登陆注册
10442500000001

第1章

PREFACE: In Motion

WHEN I WAS SIX, I went with my mother on a run to the grocery store. Too busy to fiddle with the garage door when we got back, she parked the car in the driveway and went inside, letting me snooze as she often did. Eventually I woke up, unbuckled myself, and came in for lunch. A few minutes later, a man in uniform knocked on our door and said, "Your car is on fire."

A plume of smoke billowed from the frame of what had been, until a few minutes earlier, our trusty VW Bus. A fuel line must've snapped, they said, spilling gasoline onto the still-hot engine until it ignited. All four tires had melted and the windows had shattered into a million tiny pieces. You'd think the experience would have put me off cars completely. Strangely enough, it didn't. If anything, it only reinforced my desire to set the wheels in motion, as if the real danger were in sitting still.

I grew up with grand road trips, coast-to-coast adventures in unreliable cars, playing Mad Libs and counting license plates. After my parents' divorce, my mother moved us to Tucson, where we found smaller ways to escape. Some weekends, after giving up on waiting for a boyfriend to call, she'd mutter a curse and load us into the car. Windows open, we chased the sunset down Speedway Boulevard until the streetlights and sidewalks gave way to empty desert and the tall shadows of saguaros.

We snaked our way up, up, up, until a sudden sharp left turn took us over Gates Pass. Ahead, the view opened up to nothingness. Back down the mountain we went, to an empty desert floor. We'd find a spot and pull over. The moment the car went silent, the desert took over. A brilliant city of lights unfolded in the sky above as our eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. My mother would lie on the hood of the car; my brothers and I, like rattlesnakes, preferred the warmth of blacktop on the empty road. The desert air smelled sweet and exotic. Lying there, my entire area of vision was filled with stars. At any minute, it felt like gravity would reverse and the sky would suck me in. I'd fall up, up, up into the cosmos.

Eventually my mom would call to us and we'd get back in the car. As soon as we drove back through Gates Pass, the lights of Tucson would twinkle in the distance, like jewels on black velvet, beckoning us home. We hadn't gone far, but that brief interlude away, even just over the pass, fulfilled my need to wander.

My first "real" job after college was as a travel writer for a pre-Internet publisher. Rarely did my fellow writers and I go anywhere. We called venues and interviewed people who had no idea they were being interviewed. We scoured sources, worked with stringers on location, and managed to piece together fresh, original information. We became masters of the blurb. Colleague John Pinson and I even won an award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation for our work. The year was 1995.

When that job ended and I moved into high-tech publishing, I became a business traveler. From convention center to conference center to major hotel chain I'd go, from lobby to ballroom back to airport, to cover events with names like Database and Client/Server World and DB Expo. I'd sit in product briefings with various VPs of technology, and every second felt like a race to see if I could get out before they realized how little I understood.

I was still working at my day job in high-tech when I launched my online knitting magazine, Knitter's Review, in 2000. My goal was to be the eyes and fingers for knitters during a time when our world was exploding with new yarns, tools, books, gadgets, and events. That fall, I ventured to my first sheep-and-wool festival. It was in Vermont, and I called the number listed on the program to ask a question. The woman was quite friendly, and before long, she was offering me her home for the weekend. "I'll be up at the lodge anyway," she said, "so you'd have the place all to yourself."

I declined, figuring she might also be the kind of person who kept dead cats in her freezer. But when I got to the show, that same friendliness prevailed. Nobody knew who I was or what I was up to, they were just being—or at least they seemed to be—genuinely nice. They were eager to share their stories, answer my questions, and offer advice. The interactions energized me. I enjoyed it so much that I went to another festival, then another, then another.

Knitting has offered me a perfect lens through which to see the world. During my fifteen years writing Knitter's Review, I've clocked so many miles that I've essentially taken off or landed once every two weeks. My destination has never been a shiny skyscraper or boardroom. I've been headed to a yarn store, a spinning mill, a sheep-and-wool festival, perhaps a hotel or conference center taken over, even if only briefly, by knitters. The specifics of the trips varied, but my underlying mission was always the same. I have become a yarn evangelist, and I travel in search of my congregation.

The stories in this book follow those years, beginning in 2000, when the Internet was in its relative infancy, when email newsletters such as mine were still a novel way to reach and build community among what we thought was a small group of knitters online. They track the rise—and occasional fall—of our important gatherings, our people and places, landmarks and legends, each of which has played a vital role in the vibrant knitting culture and community that exist today.

同类推荐
  • A Trace of Vice (a Keri Locke Mystery--Book #3)

    A Trace of Vice (a Keri Locke Mystery--Book #3)

    "A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go."--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.In A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3 in the Keri Locke mystery series), Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, follows a fresh lead for her abducted daughter. It leads to a violent confrontation with The Collector—which, in turn, offers more clues that may, after all this time, reunite her with her daughter.
  • Sweet Second Love

    Sweet Second Love

    Two years ago, when Linda Kendall's husband and children died in a tragic car accident, she wished she had died too--and believed that her life was over. When she accepts the position of nanny to the Conde Duarte de Dominga's three young charges, she believes she will never again feel passion for another man.But the Conde teaches her differently. Charming and handsome, his presence fills Linda with a desire she'd believed herself incapable of--and reminds her of the joys of being alive. And when he proposes marriage, Linda is tempted to accept. But can she allow herself to love again--and open up her heart once more to loss?
  • A Skinful of Shadows

    A Skinful of Shadows

    A Skinful of Shadows is a dark YA historical fantasy set in the early part of the English Civil War. Makepeace is an illegitimate daughter of the aristocratic Fellmotte family, and as such, she shares their unique hereditary gift: the capacity to be possessed by ghosts. Reluctant to accept her appointed destiny as vessel for a coterie of her ancestors, she escapes. As she flees the pursuing Fellmottes across war-torn England, she accumulates a motley crew of her own allies, including outcasts, misfits, criminals, and one extremely angry dead bear. From Costa Book of the Year winner Frances Hardinge comes a new dark historical fantasy that's sure to satisfy her leagues of fans who are eager for more. ?
  • Beyond the Mask

    Beyond the Mask

    In this dramatic conclusion to the Grasslands Trilogy, Corki, Pippa, and all their friends are reunited for a final fight to determine the future of Grassland. After escaping the mountains of Grassland, where Corki and Pippa and their friends were slaves and soldiers, the fugitives finally found a new life, and are seemingly safe at last. But as the former slaves explore new lands to the north, they discover that cruelty and injustice are not only found in Grassland, and that the people they visit may need their help. Grassland, too, may need assistance. When an appeal from an old friend reaches Corki and Pippa in their travels, will they have the courage to do what's right for their old land, despite its cruel history? What will it cost them to change Grassland for the better?
  • Otherbound
热门推荐
  • 苍茫青藏

    苍茫青藏

    西部军旅风情纪实文丛,本书以纪实的手法记录了建设青藏的军人的生活,包括《生命亲禁区的保护神》、《一对军人夫妻和他们的儿子》、《情系天边那条线》等。
  • 别样红楼别样情

    别样红楼别样情

    推荐新文《这男人欠揍》秋花惨淡秋草黄,耿耿秋灯秋夜长.已觉秋窗秋不尽,那堪风雨助凄凉!助秋风雨来何速!惊破秋窗秋梦绿.抱得秋情不忍眠,自向秋屏移泪烛.泪烛摇摇爇短檠,牵愁照恨动离情.谁家秋院无风入?何处秋窗无雨声?罗衾不奈秋风力,残漏声催秋雨急.连宵脉脉复飕飕,灯前似伴离人泣.寒烟小院转萧条,疏竹虚窗时滴沥.不知风雨几时休,已教泪洒窗纱湿.林黛玉的命运就是一首读过就不会忘记,读过就永远心痛的诗!如此一个傲世独立的奇女子,何以如此悲惨?每每走进红楼,总是掩卷而哭!为她!今涂鸦红楼,还她一个微笑的人生!可爱的秋樱释的新文《爆君再爱我一次》温柔美女东走西顾的新文《杀神王妃》精灵一般的顽皮可爱的新文《夫多不教妻之过》
  • 体育课程内容资源开发研究

    体育课程内容资源开发研究

    结合与新课标情感、态度、价值观的培养目标紧密相扣。音乐的运用主要是结合动作,贯穿在体育课程的结构中,首先,在优美的声响中展现准备活动部分。其次,将音乐贯彻在游戏中,设立场景,如当进行投掷的打靶,投准等方面的练习,就摘选一部分适合这个场景的音乐,配合教学。用音乐来感悟学生,激发其学习的自觉性,在音乐氛围中发挥学习投掷技术与知识的潜力。
  • 午夜馒头铺

    午夜馒头铺

    大家有没有发觉,有些早餐店的早点明明很好吃,但是每个月总有那么两天,忽然发涩,难以下咽。不知道你们有没有想过,也许那些早点根本就不是给人吃的……
  • 祸起四合院

    祸起四合院

    出了金鑫公司,火匣满脑子都是王小红的影子。一会儿是火样的石榴红,一会儿又是水葱般的青绿。两种颜色环绕盘旋,搅得他晕头转向。他又记起了刚才李杆说的话:找不回王小红,你那二十万就打水漂了。火匣打了个激灵,这才意识到寻找王小红的重要性:这不单单是找回老婆的问题,还关系到他们家那个四合院的前途。那个四合院是火匣的曾祖父建的,传到火匣已经一百多年了。别看现在有些破烂了,在当时那可是方圆百里数一数二的气派房子。因为用石料起了半米的根基,1943年伏汛黄河决口,房子居然没有被冲倒,救了村里不少人。要是烙印着祖宗功德的宅院从他手里更名换姓,那他火匣就成了火家的不肖子孙。
  • 三藩纪事本末

    三藩纪事本末

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 古易考原

    古易考原

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 三国封神系统

    三国封神系统

    东汉末年,岁月峥嵘,天下纷乱,自董卓已来,豪杰并起。天下豪杰起于黄巾,盛于三国,终于一晋。历史记住了三国,记住了两晋,唯独把黄巾扫落尘埃。这是一个从黄巾开始的封神故事,纷乱的东汉终将变成黄色的海洋,而我则将成为至高神的使者,推动历史开向不可测的远方。
  • 巴菲特写给股东的投资年报

    巴菲特写给股东的投资年报

    林汶奎主编的《巴菲特写给股东的投资年报》记 录了投资大师巴菲特每年向股东们写的一份投资年报 。《巴菲特写给股东的投资年报》包括:巴菲特致 股东的信,探讨的主题涵盖管理、投资及评估等,将 从其中提炼出巴菲特精华的投资思想展现在读者面前 。
  • 本宫不好惹

    本宫不好惹

    “啊?穿越?还命运赏给我?”童优眼珠子都差点瞪出来,开什么玩笑!她这么倒霉的人怎么可能穿越?“你前一世本不该那么倒霉的,是命运算错了,所以,为了弥补你,命运就赏给你一场穿越,呃,相当于重生一次,但是你可以带着前一世的记忆。”