Good July to you, and welcome to this month's Yarn Story.
This month, we are featuring Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter, and The Grrlfriend Market Bag made with Recycled Tweed by Queensland.
In our area, many of us are lucky to live with enough space and soil to have at least a small garden if we so wish, but this isn't everyone's experience. Novella Carpenter's book is her memoir to city farming. The word 'education' in the title is a clue that this isn't as easy, romantic or practical as she believes it will be. Carpenter's book takes us back to the Food Politics scene of 2009 when the concepts of Slow Food (and Slow Fashion) were fairly new to our generation.
The New York Times referred to it as the "most perversely provocative gardening book I've ever read". Michael Pollan calls it captivating, hilarious and edgy.
The Grrlfriend Market Bag is a lovely, practical, and simple project for summer knitting. From the designer-
"After a friend of mine gave me her ex husband’s old sweater hoping that I would recycle the yarn and transform it into something completely different, I pondered many things. I even wore the sweater a few times last winter wondering what it should become. Then Sheri of The Loopy Ewe announced a quarterly challenge on her blog to knit something for someone that needed a lift - someone who could benefit from a random act of knitting kindness. The bag came to life. The original bag was gifted back to my friend when she was in the hospital recovering from a hysterectomy. The sweater had been transformed and had come full circle - purging my friend of something she had to get out of her life, and symbolizing what we do for our Grrlfriends - we offer support and encouragement and share each others burdens in life. I’m so happy and thankful and blessed for the Grrlfriends in my life. I hope you’ll enjoy knitting this bag and maybe you have a Grrlfriend who needs a little lift - even if it’s just to help her carry the groceries!”
We've chosen Recycled Tweed for this project because- hello, it's perfect for this project! It is a completely recycled wool/poly blend in a DK-weight. It's a lovely yarn, and one that will compliment the Grrlfriend bag perfectly.
Happy July!