Handknitter to the rescue!

Sarah has the most amazing knitting library, and she loaned me two awesome books that have info on making frog closures - 50 Heirloom Buttons to Make and Knitted Embellishments. This is quite exciting. All the frogs look a little complex, but not hard. Whew!

Kathy also suggested Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments. Knitted Embellishments is quite a lovely book that I probably overlooked in the past - perhaps I was still in the "must acquire beautiful pattern books" phase of book aquisition. Ok - I still am in that phase, but now, I don't require beautiful sweaters to buy a knitting book. I am going to enjoy looking through these fer sure. I might need to acquire Nicky's book though. Besides, researching frogs will keep me from finishing an intarsia handout for next Tuesday's guild program...

In random news, I am serving on a jury this week and am finding it fascinating. I learned at least one new term - I had never heard of a "Philadelphia Lawyer" before...Had you? It can be either a compliment or a pejorative, so it's an odd duck. The story: Andrew Hamilton (a lawyer from Philadelphia) was an early defender of free speech and freedom of the press in the American colonies. He successfully defended a newspaper printer/editor against politically-based libel charges using a jury-nullification strategy. The Philadelphia Bar Foundation hosts an annual Andrew Hamilton Ball to honor (?) the guy for whom the term was coined and the heritage of the "Philadelphia Lawyer".