Contest! Blog post! Hello!

Is that cool or what? It's the Knit Kit (you can read more about it here) and one lucky knitter will win one on Saturday when my Human Random Number Generator plucks a number from the cosmos. (Translation: "Hey, Goldisox! Pick a number between 1 and 8372.") (Trust me, 8372 is a wildly inflated number. Your chances are much better.)

All you have to do is send me an email here with KNITKIT in the subject header and I'll do the rest.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here. First I finished the sequel to CASTING SPELLS then I sent it off. Then the copy-edited version came back to me. Then I sent that off. Now the page edits are screaming for my attention this weekend. Add to that a ton of promo stuff (script for video; Author Buzz info; answering mail that's been languishing longer than I care to admit) and new proposals and I feel like my head's going to pop off.

I've been longing to knit but it's been relegated to car time only which means not much is getting done. I hope to remedy that over the weekend and cast on some new, fun stuff. (Meaning: enough already with the Lion Brand spiral socks. This girl needs some spice in her knitting life.)

Now here comes the confessional part of the program: I've been cheating on you with other blogs. Honestly, it's not you, it's me. But the truth is out there and you can see for yourself.

Part 6 of my grandmother's story is here and available now at Totebags 'n' Blogs. (Book giveaway in progress.)

Where ideas come from -- CASTING SPELLS specifically -- will be up and running here at Fang-tastic Books tomorrow. (And another giveaway.)

I hope you'll stop by and say hi.

Don't laugh but I'm going to plant tomatoes next week. It'll probably go as well as my attempts to knit lace but the gardening urge is irresistible this year. Now if we can just keep the deer and rabbits away we might get somewhere . . .

More to come on that tomorrow.

CLOSED Blatant Self-Promotion in the form of CASHMERE!

Ten gorgeous skeins of luscious Debbie Bliss 100% Cashmere, a $50 gift certificate to Elann (one of my favorite occasions of fiber sin), and a few surprises: that's what the lucky winner in tomorrow night's My Book Is Out and The Election Is Over and We All Survived With Our Dignity Intact drawing will receive. And even if you aren't an American citizen, I'll bet you're glad our election is over too.

And yes my book officially escapes tomorrow and the nail-biting begins in earnest. Hold a good thought, okay? My nerves are shot.

To enter, send me an email here with BLISS in the subject header. If you entered my last few contests, I've got you covered but feel free to enter again.

I'll post the winner around 10 p.m. ET tomorrow. Good luck!

Sneak peek: chapter two is posted

Yes, this is shameless huckstering but I promise to make it up to you with some knitting content. (I'm too lazy weave in the ends and photograph my completed Irish Hiking Scarf, (designer: Adrian Bazilia) but I will very very shortly. Honestly. I promise. You have my word . . . )

There are new two chapters of CASTING SPELLS available for you to read on my website. They're in the Sneak Peek section but I'll make it easy for you. Just click here and you'll be whisked away. The book won't be out until somewhere around Halloween (official pub date is 11/4 -- Election Day!!) but my first review popped up in my inbox this afternoon and I'm grinning from ear to ear. "Excellent read," says Susan Randall from ARMCHAIR INTERVIEWS.

And I'm very excited to announce that THE WENDY (aka Wendy D. Johnson of Wendy Knits) and Dawn Brocco (Dawn Brocco Designs and blog)

both contributed some wonderful knitting tips that appear in the book. In fact their hints were so good that the ARMCHAIR INTERVIEW review took note:

Although I am not a knitter myself, the 10 things you need to know about knitting in
general are quite funny as well as the 10 things you need to know
about knitting lace and knitting socks in the back of the book are a keeper.

So here's a big loud heartfelt "Thank you!" to Dawn and Wendy for their help. I owe you one.

And while I have your attention, Fran mentioned Nancy Herkness's fabulous book MUSIC OF THE NIGHT in comments and I have to say I second, third, and fourth her praise. Nancy wrote a taut, sexy, witty, intelligent mystery that swept me up into the very different worlds of music and police work and held me captive until the last page. This comes highly recommended!

One more thing: we'll be adding another writing knitter/knitting writer to the roster in the next few weeks. Caroline Leavitt, whose talent leaves me literally speechless, will be joining us here at Romancing the Yarn. I first discovered Caroline's work around 1982 when I devoured her first novel (I think it was her first) MEETING ROZZY HALFWAY. It's twenty-six years later and I can still remember scenes and passages. That's how good a book it is. I hope you'll take time to visit Caroline's website and get to know her. And check out her blog. I think you'll love her.

And here I thought I had nothing to say tonight.

CASTING SPELLS: trailer, cover copy, and excerpt

I'm delighted to present the trailer for my November book! (You can find an excerpt on my website if you're interested. It's listed under Sneak Peek.) Actual kntting content and a new contest later. Enjoy!

NOTE: Yes, I changed it to the YouTube version because the other one wouldn't stop playing on my machine and if I felt like I was being pecked to death by ducks, I can only imagine how you must've been feeling! My apologies!!

My Memorial Day Halloween Yarn Contest

This is what happens when your next book has a decidedly paranormal feel to the cover: you end up thinking about Halloween on Memorial Day weekend.

Why fight the feeling? Send me an email right here with the words CASTING SPELLS in the subject header and you might win a CASTING SPELLS (see how I'm working the title in every other phrase?) totebag, a signed copy of JUST DESSERTS, and a yummy skein of 375 yards of Halloween Fest from Karen's Heavenly Creations.

And you don't even have to celebrate Memorial Day to be eligible. If you currently live on this planet, send me an email.

Good luck! (And have I mentioned lately how glad I am to be back?)

HELP!

Full disclosure: I didn't knit any of that gorgeous lace. Dallas did. I did, however, take the very bad pictures.

I'm right on the verge of giving lace knitting another try but 1) I'm not sure my hands are up to it and 2) I'm not sure my skill level is up to it. There's something deeply disconcerting to me about skinny yarn and big fat needles. I find myself getting extremely tense as the lumpy formless fabric forms on the needles and I realize the only thing that will ultimately save it is my blocking skill. (I'll pause while you laugh. I'm not such a hot blocker.)

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been out of the knitting loop for four months and I'm struggling to get back in. The heart is willing; the hands, not so much.

You knew there was more to the story, didn't you? here it is. My hand took a beating this year. In a dazzling display of Freudian whatever, I cut, burned, bumped, carpal tunneled, and RSD'd my left hand into oblivion and it's just now rejoining the world. I have beautiful patterns (Have you visited Anne Hanson's KNITSPOT site? Gorgeous stuff!) and a boatload of yarn and now I even have hands that do my bidding.

But I seem to have lost my knitterly guts. I can't bring myself to cast on for anything. I choose the needles, the pattern, the yarn, the little tchotchkes that mark stitches, etc., and then I freeze. It's almost as if the planning is enough and execution is irrelevant.

I'm thinking something non-taxing to the brain and on the hands: maybe a blanket like the EZ one Brooklyn Tweed is working on or the Log Cabin I've been dreaming about since forever. Or how about turning out some spiral socks to tuck away for gifts? Or maybe take the lace plunge again and try a scarf? Something! I need to feel yarn beneath my fingers again.

Now here's a writerly question for all of you lace knitters. I'm working on the sequel to CASTING SPELLS (I promise an excerpt or something tomorrow) and I need a nice difficult lace pattern to plug into this sentence:

(Background: the character is a knitter/yarn shop owner who can kick butt with the best of them.)

Besides I was the woman who knit a XX without using lifelines. That had to count for something.

XX = a wedding ring shawl?

XX = an Orenburg shawl?

XX = ??

All suggestions gratefully received!