Today is the final day to enter the pirate yarn and book give away!!! Tomorrow (probably after school) my faithful cabin boy will don his pirate gear and randomly select the winner of the give away. I can't tell you how much we love this kind of stuff around here! The drama...the pageantry...we happily take any excuse we can get to dress-up and play a new part! I have a feeling that talk like a pirate day will have nothing on tomorrow afternoon's festivities!

And while we're on the subject...I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed reading the responses to the pirate give away post. I love the enthusiasm for talk like a pirate day...really too much fun, and I am truly honored by all of the nice comments about the book and the designs therein. Writing and designing the pieces for this book was so much fun for me—a dream come true really. It gave me the opportunity to take leisurely strolls down memory lane to a time to when my three buccaneers were shorter than I am (5'2"). It is so nice to hear that the designs appeal to others and most especially that they appeal to the littles out there. When I was working on this book it meant a lot of private knitting. Normally when I knit I have lots of opportunities to share my knitting all along the way. Everyone from knitting friends, to shoppers in the yarn store, to complete strangers see a project at various stages from beginning to end, but with a book the pieces are designed, knitted and then sort of secreted away until publication. A few people see it in process (and I am ever grateful to those few), but those are usually editors, friends and family, not random people I don't know. The work goes along that way—the pile of knits growing and growing, without much outside feedback to help you get a sense of how others see and interpret the collection.

Actually, this was one of the hardest parts of the book for me. You see, I am no good at secret keeping—confidences I can keep, I hold them close to my heart without the slightest need to tell another soul, but surprise secrets like this, not so much. I'm the girl who practically dies trying to not tell you the cool thing I've gotten or made for your birthday (you know the type..."I won't tell you what it is but how about if I just give you a teensy-tinsy hint"). I'm insufferable at Christmas time and luckily for me my loved ones let me believe that they think it's endearing, although I have a sneaky suspicion that it's really just annoying. Thus, it felt a little strange not sharing my knitting projects along the way, and now it's nice, really nice, to finally be able to share the book and the designs and get some feedback. So thank you, thank you—thank you for your time and your kind words—it means so much...honestly, I can't tell you how much, but just know that it's more than a lot.

I'll be back tomorrow to announce the winner of the drawing along with a little something sweet!...Thanks again! xoxoxox—alison