Rachael

Whoops, I forgot to draw winners last night. I'm a little out of it, fighting off the cold that's being going around. I don't feel awful — I've just felt kind of crappy for days now. Low-grade malaise. The kind that requires sitting on the couch with cats, which I haven't done enough of, but hope to get some of that in tonight.

All righty, using the magic of Random.org and showing only the first part of the winners' email addresses:

YARN: Remembering the Way Home goes to alisiadragoon.

BRAVE NEW KNITS goes to tddurand.

VAMPIRE KNITS goes to d_hage.

Woot!(I've emailed y'all who won.)

And now I have a pretty full day planned, lingering crappiness notwithstanding. Writing and doing laundry this morning, lunch in the city, then I'm gettin' my hair done, because it needs it. (Trying to grow out this silver hair ain't for sissies. I mentioned I was doing it at work, and a friend said, "Really? I thought you were just kidding with that." So I want to get it done so that it looks really intentional. A little bit punk. While maintaining my own look. GOOD LUCK, CAROL. God bless Carol. She does good hair, and she's nice, too.)

Digit helping with a manuscript.

A Digit update: He's been diagnosed with a thyroid problem, which explains why he's been so vocal and has been terrorizing the dogs and eating twice his weight in cat food and still losing weight. I got him on meds two weeks ago, and suddenly he's gaining weight again and his fur is smooth, and he's less tense. He's still a jerk, but he's OUR jerk.

Oooh, there are some things I'm loving right now and I have to share.

First, there's my new purse organizer:

 

I got it from Divide and Conquer at Etsy, and I heart it so hard. The sides are rigid (maybe cardboard?) so it makes my beloved Queen Bee bag stand up again. It had been collapsing sadly, full of My Stuff, and now it doesn't:

And a view inside:

Believe it or not, that is ORGANIZED, people. I love it. (I bought the small size and it fits perfectly.) 

Also: BOOKS! (and giveaway!)

#1: YARN: Remembering the Way Home, Kyoki Mori

 I finished this the other day, and I adored it. I was also really glad that I waited until after I finished my book of essays to read it, because she writes about yarn and knitting similarly to the way I do, except, um, she does it better. Way better. I think I would have had a crisis of confidence had I read the book before I was done with mine. In much the same way that I try not to read knitting fiction (excluding Barbara Bretton, because I can't get enough of her work) — I don't want it to influence my writing, even unconsciously. After I'm done with this third novel, I'm going on a TEAR of knit-lit. Can't wait.

But back to YARN: It's the story of a Japanese-born woman coming to terms with her relationship with her American husband, and how everything relates to the death of her mother (O HAI Rachael, just your speed). A couple of short snippets from the book:

"Thread holds together and restricts, while yarn stretches and gives. Thread is the overall theme that gives meaning to our words and thoughts — to lose the thread is to be incoherent or inattentive. A yarn is a long, pointless, amusing story whose facts have been exaggerated. I had gotten D's in home-ec., math and science because I was concocting a yarn in my head when I should have been following the thread of each lesson. Thread was all I got at home after my mother's death."

Kyoki Mori has a Ph.D. in English, and was teaching in Green Bay, a place with such a small minority population that people stared at her wherever she went. "People in Green Bay couldn't get over the fact that I was an English professor. 'You mean you teach English to Americans? Well, I guess that's all right. You do speak pretty good,' they said. Every time I heard someone say good instead of well, or borrow when they meant lend ('Can you borrow me a pen?'), I wanted to leave town and never come back."

I loved this book: spare, a bit dark, and lovely. Also, she taught me things about knitting I've never HEARD of, which was delightful. Salish wool dogs, indeed! I'll give away a copy of this to one lucky person on my mailing list.

#2 Brave New Knits, Julie Turjoman

 
I received this book to review and I've enjoyed it so much. I love how Julie talks TO the designers, the people we've gotten to know in knit-land over the years, and I adore how it's kind of a love poem to Ravelry. Ravelry deserves a love poem, don't you agree?

And the patterns are GORGEOUS. I kind of want to make them all.

I got to ask Julie a few questions (I always love hearing from the author):

A. What was your inspiration to write the book?

 As my personal blogroll grew longer and longer, and I found myself spending way too much time reading about my favorite knitwear designer-bloggers, I wondered why nobody had assembled all that talent into book form. Although some have suggested that the internet eliminates the need for a paper book about this subject, we knitters really do love our books. I felt there was a place for a collection of patterns by the blogosphere’s shining lights.

B. What was the most surprising thing you learned while writing it?

 It’s one thing to have a lightbulb click on and think to oneself, “This is a brilliant idea!”, but it surprised me that so many others agreed! Although the designers were incredibly generous about creating their projects for the book, and forthcoming in discussing their knitting lives, I was also surprised and grateful that they allowed me to share so many of their insights and experiences about designing.

C. Because I'm always curious about other people's processes, what's your writing process like?

Because the interviews were conducted in rapid succession over a 3-month period, I used a digital voice recorder for each one to ensure that I would quote each designer accurately, and to help me recapture their individualism. I’d write up a first draft as soon as possible after meeting or talking to each person while our conversation was still fresh in my mind. My writing process after that was to focus on each designer’s professional trajectory and design inspirations, with a bit of personal information to round out their personalities, and to flesh out those early drafts with appropriate quotes and detail until the final version felt right.

D. I know you can't say what your favorite pattern in the book is, but which one would you wear if you went out to dinner tonight?

That would depend on where I was going for dinner! I’d definitely wear either Jordana Paige’s delicate Delysia Camisole or Teresa Gregorio’s sexy Milk Maiden Pullover on a date night out with my husband, but if I was heading into chilly San Francisco for dinner outside at Fisherman’s Wharf, I’d want something warm and cozy like Jen Hagan’s Global Cable Coat, or Hilary Smith Callis’s Koukla Cardigan.

I keep thinking I might be able to give my copy away, but I can't. Here's a Ravelry link to the patterns from the book, and I have to say, I love Joan McGown Michael's Kimberly Cardigan best, but there are many runners-up.

So instead, I'll buy one copy of EACH of these books and send them to someone on my mailing list. Are YOU on my mailing list? (Join here.)

#3 Vampire Knits, Genevieve Miller

Also a review copy from the publisher (thank you!), I'm giving away a copy of the very fun Vampire Knits:

 

My favorite pattern in the book? The Tourniquet Scarf.

HA! This one cracks me up every time.

Make sure you're on the mailing list! (If you're not sure if you're on it, you can always put in your email again — it'll tell you whether or not you are.)  I'll draw three winners on Monday night. Whoohoo!

I've been grabbing spare bits of evenings when I can and putting them to good use: sitting on our couch, covered in animals, knitting, watching television. I've been so busy for so long that I was behind in everything I liked (which wasn't much, granted).

So now I'm all caught up on my guilty pleasures: Gossip Girl, America's Next Top Model, the Vampire Diaries (the latter hasn't really caught me this season yet — should I keep watching, you think?).

And I hear the Amazing Race just started! I didn't know, so it's not on the TiVo yet, but it certainly WILL be.

On Netflix, I'm watching season three of Dexter — oh, that show is good, and way bloodier than anything I usually watch, so it's rather intense. I don't always enjoy intense, honestly. I just finished The Hunger Games, and I have to say, as I turned the last page, I was satisfied, but unsure if I can read the next two books. I think I'll take a break and perhaps one day I'll be brave enough.

So the question is, what wouldn't you miss on TV right now? What makes you smile when you see it on the DVR? What makes you grab your knitting and head for the couch?

(Don't you love fall? While, yes, we  in the Bay Area ARE having our traditional fall heat wave, something about the shorter days make me feel like I have more time: to hang out at the house with La, to relax, to watch TV, to bake, to cook. I don't think that's actually true, and indeed, this week I'm working 88 hours (transitioning back to day shift soon – woot!), but the time is there somewhere, and I'll grab it.)

I love the following madly and deeply. It's worth moving from the excerpt to the whole thing, because it's genius. Enjoy. (Thanks, Lala, for sending it to me.)

 

THE .DOC FILE OF J ALFRED PRUFROCK
with deepest apologies to T.S. Eliot

…

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the desk,
Rubbing its back upon the Windows PC;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the icons that you meet;
There will be time to murder and respawn
And time for all the Chrome and Firefox
That drag and drop a website on your plate;
Time for .doc and time for .ppt
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred fanfics and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the players come and go
Talking of their scores on Halo.

…

I grow old… I grow old…
I shall add some links to my blog roll.

Shall I change my default pic? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall play some World of Warcraft, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the servers singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen cats talking in capslock on the web,
All up in ur fridge, eatin' ur food
When my laptop lights the darkness white and black.

We have lingered in the tubes of internet,
By URLS wreathed with info, loaded-down
Till cellphones ringing wake us, and we drown.

Today I'm writing at the PensFatales about mistakes, and specifically, a mistake I made a long time ago in dealing with someone I loved.

Hop over there and leave me a comment about something you screwed up, wouldja? Maybe it'll make me feel a little better. Or maybe it'll make YOU feel a little better, to admit it (you can even do it anonymously). 

I think I feel a little better, having written that. Again.

EDITED TO ADD ONE MORE THING: Bethany thanks our fairy godmother HERE. 

EDITED TO ADD  – OMG!!! Bethany made her goal for fundraising. And she BEAT it. Already. This is true: We have a NaNoWriMo fairy godmother watching over us. It's official. And there's something so lovely about that, that someone who, for these three Nights of Writing Dangerously in a row, has donated enough (MORE!!) to send us to an enchanted evening while remaining anonymous . . . Well, it made me choke up and laugh out loud in delight at the same time. Which was a little difficult, but I managed it.   Dear Fairy Godmother, thank you. With all our hearts. xoxox

**********************

My little sister Bethany is fundraising again for the Night of Writing Dangerously (a NaNoWriMo write-athon that supports NaNo's free creative writing programs in hundreds of schools)! If she raises $200, she gets to go to the SWANKY night at the Julia Morgan Ballroom. If she raises $300, she'll take ME as her guest, which she's done for the last two years (lucky lucky lucky me). (It's just the coolest night — a couple of hundred people dressed to the nines, writing their brains out between sips of wine and coffee and bites of chocolate.)

And I can't stand how cute the picture she put up over there is — she's probably about six or seven in that picture, standing behind our little concrete house on Saipan. I love that you can see my mother's carefully gardened strip of earth next to the house, and how groomed the lawn is. Saipan is a tropical island in the Northern Marianas, and the annual rainfall is 84 inches — my mother was out there ALL THE TIME with the push mower, going back and forth, back and forth, while we kids ran around like maniacs. I loved living there (scorpions, centipedes, and typhoons notwithstanding). We snorkeled in the afternoons. My parents let us play wtih machetes, for pete's sake. One of our favorite hobbies was chopping into fallen coocnuts with the dangerously long blade. We felt like we were living on the edge of the earth, and in a way, we were.

Can't you just see mischief in Bethany's eyes? Can't you just see the novels that she is yet to write in that photo?

Thank you, for anything you feel like giving. This is our favorite time of year, and that night is the MOST fun a NaNo-writer can have.