Going Dotty and Good Book News

I've named this post Going Dotty because that is how I feel. Do you see how the dots are a bit blurry? That's what my brain feels like..... I've spent hours working in Adobe Illustrator, tweaking charts for my next book. Years ago, when I worked at CEY, doing pre-press charts and desk-top publishing was a major part of my job. As a designer and author for the past few years, I haven't had to worry about all the pre-press production of charts and schematics, nor the niggly little things I used to do in Quark to get our patterns to press. It was a mind-boggling amount of work but I got rather good at it.

This week, I've been doing all the clean-up of the knitting charts for my new book that is being published in the fall by Soho. It takes a long time - a very long time.... With every chart I get a little quicker, thank goodness. I'm on a crunch for delivering the project which makes me nervous and anxious - more anxious than some of the other book deadlines I have had.

This book has been in an on-going fashion for over two years now. This morning, I received a copy of the cover that Diane Lamphron, the Art Director, has designed. I was so excited to see one of the photos with type on it and with my name. This part of the book process begins to feel fulfilling as it starts to come to life. I shared it with my little family at breakfast and they approved.

I think this is a first try on the cover - I'm not sure this is how the book will actually look but it is nice to see progress being made. What do you all think?

I never posted the names of the winners from Thursday and Friday last week. Sorry 'bout that - this week has been chart heaven..... They were Carol from Boston area - she won the Baby Day. Katrina from Utah won the Grand Prize. Carol and Katrina - your boxes of yarn went out today by US Mail. Look for them soon. You'll be getting the books and DVD directly from the publishers and t.v. producer.

Thanks to all of you for entering - it was great fun and I am still digesting all the comments. What fabulous readers I have.

p.s. Yes, you will be able to order books directly from me on my website in the fall. The whole book is still quite a ways off - sometime in October or so. I can't deal with early orders with Paypal, etc. Just all too confusing and time consuming for my little brain. But I can promise you that about a month before the book is due, I will put signed copies up for sale on my website. In fact - I count on selling lots of signed copies and really appreciate it if my blog readers will buy from me and keep this old farm and blog going...... Thank you very much!