WWW: Now with added Rachael!

The love started Monday…if you're wondering what's going on today, take a peek!

The lucky winner of yesterday's "Name the novel you'd write that would combine knitting and your favorite genre contest", chosen by Rachael herself: Jennifer B who wrote "Anjuli – It was in a wonderful novel called The Far Pavilion by M. M. Kaye, and I have always loved it."

Congrats, Jennifer — you'll be receiving a copy of Rachael's brand-new book, HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME!

And now, onto day 3 of the week of Looooooove!

Knitty: Are you ever tempted to pull stories from the news into your fiction, or do you want the world you create to be free of that stuff?

Rachael: I can honestly say I'm never tempted to pull the news in—I listen to NPR three or four days a week, and I feel I'm usually pretty up on the news, but there's nothing that dates a manuscript more than reading old news (unless it's being done for a specific purpose, to ground a novel in a particular time). I like my novels to stand alone, politically neutral (although there is an occasional mention of current things that I really love, like Twitter and Ravelry—those things will still be big in a few years, right?).

K: Will Cypress Hollow have its own web page…or blog?

R: Actually, Mildred tweets! She gives us the low-down on Cypress Hollow.

K: How do you find the time to work full time, write novels, knit and still be a pleasant and lovely person?

R: You're TOO KIND. Normally, in life, I run pretty fast. I wake up ready to go, and I go-go-go until bedtime. I'm not good at relaxing (until I try really hard, and then I get TOO good at relaxing and don't want to do any work—that happened last week).

But really, the first thing to go is the knitting. After all, I have to write, and I have to work (luckily, I can sometimes knit in the down times at work, which is a blessing—at least a little bit gets done), but I don't actually HAVE to knit to survive, you know. But we all have lots of hours in the day, it's just about how you use them. No matter what, I have a pair of socks-on-the-go in my purse, and I knit them when I'm at the movies or standing in line. When I'm hanging out with friends, I knit. I write early in the morning, before work. Sure, I get tired, but it's what I love, and it's worth it. Also, I don't have kids, like a lot of my writer friends do. I don't know how THEY do it.

A few hundred thousand of the millions.

In honor of the centenary of International Women's Day, a group called SitAndKnitABit in the UK has organized the 100 Million Stitches project.  Designed to mark the anniversary, and bring attention to the challenges and discrimination that women have faced over the years, and that continues today.

Let us introduce you to Mary Westwell, of Manchester, UK. For more than 10 years, Mary knitted dolls for sick children in the Manchester area, which she had her sons deliver to the children – entirely anonymously. She knitted over 2,000 dolls and toys over the years, and despite bids to find out who was behind the scheme, managed to keep it a secret. Mary gave her grandchildren permission to reveal her secret shortly before her death last month, at the age of 98.

In you're in the UK, add WoolFest 2011 to your calendar, June 24 & 25, held in Cumbria. This year's event promises to be the biggest ever, with a whole new floor of vendors added at the venue.

Let's give away another copy of Rachael's new book!

This time, to win, leave a comment to this post by Wednesday, March 9th at midnight, eastern time. In your comment, name the fictional town where you'd set your knitting-based novel. Rachael will pick her favorite and that lucky person will win a copy of HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME.

Good luck, y'all, and stay tuned…we've got prizes every day this week with a special big surprise on Friday, and lots more Rachael!