ILONA ANDREWS

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Writing Questions

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We’ve been working very hard, so the blog has been lagging behind.  Someone emailed and asked if we did writing questions anymore.  We decided to answer 4-5 writing questions – business or the actual writing, doesn’t matter – so ask whatever you want in the comments or through the email form on the website.

Meanwhile, I have a dilemma.  I’ve joined a yarn club.

Yes, I know.  I will wait until you’re done laughing.  I now have a 400 yard skein of Merino 80/Cashmere 20 in California Dreamin’ colorway and equivalent amount of thin silk, which I have wound together into a single skein.  Unfortunately, the pattern that came with my yarn is Basketweave Shawl, which looks like a rectangle of knitted cloth. Meh.

I have to do something with this pink/orange variegated yarn and it has to be 400 yards.  I’m thinking Reyna, maybe, but the problem is, I’m looking at pictures of people who have made Reyna and it doesn’t appear that it’s actually wearable as a shawl.  It’s more of an oversized triangular scarf.

I feel like the expensive yarn deserves a bit fancier treatment.  I want to do a stole or a shawl with a bit of lace or something.  Or if it is a scarf, I want it long and fancy. Unfortunately, I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for another skein and this colorway is hard to pair with other colorways.

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Comments

  2. I have a story question. (You may have already answered it; I just started reading your blog a few weeks ago.)

    Kate’s father is incredibly charismatic, seeming almost godlike. Kate’s mother was an exceptionally beautiful, charismatic, attractive person, even more so than Rowena, and Rowena turns every head within a block radius. This is explicitly a hereditary trait.

    Kate does not turn heads. I can think of maybe four or five men who’ve even made a pass at Kate. (Curran, Crest, Saiman, Hugh, maybe Derek, maybe Raphael.) She’s mentioned doing stuff to cloak her magical aura, but she stopped doing that (I thought) once she stopped hiding her familial origin. Why aren’t all the men in any given room constantly staring at her slackjawed?

      • Oh you’re mean! I have a ton of things to do for work and it’s getting late. Yet, I stopped everything, walked to my bookshelf, grabbed my hardcover copy of the book and read that scene STANDING next to the bookshelf. *sigh* the perks of being a fan.

        • I’m with Sonia. Only mine is digital, so instead of going to my bookshelf and flipping right to the scene I had to read the whole chapter. Ok, so I would have reread the whole chapter anyway, but that’s not the point. By the way, that chapter is awesome! Totally worth the reread.

          • Feeling rather dense. Wogglebug notes that Kate does not turn heads. Why not?

            Help! What’s the answer? Her “hard stare” and love of the sword “dance” wouldn’t be apparent on first sight. So they couldn’t be why Kate–unlike Rowena–doesn’t leave slack-jawed men in her wake.

            Andrea thinks men are initially dazzled by Kate’s exotic looks, but then freaked out by her deranged eyes. (I think this is in Gunmetal Magic.)

            Argh. What am i missing in Chapter 15?

  3. Writing question when will we start to get installments again? Friday’s just aren’t the same lol

    I crochet not knit and with that yarn it’s delicate so ild go towards a medival lace hair net or hair bands and maybe a lace sash?

    Your yarn posts make me jealous!

  4. Romi (Rosemary Hill) on Ravelry has some spectacular shawls for a single skein of fingering yarn. Darkwing, Amy, Diane, Meadowgold and my personal favorite Asterope all use just 1 skein.

  6. I have a writing question, but you may have answered it in a previous post before I found your website, if so, I apologise.

    I’m always intrigued by duo writing. How do you and Gordon actually write the books together? Do you sit down and hash out a story line together and then you write it? I get the sense from your posts that you do the majority of writing, is this wrong? Do you both write for individual characters (eg does Gordon write Curran and you Kate)? Do you ever disagree with how a story/character progresses? Does being a husband and wife writing team have any advantages/disadvantages that other non-married writing teams don’t have?

    Sorry, that’s a lot of questions! And here’s one more, do you only knit shawls, or do you knit jumpers as well (though I think jumpers means something different in America, um, sweaters, is that correct word?)? I do think that is a rather challenging colour of wool you’ve been sent!

    • Yes, here in the USA we call them sweaters or if it buttons down the front they are cardigans. To most of us, a “jumper” is a skirt with a sleeveless, collar-less top on it. You wear them over a shirt. Sigh… They were very popular in the 80’s.

  7. Check out LIly Go http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lily-go she has knit
    and Nim Teasdale http://www.ravelry.com/designers/nim-teasdale
    also the Echo Flower shawl is one of my favorites and in my queue to do next
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/echo-flower-shawl – it has a small and a large version
    or for something completely different and yet spectacular, Dunedin or Nennir by Lucy Hague http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lucy-hague

    Also just wanted to let you know you are my number one favorite author, at the top of a reasonably small list of writers I find I can’t put down. Thank you so much!

        • You can search Ravelry for the yarn you have and see what projects people are doing. I believe you can then add filters to narrow the field (like yardage and accessory).

          Love your writing and adore Renee’s readings.

          I’m Dragoncat7 on Ravelry and a very newbie knitter.

  8. The colours of the yarn are so wonderful to look at. If only they could be framed somehow and you could admire them everyday. They look jewels of fibre.

  9. Have you thought of making a shrug out of it? Here’s an example of what I mean in a crochet pattern. http://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=7517&cid=17 It doesn’t take a lot of yarn, especially in a knit, you can use pretty much any pattern, and it’s easy to just sew up the arms from the rectangle after you’ve finished. I love this site for the beautiful patterns. I admit, I have a habit of using the sport-weighted patterns in a fingering-weight, but I crochet pretty loosely.

  10. Why not just change the stitch on your pattern. I use Mary Thomas’s book of knitting patterns. Its old but still relevant and available. There are some excellent lacy stitches and no one would have the same shawl as you. You may have to adjust tension.

  11. Mapes-Benson shawlette on Ravelry. Made 10 of them so far. Love the pattern and it’s open to leave knitting if you like.

  12. Mapes-Benson shawlette on Ravelry. Made 10 of them so far. Love the pattern and it’s open to lace knitting if you like.

  13. I have both knit and worn Reyna, while it is a fun knit, 400 yards is probably not enough to make it wearable around the back and shoulders. I wear it as styled on the main project page around the neck “cowboy” style. I will say that styled like that it stays on really well unlike some other triangular shawls.

    If you want to do something fancy, what about a Boo Knits Shawl?
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/boo-knits-ravelry-downloads/patterns

    Her patterns are really well written and always look so fancy.

    Other pattern suggestions:
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaali-2
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/butterfly-dream-catcher
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/forever-yours-3
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shattered-sun-shawl ( I’ve knit this in fingering weight and just shortened the straight stockinette section at the bottom.)
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/haruni-plus

    Sorry for the link dump! It’s the librarian in me.

  15. Morning, as a non knitter here I went to Pinterest and searched there because they have pictures ?. You could check there for ideas if none of these other ones pan out. The problem with using Pinterest for ideas is they changed recently and don’t have a lot of information under the photos you actually have to open them up to check their revelence.

  17. In Stephen King’s book “On Writing” he says that the writing process for him is like an archaeological dig. He knows that there is a story there, but he doesn’t know the details or the end until he starts writing. Do you write like that? Do you have a general idea and direction for a story and then start writing? Or do you find having an outline helps?

    Either way, do you always know the ending to a story? Or have you ever been writing when an ending came out of nowhere and changed what you were doing?

    Thank you for answering writing questions. 🙂

  18. I read a while ago a wonderful post of yours dedicated to the alpha-hole and I remember you observing that while the alpha-hole archetype is mostly a male thing, it does sometimes apply also for female character, even if sadly it seems I can’t find many of them in my reading list.

    Have you two ever thought of writing a story with a female alpha-hole? Like a female Rogan paired to a male Nevada?

  19. What yarn club? I don’t know that it is a good idea that I would learn about yarn clubs. That is Gorgeous yarn. I think that color would work so well with white. Could you mix it and get a lovely sweater?

  20. Look at Helen Stewart’s patterns on Ravelry. She has a lot of beautiful shawls, many of which are designed for 1 skein of fingering yarn. You can choose from lacier, girlier patterns or more solid with small grace notes of lace. Her pattern format is very clear and has the benefit of letting you know -on any row of the shawl what percentage of the way through you are -useful if you’re playing (or don’t want to play) yarn chicken.

  21. From my beautiful wife- “Tell her your wife, the yarn store owner, knit a Reyna & says it’s a great pattern that’s quick to knit and shows yarn off beautifully!”

  22. I have a question, not necessarily a writting ququestion. Can you please give me a snipet??? I need one. On any book that is gonna drop soon.

  24. Knit the rectangle, put tassels on the corners to fancy it up. I did that with a long rectangular shawl I made my mother and it can go formal

  25. Ok second try posting this…
    How about Nefertem by Kirsten Kapur
    She also has a lot of other shawlettes, but I think that to be the best.

  26. I’ve knitted Reyna and didn’t like the way it turned out. It stretched out lengthwise and became very long and skinny. The pattern is also rather monotonous and I got quite bored towards the end till the point where I was forcing myself to finish it off.

  27. You could make a larger item by bulking up your yarn. Join it with another thinner yarn of solid toning color. Knitting two strands together will allow you to use a larger needle and get a different gauge. Just an idea. Good luck.

  28. I don’t buy paper books anymore if I can help. I buy electronic books to save shelf space and to always have a book on hand when needed.

    What do you bring to book signings if you don’t have a paper book? Are there​ print copies of book covers you can have the authors sign? What’s the accepted norm in this electric age?

  30. Martina Behm has a new pattern that is like her hitchhiker scarf but has a short row edge that makes it fancier. It is a pattern that you knit until your yarn runs out…

    • Btw, I think you are brave for joining a yarn club. I am always tempted but two things, well, three hold me back. First, what if I don’t like what is sent? Yes, I can overdye it but who wants to do that with expensive yarn? Second, I tend to get stressed if my stash grows too much (and that can happened so quickly). Third, expense of committing to spending that much each month. As an academic, I have several months where I have to go, as they say at my LYS in Corvallis, cold sheep.

      Oh, on your other yarn issue…you could always dye a skein of vanilla yarn with kool aid if you don’t have dyes to make a complimentary third skein. Kool aid colors look like they would work with the pictures you posted.

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