Craft books are never the work of a single individual. Although I may be the official author of this book, there were many other eyes, hands, and minds involved. When I look through the pages I see a record of an arduous and meaningful journey with an incredible team of people who are also my dear friends, and I feel extremely lucky.
As was true for my first two books, this book is the brainchild of my editor and friend Melanie Falick. When Melanie approached me to do this book, shortly after I told her I simply couldn’t write another book (ever again!), I put up some resistance, but because I trust her so much, I knew that I would do it in the end. Whenever I’m stuck or my attention wanders, Melanie knows what to say to get me moving again, and this is no small task. With two shops and a retail website to run, I can be a hard person to pin down, but somehow Melanie always manages to do it, and she always gets me to do my best work. But more than that, I would not be capable of writing even one word if I didn’t know that Melanie would look over my work with a kind and gentle yet firm and precise editor’s eye. So, it goes without saying that if it weren’t for Melanie, you wouldn’t be reading this book. Thank you, Melanie.
Sue McCain was the technical editor on this book. Sue’s eye for detail and knowledge of knitting and knitting language is astonishing and so it gave me a great sense of security and freedom to have her there to oversee my patterns. Editing knitting patterns is not a simple matter, and I was constantly amazed by Sue’s ability to hunt down errors, size everything properly, and deal with my constantly wandering attention! I am also grateful to Robin Melanson, who proofed all of the patterns once the book was in layout. It was very reassuring to have an extra set of expert eyes reviewing these pages.
Throughout the writing of this book, I had the love and support of two very special people: my business partners at Purl, Purl Patchwork, and purlosho.com, Jennifer Hoverson Jahnke and Page Marchese Norman. As I toiled over the book, I let lots of other things in our business fall through the cracks. Thankfully, they were both there to catch what I couldn’t handle, and much more. Knowing they were there allowed me the time and mental space I needed to do a good job. In addition, both Jen and Page contributed in less abstract ways. Jen helped knit samples of the Beret, the Very Pretty Lace Scarf, countless Family Ribbed Hats, and swatches for the how-to photos. I left all of my unfinished knitting in her hands during the photo shoot, and as I knew she would, she came through and finished everything with ample time to spare. Jen is nothing if not a lightning-fast knitter! Jen also modeled both her beautiful face and her last-minute airport-manicured hands. Page sat me down one stressful day when I was sure I couldn’t come up with even one original wrapping idea and brainstormed with me. She made the impeccable wrapping projects in the last chapter, and they are far more thoughtful and complete than anything I could have done given the amount of work I had left to finish before the deadline. Page also focused me on pulling together the numerous props and backgrounds that you see in these photos, and made sure that everything and everyone was organized and ready for the shoot. Page’s attention to detail made it possible for all of us involved to focus our energy on being creative and totally inspired.
As with my two other books, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, one of my most cherished friends, Anna Williams, took all of the beautiful photos. Anna is an amazingly gifted photographer (as well as an incredibly generous and lovely person) so I was both delighted and grateful that she made time in her very busy schedule to work with me again. Before the shoot, Anna asked me if I wanted to go digital for this book, which I had never done on a professional project before. If it had been anyone else asking, I don’t know if I would have been comfortable making such a big leap (for me) on such a big project, but with Anna I knew I could trust that the work would be just as beautiful digitally as it would have been on film. And what a revelation it was; the freedom and speed of working digitally allowed us to really stretch ourselves and make every single photograph a favorite. Also, the experience of learning about the digital process from such a generous friend was exciting as well as inspiring. I would also like to give special thanks to Jeff Denton for his wonderful retouching.
In addition to designing the beautiful layouts for this book, Brooke Hellewell Reynolds contributed her many talents as an art director, organizer, and very dear friend. I’ve worked with Brooke for a long time on many different projects, so whenever she gets involved in my books (she also worked very closely with me on my second book, Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) I can relax in the knowledge that we speak the same language and that almost nothing will be overlooked. During the photo shoot for this book, Brooke was never shy about pushing our team to go the extra step or get the extra shot, and I think this is one of the reasons why this book feels so complete. One of my fondest memories from the shoot is listening to Brooke and Page talk passionately about how much they loved the colors as they set up the rainbow of yarns on pages 6 and 7.
We took all of the photos in rural New York State, in a town where you can’t exactly order in food for everyone! But we had two very special people to keep our crew fed and happy. For our first shoot, friend and longtime coworker Molly Schnick lovingly prepared our delicious meals. For the second shoot, my youngest sister, Sara Hoverson, whom I am very proud of for recently becoming an official professional chef, came all the way from Ohio to cook for us. Both Sara and Molly took on a pretty big challenge (just imagine if you will, a house full of New York City food lovers with lots of different dietary needs and restrictions) and they both did an amazing job.
There are three patterns in this book that deserve special mention. Leah Mitchell designed and created the Toe-Up Socks on page 107 as well as Leah’s Lovely Cardigan on page 111. Both of these patterns are incredibly thoughtful, detailed, and beautiful, just like Leah. While we collaborated on the general idea for the socks, Leah took the pattern to another level by researching toes, heels, yarns, and stitch patterns. Her cardigan is her unique design, one she made for herself that I fell in love with the minute I saw it! I am so pleased that she allowed me to publish it here. My longtime friend Kelly McKaig created Kelly’s Mittens on page 59. In addition to this pattern, Kelly has created several patterns for me over the years, including Kelly’s Pincushions in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. Kelly’s ability to knit mittens was my original inspiration to learn more than garter-stitch rectangles, and I feel thankful for her inspiration just about every time I pick up my needles! Having her mitten pattern in this book makes me happy not only because it is such a lovely pattern, but also because I’m very attached to them sentimentally.
Knitting for a photo shoot deadline is intense, especially when all of the projects are due almost all at once, and help is most definitely required! A special thanks to Jennifer Hoverson Jahnke, Finlay Logan, Calia Talmor, Leah Mitchell, and Faye Rubenstein for all of the energy and care they put into very last-minute knitting for this book. Additionally, throughout the creation of this book our business had lots of support from our staff, including Sophie Dorsey, Eva Jensen, Mari T. Kirsten, Finlay Logan, Shantilal Mehta, Jeanne Moro, Debbie Murai, Rickie Painter, Faye Rubenstein, Molly Schnick, Nicole Egana Stadler, Calia Talmor, Whitney Van Nes, and Jeremy Wilson. And last, but certainly not least, a very special thanks to our models: Mason Adams, Novella Adams, Adrianna Florke, Jacob Florke (and the eggs from his chickens), Jennifer Hoverson Jahnke, Sara Hoverson, Coco Norman, Adam Ogilvie, Bear Ogilvie, Brooke Hellewell Reynolds, Molly Schnick, Whitney Van Nes, and Anna Williams.