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Today I gathered the courage to release my first eBook…
Up until a few moments ago, all my books have been paper. But now, a new book, Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks, is born, and will be winging its way via cyber-molecules to electronic devices in knitters’ hands, perhaps even yours. If you’d like to purchase the eBook, click here. You will have the choice of paying by Paypal or by credit card. And thank you so much for venturing on this first eBook journey with me.
If you’re familiar with my other books, you’ll feel right at home with this new baby because I’ve used the same design and layout style and offer the same meticulous attention to detail and clarity to insure your knitting experience is smooth and sweet. I’m excited that for the first time I can include live video links so that my hands and voice are at your service.
The nearly 100 knitters who have tested my Tomato Heel Socks say it’s the simplest and most satisfying method they’ve ever used. This heel emerged last winter after several days of sitting beside the wood stove with my mother while trying to fiddle my way towards a new short-row heel. I’d given up several times when almost unconsciously, I did a small thing—and just like that, the clean heel of my dreams existed. This small thing closes gaps without holes, wraps, or acrobatics. The heel is rhythmic to work and nearly perfectly smooth, like a tomato. Best of all, once the process is understood, a knitter needs no written instructions.
The payment of $20 covers all installments of the eBook. The first installment is 20 pages long and includes the foundation lessons and first 3 patterns, with 5 more patterns to follow (listed in the table of contents in gray). These 8 designs will also be released as single-pattern purchases. A ninth sock, never to be released as a single, will arrive as an exclusive thank you gift to eBook purchasers, and will complete your eBook.
The first sock in the book is one I dearly love, my Zebra Socks, which come in sizes for babies through large men. Above you see my little grandson Charlie wearing his, and below you see me in a tree wearing mine. I am pretending to be a Madagascar Lemur.
The next pair in the first installment is another Charlie-inspired design that delights adults as well: Secret Treasure Pocket Socks. I can even fit my iPhone in a pocket, and you can make 1, 2, 3, or 4 pockets, as you wish. These socks also come in all sizes.
If you turn the pockets inside out (notice that I used leftover sock yarn to knit the insides, why not?) they look like puppy dog ears. Of course, when they are pushed to the inside as intended, they are secret.
And third, you will find an elegant sock, Minnesota Moonlight, which will entrance you both in the knitting and the wearing. Alas, I do not offer these for babies or men, but they do come in women’s small, medium and large.
This eBook was conceived and born in the the very same room where I am writing this, at my parents’ home high in the Santa Cruz Mountains 10 miles as the crow flies (and they do) from the Pacific Ocean. At the moment I am working nearby my mother again, as I was during the days when the Sweet Tomato Heel was conceived, surprising me with its sweet, smooth innocence and friendliness. Twas winter then, tis summer now, and the sun is shining, so off I go for a walk, with my patient mother, who just told me it need not be a long, long walk.
If you’d like to purchase my eBook, click here. You will have the choice of paying by Paypal or by credit card. (The $20 payment covers all installments.) And thank you so much for venturing on this first eBook journey with me.
When a river otter and a deer come face to face
I live in a little house in a meadow on a tiny island (a creek divides, goes around my property, and rejoins itself at the other end) on a larger island in the Salish Sea, a few miles south of the Canadian border. Here is a bit of our coastline, looking west. If the clouds weren’t there, you would see the snow-covered Olympic Mountains about ten miles across the water.
At this time of year, I can hardly get any work done because baby deer keep appearing and playing tag or staring at me through the window, like this little fellow. That fluttering tail, combined with the gaze, expresses so much. I’d tell you what, but don’t want to put words into a fawn’s mouth. Sometimes I have to turn away from the windows or nothing would get done around here.
A few mornings ago a fat river otter waddle-slithered out of the woods and made a beeline for my pond. I ran out with my camera, since I’ve never had an otter visit before, and stood watching him for a good ten minutes while he swam back and forth growling at me. I will put words in his mouth: “Dang blast you! Get out of my way! This is my pond! Go! Go! Go! I’m trying to scare you! See how fierce I am?”
I went back in the house to continue working, when a doe emerging from the woods caught my eye. She wandered over to the far end of the pond to graze. A moment later the otter crawled up the bank and suddenly there they were a few feet apart, a deer and a 45-pound, 4-foot -long otter. They both drew back in shock and the otter dove back in the pond and the deer ran to the other side of the meadow. How I wish I could have captured that on film.
So what have I been working on? A book titled Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks. It will be my first book to be electronic rather than paper. This new heel surprised me last winter during during peaceful days with my mother by her wood stove, reading, playing Quiddler (fantastic word game), and trying to fiddle my way towards a short-row heel that would fulfill my longing for smooth sides. I’d given up several times when almost unconsciously, I did one small thing. And just like that, the smooth, round, clean heel of my dreams existed. This small thing closes gaps, without wraps, fancy acrobatics, or effort. When the eBook is ready to release, I shall announce it here. In the meanwhile, here is a glimpse of the cover:
I’m going to offer the eBook like a slow-release vitamin — initially the cover, table of contents, the foundation lessons, and two or three socks. Then every month I’ll add one new sock (as an automatic digital update) until the book finally completes itself with all eight to ten designs. Somewhere along the line I will also release the patterns as singles. All of this will happen on Ravelry and here, and probably also on Patternfish. The book will be laid out like my other books, with lots of illustrations, photos, charts, schematics, line-by-line instructions, and also live video links. A reader can print just the pages needed for a pattern, or work beside a laptop or iPad (which also allows charts and images to be stretched so details pop). It would take me close to two more years to complete this as a print book. I hesitate to invest in a large print run (necessary to keep the price reasonable) when electronic publishing, with its much smaller carbon footprint, is winning so many converts. So I am giving it a try, and am doing my very best to design a cozy, functional, and empowering experience for my readers.
I put my hand on my heart to thank all my students and readers, kindred spirits who also treasure the underlying peace and goodness that rises through knitting. I am honored to be able to devote my life to something of such deep and universal goodness.