Looming Change

 

The holidays are definitely over.  The batteries powering the wreath wore out and there are no more colored lights brightening up the front door.  I don't really feel much of a let down this year.  But that could be because I never stopped working on the next Yarn Retreat book.  There was a twist that even I hadn't expected.

I wrote before about getting the potholder loom in Cambria, but that was only part of the story.  My first attempt at making a potholder ended in disaster as I had missed a crucial instruction about finishing it and the loops all came loose and it flipped off the loom.  I felt pretty silly about the failure since the loom is for ages 6 and up.  But maybe a six year old would have had someone read ALL the instructions.

The second potholder was a success because I did read ALL the instructions and realized what I had missed about anchoring the work while I did the cast off.

Thrilled with my success I rushed to start another potholder.  The loom had come with eouugh loops to make two potholders and since the disaster one was still a clump of messed up loops, There were more loops available in the extra bag  I bought when I got the loom. 

I began working on the potholder, but there was something different.  The loops seemed looser.  I finally looked at the bag and saw that these loops were for the Pro size loom and I had the Traditional size.  I  had noticed the larger size loom when I was in the yarn store, but didn't think to check the bag of loops to see what loom they worked.

I was left with the decision to trash the bag of loops or buy the bigger loom.  

 This is where the twist came in.  There was this aha moment when I thought of something.  The potholder loom fit into the manuscript I was working on.  The loops aren't exactly balls of yarn, but the loom means weaving which is a yarn craft.  And since Casey is dealing with a number of total novices, making the potholders was perfect for them.  I went ahead and ordered the bigger loom and more loops for the smaller one.  It came the next day and I started on a bigger version of what I had made.  But now I had a new focus.  How I would write about the characters using the looms.  Were there hints beyond the obvious about anchoring the work at the end that I could pass on.  How would my character's respond to making such a basic household item?  I even realized that the potholders were sort of a clue to who the killer is.

How funny that I didn't see the importance of the looms all along.  I was just caught up in trying a new craft. I even decided to change the title of the book to LOOMING DANGER.

It's a little late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR1  I hope everyone has an abundance of good things in the new year.  Hope is important.  i just read something from the New York Times that said hopeful people grow taller.