I was so busy at IK Knit lab this weekend that I didn’t take ANY photos!  (Bad blogger!)  I really did have an amazing time. The students were fantastic and enthusiastic, the venue was delightful, and the market was terrific.  I did buy some treasures in the Market, and will have “show and tell” for you, after I unpack.  I also enjoyed visiting with teachers, students and Interweave folk.  Clara Parkes gave a truly inspirational talk, and she is doing amazing work to create breed-specific yarn in the US.  Keep your eyes peeled for “Clara Yarn“.

While I was there, the advance copies of “Annetarsia Knits” arrived back home.  There are 6 of them, and they will be on their way this week to knitting publications and reviewers.   Bill took them out of the box and sent me this photo, so that I could see that it was real.

Bill had a photoshoot on Sunday, and worked with Chelsea, who did hair and make-up for the cover shoot.   He posted this photo of her, with the book, on his Facebook page.

Chelsea Bowman worked with Bill this weekend on a photoshoot, doing make-up and hair (MUAH). She also did the MUAH for Sara Olson, when we did the cover shoot for Annetarsia Knits. Chelsea was thrilled to see the Book, finished, and Bill got a shot of her, holding it.

Bill was a bit apologetic about letting someone else hold it before I did, but it made me really happy to see that she was so excited about the book.  The book isn’t for me – I know this stuff!  It’s for all of you, and I want you to love it and be inspired.  I appreciate everyone who helped bring the book to life, it wouldn’t exist without them.

When Bill picked me up at the airport last night, as soon as I sat in the car, he plopped the book into my lap.  It looks better than I could have dreamed, better than the pdfs, better than the unbound pages. It’s a huge relief to have it finished!

The official publication date is Aug. 1st, but since the book is done, and on the way to the distributor, I am going to start taking pre-orders tomorrow.  Folks who pre-order will get autographed copies, as soon as I get them!  I don’t know when that will be, but it should be before August.  I want to get all of your books out to you before dealing with stocking them at Amazon.  You will get them hot off the press!

Tomorrow my Craftsy class, “Next Steps in Intarsia” launches, so sign up for the Craftsy give-away today, if you haven’t yet.

Also, it’s not too late to comment on the “Miss Babs Yummy Yarn” post, to enter the drawing for a kit of yarn to knit the Astoria sock.  I’ll keep that open for the rest of the week – just in case people are coming late to the blog.