I am finally doing what I have had my characters do--calm their nerves with crochet. I needed something unchallenging, but at the same time I didn't want to make a swatch with string as I have Sheila do in the Crochet series. I am making a cowl out of basic worsted yarn. There's no pattern to follow-- just my whim if I want to change from half double crochet to single crochet in the next row. The beauty is that I can feel my shoulders unhunch as I move through a row. It is nice to see that it really works.
The revised SCONED TO DEATH was sent back to my editor last weekend. It's always a little nerve wracking, waiting to hear if she liked the changes. I not only revised things because of her comments, but also things I decided to change as I went through the manuscript again. I gave Jack the cat a better chance to show off his magic skills.
Next up, I will get the copy edit and my last chance to do any tweaking.
I needed a day to clear my head before I went back to the next Yarn Retreat book. I was going to call it KNOT A DEAD END, but now I'm not sure. It was my editor's idea to have KNOT in all the titles, but I think that it is too close to KNOT DEAD AGAIN, so I'm going to think about it some more.
We went up to Ojai the other day. After setting MURDER BY THE HOOK there, I have a different feeling when I look around the town. Jakey was with and he loves the playground which happens to be near where set a number of the scenes in the book. In my imagination, the empty courtyard was filled with people watching and dancing to an ethereal music performance. An there's the bench where Molly and Barry had their late night talk.
I even finally got a glimpse of the pink moment. The other times I've been there, the days were longer and we always left before sunset, but this time we stayed in the playground as it got dark. It wasn't the grand pink moment I had seen photos of, but the mountains had a faint pinkish color as the sun went down.
The biggest surprise was that the local grocery store had pixies. Everything I read said that pixies had a season from early spring to about June. We brought some back and they may be rogue pixies, but the mandarins were delicious.
Our sunny fall weather is about to change with days of rain predicted. This morning I did what I could to clear a downspout so rain won't pour out at the end of the gutter. I hope it works.
7 comments:
Good morning -- Your crocheting sounds interesting -- just let the stitches fall where they may!!
I got some beautiful new yarn -- Red Heart Bitty Stripes in a color called Rainbow Mist -- works up nicely in the basketweave and ripple patterns.
A teacher at my daughter's school has to be away for a couple months so Dana volunteered to take care of her leopard gecko. Amazing the amount of care the little creature, whose name is Daphne, needs. A couple days ago, Dana said Daphne was acting twitchy -- she all of a sudden sort of spiraled around, grabbed her skin and pulled it off -- it came off in a big piece -- then ate it!! Apparently there are lots of nutrients in the skin. Dana said it was kind of gross to see but also fascinating.
I plan lots of crocheting today -- I was going to make a shawl as a Christmas gift but have changed my mind -- I'll stick with afghans for now.
Enjoy your day doing whatever you choose to do.
Patty, What a great name for a color of yarn. The best part is that you don't have to change yarns to change colors.
The gecko sounds interesting. It must have been surprising to see her pull off her skin and then eat it. I hope Dana has some warning something like that might happen.
Afghans always make nice gifts.
Have a great day!
Yes, Dana knew it would happen but didn't know when it would be. They apparently do it every six to eight months. She sent me a picture -- I'll forward it to you. My little flip phone isn't the best with pictures but hope you can see enough.
Fun at the DMV. I had to renew, and anyone over 70 now has to go in person to get a new license or ID card. Since I seem to be permanently stuck in the wheelchair, I just wanted the card. It was still necessary to wait in 3 lines, and then fill out the application again because they didn't have the one I filled out at home. It took a little time, with my van driver waiting patiently. We got in trouble because we both laughed at some of the questions. After filling out several pages, the last question was "Do you wish to pay the $45 fee, or do you want a free card?" We almost got in trouble again for laughing. Next stop was the line for pictures, but since I was in the wheelchair, an employee took us out of a very long line, and me took to the front. Naturally the others in line had a lot of dirty looks to share! it was raining hard, and the place was packed--a great adventure.
How fun that your crocheting hobby helps to calm your nerves, Betty. I'm calmer with my pups around, although the younger one wants to keep playing. Also fun that you experienced the calm before the storm. I didn't but I'm waiting for the next storm to arrive. And I experienced snow instead of rain last week. More to come in my Wednesday blog!
Linda Osborn, going to the DMV is always an adventure. It is a real cross section of people. That line about wanting to pay or get a free card was pretty funny. I can't believe that people actually gave you a dirty look for being moved to the front of the line. I guess the rain makes everybody crazy.
Linda Johnston, seeing snow fall is always a treat. It is so beautiful and magical when it first falls. The only magical part about the rain is what it has done for the brown spots in the lawn and less worry about wild fires. Petting your pups must be soothing. I find it calming when Kitten wants to cuddle--until she changes her mind and claws me as she propels herself out of my arms.
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