It’ll be all right. Hell, it might even be downright wonderful.

I’ve been toying around with ideas for a book since… well, honestly since Big Girl Knits came out last spring. Our friend (and Jillian’s and Amy’s), Shannon Okey, was in the store for the book release party and mentioned that I should write a book of men’s patterns. I wrote it off at the time, but a few days later, I had a moment of free time and started rolling some ideas around in my head. Within twenty-four hours, Shannon and I had exchanged a barrage of e-mails, and the ball was ready to roll. Then, reality struck.

In case you’ve not noticed, I have this little thing called ThreadBear that takes up a moment or two of my time. I did spend several weeks pouring over sketches and swatches, but for the most part, that dried up as autumn business started picking up. Don’t quote me, but I think that for us, that was in June. My dearly departed Granny would warn me that I shouldn’t look a gift-horse in the mouth, and I’d have to agree. I truly am grateful that our business has done well as so many others have seen numbers drop. That said, I’ve also not had a ton of time on my hands to work on the book.

DC Comics' Mr. MxyzptlkThen, enter Rob. Now, it’s no great secret that we don’t often see eye-to-eye. He’s a textbook Scorpio, and as the name of this blog attests, I truly am a screaming Aries. Polite and long-view focused astrologers will tell you that this is a volatile combination, full of dynamicism and creative energy. Less visionary ones will simply quickly and quietly pack up their charts and move to the nearest exit. It’s not that we aren’t a good match, we’re just… different. And not just opposite. Opposite would suggest that we’re working within the same paradigm. Uh, no. We’re on different planes of existence. Occasionally, when he asks me a question, I expect to see Mr. Mxyzptlk pop into the corner of the room and smile mischievously.

Having said that, our skewed perspectives give us a unique opportunity to brainstorm with a partner and colleague who—by definition—is going to see the issue with a starkly different set of parameters. And we do occasionally find ways of simply delighting each other that defy definition. The most recent way is this: he came to me yesterday to suggest that I start taking Mondays to work on the book. Not my one day off a week. That would be Tuesday. And this isn’t a day off. It’s a day for me to dedicate entirely to swatching, calculations, writing, knitting, ripping, knitting again… It’s a full-fledged design and writing day!

There are moments when I absolutely want to give this man a trophy. Who comes up with ideas like this? Ninety percent—maybe more—of the people with whom we interact on a daily basis are going to ask me what monumental bargain I’ve struck to afford this boon. The simple truth is that I don’t have any idea. I suppose I just have a wonderful partner. As I’ve said, we rarely see things eye-to-eye, and he’ll likely disagree with even this assessment. But when push comes to shove, that’s the truth of it.

Happy Valentine’s Day to me. 😉

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