Three Interesting Things

1. This was an interesting discussion about US Territorial power on the Pacific side. 

2. I was fascinated by this story about how those pumpable sneakers turned out to be a little bit bad for the environment. 

3. And apparently the Ravens have a sewing manager.  Fascinating. 

The Caution Tree is Down

I live on a hill. So some of the houses near me have front yards that are all hill, with some steps cut in. In one of these yards, a tree, at some point took the opportunity to grow at such an angle it was practically parallel to the sidewalk before arcing up. Almost as if the tree had to get off the lawn before it was like oh, sky is this way, cool, cool, cool. 

The tree had bent the chain link fence that presumably predated it. 

I am an average sized person and the tree was not one of the ones I needed to duck under, but perhaps it was an issue for taller folks. 

A few weeks ago someone spray painted "Caution - look out" on the tree. That seemed very kind. 

And today when I walked by it took until my second pass for me to realize it had been chopped down. 

A stump still remains. (Someone painted a smiley face on the stump.)

I don't know all the trees in my neighborhood the way I should, but even before someone spray painted words on it, this one was memorable. 

I hope it enjoys its next life. 

Three Interesting Things

1. In an interesting visualization of things, this shows each state's* (and DC's) current abortion/pregnancy policy as a maze.  You can pick one of a few to attempt to get to the end. 

2. Lebanon for Lit is raising money for Threads of Peace.  I donated a bookish chat which can be about reading, writing, gift book shopping, knitting, whatever your heart desires.  I am currently a steal, in my opinion. 

3. Sarah of Smart Bitches and librarian Robin went on an interesting journey after discovering some AI narrated books. 

*Folks, yes, I have noticed we just ignore the US territories when it comes to these things. 

7 Things - Presented With Love

1. So, first thing to note is this book takes place almost entirely not in DC.  I know!  But it involves a Hawaiian Expo held in Las Vegas, Nevada, so most of the action takes place there.  The Expo is loosely inspired by an actual much more serious Hwaiian gathering that probably does not involve, well, we'll get to that. 

2. Helena appeared previously in Troubled by Love and Tricked by Love.  You do not need to read either of these to read Presented with Love, though,  In fact, Helena does not have time in the story to talk to any of her friends from DC. 

3. Makoa is a hockey player, although it's July so there is no hockey played in this story. 

4. Helena and Makoa hookup after meeting in an airport hotel bar near the Denver airport. I don't know about you, but the Denver airport always tries to keep me.  I've decided it enjoys my presence.  So, I am basically never surprised when people have tales about trying to get out of Denver.  

5. I am somewhat ambivalent about Christmas but I love Christmas music. And the Hawaiian versions of the Christmas songs are of course faves.  It's odd because it basically never snowed growing up in DC on Christmas (once, maybe) but it seemed just as dreamy to me - much as I love snow - to listen to people singing about sandy beaches or eating coconuts for Christmas.

6. Yes, they are doing a Christmas song themed reality show, but it is July.  I mean they are also doing this inside a fictitious hotel ballroom in Vegas, so why not? 

7. Presented with Love - a novella

When a flight snafu puts Helena in the airport hotel bar next to a hot guy, she takes full advantage. The hookup is hot, but the guy disappears on her. And when finally she gets to Las Vegas it turns out her tutu has signed her up for a televised competition based on a Hawaiian Christmas song, and one of the other contestants is that guy who ghosted her? Helena's competitive spirit kicks into gear.

Makoa is good at hockey, it's off-ice where he seems to fumble. So when he finds his mom has signed him up for a TV show, well, he's hoping for a Christmas miracle. Because Helena is rightfully annoyed at him, and he needs to stay in the competition long enough to prove he's worth another chance. Otherwise this will be his last day of Christmas. 

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3YtYSt6

Apple: https://apple.co/3A5kxOM

Kobo: https://bit.ly/4dPeawN

Barnes and Noble: https://bit.ly/3YtrlPx

Universal Link: https://bit.ly/3YtYSt6

Write Cubed Crew Update

Hey, all!  Writing has commenced.  We've got a discord and have planned some Tuesday and Thursday evening sprint nights with more to be added as we decide.  I locked the form.  But if you want to join in, use the contact form, or DM me, and I will give you links. 

Three Interesting Things

1. There's a raffle of sorts, called Romance for Florida, which has some lovely prizes in return for donations to support hurricane relief. 

2. The US military will be converting some dishonourable discharges given during the so-called "Don't Ask Don'T Tell" era, to honorable, which allows for veteran benefits. 

3. And yes, even the conkers competition had a wee cheating scandal this year.  But also its first American woman winner. 

Canadian Thanksgiving Sale - Repeated Burn

Newsletter peeps heard about this already, but Repeated Burn is on sale through Kobo in Canada and the US for 1.25 CAD/0.99 USD. The sale is October 10-14.

It's also available to Kobo Plus folks regardless of location. And is also available at it's regular degular price on all platforms. And in paper.

Repeated Burn is the story of Raven who has a bad day that involves her ex's new ex showing up at her coffee shop after getting dumped. Raven plans to take new ex to her brother and wipe her hands of the whole thing. But nothing is ever quite that simple.

Marcus is used to helping his sister after her latest plan explodes. He finds himself intrigued by Raven. Raven is impervious to his charm. Or is she?

Kobo Canada link: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/repeated-burn

Zon: https://amzn.to/2TUtZza

Apple: https://apple.co/2SjHiZu

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3gWaAFX

Universal: https://books2read.com/links/ubl/mldGZW

Paper link: https://bookshop.org/books/repeated-burn/9798201696856

Three Interesting Things

1. As someone who inherited a lot of chairs, this story about a man who has designed his house around his chair collection fascinates me. 

2. I realize the national news is on to a new hurricane, but this reflection from an Asheville resident was enlightening. 

3. My friends and I had some fun with this what vegetable are you quiz. 

On the Clapotis

I read Knitty's piece about the Clapotisfest, and had the immediate urge to cast on for one. I did. I have. The Clapotis pattern came out a bit before I had the sudden urge to knit again.

I always say again, because I had learned as a kid, but at the time I only learned the knit stitch and also didn't know how to bind off, and so I knit some rows on a pink scarf for a while, and then moved on to something else. 

Anyway, I discovered Knitty in my search for patterns. It's wild to describe the nascent search engine days of the Internet, the pre-Ravelry days, of trying to figure out a pattern or a technique. 

Anyway, once Ravelry had started, some local knitters and I did a knit swap, where we would each buy something lovely for each other at Maryland Sheep and Wool. My swapper gave me Brooks Farm yarn, in a lovely cherry red color that was both perfect, and a color I never would have picked for myself, which is the joy of swaps like that. 

Again, in the nascent days of search engines, even the nascent days of Ravelry, being at Sheep and Wool was wild. Almost every booth had a Clapotis as a sample. It's a pattern that is easy to knit up, makes most yarns look great. I saw one person ask a staffer what pattern it was, and the staffer said, "Oh, we'll give it to you if you buy the yarn." I did, um, find that person and explain it was a free pattern. (In defense of this nameless staffer, they may have been thinking of another pattern, there were multiple samples hanging up.) 

Nowadays you see a wide variety of samples. And I certainly have discovered other patterns through samples, I even bought a pattern book due to a sample. 

I had the chance to meet Kate Gilbert years later at a writing event. We talked knitting, and other things too. I have only met a few pattern designers, but being knit famous must be a wild experience. 

I am very much a person who loves a new challenge so mostly enjoy knitting new patterns. But some patterns are great enough to knit again. 

The Clapotis is such a perfect blend of interesting enough to not be boring knitting, not so much you can't chat or watch TV, and also still looks interesting once you are done, that non-knitters are impressed you made that yourself.

Someone in one of my Ravelry groups once said someone has knit a Clapotis in every yarn you can think of, including fun fur. It may not still hold quite as true. But it is a great pattern. And I thank both Knitty and Kate Gilbert for bringing it to us. 

Three Interesting Things

1. The Asheville Blade had some links to resources both for those affected by Hurricane Helene, and those looking to assist.  In general local groups are going to need cash.  Government resources are there, but often tend to take time.  To get a sense of the creativity to getting resources into the mountain, there's a group that sent supplies via mule.  (West coasters tend to scoff at East coast mountains.  But they are tall enough.) There's also a romance and other writer fundraiser coming up, more on that once it's in place. 

2. One of the things that happens anytime there's a disaster like this is that you discover things like, the Carolina mountains are our best source of quartz. 

3. In other news, the world's largest pupusa was just recently made in DC.

Wanna Write With Me?

This is a repeat for newsletter folks, but I am going to start writing something on October 15th and hoping to wrap on about November 30th. It turns out this is 45 days, not 90, like I said in the newsletter. I can math. 

The plan is to do some sprints/co-working type stuff. If you want to write along side me, for some or all of that time, I've got a form here to try and gauge everyone's preferred way for notice and participation. 

No rules about what you write, how many days you participate, or any of that.