Links, Links, and More Links

Good morning to you!  I have finished my stretch of six straight days working overnight for my day-job, and of course after coming back from Seattle and Vancouver, I have this ridiculous clarity that's riding me through the rest of November and December and hopefully into January.  So here are a bunch of links I want to share...a few have been previously shared, but just choose what you want to see and skip over the rest...I'm not a snob about my shameless promotion.

First, if you have a Ravelry.com account, go ahead and download my free pattern for something quick and warm.  This is the "I bought a ball of super-bulky yarn, and now I don't know what to do with it" pattern.  I used Malabrigo Rasta and it's heavenly...when I took pictures of Sarene wearing it, I decided it looked so damn cute on her that I just gave it to her.  There have already been 79 downloads since I posted it one week ago...yay!  Now I hope people start posting photos of it when finished...I love seeing other people's knitted things, whether or not they are making my pattern:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/interrupted-cable-cowl

Then, I've moved up two spots in my Examiner.com ranking, but I'm having a pretty darn awesome month so I'm just hoping it continues and my next ranking will be even better!  So here are the last few articles I wrote, with a bit of background.  The one from today is about a guy named Steve Malcolm, who lives in Vancouver and I met him at VKLive.  When I was going on my mini-sabbatical and settled on Seattle, I thought to myself, "What knitting things should I...wait!  There was an artist from the Pacific Northwest and the It Takes Balls to Knit guy!  Maybe I could interview them?"  So I did.  Ladies, prepare yourselves...if you open the article about Steve, you get a nice teasy photo of him naked but for a scarf draped over his shoulder.  MEOW:

http://www.examiner.com/article/it-takes-balls-to-knit-entrepreneur-steve-malcolm-proves-it?cid=db_articles

And here is the article on Artist Kelly Fleek.  I published it, went to sleep, woke up for work, went to work, came home, and checked the stats on the article.  Normally, I don't do much with StumbleUpon and I'll see two or three recommendations per article.  To date, this one has 476 recommendations on StumbleUpon:

http://www.examiner.com/article/artist-kelly-fleek-shares-knitting-as-a-form-of-fine-art?cid=db_articles

Then, I wrote an article about Vicki Twigg, who invented TwiggStitch.  It's not too often that something new gets invented after 1,500 years of a craft, but Vicki sure did do it.  And this was another (relatively) viral one...I went to sleep and woke up a few hours later to see over 50 "likes" on facebook:

http://www.examiner.com/article/twiggstitch-turns-a-twist-on-two-color-knitting?cid=db_articles

And finally, my book review on Vickie Howell's new book, Step It Up Knits.  It's great, seriously...teaches you every intermediate technique on the planet, and the projects are both cute and quick so you don't have to worry about packing sixty balls of yarn with you on that vacation.  Of course, I'm assuming you're going on a vacation to a place with no yarn shop, so it's not like you have to leave room in your bag for the yarn you're purchasing:

http://www.examiner.com/review/step-it-up-knits-book-review?cid=db_articles

My readership is up, my subscriber list is up, my unique visits are up...the plan is working!  Yay!  I just want to thank all of you who read my stuff...it means the world to me when I see something I write about gaining popularity.  I support all of my topics, and it's nice to see that others find them interesting as well.

And now...I'm still finishing up the December scarf pattern for my Scarf of the Month club.  I already warned everyone that it will be late...this work schedule has me passed out at the weirdest hours, and it's cutting into my knitting time!  But again...there's a plan in place for that as well.  It's just a long-term plan so I will probably have to continue figuring out how to circumvent my time.  Right now, I write a bunch of articles on my off-days and release them on days I work, so they are published in a more even and organized (and timely, if the subject matter is time-sensitive) way.  Beyond that, I'm walking the puppies in the afternoons, praying to the lottery gods so I win enough money to buy the NHL and end the lockout, and I'm just being me.  Not a bad life if you can get it.

Thanks again!  PS...if anyone knows someone who wants to adopt a puppy, my tenant is looking for a forever home for this girl...she's eight weeks old, and she currently lives in a house with two dogs and four little kids so she's being socialized and obviously approachable and non-aggressive.  She is a little sweetheart.  Contact me if you know anyone who is interested...I have enough spare time to coordinate transport, and if someone would like her for a Christmas gift (to a RESPONSIBLE home), we can keep her until then for sure.