Shop owners, access ideas and instructions on how to participate in the Challenge in the 2008 Bookmark Challenge Kit. Also, visit the Retailers' Info page to subscribe to Funk & Weber Notes, our occasional email announcements about new patterns, classes, special events, and the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program.

It's time! The second annual Bookmark Challenge is upon us. From March 20 through May 8, we invite stitchers across the country to stitch bookmarks and read, celebrating literacy and needlework.

Independent needlework shops will collect the stitched bookmarks and donate them to libraries, schools, and literacy programs during Childrens Book Week, May 12-18, where they will be used as rewards for reading accomplishments.

Visit the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy Web site and blog for more information and to find participating shops.

Bookmark Make-It/Take-It

Anchorage, AK

On Sunday, April 13, 2008, Arctic Needle, Funk & Weber Designs, and the Arctic Needleworkers embroidery guild hosted the 2008 Bookmark Make-It-Take-It at the Loussac Public Library.

Participants chose Aida or canvas in a variety of counts and colors then selected 6-strand embroidery floss from The Gentle Art or DMC. Felt from Weeks Dye Works and ribbon donated by guild members completed the bookmarks.

Participants had a choice of stitching the Read ambigram pattern from last year, or an initial or word from this year's alphabet pattern. A couple of ambitious stitchers began "escape" and "dream" bookmarks. One teen chose to design numbers to go with her letters for a 2-sided bookmark: her initials on one side, her birth year on the other. A mother-daughter team turned the event into a competition. (Hey, I had nothing to do with this. It just goes to show, I'm not alone in my Life's-A-Game and Everything's-A-Competition mentality.) Once again, a kid prevails over an adult. No surprise there, really; however, I think it bears mentioning that the kid's initial has almost twice as many stitches as her mother's. Ahem.

Materials for this program were donated by
Arctic Needle
Funk & Weber Designs
Arctic Needleworkers guild members
The Gentle Art
Norden Crafts
Weeks Dye Works

Event press release

NT102 Book, Book, Book!

Second in the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy series, this is the other half of our Tribute to Librarians. It comes from this joke:

A chicken walks into a library and says, "book-book-book," (say that as though you're making a chicken sound), so the librarian gives the chicken a book. The chicken takes the book to a pond and sits next to a frog. The frog says, "Read-it, read-it."

Yes, we released these out of order. No excuses; it just worked out that way.

NT103 Ambigrams

This chart contains 2 ambigram patterns that can be finished individually or back-to-back.

The first is an asymmetrical ambigram, which means that it spells one word right-side up and a different (but related!) word up-side-down. This one spells "Story" one way and "Read" the other.

The second pattern is a symmetrical ambigram, which means it spells the same word right-side-up and up-side-down. Either way you look at it, this one spells "Read."

NT104 Wild About Reading

How long did you think it would be before we brought wildlife into this series?

The tiger-skin pattern and couched teeth encourage everyone to Go Wild and Read.

Funk & Weber Designs will donate to libraries, schools, and/or literacy programs a minimum of 10% of profits from the sale of this pattern.

To learn more, visit the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy Web site and blog.