The books keep coming!

First Kristi...now Shannon's new book is up on Amazon! Knitgrrl: Learn to Knit With 15 Fun And Funky Patterns. Rock on, Shannon!

Go pre-order Kristi's book!

Even if you don't have a dog, I bet you know someone who does. Knitting for Dogs : Irresistible Patterns for Your Favorite Pup -- and You!

Congrats, Kristi! I know it took a LOT of hard work and skill, plus a few miracles to make this book happen.

i know the nicest people

Look what came in the mail today! It's silk. From Mandy, my beloved technical editor. With all the stuff happening in her life, she thought I needed a little pick me up, and we all know nothing picks me up like SILK. So she sent me this HUGE skein in Knitty spring colors. Love that.

It's Handmaiden, aka Fleece Artist West, and it's a silk boucle, with a pattern for a simple, mindless-knit shawl -- see the pic. Exactly what my brain needs right now. I'm casting on tonight!

Thank you, Mandy. I'm all mushy now.

Disaster.

My online spam blocker is going out of business in June. Unbelievable.

Anyway, if you have a service to recommend, please leave me a note in the comments. I can't survive at the amy@ addy without it. I'd drown. Thanks!

How to shuffle Atwood

This is weird. I have an iPod, see, and am addicted to books on CD. First it was Harry Potter, books 4 and 5. Book 5 made me cranky for a whole month as I listened to it, but I had to finish it. Grr.

The latest is Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. But I'd been listening to heaven knows what the week before. So I select the book, hear the introductory music and start listening. It's clever, enigmatic and confusing, but as the chapters unfold, I start to get a picture of this world she's created. I tell hub how much I like the book so far.

This morning, I go to pick up where I've left off and am surprised to note that I haven't heard chapter 4. Each chapter is 4-6 minutes long and I listened for more than half an hour. This doesn't add up.

Then I realize: I'd left the iPod on shuffle. Which means I was hearing chapters OUT OF ORDER -- only from the first three discs, since that's all I'd imported to the iPod before the weekend. And I still liked the book.

Now that I'm listening in order again, it's making more sense and is easier to grasp. What does it say about me that I was enjoying a mixed-up Atwood? [i'm weird] What does it say about Atwood? [her writing is so good, it doesn't matter if you listen to it in order.]

Anyway, that's all. Just wanted to share. BTW, I've been near Ms Atwood twice. Both while shopping at Holt Renfrew [the posh Toronto department store]. As any good Canadian, I merely witnessed her walking by and said nothing. She has very fuzzy hair.

Something for Angela

Angela asked me, at the KW guild dealie, what blogs I read. Here you go, Angela.

And thanks to everyone who's voiced their support. I love you guys.

Have a good weekend, folks. It's been rather mental around here the last week. I can now concentrate on tomorrow's Knitter's Frolic and doing lots of work on the Big Girls book.

Preferably outside. It's supposed to be a gorgeous weekend.

What I will not tolerate

I will not tolerate rudeness and deliberate meanness.

Someone has been posting in the Knitty guestbook, waving about the US Constitution [give me a break] and her rights.

No one has the right to post a comment on Knitty's guestbook that is rude or hurftul. There are lots of ways to express an opinion, and if a poster chooses to do so in a way that is intentionally mean, buh-bye. And what gives you the right to claim freedom of expression on a website that is NOT YOUR PROPERTY? You want to be horrible to other people? Do it on your own blog. Keep it away from me and Knitty.

For those who missed the exchange, I have captured it here, removing only the sentence that is intentionally hurtful and the related URL. I have copies of the IP addresses and the full posts and can take further action if the poster doesn't learn how to behave in polite society.

Oh, and by the way -- my message contains no accusations. It was simply a statement of facts. If the poster feels accused, perhaps she should examine her own conscience.

Post 1:
name: Tigress
email:
url: http://
message: [sentence deleted] If this is an example of how the purchasers of this magazine is, I feel sorry for their self-images and goals.I'd rather be bulimic than let myself go like that.

Post 2:
name: Amy editor
email:
url: http://
message: Isn't that funny? Tigress has the same IP address as Diane -- djezewski@yahoo.com -- the poster from few pages back. What a wacky coincidence!


Post 3:
name: Diane
email:
url: http://
message: That wasn't me. In fact the author is on her way home and will be sending you a note from her computer within the next 1/2 hr. We have 4 computers here. I cannot be looking over everyones shoulder all the time and if someone wants to make a comment on your board he or she is allowed to under the first amendment rights. I was under the inpression as you said that personal attacks were not allowed however you are personally accusing me.

Post 4:
name: Tigress
email:
url: http://
message: I a was using my daughter's business computer..I am now posting from my own IP address. I have a right to express my own opinions under the U. S. Constitution. I am not yelling "fire in a crowded theater". As the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". I personally go not care to see any overweight models in ANY magazine, on t.v. shopping channels or elsewhere. If you do not like the fact that I am expressing how I feel and am not being "politically correct", I suggest you get over it.

Have you seen this coolness feature?

Web-obsessed me [convenient, since I edit a web-based magazine, eh?] found the customer image gallery feature of Amazon soon after Knit Wit was published. Of course, geeky me got all excited and uploaded a picture of the book standing up so people could see what it looked like.

Then I realized that people could upload pics of projects knit from the book as well...so I started us off. Little fuzzy rabbit face can now be seen as gallery item 2, proudly wearing the nosewarmer I knit.

Okay, not proudly. More like with deep resentment and annoyance. She is a rabbit, after all.

Anyway, if you've knit something from Knit Wit, show off your finished work and upload the pic to the gallery page! Nice of Amazon to spot us the bandwidth, eh? :-)

lookie what i just bought!

Scroll down to the pink, red and orange fingering-weight handpainted silk from Nonokitty. [Thanks to Zib for being my enabler!]

Two skeins on their way to me, mama. I am so excited! I went through my stash obsessively last weekend and found only one skein of silk suitable for lace [and I'm hoarding that one for the perfect project]. I have a skein of fine cotton, but realized I hate the color so I'll have to sell it or something. Nothing else I have is finer than DK, and it's all solid colors. All I want to knit lately is lace, so it's only fair that i get to ramp up the stash to fill in the holes.

This is just phase one.

What a night!

Okay, so I posted that I'd be speaking to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters' Guild
on the 12th. That was last night -- and here is a quick wrap up:

- I talk too fast. :-)
- I learned a lot for the next time I have to do this
- This guild has some seriously cool attributes, like an amazing location in a shiny new-looking community centre, and a really great, enthusiastic membership
- I saw my first finished Zigzag -- in saturated turquoise! Gorgeous.
- I got to see what Debbie New is working on, while it was still attached to the skein winder.

[insert sound of record needle being dragged across an unsuspecting 33rpm]

What? Debbie New? Yes. And Sally Melville. Both Canadian icons of knitting belong to this guild. And both were there last night. I didn't know this in advance, and that's probably good because I'd have been way too nervous to show up.

Instead, when Sally walked past me, I had a quiet but intense freak out witnessed only by Katherine WabiSabi [who is SO cute with short hair!] and guild exec Joy. They laughed as I tried to come to grips with having to speak to a group [my first since my quilt-guild executive days in the late 1990s] that included people I idolize.

I did calm down, though, and there was no fainting or swearing. There was hugging of said Canadian idols [snork], though. I hope the attendees had a good time. I sure did! [and I took lots of mental notes, so I'll be ready for the next time I do this -- May 20th in Mississauga!]

I need a nap now.

We got noticed again!

Thanks to Nina in the comments for the heads up -- we were mentioned today at Excite - Entertainment Buzz. Love that!

I'm off to Waterloo!

If you're in the Waterloo area, or happen to be a KW Knitter's Guild member, I hope I'll see you..I've been asked to speak at the guild meeting tomorrow night. Details:

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters' Guild
Waterloo Recreation Centre
Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo ON
April 12 @ 7:30 pm

Come and say hi at the break!

Did you see the contest announcement?

We're having another one, and if you have a camera that doesn't suck -- or can borrow one -- and you've ever knitted anything from a Knitty pattern that LOOKS like the Knitty pattern when you're done, you can enter!

Details here.

Wahoo!

Spring Knitty is here

Please enjoy!

We're going to lie down now with a cold compress on our heads.
:-)

this. week.

Spring arrives at Knitty THIS WEEK.