April 6, 2009

Here I am again in “book deadline heaven”, and I’m loving it!

This time I’m doing book of gifts for you to knit, to be released in Fall of 2009. I’m having lots of fun with it, creating pieces that are (hopefully) easy, unique, whimsical and fashionable. Even after creating so many books, I still love coming up with a book concept, designing the pieces and choosing yarn. The sound of my doorbell ringing is exciting, because it’s usually UPS or Fed-Ex with a box of beautiful yarn treasures. When I recently got back from my California trip, there were 11 boxes of yarn waiting for me—it was like Christmas. My deadline being tight, I am knitting many of the pieces myself and am starting to feel a sadness that there are only a few pieces left to knit. Many knitters have told me that they feel this sadness, along with relief and a feeling of accomplishment, when they finish their work. My knitters have told me that they’ve had fun knitting these pieces, so I know we’re on the right track creatively. I’m beginning to think how the completed book will look and how we can give a fresh approach to the photos, styling and layout.

I am also molto excited—we just got a pre-press copy of my Knitting in Tuscany to be released in June 2009. It’s a wealth of Italian knowledge, and I hope you will enjoy the Tuscan-inspired designs along with my experiences and tourist recommendations in Tuscany. My husband Howard wrote the travel, sightseeing, dining, wine etc. sections and wants this to be a book that you will not only enjoy looking at, but also reading (and, of course, knitting the pieces). Here are some of the personal photos from the book, and next month I’ll give you a sneak preview of some of the pieces.

And here’s my monthly cookie recipe—Yum!

Gooey Cookies

1 cake mix
1 stick butter
1 large cream cheese
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the butter, cream cheese, egg and vanilla together until it is creamy—add cake mix slowly because the mixture gets really thick. Refrigerate overnight. Form balls (I use a teaspoon for each ball). Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10–12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on rack.

You can sprinkle with more powdered sugar if that is your taste.

The taste of the cookie depends on the flavor of the cake mix.

Just some hints from my experience with this recipe: I have made lemon, butter pecan with pecan pieces, chocolate with chocolate chips, chocolate with Reese's Pieces, carrot cake, and for Christmas I am going to make chocolate with red and green M&Ms. You cannot put the Reese's Pieces or the M&Ms in using the electric mixer––they break up. I mix them in with a spatula after everything is blended.

Good Luck—they are delicious.

See you soon and thanks for writing and sharing your extremely kind comments on Knitting On Top Of The World. Keep sending me the photos of your finished pieces here.

Nicky