the kind comments, Ravelry posts and messages, and emails you have sent me, offering condolences on the death of my beloved kitty Lucy. And thank you to those of you who have made donations to an animal rescue organization in her memory. For those of you who inquired about a memorial fund for Lucy (and thank you for that), donating money, time, or goods to your local rescue organization or shelter is, I think, the perfect way to remember Lucy, who was a rescue cat.
It is the last day of July and I am most definitely happy to see the end of this month, as it has been the worst month I can remember living through in a very long time. I started the month sick as a dog with a mysterious crud that lingered way too long and ended it with Lucy’s death. Because I am genetically incapable of being without feline companionship, I am in the process of adopting a kitty. I hope Lucy will approve of my choice.
So, August is welcome. One month closer to autumn. And also the start of Month Three of Camp Loopy. I have my yarn for this month’s project all ready:
That’s MadelineTosh Pashmina in the “Stovepipe” colorway.
And in honor of July being almost over, I have a book review.
This is 7 Easy-To-Knit Handbags for Every Occasion by Jill Wright, a 32-page booklet from Annie’s Crafts. It contains patterns for — you guessed it — 7 handbags. The handbags are pictured on the back cover:
If you follow the link above, and click on the “See More Images” link, you can see each handbag close up and in detail.
The patterns are all very different from each other, so you get quite a wide range of styles represented. I think that you could use the patterns as a starting point for creating your own original creations as well. The yarns called for are all readily available in LYSes and online, and you could of course sub something different. Five of the seven patterns use worsted weight yarn, one uses bulky, and one DK weight. The pattern instructions are clear and easy to follow and there is nothing terribly difficult in any of the patterns.
There is a nice how-to section in the back:
The book is available to order (from the link above) either in hard copy or electronic download. You could also win my review copy.
To enter to win my copy, leave a comment on this blog post by 11:00am Eastern Time on Sunday, August 4, 2013, and I’ll use the Random Number Generator to choose a winner at that time.