January 17, 2012
The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dilmont

Anyone who is passionate about embroidery and other needlework methods has at least heard of Thérèse de Dillmont's famous book, The Encyclopedia of Needlework. First published in 1886, this comprehensive work has been translated into more than 15 languages and has been in constant distribution throughout the world. What you may not know is that this resource is available free, online and for download through The Gutenberg Project.

I haven't found a great deal of biographical information about Thérèse de Dillmont, but if you're interested, you might check these two sites: Anne Wanner's Textiles in History and A Textile Lover Diary

If downloading and printing an entire book seems like a pain, you can always purchase a copy of the latest version, published in 2011 and available through Amazon.com.

January 16, 2012
Handwarmers

I bought these handwarmers at a local health food store. They're knitted from Alpaca wool and are so soft and warm! My knitting skills are so limited they can't actually be called "skills"... So instead, I'm going to look for Alpapca roving and see how well it felts.

January 15, 2012
Working on a new article

I've been meaning to write a new, highly informative and entertaining article for about a decade... I'm actually working on it now and I promise to have it online sometime this year.

January 14, 2012
Message Board

The message board isn't working as it should. No idea when Tom will have time to fix it, so I'm thinking about posting messages here for now. Have something to share? Go ahead and email it to me and I'll post it. That has the added benefit of making it easier to keep out those bizarre spambot posts that I hate so much!