If I could, I would write books for the rest of my life. There is something so very deeply satisfying about crafting a collection from the ground up.  Like my last book, I am the photographer as well, so I enjoy the rare privilege of not only creating the designs, but also presenting them.

I am very lucky in that I have a lot of free reign when it comes to what goes in the book - each book starts with a proposal and list of patterns, but I have the freedom to change things as need be. One kind of bunting evolves into another.  A cardigan becomes a sweater. Each piece, a part of a puzzle, getting moulded and shaped as it slots into its niche.

I pour a lot of myself into each design. I think hard about each yarn choice, stitch pattern, and colour palette.  Patterns get drafted and rewritten. It becomes a kind of creative consumption - I am here, but a part of my brain is lost in stitch counts, colour choices and missing yarn.

These days, life happens, but in the margins of book writing. While I love the singular focus of creating a book, most everything else, by necessity, falls away. We stay close to home, day time entertainment is a 2 hour bath while I sit with my laptop - close enough to keep an eye, far enough away to stay clear of splashing. Maybe next time round I will learn how to keep all of the plates in the air as I careen towards a deadline, rather than leave them smashed in a wake behind me, or maybe this is just my process...

...either way, crochet calls.

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My friend Sara has published another awesome crochet garment.  I get serious design envy with everything she publishes. Its ok though, we managed to rope her into submitting to The Crochet Project.

Not only that, but she and another one of our Crochet Project designers, Vicki Brown, are in the next round of The Design Wars. Exciting!

Speaking of The Crochet Project, we are just about 4 weeks away from Issue 2.  The first photoshoot is at dawn on Friday. There is going to be a lot happening on that front, so if you love crochet, then watch this space - a new website has been built and there are a number of exciting developments.