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Knit Or Dye Trying
A Riverbank Knitting Mystery
by Allie Pleiter
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Knit or Dye Trying (A Riverbank Knitting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Maryland
Berkley (April 5, 2022)
Mass Market Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593201809
ISBN-13 : 978-0593201800
Kindle ASIN : B093YRVK42
Business is booming for Libby Beckett and her fabulous Maryland shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., but when a town festival brings a fatality with it, Libby gets all tangled up in murder.
As spring comes to Collinstown, the village launches a food festival to draw a new group of tourists. Libby, the proud owner of Y.A.R.N., has planned a yarn event to provide an alternative option to a foodie weekend. Artisan fiber dyer Julie Wilson—known for her work with animal-friendly, plant-based knitting fibers such as bamboo and hemp as well as her brilliant use of color—will hopefully draw a crowd with a special dyeing workshop.
The festival begins, but it draws more than crowds. First, a flock of sheep parades down the street, herded by farmers protesting Julie’s antiwool stance. Then Julie’s celebrity chef sister appears, and the siblings resume a long-standing rivalry. Despite all this, Julie’s workshop has sold out. Libby is thrilled, and they’re preparing for a full house. But the night before the event, Julie is found alone in the warehouse event space—dead. The witty “Watch Julie Wilson Dye” workshop title now has a terrible new meaning—and it’s up to Libby to catch a crafty killer.
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Enjoy this peek inside:
I held up the handbag in question, a very beautiful, very functional satchel bag in a spring-beckoning mint green.
“The day after Gavin announced his festival,” I went on, “I was staring at this in a DC department store. I bought it just because I liked it, but the store clerk asked me if I was buying it because it was vegan. Some people don’t like the idea of buying leather things, so things that aren’t made from leather or another animal product can be considered vegan. In fact, the tag on the bag touted it as a vegan product.”
Margo stared at the bag. She’d complimented me on it twice since I bought it. A superb handbag is one of life’s great pleasures.
She nodded. “Makes sense. But I confess, I never thought about it that way.”
“Neither had I, but it got me thinking. People don’t realize yarn can be vegan, too. Sure, everyone’s first thought is sheep wool or alpaca or Angora rabbits. And those are great fibers with all kinds of good qualities. But there is so much more out there. Loads of really interesting, beautiful fibers that aren’t made from animal products.”
“So they might come in for the wool but discover all the other stuff while they’re in the shop.”
“Exactly,” I replied. “By the time I turned off the highway, I had the idea for a Wield More Than Wool weekend to go along with See More Than Seafood.”
Always the kind of friend who is happy for anyone’s success, Margo smiled and sat back in her chair. “Brilliant. I have a brilliant best friend.”
I have often thought the same of Margo. “After that,” I replied, “there was only one person to call. I had Julie Wilson on the phone within the hour.”
Julie Wilson has been an outspoken advocate for animal-friendly, plant-based knitting fibers for the past two years. She designs patterns and imports plant-based fiber, but she is most known and loved for her gorgeous dyeing of yarn. Nobody, but nobody, creates the incredible colors she does. I’d been reading an article about her just the day before I bought that handbag. Granted, Julie treads the oh‑so‑thin line between aggressive and abrasive, but her work is extraordinary. Besides, I admire someone with that much passion for their message.
“And you booked her, smart you. But didn’t you say she was . . . feisty?”
That was a gracious term for Julie’s difficult personality. “She is.”
Margo scowled. “Okay, but who needs difficult and feisty? Why would someone as nice as you bring in someone like her?”
I reached over to the counter behind me and picked up a shimmering, luxuriously drapey shawl in an indigo blue so rich, it would make most knitters weep.
“Oh.” Margo fingered the luscious fiber in the same way I’d just fawned over her dessert. “That looks as good as my pie. I think I get it now.”
I’d had that exact reaction when first seeing the yarn, and it only intensified once I started knitting it into the shawl Margo was now touching.
“It’s a silk blend made by a Mumbai yarn company,” I explained. “Their whole process is specially designed not to harm a single silkworm.”
“That color. Wow.”
“ ‘Wow’ is right. I already sold out the first shipment before Julie even got here.”
Not that I make a habit of putting cash over courtesy, but I was hanging on to the notion that somewhere under that prickly exterior was a nice woman just waiting to come out. Really, how else could all the creative beauty flow out of that mind?
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About Allie Pleiter
An avid knitter, coffee junkie and firm believer that “pie makes everything better,” Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction working on as many as four novels at a time. The bestselling author of over fifty books, Allie has enjoyed a twenty-year career with over 1.5 million books sold. In addition to writing, Allie maintains an active writing productivity coaching practice and speaks regularly on the creative process, publishing, and her very favorite topic—The Chunky Method of time management for writers.
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