Here I am in beautiful Portland, Oregon again! Lucky me! Just two weeks ago I spent a great week here teaching at The Tin House Writers Conference. Every cup of coffee I drank, every meal I ate, every berry I tasted was delicious. Plus Voodoo Doughnuts, Grand Central Bakery, Close Knit Yarn shop, Powell's Bookstore...and my dear friends Hillary and Heather. I got even more spoiled by having incredible students--some of whom I'll see on this trip--and meeting some of my favorite writers, like Aimee Bender, Walter Kirn, Dorothy Allison and Steve Almond as well as reconnecting with old friends Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard.

This time around I am giving two workshops at The Compassionate Friends National Conference. CF is an organization for families who have lost children, and they were an integral part of our lives after we lost Grace. Lorne found great comfort in the monthly meetings. I gravitated toward a smaller group of people who we met at meetings. The strength we found in each other sustained me for many many months.

When I get back from Portland, I turn around and head to Vermont to teach at The Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and right on the heels of that I head off to Hawaii and the Hawaiian islands Writers Retreat.

Luckily, I have learned to knit a different dish rag from Elizabeth and the knitting circle at Titticomb's Bookstore on Cape Cod. I actually knit one on the flight from providence to Chicago this morning n bright orange Peaches and Cream yarn. It's so cute! I'm giving it to Heather as a hostess gift tomorrow night when I go to dinner at her house here in Portland. It is a free pattern from the internet, so I will post it at the end of this blog.

Another great find at Sakonnet Purls in Tiverton, RI: a book of patterns that use sock yarn. Like fingerless gloves! I started a pair of those too.

Today I spent about 3 hours browsing in Powell's Bookstore. I am looking for a great Slow Cooker Cookbook because I am in love with my slow cooker. Laura Lippman told me she uses one and that inspired me to pull out the one my mom gave me last year. Well, I made a Thai pork in peanut sauce that is beyond tasty. Now I make it frequently. But the other recipes I've tried--a Veracruz chicken, baked beans, and a few others--are only so so. Powell's had so many to choose from that I got overwhelmed and need to go back and decide. But it was easy to choose a book for Hillary's little boy benjamin. I got him Spoon by Amy Krause Rosenthal. Annabelle LOVES her books, especially Little Pea. But I also was excited to see a copy of Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag, which won the Newberry Award in 1929. I scooped that one up for Annabelle, who loves all things animal! For me, I bought Denise Mina's first book, Garnethill. I love her Paddy Murphy series and I started this one as soon as I got back to my hotel--also terrific.

OK. here is the easy dish rag pattern. happy Knitting!

Cast on 4 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit front and back of each stitch. You will have 8 stitches
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Knit 4, YO, Knit to end of row
Row 5 - 49: Repeat Row 4. You will have 54 stitches
Row 50 and 51: K4, YO, K2TG, Knit to end of row
Row 52: K3, K2TG, YO. K2TG, K to end of row
Row 53 - 96: Repeat Row 52 until 9 stitches remain
Row 97: K3, K2TG, K4 (8 stitches left)
Row 98: K2TG 4 times
Bind Off