The Books Arrived!

I got the package in the mail, and opened it to find this.....

10 copies of my first book, Chris Knits. There are 15 patterns with photos and complete knitting instructions in a small softcover glossy book... I feel the impulse to have a book launching wine and cheese party! Seriously, it is SO easy to use Blurb.com and create one of your own, and I have been imagining so many fun examples of how this service could be used. Very pleased with the service, communications and even the delivery tracking on the website, that informed me the box was leaving the USA, had arrived in Canada and was in customs... nice details.

Write your own book....

I came across this amazing website.... http://www.blurb.com/ .... that allows you to create your own book... about anything, any size, with photos and text, whatever you would like, and print a copy to be mailed to you! It's really worth a look. You can see what other folks have come up with, and you can download the book making software and fiddle with it. It is very easy.

So of course I thought, how nice would it be to place some of my patterns in a bound book? They already look kind of cool on the website, all professional and shiny and beautiful, and I have really enjoyed seeing the patterns together here on this medium, but a real book? It was irresistable. So I downloaded the software and plunged right in. The fact that the patterns were already digitally stored allowed me to cut and paste and then move them around and insert photos all over the pages. It was an addictive process. I decided to make it like my favourite knitting magazines, where they have all the pattern photos, with short descriptions and pattern page references further along in the book. So the end result is 15 original Chris Knits patterns, followed by full pattern instructions and step by step photos when useful. A 58 page soft cover book, in colour with beautiful photos, and instructions. You can preview the end result HERE, and can even order your own copy if you are so inclined.


This photo shows the computer as you are deciding the page layout and editing the text and photos. You can easily do and redo the layout until you really like it, and in the end, you upload the whole lot back to Blurb and create your book page there and order a copy to print (or several)... it will take 2 - 4 weeks to get the books, and I will let you know how nice they turn out when they arrive.....