Spring has Definitely Sprung!

In Brooklyn, at least. And to prove it, here's a photo of Astounding Knits! contributor Desirée de Baar (with husband Frank) in front of a bright gaggle of tulips. The couple were on their way to visit what's left of the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden but first stopped off in my neighborhood to say hello. It's so great to meet in person (as opposed to over the Internet) the artists and craftspeople who populate the pages of the book – I hope to get to know many more of you as the weeks and months progress.

If you've seen the book, you know de Baar from her knitted Keuken, an accurate scale model of a sink and faucets rendered entirely in pink wool:

Photo by  Joep Vogels, Audax Textielmuseum, courtesy of RAM, Rotterdam

Here are a couple more signs of high spring:

Gayle Roehm's Spring Flowers Egg, a knitted interpretation of a Fabergé egg of the same name. The original was one of  50 bejeweled creations made for tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia in the late 19th/early 20th centuries and given at Easter to members of their family. Roehm's was fashioned of red and gold crochet cotton.

Photo by Miriam Rosenthal, ThirdEyePhotography

And a selection of Anita Bruce's knitted plankton - because as any coastal enthusiast knows, 'tis the season for Spring Bloom, an up-tick of phytoplankton that occurs in the North Atlantic. Alas, Bruce's "hypothetical" plankton, made of 0.25mm enameled copper wire, probably won't be washing up on a beach near you.

Photo courtesy of Anita Bruce