Gone With The Wool

Time is going by so quickly. I can't believe that GONE WITH THE WOOL comes out in a few weeks. I was so concerned about getting bookmarks for SEAMS LIKE MURDER, I didn't realize I should have gotten the ones made for GONE WITH THE WOOL at the same time.

I am really pleased with how the patterns I have included in GONE WITH THE WOOL came out. Since the book has a lot about Monarch butterflies returning to overwinter in the Cadbury By the Sea (in real life Pacific Grove), I thought it would be neat to have a pattern for a butterfly. I figured that crochet would better than knitting, but I still didn't have a clue how to crochet a butterfly. And then by chance and due to my poor housekeeping, I found a flower I'd crocheted on the floor. It had gotten folded in half and I realized it resembled a butterfly which gave me a starting point to figuring out a pattern. When I made the first one and it turned out, I was thrilled.

It's always exciting when I come up with a pattern for one of the books, but this one was extra exciting because it had seemed so impossible.

Unfortunately, there won't be copies of GONE FOR THE WOOL to sign this Saturday at the Printers Row Lit Fest. But there will be copies of SEAMS LIKE MURDER and bookmarks. There will also be not so great weather, if the forecast of 95 and humid are right. So far the weather people haven't been right about today. There were supposed to be thunderstorms and temperatures that went up to a muggy 80. It's almost midnight, there has been just a little light rain and the temperature never got out of the 60s.

The first year I went to Printers Row, it turned hot and muggy. The tornado sirens went off and then a thunderstorm hit and we had to abandon our booth because it had a metal pole sticking up taunting the lightning. Another year it was so cold, I wished I had gloves. Ah, Chicago in June. You just never no. I'd rather get cool, though. 95 and muggy isn't comfortable.

It has been a good week here. I have spent a lot of time writing, but I have seen friends, too. And then there was the literary tea. My daughter in law teaches fourth grade and they had planned a literary tea and invited me as their guest author. Then it got postponed and since I left L.A., I thought I would have to miss. Not anymore. Thanks to FaceTime on my MacBook I got to attend. It was so cool. I sat in front of my computer and I could see them. My daughter in law put me up on a computer screen and they asked me questions as if I was there. The icing on the cake were all the sweet thank you notes they sent me. Ah, the modern world. You really can be two places at once.