A Crash, A Celebration, and A Contest

February has been a strange month, to say the least.

First, the crash(es). My camera-phone went kaplooie. Which means I'm going to have to use links instead of pictures to illustrate my post. Then my computer started acting wonky and I couldn't get online but maybe once a day, first thing in the morning. The rest of the day - pfft! Name the error message, I got it. Now it's fine. But who knows for how long?

Second, the celebrations. February 11 was my birthday. Yay, me! No sooner did I blow out the candles than I finished my book, The Talk of the Town, and sold it. All on the same day! It's a historical, set in 1933 America, and it'll be out in hardback in 2011. So please stay tuned.

Third, I joined a number of other novelists at A Writer's Work. We're each putting some of our books - a lot of old favorites and new discoveries, some romance, some mystery, even some nonfiction - in eBook format. We launch the site on March 1 and you're all invited to stop by.

Still celebrating now, my nephew and his wife had the sweetest little baby girl on February 22. Her name is Violet and she weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz. I live in MO and they live in TX, but I'm heading south in March and can't wait to get my arms around that little Yellow Rose.

While I was kicking up my heels, I put some more of my books in the Kindle format. (ACK, I can't get the links to work, but read on.) When Last We Loved was a launch book for the Silhouette Desire Line as well as a worlwide bestseller, and can be found at Amazon. Then there's Love in the China Sea which was also a huge bestseller. And then there's Romeo, Romeo, the original contemporary romantic comedy that I've flacked here before but which I sincerely hope you'll take a look at.

Finally, the contest. I'll start by saying I made my niece the cutest top down cropped jacket from Encore Tweed with Plymouth Pattern #1720. And while I was messing around with the Plymouth stuff, I got a great ball of Sockin' Sox yarn for one of you, lucky readers. It's in Color #1, which is in various shades of blue and beige.

If you've registered for a contest with me before, I've got your email in my Contest file. If not, just send me an email at Fran@FranBaker.com with Sock Yarn in the subject line and I'll add you to the pile - I mean file. I'll draw the winner's name on March 7. Good luck!

Whew! I don't know about you, but I'm tired!

Sock It To You! (Contest)

I've got four balls of Paton's sock yarn to give away. Two are Plum and the other two are Licorice. I'll draw two winners (one for the Plum and one for the Licorice) next Tuesday - the day after Labor Day. To enter, send an email with Sock Yarn in the subject line to

Fran at FranBaker dot com.

Bad News, Good News final prize!

Last but not least, these three squeezably soft skeins of 100% alpaca by Frog Tree, 130 yards each in color #95. I love the soft rose color.

Really good news: While at the local drug store, I ran into the proprietor of my now-closed favorite LYS (gotta love small towns). She says they've found a new location with cheaper rent and they are re-opening on August 1st. Oh frabjous day!

So send me your entry email for a chance to win this lovely yarn. The address is nancy@nancyherkness.com . Put "rose" in your subject line.

To celebrate the grand re-opening, I will draw the winner on--you guessed it!--August 1st.

Excuse Me For Yawning . . . and Winner #2

Yes, it's really 5:18 in the morning and no, I didn't just get up. I've probably mentioned--oh, like a thousand times--that we're night owls around here. In true night owl fashion we went up to bed around two and boing! My damn eyes shot open and all the words I couldn't force onto the screen during a long hard day of writing suddenly began to spill from one side of my brain to the other.

I heard voices, okay? Characters talking to me faster than I could listen. Clearly there was no way I was going to be able to sleep with all the yakking going on and besides, I've been in this business long enough to know you never remember all the things you think you're going to remember. This was a gift, a winning lottery ticket. Time to haul my lazy butt back downstairs, fire up the computer, make a cup of tea, and go back to work.

Which is what I've been doing the last few hours. I almost succumbed to the siren song of my garter stitch blankets but I stayed strong and captured what I needed to capture.

Now I think I'm going to reward myself with scrambled eggs and hot sauce.

And a brand new Yarnapalooza winner: Heide Presson whose wonderful blog came be found right here. The package goes out first thing this morning.

Oh wait. It's already first thing this morning, isn't it? Time for more caffeine . . .

Fresh Starts, Finished Objects, Noro Sock Yarn Giveaway

Knitting resolutions for 2008? Stop knitting when it starts hurting!

I've been absent for a week or so. Too much knitting, too much writing which resulted in a big fat spiny swelling on my left wrist. I didn't realize just how hard I'd been pushing it until I sat down and made a list of FOs between November 1 and December 24 and it was impressive. No wonder I turned into one big OUCH.

When it starts to hurt, stop. When you can no longer feel your fingers except as a memory, stop. When the pain shoots up to your shoulder, stop. You would think a grown woman of 57 would know these things, but I didn't. Or at least I needed a reminder.

Knitterly things that made me happy in 2007? I knitted my first lace shawl. Okay, it was the easy-peasey beginner's Charlotte but I did it and I'm insufferably proud of myself. I did a fair bit of cabling. I made two sweaters for Goldisox. I pulled myself away from my All Socks All The Time Obsession from 2006 and expanded my horizons.

Old habits die hard, however, and the Call of the Sock has sounded again and I can't resist. Just before my hands went down for the count I knocked out a pair of After Bertha Spirals for Goldisox in Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Wheat. I also made a toddler-size pair of After Bertha spirals in Sirdar Highlander in a cream color for CIC (Children in Common.) I have another pair of experimental socks in progress right now using leftover Wool-Ease from the Goldisox project. Judy's Magic Cast-On toe combined with the commercial short-row heel used in the Tulsa Skyline socks in SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS. It's okay but not great. Toe-ups go faster than cuff-down for me. Much faster But there's something vaguely creepy about the look of the heel. I told Dallas it was like looking at a face with two noses and that pretty much says it all for me. I've tried the wrap-and-turn short row heel on toe-ups, this commercial heel, and I'm still searching. Next on tap is to try THE Wendy's toe-up heel + gusset; I have good feelings about that one.

To celebrate my return to sock madness, I'm offering a gorgeous skein of NORO Kureyon sock yarn in the legendary #40 colourway. There's enough yarn in this skein to make a pair of adult socks . . . assuming you don't find yourself swooning from pure pleasure each time you pick up your needles. To enter, send me an email at wickedsplitty with NORO SOCK in the subject header and I'll do the rest. The winner will be announced Saturday January 5th right here.

Happy New Year to all of you!