Hot Fun in the Summertime

Well, not really hot fun. It's fucking raining again, here in North Arlington, NJ. I'm down at Jerry's, he's napping, and I'm taking a break from working on a design with an August 1 deadline. Raining, thunder, with dabs of sunlight. Christ, what a suck-awful summer it's been so far here.

Achtung. Die Strickmadchen Spreche. (No can do umlauts.)

So, I've decided that after years of avoiding self-promotion, I'm going to start splatting my knitting design crap around. Hey, all my friends do it. Why not me?

Why haven't I before? Two reasons. One, I have always despised the "mememe" deal. Two, didn't have the time, so I thought. But now I've come to the realization that I'm going to be 60 next April. For someone who thinks she's really around 40, the senior citizen concept has been a tough one to swallow. On the other hand, I have an amazing example in my mother, who will be 86 on August 21 and knits better than many, many younger people I know. I still can't bullshit Ma. Nobody can. She's good for another 15 years, I think. If not more. Still drives, still shops, still lives on her own, still sounds like she's a much younger woman.

With that in mind, I decided a few weeks ago that designing and writing about knitting, spinning, and maybe weaving, will be my retirement career. Jerry and I have plans to relocate to North Carolina when he's able to sell the house. We both hate the winter. At the beginning of October, we're taking a trip down there to case out Asheville, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte. I've been to Charlotte a number of times--nice city. But we want to live in the mountains, preferably on a lake, not too far away from a city.

So when I can, I'll give up tech writing and focus on what I care most about--doing the fiber thang and making some bucks at it.


The Book
Now that I've been chugging along with the book, I've decided to change the title. It's now Knitting in Public: My Stringy, Salient Life. Many stories about my life as an editor at McCall's Needlework & Crafts, MacKnit, All American Crafts, plus some of my early designs that no one probably remembers. The book will have numerous patterns scattered throughout that apply to the stages of my knitting "career," starting with my very first scarf that I made when eight years old.

And of course, my life story, from beginning to the present, including all the nasty bits. This is my legacy to my children and grandchildren.

Liz is getting ready to start the cover and she'll be doing the chapter header illustrations. You won't be seeing much of it here until it's ripened and then I'll put out some teasers. In the meanwhile, I'm going to start looking for a decent publisher who I can trust. Any suggestions?

Considering that throughout the years I've written thousands of pages, you'd think that writing this book would have been easy. It's not been so but I'm glad I'm up to the challenge. I put "Rock Sox" on hold because this is far more important to me now.


Anyway, Blogger seems to be having issues with uploading photos, so I'll do them them the next time I write, probably Tuesday. While I'm on vacation, I'll be working to wean my blog from Blogger and get it going on the Mac. The URL will remain the same, since I only use Blogger as a publishing tool to my domain. Shit, technology isn't always rare and handy. Sacrilege, I know.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Yesterday was my 7th blog anniversary. Go back and read the first entry. Sheesh.

Damned Cobwebs

Yes, I'm here. And well.

Almost two months have gone by. Why? Because I've been totally disinterested in blogging, to be honest. It's taken me this long to get the urge to write in the evening, other than on my book. FaceBook and occasionally Twitter both give me the opportunity to drop a sentence here and there in a nanosecond. Blogging is another story.

I was on the brink of ditching the blog entirely, closer than I've ever been. And then, I thought, why the fuck should I trash something that's consumed a better part of seven years. Dumb.

So what have I been doing, besides working on my book? A lot of knitting, some spinning, and weaving too. Lots of designing going on here. No more knitting OP's stuff. I'm thoroughly enjoying my own creations. I will be publishing these patterns--some lace scarves, mitts done in Mini Mochi, a nice new yarn from Crystal Palace, a lace jacket made from CotLin, and a few other items.

I knocked out this Baby Surprise Jacket for a coworker whose daughter just had another baby.
The buttons are little stegosauruses. The yarn is Limbo Mexiko sock yarn. I haven't made one of these in 17 years, when the Punk Princess was born. It's mind numbing but makes for a good present and perfect TV knitting.

Jerry and I have had a wonderful summer so far. Been down the shore. See picture below, taken at Seaside Heights, one of the Jersey shore's finer trashy places.
So this post is short. But from now on, I will be posting regularly, in bits and pieces. The blog redesign, which I had hoped to do on the Mac, may be put off for a month or two. But in the meanwhile, my 7th blog anniversary is the 25th (note that I eschewed "blogiversary", it being an idiotic word), so maybe we can celebrate my resurrection, eh?

After all, even though I maybe MIA, I'm still learning to be rare and handy.