a brush with greatness, without pissing it off

this afternoon, following my pre-tv-appearance manicure [my hands now look like martha stewart's], i was walking along queen east and noticed two gentlemen in front of me.

one of them was wearing a fur hat [like the trappers wear]. it was mike myers. the other was a mike-myers-lookalike with shocking grey hair. i'd bet it was his brother. they both smiled a lot.

the two of them went into the lcbo store [liquor shop, for you non canucks] and bought....a bottle of good scotch in a box. there was much deliberation over which one to choose. i suspect it was a gift.

i said nothing to him, though i adore the man. i did, however, call hub from the back of the shop to ask what wine i should buy for a friend and might have mentioned it. in a whisper.

we're canadian. we have a non-confrontational reputation to uphold.

more pssst

Monday, Dec 20 @ 9:20am Toronto time...me on the radio. They've got a webcast.

Eee!

Pssssst.

Jillian and I seem to have been picked first for dodgeball. Awaiting paperwork. Very cool.

Need a signed copy of Knit Wit?

Well, shucks! I can help you with that. People asked, so I ordered a few [it was kinda fun to call up HarperCollins and order my own book :-)].

Just click here to read the details on the book blog.

Discontinued yarns

You know. It happens. And we're aware now that two of our winter patterns use discontinued yarns.

Ann at Elann.com has alternates for you, and she's been kind enough to put one of them up on the Sneak Peek page on her site.

To replace the elusive Geisha for the Candy sweater, she suggests the Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Kid Mohair, which will be available at Elann starting Wednesday, December 15th.

For the Austerman Acapella, she and Libby Baker [the designer of Belle Epoque] think their Pure Alpaca will work well. It will be restocked in January, sez Ann.

I'd written Ann to see if she could restock either yarn, but since that's not possible, at least we have alternates!

God loves Adam Sandler

And so do i.

Put on your yarmulke,
Here comes Chanukah!
So much fun-ukah
To celebrate Chanukah!
Chanukah is
The festival of lights;
Instead of one day of presents,
We have eight crazy nights!
But when you feel like the only kid in town
Without a Christmas tree,
Here's a list of people who are Jewish -
Just like you and me! ...
David Lee Roth
Lights the menorah.
So do Kirk Douglas, James Caan,
And the late Dinah Shore-a!
Guess who eats together
At the Carnegie Deli?
Bowser from "Sha Na Na"
And Arthur Fonzarelli! ...
Paul Newman's half Jewish
And Goldie Hawn's half, too;
Put them together -
What a fine-looking Jew! ...
You don't need "Deck the Halls"
Or "Jingle Bell Rock"
'Cause you can spin a dreidel
With Captain Kirk and Mister Spock
(Both Jewish!)
Put on your yarmulke,
Here comes Chanukah.
The owner of the Seattle Supersonic-a
Celebrates Chanukah.
O. J. Simpson ----
Not a Jew! ...
But guess who is?
Hall of Famer Rod Carew!
(He - he converted. Ahem.)
We got Ann Landers
And her sister, Dear Abby;
Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish -
Not too shabby! ...
Some people think
That Ebeneezer Scrooge is.
Well, he's not, but guess who is?
All three Stooges! ...
So many Jews are in
Show biz.
Tom Cruise isn't
But I think his agent is! ...
Tell your friend Veronica
It's time to celebrate Chanukah;
I hope I get a harmonica
On this lovely, lovely Chanukah;
So drink your gin and tonic-a
But don't smoke marijuana-kah;
If you really, really wanna-kah,
Have a happy, happy, happy, happy Chanukah!

-- theChanukah song, Adam Sandler

So once again, we're live

Our 10th issue. Why does this continue to amaze me? Yet it does.

The buzz I'm hearing already is that there seems to be something that's delighting everyone in this issue, which is always what I hope for. Wait till you see the two surprises! (but you will have to wait... :-)

To answer a few questions in the guestbook:

1. The ads are the same size they've been since we started accepting ads last winter. There are just more of them. That means I was able to, again with this issue, increase the honorarium Knitty pays contributors. Which is the whole point of the thing. :-)

And besides, I read most craft magazines for the ads as much as the content, because I love to see what people are offering and find new sources for my stash acquisition needs. I know I'm not alone. This issue has a whole bunch of advertisers I've never shopped from before -- some I'd never heard of. Covet Central is an overflowing catalog of knitting goodness! So I'll be clicking all the ads along with the rest of you. Heaven help my credit card.

2. Why a knitted womb? Because...
(a) it's cute
(b) we can
(c) it's really freaking cute, and who would have ever thought you could knit a CUTE WOMB?

This issue, I was, to use the lovely Canadian/British cliche, spoiled for choice. I had so, so, so many patterns to choose from and it was buggery hard to narrow it down. I'm honored that so many talented, creative designers choose to submit to Knitty and hope every issue in the future is as hard to edit as this one.

And now I get to focus on a few other necessary but temporarily ignored things. Like my housekeeping. Holiday gifts [yes, I'm knitting for my family this year. I'm insane. I know]. Upgrades and improvements to the Knitty processes and systems. Accounting. Missed writing deadlines.

Eek. Maybe I'll think about all of this tomorrow. Except the deadline. I'd better get on that NOW before I get the evil eye from my editor!

A quick note about how we produce the magazine

I thought a quick note about how Knitty is produced was in order, especially since people seem curious about who actually does what around here.

Mandy Moore: she's our technical editor. She reviews each and every pattern, applies any missing Knitty style formatting to the word document, clarifies any confusing stuff with the designer and makes sure the numbers work. I loves my Mandy.

Kristi Porter: she's our advertising manager, and she makes sure we fill our ad space so we can pay our contributors. She keeps the entire system organized, which includes a lot of back-and-forth e-mail, excel spreadsheets and collecting and designing ads. I loves my Kristi.

Me: I'm the editor and publisher. I evaluate and choose every pattern and article that is published; I design the entire website, including a new banner and color scheme each issue; I edit, format and code every pattern and article page; I choose [and Photoshop as required] the images that go with each pattern. Plus writing, publicity, managerial questions, bank stuff, legal issues. All that.

Now you see why I loves my Mandy and Kristi so much. Without their help, I couldn't do all that I have to.

And now, back to work. December 6, you know.

p.s. I e-mailed the 25 lucky winners of the Knitty readers contest last night. Names to be announced in the new issue! Woo hoo!

Because I know you want to know...

December 6. Monday. :-)