My website contest is up!

Captain's Log, Stardate 06.09.2005

I am starting a monthly website contest for a free book. This month, my friend Shelley Bates will autograph her romantic suspense book "Grounds to Believe" for the lucky winner of the book drawing. Go to my website to fill out the contest form!

Tell your friends and family who enjoy romantic suspense to sign up--if they put your name down as the referrer, you get an extra entry into the contest.

It took me a while to switch my host servers, update my pages and upload them, especially for Miss HTML-Challenged over here. It's amazing how much html code you can pick up when you're clipping sections to get rid of some annoying side frame and error message!

But I was so proud of myself for not only getting rid of the side frame, but inserting a new form for the contest. My husband says I need a little humility. I say, when you're a biologist who flunked computer science, you take the victories when they come!

Writing: I've been trying to work on my Hawaii manuscript and feeling like I'm getting nowhere. What happened to all my neat tips and tricks for writing while working full-time? Sometimes I'm such a loser. Well, I'll just put it down to a dry spell and get back into gear.

I received my copies of Nikkei Heritage, the journal published by the National Japanese American Historical Society. My feature article "Wartime in an O'ahu Country Town" appears in the spring 2005 issue. I have to send my parents a copy so they don't think I'm lying about being published. :-)

The San Jose ACFW group met at my house last night. It's always so enjoyable to sit and talk about writing with fellow writers. Yet again, we had too much food, but it's too much fun eating together.

Diet: It's been very slow, but my clothes are fitting better. I guess I'm just too impatient. I've been doing well on my food choices and portion sizes. It's hard to motivate myself to exercise, though.

Comments

writerlysoul said…

Hi, Camy! Just browsing through your blog. I LOVED the pics from Mt. Hermon - they are great!

Love, Staci

Thu Jun 09, 07:00:00 PM 2005

Anonymous said…

You are not a loser! Camy, you rule!!

Fri Jun 10, 02:21:00 PM 2005

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures

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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Camy’s Worsted Cotton Comfortable Skirt with Lace Edging knitting pattern

I made my original Comfortable Cotton Skirt with a simple eyelet round at the bottom, but this one has a simple antique garter stitch lace edging, “Edging to Trim the Body and Sleeves” on page 43 of the book New Guide to Knitting and Crochet , published in 1847. You can download a free ebook copy of the book here . The edging was originally to trim a Baby’s Knit Body, but I have no idea what that is. :P If you do, please do leave a comment. I also changed the hip increases to 4 distinct darts rather than 8 sections, but if you prefer the hip increases from my original Comfortable Cotton skirt, you can substitute that. Like the original Comfortable skirt, this one is cotton for summer, and loose for casual wear. It has a little positive ease and is only slightly flared. The waist is drawstring rather than elastic so that I can loosen it on my fat days or after pigging out at my favorite restaurant. This pattern/recipe is for my size, but there are instructions at the bottom for

One-Skein Pyrenees Scarf knitting pattern

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Keriah's Narrow Crescent Scarf

In my series Lady Wynwood’s Spies, my character Keriah is more emotional than her friend Phoebe, and so when writing about her in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 6: Martyr , naturally I described her scarf as having more lively colors than the greens and blues that Phoebe favors. I didn’t really have a particular yarn colorway in mind when I wrote the scene, but when looking through my stash to knit her scarf, I found the Carnival colorway in Knit Picks Chroma Twist Fingering, and it was absolutely perfect for her. Chroma Twist Fingering is discontinued, but you could knit this in Chroma Fingering or any other color-transitional yarn. In the Regency era, a tri-color 3-ply yarn like Chroma Twist Fingering would probably not have been sold in shops, but it also may not have been completely unheard of. It is made by simply dying the wool rather than the finished yarn, and then the dyed wool would be split into 3 parts and each part spun into a single ply, before all three plies

The Robe by Wes King

Captain’s Log, Stardate 01.07.2006 I’ve been developing the spiritual theme for this current project for a while, and I think I’ve finally nailed it down. This song has inspired me in my own walk, but then it occurred to me that it communicates the emotional theme for my WIP very well, too. The Robe by Wes King Anyone whose heart is cold and lonely Anyone who can't believe Anyone whose hands are worn and empty Come as you are Anyone whose feet are tired of walking And even lost their will to run There is a place of rest for your aching soul Come as you are For the robe is of God That will clothe your nakedness And the robe is His grace It's all you need Come as you are Anyone who feels that they're unworthy Anyone whose just afraid Come sinner, come and receive His mercy Come as you are For the robe is of God That will clothe your nakedness And the robe is His grace It's all you need Come as you are From the album: The Robe c1993 Emily Boothe, Inc. (BMI)/Careers-BMG Mus

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter

Grace Livingston Hill romances free on Google Books

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci

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Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter