"And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea . . . "

After returning from Travel Madness (Vogue Knitting Live Chicago, HURRICANE!, staying in Chicago, two-hour turnaround in Boston airport before going to Seattle for Knit Fit, Seattle, teaching, back to Boston, 40 hours in apartment before Baltimore!, driving!, book signing at Fibre Space! Driving home!), I am back in my closet/office in Boston, happily catching up on my life.

For all of you who have waited patiently, White Whale Vol. II is now available through my updated website, where you can read more about and purchase the individual pdfs, the ebook, or the ebook/print book combination. I'm thankful to my web designer, Josh, who accomodated my piecemeal delivery of information for and slow review of the site while I was traveling.

My latest project, about which I'm giddy, is a collaboration with Neighborhood Fiber Co. We're doing a mystery knitalong that will start on January 7.

It's called "The Sermon" and is based on the chapter in Moby-Dick of the same name. It's heavily influenced by the work of painter Ad Reinhardt, who my friend Ruth brought to my attention over a few beers last year. I remembered loving his work when I was in art school, and Ruth's passion for it rekindled that love.

I thought about making a book of garments and accessories called Ad Reinhardt Black, but decided that was not a marketable idea.

To participate, you can purchase the yarn and pattern for the project on the Neighborhood Fiber Co. webiste, starting tomorrow (Wednesday, November 14). It's $75 for the pattern plus five approximately 250-yard skeins of Rustic Fingering in five colors. You can choose from four color stories: warm blacks, cool blacks, blues, and reds. The colors will be posted on the site tomorrow so you can see what you're getting. We haven't decided when to cap orders for the yarn/pattern combination, but sign up early if you're really interested in the yarn component.

The pattern is available for $8, and will be delivered in five installments, the first of which will arrive on Jan. 7, with subsequent installments every two weeks. You can purchase it now or at any point before or during the knitalong:



Here's some Ad Reinhardt (a little blue here, not just black):

Here's one of Matt Kish's illustrations from "The Sermon":

I promise that the pattern will be intuitive and accessible to the adventurous beginner. We'll have all manner of support for you during the knitalong.