Polgara Knits

I’ve been terribly lax in updating this week, for which I’m very sorry.  It’s been a busy week, with both ups and downs, and very little time for yarn work.  The biggest up is that my friend Allyson’s first book, Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby?, became available exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores across the country on Friday, about a week earlier than any of us expected.  Friends from NY to Florida, Iowa to Texas and California, have been reporting back with stories on how they found the book, how they chatted up the store employees to generate bookseller interest, how they took pictures (and posted them) of the book on display, and finally how they felt upon reading the essays nestled within the covers.  It’s been a big weekend for those of us chronicled in this book about how an internet community based around fandom (in this case, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fandoms) can change a life.  Specifically, it’s about how it changed Allyson’s life, but so much of it describes how it changed many lives, mine included.

And if you’re reading this blog, I’d wager your life has also been changed by online interactions with strangers around the world, and if that’s true, you should stop by your local B&N and look for Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? by Allyson Beatrice.  Leaf through it, maybe read a page or two (I’d recommend the chapter entitled “The Internet Wants Your Daughters”), and if you like what you see, buy a copy and bring it home.  And as you’re reading it, everytime you come across a mention of Allyson’s friend Paula, you can think to yourself, “Hey, I know her–I read her blog!”

P.S. It’ll be available in all other bookstores as of August 1st!

I can’t decide if today is a good day or a bad day.  On the plus side, a former coworker that I absolutely adore stopped by for a visit today; lunch was yummy (Green bean day at the cafe!  Woot!  Sounds weird, I know, but they make good green beans, trust me!); I finished all my projects this week, so today is slow enough that I was able to peruse one of my new books (more on that later) and catch up on my favorite knitting blogs; and, um, I think that’s it.  On the minus side, there’s the uber-pain in my back that wasn’t there yesterday; my throat has that I’m-getting-sick-and-you-can’t-stop-me feeling; one issue I wanted to handle today can’t be handled, because I don’t have the necessary paperwork with me; another issue is being ignored by an online entity for whom I have no phone number (Can I vague that up a bit?  Probably.); and yes, the whole throat thing sucks enough that I feel it should be mentioned twice.  So you can see my dilemma as I try to decide, is this a good day, or a bad day?  (Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?)

Since the jury is still out, and probably will be until I wake up tomorrow either sick or relieved not to be sick, I’ll move on to the books that arrived from Amazon yesterday: Knit 2 Together and Stitch ‘n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.  (New books! Squee!)  My first impression was, Damn, these books are heavy!  I had no idea the K2T book was going to be so dense!  I’ve since leafed through each book cover to cover, and even managed to read a bit (“hooking” is no longer an innocent term just because it refers to crochet!), and I can say that I don’t regret buying either book.  I am glad I only paid $5.50 for the K2T book, as most of the patterns are really not my cup of tea, but I think I might actually make a pair of those slippers (no DPNs required!).  The Happy Hooker, on the other hand, I’m positively gleeful about!  I can’t wait to expand my crochet horizons beyond the Log Cabin blankets I’ve been focussing on.  Crochet is so much quicker than knitting, which is a huge plus for my instant-gratification needs.  And, no DPNs!  I can make all kinds of cute hats (I assume) without DPNs or seams!  Yes, I love this book, and as always, I love Stoller’s writing style, and I can’t wait to try all the techniques beyond the single and double crochet stitches I’ve already mastered.

So bottom line is, when I get home tonight, Knit 2 Together will join my other pattern books on the shelf, and look very pretty there, and I’ll probably take it out every once in awhile when I’m looking for inspiration; and The Happy Hooker and I will be spending some quality time on the couch with a few boxes of yarn while I look for the perfect project to take on.

So maybe not such a bad day after all?

I was surfing Amazon, as I sometimes do when my work projects are stalled until other people get me the stuff I need*, and I found Knit 2 Together: Patterns and Stories for Serious Knitting Fun there, for only $5.50!  Um, what?!  Confused, I looked at the other books on the knitting page, and saw that three of the top five sellers were marked down to under $6!  Sale? Data entry error?  Not sure, but in case you’re looking for some new books, hurry on over to Amazon and check out:

Knit 2 Together for $5.50
Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time for $3.99
Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation for $3.19

*Necessary disclaimer in case my boss is reading this.

I’m ridiculously happy with my new header graphic.  As much as I liked the old one, it was still the generic header that came with the pre-made theme–I didn’t want my laziness for design to prolong the initial launch of the blog, way back when.  Fortunately, my laziness with regard to laundry meant I finally took the time to at least change the header.  Not sure what else I’ll change–so far I like all the presets with the Leone theme. 

In other news, I was in Barnes and Noble last week where I picked up Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter.  Harry Potter! And knitting patterns!  Two of my favorite things, all wrapped up in one package!  There wasn’t enough squee in the world when I found this little gem.

I haven’t read it cover to cover yet, just flipped through it, but so far I like it.  I’m not so sure I’ll be knitting any of the patterns, though.  My attention span is too short for any of the sweaters; I don’t like DPNs, so the socks and mittens are out; and the needles sizes are so small for most of the patterns–I may have missed it, but so far the largest needles I’ve seen mentioned are nines, yikes!  (ETA:  Wait, no!  Just saw that 13s are used for Ron’s Animal Crackers Hat, page 144.)  The Clock Blanket (page 29) is tempting, though.  And a huge plus can be found on page 141, where the author has included a row-by-row stitch pattern in addition to a chart for the cables on Hermione’s Cabled Hat–books so rarely include the row-by-row breakdown for those of us who are chart-challenged!

So yes, my initial impression is SQUEE!  If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.

I’ve recently become a big fan of LibraryThing.com, a website that allows you to catalog and tag your books, write reviews, compare your library to others’, and talk incessantly about books.  Through their knitting group, I learned of several book series and standalone novels that involve knitting in some significant way, and immediately purchased several to try them out.

The one I most recently finished is Knit One, Kill Two, a murder mystery by Maggie Sefton.  Sadly, I was not a fan of this book. I wanted to be, so much–a mystery, set around a yarn shop, with lots of knitting….sounded perfect! And I did grow to like most of the characters (although I still couldn’t tell you the difference between Meghan and Lisa). But for me, the plot holes killed it dead.

For one thing, criminals don’t just confess, and certainly not when confronted with flimsy circumstantial evidence. Ok, maybe in “Murder She Wrote,” and if that’s the audience Sefton is writing for, then go team her! But I’m not in that audience, and I expect more at the end of a mystery.

For another, anything involving knitting and/or yarn was written so completely and lovingly that it was clear the author not only adored her subject, but knew it very well. This just made it oh so obvious how much she *didn’t* research any of the other technical details of the story–DNA testing, for instance. I can’t get into it further without risking spoilers, but let’s just say that when an expert is comparing two separate DNA samples, two things are noticed immediately, and if the expert has seen enough of the samples to know the answer to one of those things, he can’t possibly *not* know the answer to the other–literally not possible….unless you’re the DNA expert in Sefton’s Colorado, apparently. This mistake (and the unbelievably rapid turnaround for the DNA results) was such a big one that my head hurts every time I think about it, and it made me want to throw the book across the room.

And the ending? Or should I say, lack thereof? There were so many questions left hanging at the end, I had to doublecheck the page numbers to see if a chapter had been ripped out. (Sadly, no.)

Those are the biggest (but not only) plot problems I had. Then there was the annoying writing style in which the characters included the name of the person they were speaking to in nearly every speaking turn. Take, for instance, page 178. Seven paragraphs of dialog, taking up 2/3 of the page–not even a complete page. Martha speaks to Kelly three times, and uses Kelly’s name each time. Kelly speaks to Martha four times, and uses Martha’s name twice. They’re the only two people in the room! And this happened throughout the whole book!

I know for some people these may be small, nitpicky details that are better glossed over in favor of enjoying the story, but for me, they got in the way of the story, taking me out of the book in repeated exasperation, with frequent mutterings of, “doesn’t she have an editor??”

As I said before, I did grow to like the characters, despite their constant uses of names, but unless someone can assure me that these plot and style problems have been worked out in later books, I won’t be reading anymore Sefton books.

My friend Stevie is coming to town this Wednesday! This, of course, means massive cleaning for me, as I’m not one to clean as I go. I still have to vacuum, clean the bathroom, and finish the dishes. But that’s not the point of this post.

I’m fairly certain no one actually reads this blog, but just in case, I want to share with you the reason Stevie is comin’ to L.A.–the first public screening of her documentary, IRL (in which I’m featured! more than once!):

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It’s been a tremendously long road (going on 4 years *gulp*) but “IRL (In Real Life)” aka the Bronze documentary is done and will be having its first public screening in LA on March 10th! (A fitting date —the 10 year anniversary of the Buffy pilot

For anyone who doesn’t know, “IRL” is the first documentary to look at online communities and relationships and what happens to them when they move into “real life.” The film chronicles the life, death and afterlife of an online community called “The Bronze,” made up of fans from the official website for “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” The film is about online communities in general but specifically about a community of fans and it allows the fans to finally tell their stories directly, in their own words.

The goal for this event is to attract some attention and publicity and hopefully interest a distributor so that the film can actually get to the people who’ve been waiting for it all this time – YOU. In order for that to happen, we need people to hear about the screening and to come, so please, share this info with everyone you can think of, especially those of you in the SoCal area. We need a good turnout and we need to get some buzz going!

The screening will be held at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles (655 N. Van Ness Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038) at 2pm PST on Saturday March 10th. The screening is FREE though parking in the area is not. Also there is limited seating. You can RSVP to save a seat by emailing IRLScreenings@gmail.com (please put the letters “LA” in the subject line).

As an added bonus, our very own Allyson will be doing a reading from her FORTHCOMING BOOK! “Will The Vampire People Please Leave The Lobby?” before the screening. The two of us will be doing a Q&A afterwards about the Bronze, 10 years of Buffy, and whatever else comes into our heads, I imagine.

If you want visual aids: The trailer is up at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMjya7KqKHg

And we now have a myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/irlmovie

Spread the word! Seize the fish! You can’t stop the signal! etc.

~S.T.

Please note Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com, so go pre-order it! The sis and I are mentioned several times in it!