Nicky's blog

Back to work!

On the road again!

This time to the beautiful state of Maryland for a book signing and demonstration. The event took place at the A.C. Moore in Glen Burney (between Baltimore and Annapolis), and I got to meet a lot of nice knitters. I had a lovely surprise as Judi Kauffman, a friend and freelance writer/author (By The Batch), showed up for the event. A.C. Moore is great, and I could have spent the whole night there.

I was hoping things would slow down for me in August, but so far it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Had an all too short visit from my Aussie friend, Jenny King. I met Jenny on my Australia trip last year and we have become good pals. Jenny is a very talented crochet designer and shop owner (in Kuluin, Queensland, Aus) and is a wonderful person who is also fun to be with. We shopped, wined, dined, laughed and talked shop.

We’re in the dog days of summer, and the heat and humidity is rising here in New York City. But…my heart is pounding with excitement because I just got a color galley of my new book Knitting On Top Of The World (October 2008), and I have to say it is just beautiful—I can’t wait for you all to see it! Below is a sneak preview of the full jacket cover.

Denver, Part 2:
The next day in Minturn I taught classes at the cozy Yarn Studio, hosted by charming Kathy Morrow, who owns the shop and is also a wonderful singer who performs at some of Vail’s plushest venues. Kathy also emcees The National Needlecraft Association fashion show every year along with Doreen Connors. The Vail Daily showed up to take photos and interview me. Sarah Mausolf did the interview and told me her mother has a knitting shop in Pennsylvania and carries my books (I’m sure I know her). Everyone seemed to have a fun time and  we shared wonderful food and wine.

Rocky Mountain High…Colorado. John Denver sang it…I experienced it. Had a wonderful time out in Vail/Edwards Colorado with our son Ken. He took us sightseeing, made a gut-busting barbeque for us and a bunch of friends and introduced us to great restaurants (check out my fabulous lamb dinner below from Juniper Restaurant in Edwards, CO).

I was invited to teach at one of my favorite venues, The Big Apple Knitting Guild, out at LaGuardia College in Queens, NY. More than 50 dedicated knitters showed up, and we had a lot of fun and shared a lot of knitting ideas. It was wonderful to see all their familiar smiling faces and get lots of hugs.

I just flew back from Columbus, Ohio…and boy, are my arms tired! (ba-rum-bum-bum). But seriously folks…I had a wonderful time at the big TNNA (The National Needlecraft Association) Show. For those of you who don’t know, TNNA shows are bi-annual gatherings where yarn manufacturers, yarn shop owners, needlecraft magazine and book publishers, accessory manufacturers, and designers and authors (like moi) get together to share ideas, see what’s new, sell each other “stuff” and eat, drink and be merry.

A lovely surprise for my birthday: Our son Scott “secretly” planted over 200 daffodils and tulips at our log home in Pennsylvania, last October, timing it so that they would beautifully bloom in time for my May birthday. It was amazing, and the deer will probably have a fine meal on the tulips. A friend in Seattle also sent me several dozen tulips from a tulip farm near her, so I had a beautiful, flowery birthday.

2007 was a whirlwind year for me…Three new best-selling books (thanks to you), knitting tours in Tuscany, Australia, New Zealand and London, a number of new designs published in knitting magazines (including my flowered scarf on the cover of Vogue Knitting magazine’s 25th anniversary issue) and the joyous opportunity of meeting and teaching so many of you here and around the world. I’m exhausted but excited about 2008. I’m pleased to announce the launch of my own imprint, Nicky Epstein Books.