Making Mistakes

Captain’s Log, Stardate 12.29.04

I had a wonderful word of encouragement from Sharon today. She pointed out that I have a lot of fear-based thinking: If I don’t make the right decision, God won’t bless my writing career. That’s so limiting to God. Plus I’m human, of course I’m going to make mistakes. God’s grace is big enough to cover me. If my heart is earnestly seeking His will, even if I foul up, He forgives and He still blesses.

I am feeling better today about returning to work. Last night, my husband was very honest about how he’d prefer I have a stable job because he can’t guarantee he’ll even have a job at the end of January. Apparently this coming month will make or break his start-up company. I don’t know what I’ll do if work is so bad that I have to quit, despite not having another job lined up. I guess we’ll talk about it then. He has said he doesn’t want me to work for a bad manager, but I don’t know if he realizes how hard it is for me to return to this company.

I’m such a Voyager junkie. I watched the last disc of season 6 last night and I’m craving the next ones from season 7, which I won’t receive from Netflix until tomorrow.

Writing: I wrote about 2 pages yesterday (43-45). Hopefully I can get busy today and write more. I also need to write my Real Life Q&A column for RubyZine January 2005 issue. I think I will write about failure. :) I am also thinking about revising my YA short story “Jenny’s Winterball” and submitting it to some magazine for their December 2005 issue. I should probably get busy on that, finding markets for it. I think it’s too young and phoofy for Brio Magazine or Young Salvationist, probably more geared toward inner-teen age, 10-14.

Diet: doing okay, limiting myself to less than 2000 calories a day (and yes, I’ve been counting as well as I can). I should probably limit myself to 1500 calories but at least I’m not pigging out as much as I was before. I’m even eating healthy things like cottage cheese. :)

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Laura’s Apricot Shell Shawl knitting pattern

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No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

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Narrow Escape contest for January!

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Keriah’s Pyrennees Shawl knitting pattern w/ @knitpicks Palette

Why I knit this shawl: I wanted to knit the sunset-colored shawl Keriah was wearing in chapter 5 of my book, Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 2: Berserker , so I looked for an antique pattern that might have been used during the Regency era. This one caught my eye, even though it was published in a knitting book a few decades later than the Regency era. The Spider-Net border pattern was most definitely in use in the Regency period, but it’s also remotely possible that the Alice-Maud stitch and the lacy border stitch patterns were also in use during the Regency, being passed on from knitter to knitter via hand-written receipts, by verbal instruction, or with knitted sampler squares (like how many Shetland lace patterns and Bavarian cable patterns were shared). My/Keriah’s version of this shawl would have been lacy but warm because it is knit with fingering yarn on small needles. Since Keriah was cold, I think she would have grabbed this shawl rather than something more elegant and airy.

Phoebe’s Muffatees knitting pattern

In Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 4: Betrayer , Phoebe wears a pair of lace muffatees, or gauntlets/arm-warmers that hide a rather deadly surprise. :) I actually got the idea of having her wear muffatees because I saw a lace manchette pattern in Miss Watts’ Ladies’ Knitting and Netting Book , published in 1840, page 20. However, after doing some research, I found that they were called muffatees in the Regency era, and the term manchette did not arise until a few years later. They were essentially arm-warmers worn under those long sleeves on day dresses, which were usually made of muslin too thin to be very warm. I decided to knit Phoebe’s muffatees using a Leaf Pattern originally suggested for a purse in Mrs. Gaugain’s book, The Lady’s Assistant, volume 1, 5th edition published in 1842, pages 234-237. I think there was an error and row 36 in the original pattern was duplicated erroneously, so I have adjusted the pattern. The original manchette pattern called for “fine” needles a

New contest!

I haven’t had a contest since October! Here’s new one just in time for Christmas. I’m picking 3 winners to each be able to choose 10 books from my Christian book list! And yes, that list includes my books! 1) You get one entry into the contest when you sign up for my email newsletter at http://www.camytang.com/ . If you already belong to my email newsletter, let me know! 2) You get a second entry into the contest if you Like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CamyTangAuthor . If you already Like my Facebook page, let me know! 3) You get a third entry into the contest if you join my Goodreads group: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49078 . If you already belong to my Goodreads group, let me know! 4) You get a fourth entry into the contest if you follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/camytang . If you already follow me on Twitter, let me know! 5) You get extra entries into the contest if you get someone else to join my email newsletter. Just email camy {at] c

Year of the Dog serial novel

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Year of the Dog serial novel, chapter 13

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Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

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Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And

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