~Post by Robyn
It’s an odd feeling. Working, planning and creating something so intensively for a month and then all of a sudden it’s over. It’s impossible to fathom the number of times the word “yarn” has been used in BookPeople over the past few weeks. I can’t say that I miss it, yet, but I know that perhaps next week I will. Merrilee was the brains and force behind the entire project. She was an admirable force of nature that lived and breathed knitting for insane hours. We had a feeling that the little known art of hanging a giant sweater from a store marquee would be the true test… and we were right. For weeks we bounced possible techniques off of each other; including but not limited to putting people on the roof! In the end, we used faithful, but not forgotten, packing tape. This experience has just further solidified my unwavering love for my co-workers (who put up with us, helped us and supported us), the town of Austin (that was intrigued, excited and always in for a good yarnbomb) and picture books (lastly and mostly importantly). Extra Yarn is such a phenomenal story with illustrations that still make me grin. It encourages creativity and general “thinking outside the box.” Not to mention kindness, generosity and patience. I say patience because after all the knitting I’ve just experienced, Anabelle must have had that quality ten-fold. Whenever I have children of my own, this book will be on their shelf. I would like to say thank you to Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen and BookPeople for allowing me to be involved in such a yarntastic and knitabulous project!
BookPeople 