Rebecca Danger

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sorry for the silence again, after not quite getting over the 5 week flu, I got a bad cold about 2 weeks ago, and just as that was not quite gone I am sick with some other cold thing now. Ugh. It has meant I have absolutely nothing but cranky things to say to anyone, so I have not allowed myself near the blog.

But, I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you to you all. This has been an amazing year for me and it is really thanks to you all: my family and friends, my readers, and my amazing customers. So thanks, thanks a million. You guys rock.

I'm off to do a "traditional" Thanksgiving with Mr Danger and one of his brothers, full of giving thanks for so many amazing things, pizza, beer, movies, and knitting. It's gonna be a good day. 

Things I Think About While I Knit

So, the main thing I have been thinking about in my many, many, (many) hours of knitting is how close the new year is. Mr. Danger and I actually had a conversation yesterday about how this means that the Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver Canada incredibly soon, which is a big deal when you live 5 miles from the border. We all have been talking about the Olympics here for so long that I just sort of assumed that it was still one of those distant things you talk about, not a reality. I am apparently not the only one either since I mentioned it to a friend today and she did the same thing I did ("What?!" The Olympics don't start in a month and a half, what are you talking about?!"). But, they are for sure happening. We have talked to a couple people we know who are renting houses out in our city for $5,000 a week if they can sleep 6 people. Wow! 

But, I am not actually particularly excited about the Olympics, so the main thing the new year has meant to me is it is time for a new calendar. Yes, I am one of those people who is just a million times happier and takes unnatural joy from all things organizational, especially calendar/planners. I found my perfect one, which I totally adore because it is perfect, on etsy:

 

How cute is this? You can grab one too in Sarah Pinto's etsy shop. I also particularly liked the skull and crossbones one, but since I can in no way justify buying TWO calendar/planners, the horseshoe one won out. I may though, be back for the horseshoe notebook, since not only do I love organization things, but matchy things too.

The other thing I have been thinking a lot about is all the beautiful things I am going to knit for myself after I finish the book. I, of course, have an *ahem*, respectable collection of knitting books, magazines, and general patterns, but seem to keep finding things outside of that collection that I want to make. The latest? I love Twist Collective (man their photography is GORGEOUS) and was digging through their fall issue today only to find this (and nearly peed my pants with excitement):

It's the Novak Sweater by Claire Montgomerie and I am totally in love with it. I have as much as decided this will be the first thing I knit for me next year. Of course, I do have several thousand more hours of knitting before I am done with the book, so I will most likely definitely change my mind about the first project at least 37 more times. But it is for sure on the top of the list. And hey, that means lots of fun picture blog posts for y'all, right?

Alrighty, off to knit (and play with a new toy I will share with you tomorrow).

The One In Which Rebecca Locks Herself Away From The Rest Of The World

Wow, sorry for the silence again. It is really, really hard to come up with creative, witty things to say when you sit home alone knitting like a maniac for weeks straight. This kind of lifestyle just doesn't really lead to amazing things to share with others.

So, all I've been doing is just knitting (and knitting, and knitting, and knitting) for the book for the last few weeks. I actually have knit enough that I have rubbed a raw spot on my left hand middle finger where I feed the yarn through my hand while I knit. Mr Danger and I were trying to calculate how many miles have yarn have run over that finger in the last week or so and we can up with about a mile and a half. But, when these are the funny highlights of your week you just kinda wanna stop blogging because not sharing seems better than sharing things like this.

For a progress update though I have 7 of my 20 patterns for the book written now and I am starting on number 8 as soon as I am done here. I'm feeling pretty good about this, but I still have to type up all these patterns and knit at least one more sample per pattern (before the middle of january) so I am feeling the pressure. So, I best be off to knit some more. But I am going to make it a point to connect with the outside world a little more so I am going to use le blog as my outlet and blog more. So stay tuned for more exciting posts about things like the irony that the Fedex and UPS trucks come at the same time or where the pugs pick to sleep in a day. I tell you, just riveting.

The One in Which Rebecca Drools Over Patterns

So I think because I am working on my book and "have" to work on my patterns all I want now is to be knitting sweaters and other things for myself. This of course means I was wasting time looking at patterns on the internet (and in my incredibly extensive library of patterns) this weekend. I am sure I have talked about Kim Hargreaves before, but I am going to talk about her again. I absolutely adore her patterns, Mr Danger happened to stumble across the Thrown Together patternbook last fall while waiting for me in a yarn shop. He handed it to me since he thought I would love it, and I must say I do believe it is my favorite patternbook ever. Seriously, I plan to make and wear at least 12 of the 16 designs, which we all know is quite impressive to love that many patterns in one book. So, as I was wasting time on the internet over the weekend I happened across the Kim Hargreaves website again, only to be greeted by her new book, Precious, which I of course instantly want. And want pretty badly. It's GORGEOUS, look at these:

 

 

 

The styling in the book is just so beautiful, not to mention the beautiful items to knit. I especially love this shawl/scarf thing(and the dress underneath it):

 

I mean anything with an umbrella apparently just does it for me:

 

So, my only decision now is if I want to buy this book PLUS another of her books, or just keep it under control and buy this one. I am thinking at this point I am going to spend a bunch of time knitting for me after January 2010 (when my book is due). Hmm, with that in mind I am thinking I should probably stock up on these patterns to make sure I have lots to do........

Alrighty, off to knit more monster legs and dream of knitting Kim Hargreaves and Twinkle sweaters.

And since I know you are reading this too, Happy Birthday Mom!

Wasabi Cuteness Overload

Holy smokes, I got an adorable picture in my email inbox today:

 

Look at the Wasabi-Mobile! Thanks Tracy for sharing your creation! Tracy made this for her daughter's bedroom, which is pug-themed. That's right, a pug-themed bedroom, definitely the coolest bedroom in the whole world! Tracy said all three Wasabi's are different sizes, and I think it is just adorable.

That's about all that's exciting around here. I spent the day on my bum knitting (and un-knitting) for my book and watching episodes of Friends that I Netflixed. Life is a constant party around the Danger house.

Oh, and just a special note to say Happy Birthday Ray! I know you're reading this!

Meet Esther!

Well, despite still being sicker than I thought and one heck of a slow moving morning this morning, I just got pattern #15 up in the Etsy shop! Wohoo! Meet Esther the Eccentric Elephant:

 

 

She's all there: from here Elephant ears, to her Elephant trunk, to her Elephant tail:

Man I love Elephants! Does every one else love Elephants as much as me? (Oddly enough I am listening to the Black Eyed Peas Elephunk album, specifically the Smells Like Funk song right now......) Again, I knew I needed to do an Elephant since I started writing patterns this year and I have actually been working on her since July I realized this morning. I had a hard time getting those ears just right, which made me very frustrated since I was working on her on the hottest day of the year in b-town. 

So, Esther is in the etsy shop, and I am off to Flickr and Ravelry her up! Enjoy! 

The One In Which Rebecca Is Feeling Much Better

Hello all! Wowza, I have been sick as a dog for the last almost 2 weeks. Mr Danger came home with some awful chest/head flu bug from work 2 weeks ago, and despite me yelling, "Get away from me!" "Cover your mouth when you cough!" "These are Clorox bleach wipes, use them on everything you touch!" I found myself getting sick 2 days later. Then, the first full day of being sick I slept for 8 straight hours and woke up to a fever over 104. Yikes! So, it has been a little rocky around here, especially since I was sick enough I couldn't even lift my arms to knit for the first 6 days.

But, I'm back! And I have been knitting like a complete maniac since thursday. I finished 2 book patterns (huzzah: 3 patterns down, 17 to go in 2 months!) plus this month's Etsy pattern, plus the 1st knit through of next month's Etsy pattern. Wooo! And, the yarn has been slowly arriving for the book, which is very lovely and means I have a dining room table COVERED in gorgeous fibers. It is quite exciting around here, I must say.

So, a new pattern comes out this Thursday, yeah! And I am feeling much better and I will be blogging again! I guess that is about all I have to report around here.

Danger Crafts: The Ravelry Group!

Oh boy, Stacey (BabblingStacey on Ravelry) started a Danger Crafts group on Ravelry today: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/danger-crafts

Thanks so much Stacey for getting that going! I don't know why I didn't think of that, but hey, some people are more on it than I am....

Today I worked on picking out all of the yarns for the projects in my book. It was super fun at first, but then I realized I had been working on it for several hours and I got really tired and was not so excited about trying to fit colors together after that. Picking yarn for the last 4 patterns probably took me as long as the first 16! But it is done now, phew! The whole book is due January 10th and I have one of the 20 patterns done.....yikes! That made for a bit of a freak out fest this weekend. So, I am now off to sit on my butt and knit until my fingers bleed.

Oh and all you Ravelers, go sign up for the group now!

Danger Crafts: The Book

That's right, you read that title correctly! The super-secret thing I have been working on is that I have been in negotiations for a contract to write a book of knitting patterns! How exciting is that?

It is so nice to finally be able to tell you since I was approached by a publisher the end of May (about 2 days before I was approached by Deep South Fibers, my distributor. Boy was THAT one cool week!). Since they happen to be in Washington State I have since gone down and met with them, and they did all of their number crunching, and then sent me a contract. Since I have never done this before and was feeling very lost a friend of mine (who I wrote a pattern for her upcoming book) gave me the name of a good agent who I hired and she worked with the publisher to get a better contract, which I signed RIGHT as we moved. So there you go, I have literally been working on this and talking about this since May and haven't been able to say anything to you guys because nothing was finalized yet. Phew! But that's the secret: I am going to be a published author! Squeeeeee!

The basic details are it is going to be a book of 20 monster knitting patterns (all new!) and it should release in January 2011 if everything stays on schedule. Part of what made this move such a big deal was that the first pattern+the table of contents was due 10/1. Since I ended up signing the contract like 9/25 and I was moving unexpectedly at the same time the publisher was nice enough to push my deadline to this coming Monday instead. But, since my samples aren't all finished yet and I need to get them in the mail tomorrow, I better go!

The Dangers Have Hit Birch Bay

Hello every one! I am so sorry for the incredibly long silence but I am back! We are moved into the lovely new cottage in Birch Bay and are more or less settled in after being here just over a week. I have several final little things to get organized and settled, but overall we are feeling very comfortable and happy in our new digs. Mr Danger and I love it, but the pugs absolutely ADORE it here. I don't know what it is but I don't think I have ever seen Abbey and Lucy as comfy and happy as they are in this house. 

Birch Bay is AMAZING too. Team Danger here gets up every morning and we do a 2-4 mile walk all along the waterfront. You know how most people get really excited when they see Blue Herons because you just don't see them that often? Not here! Here we see 10+ every morning when we walk. There was one the other day perched IN someone's little boat. It was too funny.

I don't know what it was exactly, but this was the hardest move I have ever done. We move a LOT too, in the last 4 years between retail stores and us personally we have moved 8 times. Yes, 8. But this one, man this one nearly put me in a home. I think it was partly because we went from not planning to move with absolutely no where to go and no looking done on September 10th, to packed, cleaned, organized, letting go of a good 50% of our possessions and moving into a new city on the 28th. We also went from about 1,500 sq ft WITH a garage, to about 850 sq ft, partially furnished, withOUT a garage. We still had so much stuff left from my handbag business, it literally filled half of a 2 car garage. But I didn't even touch any of the stuff in the garage for the year we lived there, so I don't even know why we were hanging on to any of it.

But we are here now, and I have something really exciting going on. You know that super secret thing that I have been working on? Well, everything has been finalized and I will tell you all about it tomorrow! I'm so excited to tell you since it has been all we have been talking about here OFF the internet for the last several months.