ILONA ANDREWS

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Lavender Sunsets, Crocheted Hedgehogs, and Other Small Things

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A while ago I posted a hedgehog on Facebook and I received several requests for the pattern.

Picture of a crochet hedgehog with cure lavender eyes.
Picture of a crochet hedgehog with cure lavender eyes.

This toy was a little bit of a challenge for me. I’ve always thought amigurumi was out of my league. So full disclosure: this is toy #3. The first went to Kid 2, the second to Kid 1, and this one will be going to a friend. Then I will need to remake the Kid 2’s toy because it was the first one and I now know how to do a better job.

Pattern: Hedgehog Fluffy by leami.

Modifications to pattern:

I wanted less of a baby hedgehog and more of a toddler hedgehog, so I added a few rounds to the belly and I made the back longer.

I didn’t stuff as tightly as the pattern suggested because I wanted a sharper shape to the face.

I also changed the location of the deepening of the eyes. The original method involved using a strong thread to loop around the eyes and pull them downward toward the chin. I found I like the eyes better when they are pulled diagonally upward. So if the face in profile is a clock, I pull them toward 2:00 while the original pattern calls more for 6:00.

Supplies used:

If you know of a pattern for a different creature that is similar in look or style or if you have any recommendations for fur-like yarn, please drop me a comment.

Lavender Sunsets

A friend was reading Maggie and asked about lavender sunsets. She couldn’t picture it. Fortunately, lavender sunsets happen a lot in Texas. Unfortunately, iPhone tries to correct the color, as you can see in the first image. I tried backing up so it would use the kitchen light as reference and show the full extent of the purple tint.

These are untouched. I didn’t mess with tint in any way, I just dropped the size and quality to make them load somewhat reasonably fast.

View from the kitchen window of a lawn with a tree with the purple light and blue and lavender sky.
View from the kitchen window of a lawn with a tree with the purple light and blue and lavender sky but this time with color a little bit more intense.
View of the kitchen window, showing the full purpleness.

It’s otherworldly, isn’t it? I will never get used to this. Google says it’s the presence of dust in the atmosphere, and knowing Texas, it’s likely cedar pollen that we all deeply hate, but it looks magical. And it matches the hedgehog’s eyes.

The only other sunset that was more magical happened at sea. I only saw it for a moment, but the sun was setting and it turned green.

Catching up on Admin

I have a small admin salad of tasks. B.A. Books reports that they have completed all of merch orders. Since we are still hoping to get Augustine over to you, they might do another HL related run to correspond with the release. Let us know if you are looking for any HL quotes. The next time the store opens will likely be around This Kingdom’s release.

For people asking about the Augustine novella’s cover: we don’t want to lob it out there until we know it will come out. Maggie makes it very difficult to work on anything else and we are only working on it in the off time.

We have a lot of interviews coming up and a lot of them ask questions like why did you go self publish and what is your favorite thing about being an author. Do you guys want to read about any of that on the blog? I also updated the Road to Publication, which now includes the mention of BDH.

We will have a zoom chat with Jessie Mihalik, whose release is coming up, and we’ll do a formal announcement soon.

We should have a post explaining the many version of This Kingdom available to EU customers on Monday. I will work on that next after the interviews.

It looks like we might need extra help around March and April, so I’m still looking for a temporary social media manager to give Mod R backup during the release months. It is highly likely that will will be MIA, as we need to be writing and we may need someone to sit on Instagram full time for a little bit and make a few graphics.

I rarely use social media in the first place. Most of our updates are just links to blog posts. But we usually go into a complete blackout on social media as release approaches, because it is just too much. It gets overwhelming.

::looks through applications:: Oy.

Well, work isn’t going to do itself. I will see you Monday.

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Comments

  1. That lavender sunset was something else! Thanks for sharing.

    Fingers crossed for the Augustine novella. Crossed very hard!!!

  2. Colourful sunsets are one of those things that always give me a “this is amazing” feeling. It’s just so surprising to see all of those colours up in the sky. We’re blessed to get a great variety of coloured sunsets and sunrises here in the UK – I particularly enjoy neon pink with flashes of gold over a dark blue. Sadly my phone is absolutely sh*te at taking pictures of them! We get great moonrises too and even some aurora.

    • I do love it. just wish the light pollution was less in the cities to make seeing the northern lights easier when they do travel south

  3. “This Kingdom” just showed up on my library’s ebook list in preorder status and I was able to drop a hold on it *squee!* Time to check your library websites if you want to end up early in the hold queue.

    • Muah ha ha- just got my hold in too. My library ordered 10 copies so hopefully I get one early on.

      Thank you for the heads up- I checked two days ago but it wasn’t available yet. I’m eagerly waiting.

  4. When I lived in Arizona, the sunsets were spectacular, and quite a few of them were lavender. I ended up installing lace curtains in my living room windows so the color would come through while blocking looky-loos walking by my apartment windows. And the sunrises over the Superstition Mountains in the early mornings on my way to work were equally stunning. I think that’s what I miss most about no longer living there. I’ll never forget that jolt of pure joy that I would feel whenever I’d see the various colors rising over the mountains. And that is why, when I can finally retire, I will be moving back to Arizona.

      • Flagstaff, up by the Canyon, is a ski resort. My mom went to summer grad school up there for six years. Every afternoon the skies would open up and pour buckets of rain, then clear out and be beautiful. The Mogollon Rim is on my bucket list.

      • Not all of Arizona is hot though. While I used to live primarily in the Phoenix area, which can be like breathing in the air of a 450 degree oven when you open the door, the place I’m retiring to doesn’t get quite as hot as Austin does in the summer, and is also a lot less humid (I currently live just north of Austin, so I know how miserable it can get sometimes). It’s definitely a different lifestyle there in order to cope with the climate in the desert areas.

        • I’m in Tucson. Not as hot as the PHX area, and NO humidity. After DC summers, it’s wonderful.

        • I have a friend in the Scottsdale area. She once told me that when you get out of the pool there, even when the air temp is ridiculously high, you get a little chill from the evaporative cooling. But yeah, totally different ecosystem requires totally different lifestyle.

  5. I am a connoisseur of sunsets. I live near the Mohawk River in Upstate NY and in the Spring we get royal blue sunsets. Life provides such beauty

    • Have you read their banner info? They are on pause atm, something they announced from the start that they will need – but will return for orders in the future 🙂

  8. I, as well, have seen the green flash at sea at sunset here in NZ.It is a rare optical phenomena.

    • I’m definitely envious of those who have seen them green flash, I’ve yet to capture that when photographing sunsets from the beach of the sun setting at sea. os that something that’s only possible when you’re completely out at sea? rather then from a beach?

      • I’ve seen the green flash twice from a beach.
        So mix a lot of rum punch and spend time looking west over the water.

  10. You saw the green flash across the ocean! Wow! One for your memory book. Still on my bucket list….thanks for sharing.

    • I’ve read about the green flash. I, too, am envious. I would love to see it too, but I really don’t like cruising, especially on the open sea.

      • You don’t need to cruise. We have seen it several times from the beach in Bonita Beach, FL. (Gulf side). The water has to be fairly calm and no clouds on the horizon.

  11. That is the cutest hedgehog!! I can see why there is great rejoicing from Kid#1, Kid#2, and your friend who is getting the next one!! 🦔
    Lavender is a lovely sunset color!! Sorry about the pollen, though – we have a few months here in Illinois before the season starts. (Invest in tissue company stock!!)
    All the exciting news about Maggie – interviews, and all that goes with them!!
    📚📚📚

  12. HUGS! Please take your time. We don’t want all y’all to get sick! We are very chalant when it comes to your health!

  14. That lavender sunset is beautiful. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma and we have beautiful sunsets here, too. Mostly reds, oranges, and pinks recently but I have seen green during tornado season!

    Thank you for recommending Silver and Blood by Jessie Mihalik. I was able to get an ARC and it was so good!

    • I use to live in Tulsa. The green sky is very real during tornado season up there. I saw the pea green sky when I looked to the north of where I lived in Tulsa. Then I heard on the weather that a tornado hit the northern part of Tulsa.

      The sunsets up there are beautiful.

      • I’ve seen a green storm sky a few times even here in the MidAtlantic. My dad saw the actual green flash at sea during his Navy days. Two different phenomena is my impression, although I haven’t gone as far as researching so maybe they’re related.

  15. I too find that this blog is enough. When I can get to IG, it is usually referring to something on the blog or is minor. I’m doing good to get to the blog. Also, I hesitate to do FB since employers use it to find out what you do in off hours and my reading material is my business.

  16. Doing my yearly reread of all the books and I’m on Sweep in Peace right now, so all I can think of is Orro

  17. Aha! Now I have a name for those sunsets. Early spring is usually prime time for those here in Nor Cal. Sunsets by the creek, through the trees, can be magical. When the air first softens after winter, it’s headier than wine.

  19. My first, and so far only, venture into amigurumi was Yoda, for someone’s grandkid for Christmas. I wound up using those big cones of cotton for it bc I couldn’t find anything else in the right colors. The original pattern was for lace weight yarn to make a keychain-sized Yoda, so I had to do a fair amount of adapting to make Yoda cuddle-sized. The grandkid liked it though, so, win, I guess?
    Is there interest in Yoda and such, or just Earth-native fur friends?

  20. best of luck as the release month approaches. I can understand a avoiding the social media at that time with everything else going on.
    looks at the hedgehog and quickly turns away from the nemesis that is crotchety, I will not go down the 🐇 🕳️ of that knotted mess again 🙈

  21. Good luck with all the admin tasks!
    When we lived on Oiknawa we would get those Lavender Sunsets after a typhoon or a really strong thunderstorm. My kids used to call them cotton candy skies.

  22. Good luck with finding someone to help Mod R.

    When the dust from Africa hits the DFW area, the sunsets turn very interesting shades of technicolor yellow, orange, tan, and shades of red.

    I’ve seen sunrises and sunsets in shades of yellow with some orange and reds mixed in. Very pretty.

    The lavender shade is very pretty. Very Daesyn colors. 😊

  23. After reading “road to Publication”, I think and feet that I am more in love with “House Andrews” than before. I found “Magic Bites” on Amazon in 2007; the kindle was my Christmas gift to myself, and my second purchase that day was “Magic Bites”. (The first was a Kindle Bible.) When I started leaving comments on the blog my name was Momz, yet now I am a Mimi and I am loath to change my BDH moniker. So, I am patiently awaiting Maggie. All hale House Andrews; The Book Devouring Horde has spoken.
    P.S. Love the sunset!, and now want a hedgehog for me and my granddaughter.

  24. NE OK gets green skys during tornado season. Its terrifying, means the atmosphere is just right to drop one on us & remove another town from the map. And ya, iphones try to color correct it too. None of my gamer friends believe me & I can’t get a pic to post to Discord to prove I’m not lying.

    • I saw a green sky once right before a tornado. We get a lot of them in South Carolina. And yes, green skies scare the living crap out of me.

    • Okay, so Gordon was stationed at Ft. Sill by Lawton, and I have seen the green sky before a tornado. That is a thing. I tell people that and they look at me like I lost my mind.

    • I’ve seen it in SE Oklahoma. Pea soup green on one side, bruise purple on the other and utterly terrifying funnels forming. It’s real.

  30. I can’t help but read “looking for a temporary social media manager” and wonder if that counts as Mod R getting an official minion.

  31. Amazon frequently has free kindle books. They don’t stay free for long, but right now, there are about a dozen free amigurumi kindle books. Including DRAGONS!
    I use my kindle app on my iPad.

  32. Last week we had a sunset that turned the trees pink, we were driving away from the sunset so it was the light filtering through the clouds most likely. It only lasted a few minutes. Conditions must have been just right. I love the hedgehog! I’ll stick to my watch caps and beanies though. Currently, I’m making hats for family and friends!

  33. I love the heggie! It’s adorable! I might think about taking up knitting just to make him! ( But probably not. 🙂 )
    I too live in TX and love the lavender sunsets. They are so beautiful.

  34. I still remember with awe a sunset on the beach in Costa Rica. Every color in the rainbow: red, peach, orange, lavender, teal, yellow, light blue, purple, pink, it changed continuously. Our family was staying in cottages on the beach, and the temperature was perfectly warm, comfortable in bathing suits without being hot. It was magical, it was more than 50 years ago, and I remember it perfectly.

  35. Very cute Hedgehog!
    Thanks to HA and ModR for doing the blog. I love reading your thoughts and the BDH reactions! I don’t do social media…well I do have a Bluesky account that I look at occasionally. So thank you for the blog.

    • Seconded. No social media for me; this blog is a much safer space. Thanks to everyone who makes it that way.

      And the hedgehog is pretty cool. I always appreciate reading how people modify to make projects their own.

  37. Road to Publication actually made me tear up a bit. I suspect fandoms reflect authors, at least to the extend that stories reflect authors.

    Another favorite author writes genre mystery and fantasy, but for whatever reason, many fans of other genres end up reading those books. Some of those get highly indignant because their preferred ship, the HEA Favorite Trope, founders on the rocks of relationship realism and eventually sinks. Even though the lifeboats launch successfully, and a more seaworthy ship eventually sails, those readers don’t always remain in the fandom of that author.

    Most HA stories stretch broadly across several genres. This may attract more flexible readers, more willing to consider broadening their own perspectives by considering those of others. That consideration will always make for a more enjoyable social group. It’s a hypothesis, anyway.

  38. When I was a little girl (in the ’60s), we lived in Alaska, and we would get these extra-long and colorful sunrises/sunsets. I remember every shade of color, from red to blue, and definitely including lavender. My Dad coined the phenomenon “sky blue pink.” There was probably a bit of particulates in the atmosphere there, as well.

  39. This little one is really cute! If you have pets, you may want to use a shiny thread to embroider the eyes, in case they think its one of their toys and decide it would be fun to chew.Pets can choke on store-bought eyes.

  43. Cedar allergies in Central Texas are no joke. When I finally moved, I was at the point of taking both Allegra and Zyrtec twice a day and adding Flonase and Pataday to combat the worst days. It was terrible. I hope it’s not causing too much irritation for you!

  44. I love the hedgehog! It would be great to see a ferret one so I can imagine Cornelius’s friends in the break-in!

  45. I grew up in Hawaii and we would always watch sunsets hoping for the green flash over the water. You can see it while remaining on land, no need to be on a boat. However, it is a rare sight and worth waiting for! Nothing like the green sky in tornado country–that sounds scary.

  46. There is a crochet/knitting group on FB that is called “Random Acts of Knitting and Crochet Kindness” that has a lot of little critter patterns free. People make them to leave around for others to find. They have very simple patterns too, not that I’m saying you need those lol just that they have them. If you look up Izzy dolls you’ll find the creator’s story. Son was in the service and they grew from there.

  47. The lavender sunset is beautiful. My grandparents retired to a condo on the Southern California coast overlooking the ocean in the 70s and watched for the green flash on the horizon nearly every evening. I think my grandmother saw it just once.

  48. Wow. Lavender sunset— first time. And extra WOW on the green flash on sunset. I am still waiting to see that happen.

  50. Awesome that you’ll do a zoom with Jessie Mihalik. I had a review copy of Silver & Blood and loved it, and can’t w##t for the next one to come out.

  51. The hedgehog sounds adorable and the sunsets sound amazing!!
    I’d really love to learn how to crochet animals, but unfortunately for me, everything I do just looks like a variation of a blanket. That’s my stretch goal: I wanna make an elephant someday.

  52. And about green flashes – my husband and I live near enough to the coast (California) to walk there many evenings, and the green flash is nowhere near as rare as people like to say. Mostly, though, it’s kind of a pale pea or lime green. We see this most of the time so long as the horizon is quite clear. If there are clouds or haze at all, it doesn’t show up. The really deep emerald colored flash is much rarer, but still, we see those maybe four to six times a year.

    And either kind is impossible to get a picture of. Luckily, phone memory is cheap, because wow, have I tried, but it’s so fast and so small that I, at least, can’t get a picture. But I do have lots of otherwise nice pictures of sunsets 🙂

  53. That hedgehog is adorable. Wish I had skills. May there be cute hedgies to all those who do have skills.

    I’m in West Texas and yes, that dust gives us gorgeous sunsets. Glad it’s good for something. :-/

    As for HL quotes: My ability to even has been severely compromised.

    Good luck with the socials!

  54. Back in college I made a crochet animal and said never again! Of course it was not so tiny or cute either. That is darling! I haven’t crocheted in probably 30+ years, after I stopped making rag rugs. Might have to reconsider heh.

    I have occasionally seen the lavender sunset, didn’t really think about it being a dust induced color. Makes sense tho. Not like we don’t see plenty of dust here in central Texas. Can’t keep anything clean around here longer than a couple hours it seems like.

  57. That brief light you saw only happens over fairly smooth water as the sun sets and clear skies. It happens so fast that it is called a “Green Flash”. I have seen it twice. Once in Kawaii Hawaii and the other Morro Bay.

  59. Gorgeous sunsets. Otherwise I don’t like Texas weather. THe best sunset I ever saw was in Costa Rica in the rainforest. Looked the color of Lava, bright red orange. Still remember it.

  61. Lavender sunset is amazing! Have never seen that. We did have beautiful peach glow here in Washington state yesterday, which I love, but never lavender! I am also hoping to dabble in toy crafting! I got 2 books from the library, one amigurumi, and the other felt animals with button joints! I have done more knit than crochet and am trying not to be intimidated. Fun to see what you’re doing!

  62. Oh, you asked a question! There was so much goodness I got distracted. Yes to interview answers, I would love to read them here.

  63. Love the hedgehog, it’s now on my list of to do. As for HL “I’ll be dead, and it won’t matter.” I had to laugh when I read that, because I said something similar to my adult children. I am in my 70’s and we had a discussion on what I wanted done with an array of things. They were stressing about what they should do like sell or hold, and toss or save. And my answer was pretty much that.

  65. OMG, I thought socks and amigurumi were something I was never interested in doing, but that little hedgehog is adorable.

  66. Premiere Yarns makes a Eyelash yarn, which is similar to the discontinued Lion Brand Fun Fur. I have made the Huggable Hedgehog pattern, which is a knit pattern, and you need to use regular wool so you can felt it. The pattern is available on ravelry or directly from fibertrends.

    Lion brand Thick and Quick yarn can be used to make like a santa hat trim and is probably similar texturally to Bernat Blanket Big Frosted. However, I haven’t seen or touched Big Frosted.

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