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"The Museum of Kitschy Stitches’s hilarious tour through the annals of yarn history is a not-to-be-missed comedic cautionary tale.”-Debbie Stoller, author of Stitch ‘N Bitch

Hideous hats, ridiculous wraps, embarrassing neckties, and more-they’re all on display at The Museum of Kitschy Stitches, a photographic gallery of knitting and crocheting horrors. Want to see sci-fi inspired headgear from the 1940s? Gender-bending sweater sets from the ’50s and ’60s? Groovy outerwear from the ’70s? Museum curator Stitchy McYarnpants has sifted through decades of vintage catalogs, patterns, and advertisements to assemble this astonishingly awful collection. Along the way, she provides sidesplitting commentary about the models and their very unfortunate fashion choices. It’s essential reading for knitters and nostalgia buffs!

STITCHY MCYARNPANTS is the nom de plume of mild-mannered computer programmer Debbie Brisson, who has made a splash on the Web with her “confessions of a husband-neglecting, cat-shooing, yarn-hoarding knitaholic” blog and Museum of Kitschy Stitches. She lives in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

All the world’s a stage-and with this extraordinary book-plus kit, you can dramatize the most memorable scenes in all of theatre. Contents include:

    * Sixty fingerpuppet cards featuring Shakespeare’s most famous characters, including Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Shylock, and Falstaff

    * Twelve stand-up sets of castles, forests, balconies, and battle fields

    * A 96-page “folio” of classic scenes-from Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy to Romeo and Juliet’s classic balcony serenade

Once you’ve finished staging the Bard’s entire canon, you can mix and match masterpuppets to produce your own Shakespearean mash-ups. Perhaps your Romeo will fall in love with Lady Macbeth!

MIKE ROGALSKI owns and operates EYEWASH, a graphics studio in the Philadelphia suburbs. This is his first collaboration with William Shakespeare.

Everyone knows the fifty nifty united states—but what about the hundreds of other statehood proposals that never came to pass? Lost States is a tribute to such great unrealized dreams as West Florida, Texlahoma, Montezuma, Rough and Ready, and Yazoo. Some of these states came remarkably close to joining the Union. Others never had a chance. Many are still trying. Consider:
 
     •  Frontier legend Daniel Boone once proposed a state of Transylvania in the Appalachian
        wilderness (his plan was resurrected a few years later with the new name of Kentucky).
     •  Residents of bucolic South Jersey wanted to secede from their urban north Jersey
        neighbors and form the fifty-first state.
     •  The Gold Rush territory of Nataqua could have made a fine state—but since no women
         were willing to live there, the settlers gave up and joined California.
 
Each story offers a fascinating glimpse at the nation we might have become—along with plenty of absurd characters, bureaucratic red tape, and political gamesmanship. Accompanying these tales are beautifully rendered maps detailing the proposed state boundaries, plus images of real-life artifacts and ephemera. Welcome to the world of Lost States!

The time-tested advice you never learned in school for getting back to basics and running a healthy, happy, sustainable household.

In this amazing collection of proven wisdom and practical advice from real vintage textbooks, you’ll find everything you need to know about shopping, cooking, cleaning, budgeting, and managing a household like an adult—whether you’re renting your first apartment or establishing a family home.

• Learn handy home management skills such as:
• Replacing a button
• Planning a dinner party
• Choosing paint colors
• Reducing food waste
• And many, many more

Give your household a happier, healthier future with time-tested tips from the past!

Previously published in 2010 as Home Economics, this fully updated version includes a new introduction and improved advice on cooking and canning.

Take Control of Your Destiny!
 
From the good luck provided by shamrocks, rabbits’s feet, and horseshoes to the misfortune caused by broken mirrors, black cats, and umbrellas opened indoors, our lives are filled with signs and superstitions that guide our destiny and influence our fate.
 
Fortunately, Field Guide to Luck can help you recognize dozens of influential charms, dates, sayings, and symbols wherever you encounter them. Learn what objects are on your side, which practices are best avoided, and where these curious beliefs come from. This indispensable guide reveals their fascinating origins and offers tips for putting them into practice. With Lady Luck on your side and a lucky penny in your pocket, you’re sure to lead a charmed life!

Secret Lives of Great Artists recounts the seamy, steamy, and gritty history behind the great masters of international art. 

You’ll learn that Michelangelo’s body odor was so bad, his assistants couldn’t stand working for him; that Vincent van Gogh sometimes ate paint directly from the tube; and Georgia O’Keeffe loved to paint in the nude. This is one art history lesson you’ll never forget!