Oh Yeah! She Scores!

My Pal Barbara (Champer on Ravelry) told me that Needle Arts Book Shop has Japanese knitting books. Boy, do they Ever!

I got four more to go with the one I already had (the 250):

If you haven’t seen the equisite patterns developed by Japanese knitters, you’re in for a treat. The books are pretty pricey (though not in the same price territory as, say, a Starmore out of print book) but oh, so delicious.

Needle Arts has a free pdf download “Interpreting Japanese Knitting Patterns” and many other helpful resources for helping you get a grip on the Japanese techniques.

What impresses me about these that, given the long history of knitting in the Western world, you’d think that everything had been done by now–but some of the Japanese designs are so unique, and so breathtakingly beautiful, that I can’t imagine how they were invented. What incredible insight and patience these designers must have.

I’m a rank beginner at knitting, but I’m pretty adventurous and relatively fearless so I’m going to try swatching some of these just as soon as the mood swings in that direction.

In other news, I have officially signed up for the FunKnits Knitting Retreat in British Columbia on October 3-5, 2008. “A Weekend With Ann & Eugene” Bourgeois of Philosopher’s Wool.  I bought a PW kit at Stitches West and I figure this will be the perfect time to get it off the ground, by learning from the PW pros.

I’ll probably fly up, but am contemplating taking Amtrak home from Seattle to San Jose.  The train tracks run from Seattle to Vancouver, but apparently Amtrak is unaware of that because they make you take a bus from Vancouver to Seattle to catch the train.

Don’t even get me started in on the pitiful state of rail travel in the United States.  We are paying mightily for our neglect of mass transit, now that gas is over $4 per gallon in California. And, sadly, we deserve what we get for worshipping the automobile and allowing Detroit and Big Oil to run the show for so many years… -sigh-

Anyway, as I say, I’m contemplating a train ride home on the Coastal Starlight, a 20 hour journey. I’ve taken extra days at the end of the retreat to see the sights of British Columbia and to make my way home. Without a fixed schedule for return (give or take a day) it should be Ok to take Amtrak. The trick to taking the train in the US is not to have any particular schedule, so that when it all falls to pieces, you’re not late in getting somewhere you needed to be.

Reminds me of an old joke by the comic Gallagher–when asked how the US could keep the location of its nuclear arsenal a secret from the Soviets, he replied, “put ‘em on a train. No one will ever know where they are at any time.”  Too right.

Thats it for today. Lunch hour is over.