Rachael

It's been forever since I did one of these, and because they always make me laugh, I'm listing a few of my favorite ways people get to this blog. I really love that the first nine searches are my blog, or my name. The tenth? "Dirty sheep." Huh.

Dirty sheep joke   There are several common searches for sheep jokes although I don't remember ever telling any here. (As a half-Kiwi, I know plenty though. I will tell them because I do not like to offend the sheep.)

(Aside – you wanna know my FAVORITE joke? This one can't be beat. I mean it. Try it. You: Say knock knock. Victim: Knock-knock. You: Who's there? *falls over dead laughing*)

I love my Kindle   Yes, I do love my Kindle. I love it on all its platforms: my Kindle, my iPad, and my phone, and I love that they all talk to each other.

Chihuahua jeweled cowboy hat  Nope, I don't know where to get one of those, but if you find out, let me know, mkay?

DIY sweaters look dowdy  EXCUSE ME? You obviously don't know me, nor any of my friends. Humph.

Durrow by Jodi Green   It rocks. One of the best, most worn sweaters I've ever made. Rav link here.

First morning thought  Aww, sugar. I don't know what yours is. But I hope it's nice.

How big is a radish? HAHAHAHA. That is all.

Man a go-go tube  Also, ha. Have fun!

When the stork dials 911 They get me!

In writing news, I'm working on copyedits for Book Three (actually, Wishes and Stitches, the third novel will be out after the memoir, so it's technically my fourth copyedited book! Woot!), so my eyes are crossing. I can't see errors anymore. I actually sent a text earlier that said "your" instead of "you're" and I'm still blushing. Gah.

So I'll sign off, and wish you a happy weekend. (See you Friday night at Verb for Keeping Warm, if you're local….)

You guys! I'm going to be reading in the East Bay next week! Can you come?

I'm going to be at the awesome Verb For Keeping Warm, and if you haven't been to their store, you have to come. It's GORGEOUS, full of delicious yarn that you won't find anywhere else (I'm blocking a shawl right now that I made in their fiber — it's perfect).

When: Friday, April 22 – 6pm

Verb For Keeping Warm,
6328 San Pablo Avenue at Alcatraz Avenue

I think I *might* read from the book of essays coming out in September, so this would be a fun time for a sneak peek.

And in other updates, I'm back from the Romantic Times conference! It was everything a conference should be, and it started like this:

Check out that AWESOME bar set Lala found at the Alameda Antiques Fair — still has the original 60s tag on it. It's zebra print.

Crazy Aunt Purl Laurie Perry and I gave a workshop on memoir writing! It was so fun! To continue the theme of the convention, she brought wine in juice boxes, which is probably why my face is so red in this picture. It was a really fun panel, ackshally. Talked a lot about truth and being brave, and what I learned from it was this: We are never brave on purpose. Usually bravery comes as an OH SHIT I HATE THIS moment, and only later, when someone says, "How brave you were!" do you realize you actually had been. Kind of deep, no? (Also, I am not on her lap. I know it looks like I am.)

Spent good, quality time with awesome Nicole Peeler, and I did her hair this night, which I think looks fabulous like this. Also, I just realized SHE is the reason I dreamed I cut my hair into a short bob and went dark red. I want to copy her. (Oh, I've been growing out the silver for so long! So bored! Feel so old-looking! Nicole is pretty!)

And look how cute this is: My dad and his girlfriend Lola showed up for my signing. They waited in a hella long line (after taking me out to a yummy breakfast) just to pick up a book. That's adorable.

I'd love to tell you about the plotting Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell and I did in the car there and back, but then I'd have to kill you. Let me just say this: I think we came up with a few bestselling ideas, a couple for each of us. At least. And then some. AND we ate McDonald's.

Came home and did the bed bug dance (Martha Flynn chronicles it better HERE) — our room did not have them, but another room did, so I ran into the house, stripped at the washer, threw all the contents of my suitcase into hot water and then bagged the suitcase.

And (are you ready?), I forgot to take my two precious shawls out:

I can't talk about it. Especially that green cashmere Swallowtail. I was so mad at myself I could not even CRY, that's how mad I was.

But it's good to be home again, with flying fingers, and happy to be working (back to the day job tomorrow, too — it's been nice to have this time off).

And if you're local, I'd love to see you on the 22nd!

 

 

I almost forgot: I'm going to be signing in Los Angeles this Saturday, at the Romantic Times Giant Book Fair (it really is giant, HUNDREDS of authors (all listed on that page), and thousands of book buyers – $5 to get in, worth the fun). If you're in the area, I'd love to say hello.

Westin Bonaventure Hotel, 404 South Figueroa St., LA

Saturday, April 9th, 11am-2pm.

Please forgive me that I'm a little late in doing my drawing for both the grand prize and Catherine's book — I got a bad cold and I'm still kind of laid up by it. I get things like migraines and tonsils growing back. I do NOT get colds or flu, so this has been unpleasant. And I was going to do a little video blog of the drawing, but I'm so green and sneezy, no one needs to see me like this. I'm doing you a favor, I promise.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

This was for the scarf, handwoven by yours truly, flaws and all, in the winner's choice of colors (for posting a review of How to Knit a Heart Back Home somewhere, anywhere):

Nancy L.

(I have this thing I like to do with winners: I go back and search through my past emails (god bless gmail) and see what kind of correspondence I've had with them. Nancy emailed me something FUNNY after the first book came out, and I'm tickled she won.)

WINNER OF SHEEPISH

Lee Ann!

Now this: I'm a fanatic when it comes to fairness. If I draw a number, that's the winner. Period. As I stated above, I search my email if I'm not quite sure who a winner is, but even if they've never emailed me, they win. I don't redraw numbers with Random.org to get the "right" result. Even though you all would never know, *I* would know. Besides, I want too many people to win things.

But I'm thrilled that Lee Ann won — it's OUR Lee Ann! Remember Fuzzy Logic? The brain surgery? The running? The charm/wit/beauty/personality/talent? Old skool knitters on the block represent, yo. She's BACK with a new blog, and I'm glad she won the book, and I'm glad she's my friend.

(And hey, I try to send out a little surprise treat every month or so to a random subscriber on my mailing list, just so's you know.)

It was just one of those weekends (I know, my weekends come at strange times — my next weekend will start on Monday), packed with FUN and new things and great people, the kind of weekend that actually made us buy a lottery ticket. Just because. So many other good things were happening, why not? (We did not win. I have to admit I was a little surprised, which is just silly and goes to show.)

A few of the fun things because everyone likes a list:

1. I made chocolate cake in a mug and topped it with ice cream and hot fudge. It was AMAZEBALLS and took a couple of minutes to mix up with ingredients we had in the kitchen, and three minutes to cook. I told Lala I'd be right back (we were in between watching the new episodes of the Fabulous Beekman Boys and Megamind), and I came back with homemade cake. It was cool.

2. I stayed in bed almost all of Sunday, reading. It was glorious. Three whole hours with the paper. (I knew EVERYTHING for one fleeting minute. Then the feeling passed. As it does.)

3. Met up with fantastic writer friends to celebrate a new book release. At one point, I looked around the table and thought with some surprise, "These are my friends." It felt so good.

4. I feel like making this one blinky or sparkly: I FELL IN LOVE WITH AN ACCORDION. Really. Lala had a friend over to play some Mexican music (we are constantly confusing our neighbors), and got her accordion out to show Camilla. Then it was on the dining room table, so after a while I said something about getting it off and putting it away.

Then I opened the box. And promptly fell in love at first sight. I *know!* I do that! Hi, ukulele! But hey, I feel pretty proficient on the uke now (at least for playing along to singing, which was the goal), but I never felt like this about the uke (I swear Mom, he's not like any of the other boys). Look at this pearlized blue! OOOOH!

 

I got it out and before I even tried it, I told Lala, who was saying something CRAZY about selling it, that it could be stored in my office. No problem. Then she showed me some things to do with it, and I took off. I'm obsessed now, people. Yesterday I went to Smythe Accordion in Oakland, and I have books to learn from (most interested in gypsy/klezmer, but good old fashioned German folk songs are also awesome).

And I'm playing whole SONGS! Badly, of course, since there are three things to do while playing: right hand on the keyboard, left on the bass notes, all the while pushing and pulling to keep the air moving over the reeds — it gets intensely confusing. But somehow, I feel drawn to it in the same ridiculous, doesn't-make-sense way I am to Venice. I just know.

5. And Lala got an iPad 2.

  She's been dying for one, and we couldn't justify it, but then I got a little money from Australia (thanks, Australia!), and we could pull it off. And I'm not dumb. I put the iPad in the empty accordion case, brought her into my office and said, "I want to keep your accordion forever. I will trade you what's in that case." My arms were tight around the accordion — she couldn't have pried it from my fingers if she'd tried.

Luckily, she agreed to the trade even before she knew what it was. (Points!) And when she picked her jaw back up off the floor, she said that the reason she'd been thinking about selling the accordion was to pay for an iPad.

Ha! Then I sold my hair and she bought me a comb…. you know the rest of the story. (And I think it's a nice gift exchange — tomorrow we'll have been married 5 years. FIVE YEARS, people. Happy sigh.)

And one more fun thing before I forget! I'll remind you of this when the book hits bookstores on April 26th, but I have a galley copy of Catherine Friend's new memoir, SHEEPISH: Two Women, Fifty Sheep and Enough Wool to Save the Planet. I love this book — I love her humor, and the way she pokes fun at herself the same way she does life, gently, with great kindness. I'll send it to one lucky commenter on this post w ho tells me something fun they've done recently.

If you've read How to Knit a Heart Back Home, leave a review (any kind of review) somewhere (your blog, Amazon, B&N, etc) and let me know, and I'll add you to the drawing for the handwoven scarf, made in colors you choose! I'm drawing a random winner in ONE WEEK, on April 1st (the day Lucy's Kiss–same book, different title–goes on sale in Australia and New Zealand).

Of course, I'm not that great a weaver yet, so it might be a little wonky, but I'll put a lot of love into it, I promise.

While I thank you profusely, Willie sends you chilled vibes. This is NOT a stressed out cat (he literally hangs out like this, cracks me up no end):