By this time, my older son had entered kindergarten and the younger one was in preschool, and I was a tiny bit bored — I need work to keep my brain from turning soft. As it happened, the world's biggest yarn store is literally in my back yard: WEBS, America's Yarn Store. I happened by one day, ostensibly to buy yarn, and ended up in conversation with Kathy Elkins, the store owner, who very nicely allowed me to work there, despite my lack of yarn store experience. Sometimes karma is nice.
While working there, I met many lovely people, customers and staff, and I came to the conclusion that anyone who likes yarn is okay with me. But one person stood out in her warmth, her humor, her creativity and artistry, and her love of my kids (whom she calls "the burr-heads"), and that is Gail Callahan, the author of Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece, which, to both her joy and mine, releases next week to the world at large.

Gail has become very precious to me, and I've championed this book from day one — which happened to be my very first day at Storey. I felt so out of my league and, frankly, so terrified that I had forgotten all publicity expertise in the years since I'd been out of the publishing loop that it was wonderfully comforting to me that the first person I met at Storey was Gwen Steege, our acquiring editor for crafts and gardening, who, when she found out that I had worked at WEBS, said to me, "Oh, do you know Gail Callahan? I'm trying to get her to write a book for us." Karma, once again.
So please, take a peek at Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece when it hits your store or yarn shop — even if you never dye anything, it's lovely, it's a work of art, and it's my personal touchstone.
No comments:
Post a Comment