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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Review: Harmony Guide: Lace & Eyelets: 250 Stitches to Knit


Harmony Guide: Lace & Eyelets: 250 Stitches to Knit
Harmony Guide: Lace & Eyelets: 250 Stitches to Knit by Erika Knight

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I'm impressed at the number of different lace patterns here. There are some that are truly unique. Some are similar to each other, but I haven't yet seen any that are too alike.

I have only two things I don't like about this book:

1) Some of the samples of the lace patterns were knit with too small a needle or the samples weren't stretched enough before photographing, because the pattern is very hard to discern. Several pattern samples look very scrunched up and it's hard to know if the pattern is appropriate for the project I'm doing.

2) There doesn't seem to be any organization to how the patterns were listed in the book. They're not grouped by type, by number of rows, by multiples of stitches, by suggested yarn gauge, or even by name. Whenever I need a pattern, I have to page through the entire book. There isn't even an index listing all the patterns so if I'm looking for a particular one, again I have to page through the entire book.

Sometimes I'm browsing through the book, looking for a pattern appropriate for the project I'm considering, but many times I find myself wanting to find a particular pattern and I have to page through the entire book looking for it. It's very frustrating. I'm rather surprised, because Interweave magazines tend to be very high quality and I expected better organization of a stitch guide. I'm also a little surprised they haven't come out with an ebook version by now. If they had, I'd definitely buy it because it would make it easier to search the book.

Overall, LOTS of really good patterns, but not my favorite knitting book because of the frustration factor.



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