Moving on up to the east side. Woo hoo!

People. It is my last real day of day-job life, and I feel behooooooved to make ceremony of it.

Here, take this wee MIDI file and play it as you read the rest of this post...to set the mood.

Picture me with my Oxford English dictionary -- paperback -- balanced carefully on my head. An awkward tassel hangs from the well-thumbed book. The tassel is made from a collection of red pens and whiteout and dangles in front of one eye. I scan the final day's work carefully for errors, mark those I notice [and pray that any I miss go unnoticed by others] and then sign my name. Close out my time sheet, move my tassel to cover the other eye, pack my things and leave. [Yes, that was a little tribute to Tyra.]

But unlike Jade and those who went before her, I have not been forcibly ejected. And it feels goooooood. I'm moving on up to the east side of this sometimes-fair city, where hub and I live [and where our bunnies are now less prone to eating the house, because Kimberly suggested we rub the baseboards with ivory soap. BLESS you, Kimberly].

My tiny home office currently looks like someone grabbed the room, threw in yarn and color cards and pattern books and shook it with great gusto. Snow globe gone horribly wrong. But that's okay. I'll make it all work. Soon there will be tidiness and order. When I'm done, I might even light a vanilla tealight and just sit in the middle of the clean, clear space for a while.

If you read this blog, you are a big part of the reason this is happening. Without your support of Knitty magazine -- reading it, knitting from it, giving us enthusiastic feedback and sharing it with other knitters -- I'd still be chained to a 10-foot stack of Visa cardholder agreements, proofreading my life away.

With hugs and sincere gratitude: thank you.

Dear Kiddo [daughter of Zib],

I hear you visited the blog and were hoping to see the bunnies. Well, no pictures just yet, because I'm very busy making the magazine that your mom and her friends are so fond of, and that takes a lot of time.

But I do have some good bunny news for you: we took them to the doctor yesterday to see how they were doing overall -- they hadn't been checked since they'd had their special surgery last January. The doctor reported that Squeeze is still 1.8 lbs lighter than Boeing*, who weighs SEVEN pounds. She's not fat, she's big boned, really. She's supposed to be a Mini Rex, and they usually weigh 4 pounds. But Boeing just kept on growing, and so she's a lot longer and bigger and heavier than any Mini Rex I've ever seen. Her paws are HUGE! Anyway, they're both very good, with healthy teeth and digestive systems and good strong poopers [knock wood] .

There will be bunny pictures for you, dear Kiddo, next week, once I don't have to go this office any more. But first, I have to finish Knitty magazine, or your mom and her friends will poke me with their knitting needles.

Love,
Amy

p.s. if you and your mom got on a plane and came to my big Leap party -- which happens a week from today -- you could visit the bunnies in person and rub their little fuzzy heads. They would like that.

*Boeing and Squeeze are sisters, from the same litter. That's all I'm saying. Genetics freak me out. :-)

Threee is a magic number

Yes it is. It's a magic number. [How much do i <3 YouTube?]

Also, please come to my party.

That is all.

Throwing myself a parrrrrrrrrrrtay!

Next Wednesday, July 5, at Lettuce Knit -- I've gotten owner-Megan's permission to hijack the weekly sNb and co-celebrate the leap to full-time Knitty!

[A very wise woman recently did this same thing to celebrate her birthday & book and I hope she doesn't mind me being a copycat.]

Deets!

Date: Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Time: 7pm until they kick us out
Place: Lettuce Knit, 66 1/2 Nassau Street in Kensington Market

I do have some great door prizes planned. A copy of Big Girl Knits, some shweet yarn...and you'll have to come to see what else. The new 1" Knitty buttons should be here by then, and I love passing them out to everyone! There will be munchies and beverages. And at least one can o Strongbow for Ms Denny, because she won't come otherwise.

Everyone is welcome. Help me celebrate! I hope to see you there!

the last week [woo!]

It might get quiet around here for the next few days. I'm training the new girl at the day job. Any free time will be spent making more Knitty. Watch for it the first week of July.

See you soon!

5! [Jillian does it again!]

Today's theme song.



Five is:

The number of oceans in the world.

The five senses are sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste.

The five basic tastes are sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.

Most roses have five petals.

Pentameter is verse with five repeating feet per line; iambic pentameter was the most popular form in Shakespeare.

In the United States legal system, the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution can be referred to in court as "pleading the fifth", absolving the defendant from self-incrimination

The note in the English monetary system that features Elizabeth Fry. (£5 Note)

The smallest Euro banknote. It shows an antique bridge.

The number of cents in a nickel. The U.S. nickel bears a portrait of Thomas Jefferson. The Canadian nickel has a beaver on its reverse.

The designation of an Interstate Highway that runs from San Diego, California to Blaine, Washington.

The number of permanent members with veto power on the UN Security Council.

The number necessary to make a majority decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Five babies born at one time are quintuplets. The most famous set of quintuplets were the Dionne Quintuplets born in the 1930s.

In Astrology, Leo is the 5th astrological sign of the Zodiac.

Quintessence, meaning 'fifth element', refers to the elusive fifth element that completes the basic four elements (water, fire, air and earth). There is also a movie called The Fifth Element.

The number of dots in a quincunx.

The number of points in a pentagram.

The Garden of Cyrus 1658 by Sir Thomas Browne is a Pythagorean Discourse based upon the number 5.

The word "punch" comes from the Hindustani for five. Being true to the designation of punch, the drink Five Alive is named for its five ingredients.

The holy number of Discordianism, as dictated by the Law of Fives.

A popular Internet catch phrase commonly used on forums such as Something Awful. Posts are given a rating out of five. Posts which receive an average rating of five are referred to as 'top posts' or 'comedy gold'.

There are 5 digits in a United States zip code

six!

Because reformatting J's amazing countdown takes more time than I have today, I give you this instead: Bunny Mandala.

Except for the bunny doing what he's doing because he can [ahem], I'm in love with this thing. It's currently the wallpaper on my day job computer. Won't the new girl love THAT?

These are just WAY too good to waste

My daily countdown gift from Jillian...too good not to share with all of you. [Also, I've just come back from two fillings at the dentist and am not feeling very witty. Lucky for me, J is witty enough for all of us.]

Today's number: Seven!

Seven is also:
-The largest number of sticks (or other cylindrical objects) that can be tied into a bundle such that the shape of the bundle remains fixed. This may have led to the number being viewed with mystical significance by ancient man.
- The number of openings into the human head (mouth, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils).
- The number of spheres in the Ptolemaic system
- In Astrology, Libra is the 7th astrological sign of the Zodiac.
- The traditional number of Wonders of the Ancient World.
- Viewed as a lucky number in many Western cultures, and in Japanese culture.
- The number of days in a week. Whether Saturday or Sunday is the seventh day varies across cultures.
- The number of the ages of man into which William Shakespeare divided a lifetime
- The figurative number of seas
- The number of colors of the rainbow (the asteroid 7 Iris is named after the rainbow goddess Iris)
- The number of basic principles of the bushido
- The number of points on a sheriff's star
- The average number of digits that can be stored in short-term memory<
- In Galician folklore, a seventh son will be a werewolf. In other folklores, after six daughters, the seventh child is to be a son and a werewolf. In other European folklores, the seventh son of a seventh son will be a vampire.
- When rolling two standard six-sided dice, seven is the number most likely to occur.
- Seven is the sum of any two opposite sides on a standard six-sided die
- The number of dwarves in the movie Snow White
- The number of rings given to the Dwarf Lords in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
- The Heptarchy, from the (Greek for seven realm, is the name applied by historians to the period (500-850 AD) in English history after the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England, derived from the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex, which eventually merged to become the Kingdom of England during the early 10th century.
- September was the seventh month in the ancient Roman calendar, as its name indicates. After the reform that led to the current order, the seventh month is July.
- Septidi was the seventh day of the decade in the French Revolutionary Calendar
- The traditional count of Basque provinces as expressed in the slogan Zazpiak Bat
- The Seven Sages of Greece: Solon, Chilon, Thales, Bias, Cleobulus, Pittacus and Periander.
- Cibola was the legendary Seven Cities of Gold the Spanish thought existed.

Also see:
lusty, mirthful, girl-stealing musical...."

Looking for the groove

As Jillian reminds me, 8 days left after today. :-) Counting down is fun!

---

Meanwhile, knowing that Knitty production and book writing will soon take up the majority of my "workday", so to speak, means that my evening/weekend hours will be a little more available for fun and amusement than they have been for the past 4 years. By amusement, i mean knitting, of course.

There are stalled projects all over the tiny house we live in. I would like to resurrect them.

1. The cable/lace Trinity cardigan which stalled out last year when I think I found a big problem with the pattern adaptation. I've been steered to a local who's a whiz with a calculator and will BEG assistance.

2. My Frog Tree pullover...back finished and front stalled out because I got to the neck/armhole spot, and my brain hasn't been still enough [for a long time] to do something that requires concentration. I have the pattern and I can pick it up...just as soon as I can stay focused enough to find my row counters and actually pay attention

3. The Suss Twisted pullover, never begun. Swatched, but that's all. Pattern is in hand and I can move forward, just as soon as....[see end of point 2]

So all I'm knitting lately are socks. Even changing sock yarn is too much for my overloaded brain. I'm stuck with Fixation until I have time to calmly sit, calculate gauge and make my Sock Candy work for me.

You'll know I'm in a more peaceful place when the knitting starts to show up on the blog again. Soon.

We're not there yet...please help!

Thanks so much to everyone who's sent in a donation so far for the Run for the Cure. We're just short of $4000, and I know we can get way past that. Our goal this year is $10,000...help us get there!

Please, won't you click here and give what you can? Knitters are a powerful force when united, and what better excuse to pull out your credit card than to fight breast cancer?

Thank you for your help.

because it's Friday

At Stephanie's birthday party on Wednesday, the subject of my leap came up, and it occurred to me that I might gain a whole new market for the magazine if I were to produce Knitty entirely naked.

Not the magazine; me.

<-- I decided it would look a lot like this. Consequently, I will not be moving forward with this approach.

[My apologies to Terry Jones. I don't believe he ever intended his backside to be misused like this.]

are you coming tonight?

It's an Emancipation Celebration!
[It's also the usual Toronto Drunken Knitters' Night at the Spotted Dick, but I'm kinda hijacking it a little to celebrate the leap thingy.]

Come! Knit! Eat! Drink! We start at 5:30 and go until we can't take it anymore.

Wear your party pants!

The Spotted Dick
(416) 929-3425
81 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON

p.s. Aleta [aka batgirl] is mailing a big package to the Dulaan project and wants us all to bring our hats/scarves/etc tonight if they're ready to add to her box. How nice is that? Thanks, Aleta!

I'm very sorry for what follows

But when someone nice like Yvonne posts a tutorial on how to order from Amazon.jp [hint: think japanese knitting and craft books], it would be cruel of me not to share it with all of you. They call me the Enabler for good reason.

I've ordered from Amazon.jp twice, just as Yvette shows. And it works, and you get GREAT books that you can't find elsewhere. But it takes a real clever search and a lot of clicking to find what you think you want. You won't really know till it arrives at your house and you actually get to read it.

Plotzing.

Oh, I brought a camera to TNNA with me. A little one, and I always had it nearby. Did I use it? No. But another very clever girl did, while managing to stay within show rules [no pics on the show floor, but I think you're allowed to snap at the booth of your own publisher], and you can see the results here at Ann & Kay's blog. Scroll down.

Ann put sparkly lines and hearts around my head. That makes me so warmfuzzy I can't even express it in words.

Seeing Ann and Kay again was one of the big happinesses of the show for me. I was easy to spot on the 2nd day, wearing my bright-pink I'm-copying-Kay jacket. I made Kay giggle.

Meanwhile, last night was spent celebrating the Harlot's birthday at Lettuce Knit. It's never a hardship to celebrate anything with Stephanie, and this time was no exception. Food and beverage was abundant, as was yarn at [an impromptu sale] 20% off. Yes, I brought home sea silk. You blame me? Two last skeins for the road, so to speak. I can't even describe the colorway. It's just that gorgeous.

In fact, while I was inside choosing my colors, with Denny waving both skeins about wildly, quoting E. Zimmermann regarding color-matching skeins and something about being on a horse, it was raining outside. I missed that. But when I came back out into the cool evening, there was a double rainbow in the sky. A double rainbow. Rainbow enough for all of us. I'm big on the good omens.

And a final thing, mostly for Jen. Transit in this city can be handy, but sometimes you're three transfers away from where you want to be. Last night, we got on the College car to head east even though most of us live closer to Queen, and within a few blocks, he went out of service. Changed his sign to Neville Park [wait -- that's along Queen, where we wanted to go in the first place!], fiddled with the track in the road and headed south. Dang! We could have stayed on the car and gotten way closer to home, no transfers. But he was already half a block away.

Then the power cable somehow disconnected itself, and the driver had to come out to re-engage it, giving us time to catch up and cruise in an empty car down McCaul and over to Queen and all the way home. A chauffeur-driven streetcar.

Like I say, rainbow enough for all of us.

i'm all wow.

Thank you all so much for the big verbal hugs and happiness and good wishes. I hug you all back!

It's been a very strange 24 hours. I'm trying to absorb what all this means and imagine what my life will be like. Mostly, I'm anxious to get going already. But the thing about giving a lot of notice [cause the day job is with a small company, and I wanted to give them time to find someone to sit in my chair before I dash out the door] is that there's a bit longer to wait till all the newness can start.

Summary:
- excited
- nervous
- eager
- hyper
- ready to go!

Tonight, off to Lettuce Knit to celebrate Stephanie's third book AND birthday [not her third birthday. Wouldn't that be interesting? An author at age 3? If anyone could have done it, it's our Steph.] after a last insured visit to my dentist. I need me some cake.

Leap!

Today is a big day for me. I just gave notice at my day job. As of 4:30pm, Friday, June 30, I will be a full-time Knitty editor and knitting book author.

Scared? You bet. Excited? Even more than you can imagine. When I started Knitty in the summer of 2002, it was the biggest "let's put on a show!" project I've ever done. I was surrounded by friends and associates with talent and energy. Thankfully, I possessed the skills and experience I needed to program, design, write and edit the thing, I knew I could do it at least once. But then the first issue came out, and I wanted to do it again. By the third issue, I realized editing Knitty was my dream job, but doing it full time was something I could only dream about. Somewhere around the middle of last year, it became a more-focused dream for me. And now it's happening.

This means a lot of great things. I'll have time to rework parts of the Knitty interface that I've wanted to tweak for years [hint: archive]. Add features, do all the good stuff that's been percolating in my [and Jillian's] head[s] for years. And more time to spend on what I love doing best. No Sheep, of course. Big Girl Knits 2 [just signed with Potter Craft]. More travel for Knitty. Rhinebeck again!

Hub and I are not sure how much macaroni-three-meals-a-day is in our future, but we think it's all worth it. He's as excited as I am, and I'm grateful to have his amazing computer skills available to me and Knitty, cause we are so going to use them.

This is the beginning of the biggest adventure of my life. My hiking boots are tied, I'm wearing blister-free socks [though there are never any guarantees with those socks, you know] and I'm fully caffeinated. Time to head out.

This Friday at the Spotted Dick on Bloor St [across from The Bay] at 5:30 -- the monthly Toronto Drunken Knitters' Night -- come celebrate with me!

what a crazy 2 days!

friday:
- leave day job early
- catch plane to detroit
- meet Jillian [<3] in baggage claim, personally deliver her birthday presents, hug and brainstorm for an hour
- back through security and off to indy
- in bed by 11:30pm

saturday:
- up at 7
- breakfast with em, nathania and lauren
- walk the floor
- shake hands? are you kidding? HUGS! it's like a reunion! so cool!
- signing for Big Girl Knits at the Potter booth, without Jillian [:-(], but despite her absence, it goes well. It's always fun when the big boss at your publishing company is the one that opens the books to the signing page for you.
- met Stef, aforementioned amazon
- more hugs
- more floor walking
- rinse and repeat
- dinner at shapiro's with two cool yarn company honchos. more food than can be eaten by the three of us. when you order corned beef and cabbage there, you get HALF A HEAD OF CABBAGE and 2 lbs of corned beef. seriously. and they were out of hoosier mud pie. dammit.
- bed

sunday:
- breakfast with shannon
- more floor walking, flesh pressing and lots of hugging
- cupcakes at Interweave to celebrate the new Knitscene
- dashing out the door with clara to make our 5pm[ish] planes
- bed

I met a lot of amazing people again this time. Added to my life list:
- Lucy Neatby
- Leigh Radford
- Kristin Nicholas [have you seen her blog?]
- Norah Gaughan
- Melanie Falick
- Trisha Malcolm [who actually wore her "i <3 knitty" button -- and I put on an "as seen in Vogue Knitting" button to reciprocate]

I believe it was at the moment she put the Knitty button on that my brain exploded.

Saw very little of Indy itself. So many people to meet, talk to, learn from. But mostly, mission accomplished and I'm officially pencilling in all future TNNA shows from now on.

This one's for Jillian, Andy and Boo

Click.

wow.

unbelievable.
what an amazing 2 days.
brain spinning. great stuff, amazing connections, i LOVE the people i get to work with in this field.

more later. now? bed.

[p.s. stefanie japel is a TALL hottie. like nearly 6 feet. she is my favorite amazon.]

Off on a big knitful adventure!

I'm off to Indy today. Never been to Indy. But the reason to go isn't really the Hoosier Mud Pie that I've got scheduled for Saturday night. It's all about the big knitting [and other needlearts] tradeshow. This is the one for fall, where shops choose the stuff they'll carry, and where everyone in the industry meets, greets, hugs, shakes hands, signs books and doesn't buy anything.

Seriously. A huge convention center full of the coolest knitting stuff you'll ever see and you're not allowed to purchase anything. [Place big orders for your store, sure. But you can't buy one of these or two of those and take 'em with you.] Doesn't matter a bit. It's the most amazing experience. This will be my third time. Can not wait.

Hope to see you there! If you see me booting around the hallway and I'm not looking in your direction [or we haven't met yet], stop me and say hi! I've got new 1" Knitty buttons to give out this time. :-)

your generosity!

You guys are amazing. Less than 24 hours after I sent the call out, we're already at $2609. Please...keep it coming! We're a powerful group, and if everyone who reads Knitty sent in just one dollar...we could do something really amazing. Even more wouldn't hurt :-) but seriously...a dollar from everyone would be a mighty powerful contribution.

Just click here to make your donation, in whatever amount you can. Thank you for your support!

Team Knitty rides again

Last year, Team Knitty continued our tradition of fundraising to help fight breast cancer...we raised more than $6100, thanks to contributions from our readers and friends.

It's time to do it again! The walk takes place October 1, 2006, in Toronto and there will be at least 10 of us fundraising and walking/running to do what we can to help!

How can you help? Simple. Visit this page and make whatever donation you can. You're donating in Canadian dollars, so US residents...your money goes even further! Canadian residents will get a tax receipt by e-mail -- just request it when you fill out the donation form.

The donation page is on the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's own secure server and they accept credit card payments. [Sorry, no Paypal. Last year I set it up and we got a lot of single-dollar donations that Paypal took a HUGE chunk out of. It's just not right. I'd rather the money get donated to the charity, not to Paypal. :-)]

If you hate credit cards and really want to donate, here's a suggestion: send a check/cheque, payable to "Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation" to this address:
Knitty
2255b Queen St E
Box 527
Toronto, ON
M4E 1G3

I'll take all the checks/cheques that come in and make sure they get directly deposited to the charity at CIBC [that's the designated bank for this event]. No fees to third parties and all your money goes directly to the charity.

Let's hope this year is the last year we have to do this...please be generous!

Thank you for your support.
Amy & Team Knitty

Creative women who share

Especially grateful to have Alicia's blog on my Bloglines -- Alicia's the one with the amazing studio that I wrote about recently.

Today she writes about the Balancing Act that's required when your crafty love becomes the way you earn your living. I'm so grateful to her and some of the other creative women who are sharing their challenges and triumphs as they work to build their businesses and still like what they do every day.

more TNNA news, and stuff

If you're going to be at TNNA, stop by the Potter Craft booth [home of our beloved Big Girl Knits publisher] at 12 noon on Saturday -- I'll be signing copies of Big Girl Knits! Hope to see you there!

[I'm excited, too! Going to booksignings are just about the best part of TNNA for me! Actually signing books...that's just icing on the cupcake.]

---

So last week was all about stinky hacker kids and HTTP PUT commands. Thankfully my webhost put a stop to it this weekend, after my beloved hub diagnosed how they were getting in by carefully reading the Knitty server logs. I am lucky to have such a geeky and patient hub, I know.

In No Sheep news, reaction to the projects that are arriving at the Interweave Press offices is really, really positive. My editor loves the stuff, which is really cool, cause my editor is Ann Budd. How often does one get to say that?

In other Knitty news, I've got some new doohickeys to get installed and tested before summer goes live. Been getting ready for the Knitty part of TNNA this weekend [stuff to handout, and WHAT TO WEAR?].

In rabbit news, Squeeze is obsessed with eating our baseboards. I'm not pleased.

Lots to do. Gotta go!