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Alison Hawke

Alison Hawke

Eight Rules for Writing Fiction

Found on Merinda's blog: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every character should want something, even

WordPress theme: Henge

Hubby created a new WordPress theme: Henge, which I am currently using. The theme is released under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported" license, it has a widget-ready right sidebar, and absolutely no sponsored links. I love it! Sponsored links are a nasty development in WordPress themes.

Nice day for a white wedding

Huge conga rats to Sehlat on her wedding this weekend!

Impending sheep fest

Three firsts in one weekend: first solo plane trip, first visit to Maryland, and first Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! My best friend Rox moved out to Maryland in September and neither of us have been to a fibre festival before. Both of us are knitters and spinners (although that&

Love and chocolate

BBC News: Chocolate 'better than kissing'. When it comes to tongues, melting chocolate is better than a passionate kiss, scientists have found. Couples in their 20s had their heart rates and brains monitored whilst they first melted chocolate in their mouths and then kissed. Chocolate caused a more

Blogger's code of conduct

BBC News: Weblogs 'need content warnings'. Readers should be warned when they are reading blogs that may contain "crude language", a draft blogging code of conduct has suggested. The code was drawn up by web pioneer Tim O'Reilly following published threats and perceived harassment

Spinning FO: Burning Embers Silk

So that's what skein winders are for! This is 2 ply silk, looking suspiciously thin: 2oz hand-dyed tussah silk from Spunky Eclectic in Burning Embers 364 yds, wheel-spun 2 ply, fingering to laceweight. Three hundred and sixty four yards! Skeined this on a niddy noddy and it took

Spinnable plant fibres

Found a great thread on the Spinning Fiber LJ community, The voice of experience: "Share with us something you know now as an experienced spinner that you wished you knew when you were starting out." Excellent tips, most notably slow down and relax. I've spun wool,

Perception of handmade quality

The trouble with knitting a pair of socks for someone with feet five sizes bigger than your own is that progress is slow, and thus not much blog fodder. She tried on the almost-completed sock Wednesday night. "It fits!" The look of pleased shock on her face was

Socks in pockets

Picked up a Circular Solutions port-a-pocket last weekend. It's just big enough to hold yarn and a sock in progress, with a tape measure and Chibi in the outer pockets. It fits in my day bag and keeps the yarn clean, and the fabric is sturdy. Definitely recommended

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