Archives for May 2010

The reading last night at Barnes and Noble was super fun. I was pretty nervous about it, just because I really wanted NaNoWriMo to make a little money from it, so it felt like it was More Important than other readings where I’m just happy to show up and read and chat a little.

 

I tried to talk Chris Baty into spinning, but no go. Just as well, I had something up with my brake band, and it was a little frustrating. I’ll work on that later today. Marieke over there, with her pretty wheel, was the one who set up the reading (also big props to Barbara, event coordinator, who was awesome, too!). 

Today: I’m going to try not to kill the kid on my street who just got one of those damn scooters. We’ve been blessedly scooter-free in this area, and I’ve always been so happy about it. No more. (Hey, kid, get offa my lawn!)

Also, I’m going to write. Oh, yes, I am. I’ve missed a couple of days this week with 55 hours being worked in 4 days, so I have some catching up to do.

But I thought I’d share an oldie but goodie — I think I may have posted this here before, but I can’t remember, so here’s proof our Willie cat is relaxed about most things:

I have a signing on Thursday at Barnes & Noble and I hope it's not like this. (But if it is, I'm TOTALLY singing this song. Enjoy.)

1. Don't forget it's Maker Faire this weekend! Be prepared for some crazy traffic, a crush of people, and to have the top of your head blown off in wonder.

2. A reader named Pardis asked that I mention something really important: If you're in the Bay Area, you can come to Pinole on Saturday and be checked to see if your bone marrow is a match for a baby who needs it. Another fellow PensFatales writer also needs people to do this for her friend Joy. Info on local testing here, or here are instructions for doing this online (for those of you not in the Bay Area):

[From Joy's letter]: The first step
in the process is to log onto the ‘Be the Match’ site:  http://join.marrow.org.  After completing the qualifying
questions (toward the end of the process), enter JJ1605 into the field labeled “Promo Code”. 
When you complete this process, a donor testing kit will be sent to
you.  Once it arrives, you will simply need to swab your cheek
and send it to the donor matching center. If you are identified as
a potential match, you will be further tested and, ultimately, asked
to give blood (NOT bone marrow) for a few days in a row (it is
much the same as giving blood to the Red Cross).

Getting into this national registry could save someone's life. And god forbid, if anyone we know and love gets sick, we're gonna be really glad that the registry is getting bigger all the time. Consider it for me?

3. As a reward, have a listen:  

04 Knitters' Curse

It's a lovely song reader Ange Takats sent me — how she learned about the knitter's curse after making a beanie for the boy she loved.

4. And after all that, you get to see my new cowl! It's Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings pattern, made in Mountain Fibers (their worsted weight, not sure what colorway this is — I lost the ball bands). So soft and squishy! And just the right weight for me here.

 

Hard to take a photo of a red thing near a red thing by a red thing, so this one is a little better:

It's made with a true moebius (a la Cat Bordhdi), which is halfway cast off with that picot edge, then knit around. I modded it by making it wider and longer for my linebacker shoulders, and I love the way it fits (can't remember exactly what I did, but every time it said to M1 every 15 stitches (for example), I'd M1 every 10 instead. I also did an extra repeat of the pattern at the neck and at the end of the body.

Can  you kind of see the moebius there? Love it.

I love the fit. And since I'm always too hot to go out wearing sweaters, this little half-sweater should suit me just fine. Love love love.

round these parts, hasn't it? I've been sick with the 'flu, and I'm only now starting to feel better, although this morning I woke up with a sore throat, which is highly irritating. I had this whole drama planned out in my head while I was lying in bed this morning. I would go to the bathroom with my flashlight, I planned, peer in my throat using my flashlight, and I would find that I had strep on my TONSILS which would have grown back.

(I've had my tonsils out twice in the last seven years.)

When I went and checked in the mirror, I didn't find strep spots, and I still have no tonsils.

Whew. Because that would have sucked. (And I'm sure the doctor I offended last time wouldn't be happy to see me.)

Reading and NaNoWriMo:

Hey! I'm going to be reading at Barnes and Noble in Emeryville on May 27th at 7pm! I hope you can come. I think I might give ya'll a sneak peek into How to Knit a Heart Back Home (Book Two). What do you think?

But what's REALLY cool is that it's a fundraiser for the Young Writer's Program of NaNoWriMo! B&N is donating a percentage of all sales made in the store that day with THIS VOUCHER to the program. Isn't that awesome? I'm kind of beside myself about it.

And you don't have even have to come to hear me to support the YWP — if you buy anything at Barnes and Noble on May 27th online, you can just enter their site HERE and put in the voucher code (10207074) and support them that way.

(Oooh! How about this, just for fun? If you DO buy something from B&N that day online and use the voucher code, then let me know, and I'll email you the same sneak peek into the next book. The Young Writer's Program is insanely awesome, and they thank you in advance.)

And another thing:
Do you know about Brenda Novak's annual auction? She raises a LOT of money every year to fund research for diabetes and the PensFatales have donated a gift basket (includes an autographed copy of my book as well as LOTS of other great things) and critique.

Details on gift basket HERE and critique of your first 30 pages HERE.

And one more thing:

I like you.

🙂

Instead of getting all bitter and sad about today, Mother's Day, on a day when I have no mother, nor do I want to be a mother, I decided to scan some photos I found when cleaning out my office. Seems appropriate to put them up here.

 

During the trip we took together to Italy. Good god, this was 2001. Nine years ago? Wow.

 

This is my favorite boat in my favorite town. It's always parked here, and over the years and trips, I always snapped a picture of it. Mom had it made into an oil painting for me by an artist friend of hers, Chet Hill.

 

 

We were in Venice for the highest acqua alta I'd ever seen. We bought boots and felt like locals.

 

I kind of dropped Mom in the water, though, when we were scrambling from one walkway to another, and she was FURIOUS. She was wet all the way up to her hips. She wanted to go back to the hotel to change, but I talked her into letting me buy her prosecco at the most expensive place in Piazza San Marco, and suddenly, she was all giggly smiles and wanted to go on tromping the streets.

We looked for parts of the wonderful book, Miss Garnet's Angel, and found them (like the Levantine Camel).

 

She loved the view from our hostel in Siena.

Wrong train, wrong stop, wrong city, completely lost. Whatever. We didn't mind.

 

I've always loved this photo, taken in Murano on a different trip.

RANDOM PHOTO FINDS:

There's a rose floating in the acqua alta below (didn't scan as well as the photo came out).

 

Me, Marco, Franco, and Luigi (an old gondolier).

 

In Murano

 

OMG, this picture cracked Mom UP. It was the only vaguely ribald joke I ever heard her make — this trip to New Zealand wasn't long after I'd come out as liking both boys and girls, so she saw this sign and made me go stand under it so she could take a picture. She was giggling the whole time. As was I.

 

My favorite sheep picture I ever took. In New Zealand. I am actually lying on my stomach in the middle of the road to get this — somewhere Christy or Beth has the photo of ME doing that.

 

And one of me with Mom. I love this one. Safety, happiness, all of it.

Sigh. I'm going to frame some of these and put them up in my office today. I was going to garden, but it's been pouring, oddly enough. And then back to work tonight. My (working) vacation is over, and it's back to the grind. It's all good, though. Good to have a job, good job to have.

I miss Mom, though, dammit.