Another Monday in the Woods

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Erin go Bragh! (Or more properly – Éire go Brách!) Feels a little odd to be away from the family today. I wonder if Joe reminded them to wear a little green for luck, if he’ll make a vegetable stew for dinner… Someone will have to make the soda bread for today. (That was a direct hint to Ken, who’s Irish brown bread is very good, although I think he’ll be happier with it when the learning curve doesn’t allow for bread with “tumours” that develop during baking. Odd, that.) I think I’ve decided that my concession to the day shall be that I walk to the corner store/gas station/coffee shop/liquor store/ beer store, buy myself a Guiness, and trot back here to drink it by the fire while I work. Round trip, it’s about 14k, but 12 of them are along the town road, so it’s not so bad. I think I wouldn’t normally wouldn’t walk that far for a beer (St. Patricks day or not) but I’m almost out of toilet paper, and I’ve developed a rampaging case of cabin fever, so I can tell myself it serves a duel purpose.

I’m in very deep with the book. The end is in sight, hope glimmers on the horizon. I’m trying to finish it a little early, since the launch for the last book, (here in Toronto on April fools day, it’s going to be big fun) is the same day as my deadline for this book – and I leave the next day for the tour. (Actually, this is a good time to mention that Jayme-the-wonder-publicist has sent me details for April 29 in Carmel IN (Barnes and Noble) and May 4 in Salt Lake City at the Public Library. I’ve put up the details on the tour page, as always. I think Jayme is adding 4 more events, all before May 4th, and then that’s it. Finito. Tour done. We’re trying something new and doing it all at once instead of spreading it out.) I’m trying to give myself a couple of days in the next few weeks to breath a little. As a result, very little knitting is going on. I’m still working on my sister’s Urban Aran, and I was doing pretty well. I’d finished both sleeves, the back and was halfway up one of the fronts when I finally accepted that I couldn’t live with the way that I’d handled the front edge. It seems silly to say it now, but the fact that I had decided to only add one extra stitch to allow for the zipper was a mistake, and the longer I knit the more sure of it I became. I was this far when I ripped it back entirely.

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Tiny bit of a pain in the arse, because I’m knitting from two balls of the Araucania alternating every two rows, but totally worth it. Doesn’t it look much better?

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Yeah, I know. I can’t tell either.

I swear it will matter when I go to put the zipper in. The front edges of a cardigan are, I am telling myself, not somewhere that you don’t want things to look right, even if that does mean you are knitting a blue cardigan for the rest of your life.

Other stuff? I have a few random bits.

1. The yarn that I’m using for this sweater is on closeout at WEBS, right down to the colour. (105) (Yeah. I didn’t know that when I bought mine. I bought more though, so I feel better.)

2. Sivia Harding is doing an auction of some very nice stuff on her blog to honour her father, who very recently passed away. Profits go to Doctors without Borders, and Sivia is a wonderful person, so please consider taking a look.

3. Fun details of the Toronto Launch are coming. The lovely and esteemed Rachel H has found us a pub for the afterparty, I am compiling a super odd plan for the rest of the day (Hint: you will need a camera and a sock) and Joe is working with the Isabel Bader Theatre to pull together an awesome bonus for the people who come. It’s going to be a blast, and I swear, I will write all the details down if you just wait a couple of days while everybody confirms everything. Promise. Inexplicable knitter behaviour (on April fools day – there’s an invitation) takes a little planning.

4. If you were thinking about buying my book and coming to an event, can I ask you to consider something? You can, of course do entirely as you like, but if you’re coming to an event, would you consider buying your book there? The yarn shops and bookstores who put on these events don’t get paid to do it, or receive financial help from the publisher. If they need to rent a space or a microphone or something, they pay for it themselves. (The publisher helps them promote it and pays for travel.) As it’s free to get in, the way they make their money back is by selling you books, or in the case of the yarn shop, books and yarn. I know a lot of you will buy or have bought your books elsewhere, or even pre-ordered and that’s just fine. You can bring it (even if I’m in another bookstore) I’ll sign it, and nobody will be bothered. If you haven’t bought it yet though, please consider giving the bookstore or yarn shop holding the event your business. I know it might mean waiting a few weeks to get the book, but all of the events are within 5 weeks of the launch, and they are a lot of work to set up. if you’re going to buy the book anyway – why not buy it from them. (Naturally, if you’re not planning on buying the book, you can ignore this.)

5. In the “stupid things I have done in the woods” category for today: Yesterday I went on a hike and found this place where there was warm (comparatively) water seeping out of the rocks. It was making a puddle that melted the snow and on the rocks where the water came out, the moss was alive, green and beautiful.

It was like finding a little mini-spring in the middle of all this winter, and I was so smitten that I moved closer to get a better look/picture.

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Well, I got this picture,

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and a soaker.

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I stepped closer without thinking, and naturally the water ran further under the snow than it looked like. Idiot. A whole bootful of icy water rushed in. it was breathtaking really. All the way home my foot was frozen and my boot made an embarrassing sloshing, squishing noise with every step.

At least I had wool socks on, and I wasn’t as alone as I thought.

Who’s this?

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