Christmas Giving and Knitting

Christmas 2009. All the yarn projects got finished on time and I hope the recipients liked them and will enjoy them. I had a blast making things for people this year.


First was my son Michael. I'd wrestled with the yoke on his seamless Cobblestone sweater (designed by Jared Flood.) The short rows and wraps and turns were challenging. These were used to shape the shoulders and neck and gave me quite a fit. Eventually, I did figure it out (very similar to short row heels on socks), but not without a struggle. And Michael witnessed my many attempts to make it work.

While he was away for a few days, I put the knitting needles to work and was able to finish it just minutes before he came home. Wanting to surprise him, I told him that I'd become so frustrated that I'd ripped the whole thing out. And Jorgie went along with it. So Michael believed that it was gone for good.



Imagine his surprise on Christmas when he pulled out his Cobblestone sweater as part of the last gift he opened. His smile says it all.




Here's a picture of just the sweater. The wool is Miss Babs worsted and the color is Hemlock. Michael loves muted colors, especially colors of the forest.



I also made a Mara shawl and a pair of Anne Hanson's Leafprint mitts for my daughter-in-law Eileen who shares a love of handmade objects.


Here's a picture of the mitts and shawl blocking.



The last big project was another Jared Flood design. A Girasole shawl/blanket for my daughter BJ. I made it in Dream in Color Classy Butter Peeps. Here's Ben not looking too happy about the 6' shawl blocking and taking up his space in the living room.




I'm already searching through my patterns for some gifts for 2010. But first I'm going to knit some things for ME. And throw in a few charity projects, too.

Happy Spring

LACE! LACE! and MORE LACE!

It's lace, lace, lace here these days. My sock addiction hasn't gone away, but boy, am I attracted to knitting lace shawls and scarves these days.

I joined two lace groups, Embrace the Lace and Year of Lace.

The picture above is from the Embrace the Lace group and is two gorgeous skeins of Malabrigo lace yarn in a special colorway dyed just for the group.

The finished project is supposed to look like this for the front and the back.

I'm in the midst of casting on and it's going slow. Not because of the pattern, but because I have so many other projects on the needles.

The Year of the Lace project is a bit bigger project.

It's a beautiful woodland shawl and will be done in Lorna's Laces in a pretty green with brown tones.

I only got this project yesterday and am still in the fondling the lace stage of the project. Need to wind the yarn and locate my lace needles in the size for this project. I don't think this is going to be one of my "mindless" projects where I watch television and knit. I think I'm going to have to concentrate on the charts.

As a long time devotee of Anne Hanson patterns, I've finally found the courage to knit some of them. Currently I'm working on her Japanese feather stole. Check out her website for her gorgeous patterns at http://knitspot.com/. She's a superb designer and the pictures of her patterns take your breath away.

I hope you're finding time to indulge your creative gene. If not, think about what you'd like to create - painting, sculpting, knitting, quilting, or whatever. And then go for it.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring.

Kat's Greenjeans

Works in Progress: It's autumn. Cooler weather is here. And I'm busy knitting. Knitting and buying yarn and dreaming of projects to do.

Here are a couple of pictures of one of my latest projects. It's Mr. Greenjeans in Dream In Color - Classy in Jungle Cloud. The picture does not do the colors justice. The subtle changes are striking and beautiful. Knit in one piece, love that, I'm working top to bottom and then will go back and do the sleeves and the bands.

Here's a close-up of the cabling. I love to do cables. This has been a really fun project so far. Love, love, love it.

I'll post pictures here when I finish it.

Fountain Bookstore Signing - October 17, 2008

Last Friday was a cold, wet, windy day here in Richmond, VA. It was also the day of my booksigning in historic downtown Richmond at The Fountain Bookstore.
Here I am with owner Kelly Justice. That's Kelly on the left looking gorgeous as usual. Don't you just love her long hair? Not only is she beautiful, but she's also super friendly and very knowledgeable about books. She is so kind to both authors and readers alike. Make a point to stop in her bookstore. You won't be disappointed.

As I walked up to the store battling the elements and trying to keep my umbrella from blowing away, I was so pleased to see a huge red banner with white lettering strung over the shop indicating an author event was being held there that day. Wow! As I got closer, I noticed a copy of my book, A CUP OF COMFORT FOR CAT LOVERS prominently displayed in the store window.

Kelly and I ran into each other outside the entrance. I was early and she'd popped out to grab a bite to eat. She instantly made me feel right at home and had a table set up for me with my books. I unloaded all of my personal items, a picture of my husband Jorgie holding our not so lovable cat Ben, a blue and white candy dish filled with Hershey kisses, promotional materials and of course, my favorite pen for signing. Photographer and fellow author, Carolyn Greene, aka The Plot Doctor, snapped shots of the event for me. She's such a good friend.

Dear friend Jackie Elston stopped by for the event. Jackie had surprised me for my birthday this year with a framed copy of my book cover. Jackie has star quality and even on a drab and dreary day, she manages to look fantastic.

Traffic was steady throughout the signing. I met many wonderful people and was happy to sign books for them. I love hearing stories about cats and the customers were only to happy to share personal bits of information about their favorite felines. I told them a little about Ben (cat) and Jorgie (my husband) since my story in the anthology is about the two of them. Here I am looking very pleased at the end of the signing.

Again, a HUGE thank you to Kelly and the whole staff at Fountain Bookstore for giving me this opportunity. It was a memorable day.

My 1st Booksigning

Here I am (in the middle) with mystery authors Mary Anna Evans (in yellow) and JB Stanley (in the print dress) at Creatures 'n Crooks Bookshoppe.


This was my first booksigning. I was on hand to sign copies of CUP OF COMFORT FOR CAT LOVERS. My story about my husband and our tuxedo cat "Man's Best Friend" is #8 in the anthology.



I was quite pleased with how the event went. Bookstore owner, Leila Taylor, had everything perfect for both those of us signing and the many customers who stopped by. Adding to the day's excitement was the annual Carytown Watermelon Festival, an event that attracts a good 100,000 visitors.



Among the many shoppers to stop by and say hello and purchase a book were my grandchildren. Yes, it's hard to believe I'm really old enough to have grandchildren! You can't tell that we're happy, can you? My grandson was busy snapping pictures and I hope to have some of those to share with you also. My personal photographer for the day was my daughter. Both did a great job. And it meant a lot to have both family and friends in attendance.






Here I am signing a book. I've dreamed of this day for so long. A first signing is quite a milestone in any writer's career. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous and actually seemed to know what I was doing. But then I've rehearsed this over and over in my mind probably a million times since I was a small child.













Multi-published author, Carolyn Greene, acted as my personal assistant for the day. Here she is making sure that the customers will not be lacking for chocolate. When I couldn't find a candy dish the night before the signing, I improvised (as any creative person would) with a blue and white cereal bowl from our china cabinet.


Luckily, I not only matched the decor that Leila had for the table, but my bookcover as well. Sure, it was planned...


And here we are back home after the signing. That's my daughter, BJ, on the left, me in the middle, and Carolyn Greene on the right.



You know, it's wonderful to have a great first event of any kind. To be able to share it with those you love is even better. I was truly blessed today to have a wealth of caring people with me. Jorgie, my husband, decided to stay home with Ben. But they were at the signing in spirit and via a picture that was proudly displayed on the author table in front of me.



Writing, knitting, creating. When we finish a book, sell a book, finish a pair of socks or a scarf, or accomplish whatever when we use our creativity, we need to celebrate our accomplishment. Today marked that celebration for me.

New York City Trip

July had me traveling by train to Thrillerfest in New York City. It was a fabulous experience, worth every penny I spent on it. I attended workshops on writing taught by some of the heaviest hitters in fiction writing today. Many NY Times writers were in attendance. And we all know that is my goal - to be a bestselling writer.

In addition to attending classes, I also took part in Agentfest where 150 hearty souls in search of The agent speed dated 45 top industry professionals for 3 hours. The agents were seated around the room in alphabetical order and the participants lined up to pitch their stories to them. Each person got 3 minutes per agent. And when the bell rang, even if you were in the middle of a word, you got up and moved on. It was a very exciting experience.

I have to congratulate the people who were responsible for running Thrillerfest/Craftfest and Agentfest. Highly professional and well done. I'm so looking forward to going again next year.

Also managed to get in a couple of Broadway plays. Spring Awakening was very good. The music was phenomenal and I was captivated the whole time.

39 Steps, a spoof of Hitchcock's masterpiece, was not my cup of tea. But to be fair, I was very tired when we went and it would have been hard for anything to capture my imagination.

I also visited the UN Headquarters and was very impressed by the building, the grounds, the security and the photo gallery that was on display.

Bernadette Peters was doing her annual adopt a pet thing on Schubert Alley and in addition to seeing Ms. Peters, I also got to see Mary Tyler Moore, Peter Gallagher, Christine Baranski and Mario Lopez.

Behind the 8 Ball

Last week was super exciting. The FedEx man brought 2 boxes of my books, Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. My hands were literally shaking as I opened the packages and held tangible proof of my writing creativity.

The book is even more beautiful in person than it was in the pictures I'd seen. My story, "Man's Best Friend" starts on page 49. It is one of 50 stories in the anthology that celebrates our feline friends.

This week it has been a thrill to sign books for dear friends and family members. The book officially comes out July 8, 2008 and I'll be in New York City attending the ThrillerFest writing convention.

The title of this post is Behind the 8 Ball because I'm about two months behind on promo. Since having a story in print and to sell is a first for me, I'm learning as I go.

My goal is to set up some local booksignings at bookstores and public libraries. I also have to have a picture taken and that's one of my least favorite things to do.

As soon as I have some definite dates and locations for the signings, I'll be sure to post them on my website (www.katjorgensen.com) and here. I hope some of you will be able to attend.

If you can't make it to a signing, be sure to check you local bookseller or online bookstore to pick up your copy. There's something for everyone in the anthology whether you're a "cat person" or not.

And to relax while all of this is taking place, I'm still knitting and writing, not necessarily in that order.

And speaking of pictures - I must post some of my sock pictures here. I've got gold to spin into yarn in more ways than one.

Kat