Kiss My Knits!

The Arizona Republic’s gift guide is out, and I don’t see the Jayne hat. It could be that they ran out of space, or it wasn’t mainstream enough, or that it’s just in the print version but not the online one. I’ve put out a call for some Arizona Browncoats to take a peek at the physical newspaper and see if it’s there.

That’s disappointing, but it’s not as if I could have handled extra Christmas business. On the up side, everyone whom I’ve promised a hat to by Christmas has either gotten or is going to get their hat in the next few days, so that’s some pressure off. Now on to the people whom I told, “you *might* get it by Christmas, but I can’t promise it.”

Rented and saw The 40 Year Old Virgin last night. It was the unrated version, and holy moly, if I put a nickel in the swear jar every time someone cursed, then by the time the movie was over I would have had enough to actually purchase the DVD. Steve Carrell was brilliant as always. Fun movie, we enjoyed it. And speaking as a woman who has waxed, I enjoyed my husband’s astonishment at watching Steve get his chest waxed. Yeah, see? Not so easy, is it, mister!

Winter weather today, icicles on the car and ickiness all around. I won’t be going anywhere this morning if I can help it. I’m enjoying knitting, though, and also putting lots of juicy rumors and visions in to DR. If ever there were a time to be using those systems, it’s now, with all the events going on. With all the ice, let’s hope the power holds out.

Today I think I’ll make hot cocoa and have a Tim Tam Slam through my lone remaining Tim Tam. Godspeed, little camper!

Next up, get a sitter to come over so we can go see King Kong!

ETA: It’s in the print version! A customer has offered to mail me a copy! Woo hoo!

In honor of the season, I made a new little icon. Badly photoshopped Santa hat on rugged and manly Jayne mug! Whee!

I just got an e-mail from an editor at The Arizona Republic. She was asking for a higher-res copy of the Jayne hat photo. Apparently I’m going to be in their gift guide for this year on Dec. 15th.

How the hell did all this happen?

I guess it’s true – you really can’t stop the signal.

Permit me to sing the praises of two fine people/organizations.

The first is . She’s an excellent graphic designer with lots of business and personal experience. She produces practical, elegant designs. Not just web art, either, but in dyeing clothes and yarn, as well as a myriad of other crafty talents. If you want something made beautiful, she’s the beauty queen to go to.

The second is Readystamps.com. They do very professional work, but they’re also a friend to the quirkier among us – look at this portion of their site for details on nifty stuff they can do. They are a division of the United Cerebral Palsy Association in San Diego, and they made some rubber stamps for me. Their responses were timely, their price was good, their customer service was excellent, and most importantly, the stamps look amazing!

I sent them a sheet of ‘s and my designs, and got back a matching rubber sheet.

I’ve cut the stamps apart and mounted them, and they print very cleanly.

This will be some nice value added on the outside of the box for my Jayne hat customers!

Another neat feature is that if you ask them to, Readystamps.com will send you the photo negative used to create the stamps, as well as the molds and other assorted production bits. These are things that you can use to create silkscreens or polymer clay imprints of your designs. I have zero time to do these things, but I’m psyched to have the opportunity. 🙂

A big, big thank you to for her faboo design work. This is so exciting! I’m lucky to have people around me who can do such nifty things. I’m working to learn the little tricks for making these stamps look even better. And I’m enjoying picturing my recipients’ faces when the EXTRA cunning box arrives on each doorstep!

My Secret Pal sent one more package, which was very sweet of her. This one contained black cherry and CARAMEL TimTams, as well as a very nice assortment of handmade earrings. I’m wearing the black ones with silver hooks right now.

Thank you, Secret Pal! As always, you rock!

P.S. – it’s because of you that I’m being extra super special nice to my Aussie Jayne hat customer, after he inadvertently FELTED his hat while trying to get it to shrink. So see, you’re like an ambassador to the Northern hemisphere!

Including the original Browncoat.

That’s just… wow. Just… wow.

Jayne’s mom called me on the phone on Friday.

She was a little old lady who had never heard of Firefly or Serenity, but she saw a picture of the hat in the newspaper and thought it would be just darling for her grandson. She wanted to order a kit so she could make one for him. We talked for a while, and she said she thought she’d rather do it in blues and purples…

… which I happen to have on hand, so that works right out.

I gave her a discount because she’s in town and I wouldn’t have to ship. It turns out I’ll be shipping anyway, but I don’t mind. I’m also going to size the pattern down for her, because her grandson is still a child.

I swear, it was just like talking to Jayne’s mom. She just wanted something fun and nice to keep her baby warm in space.

Well, the “in space” part might have been implied.

I just heard from one of my Jayne hat customers. She says she got her hat back in September, loves it, wears it every day, and proudly wore it to Harry Potter last night. She got up and left the theater for a moment, forgetting that her hat was on her lap, and it dumped off. When it was time to leave the theater for good, she realized it was gone. Nowhere to be found.

Someone stole it.

STOLE IT!

Who the hell steals a Jayne hat? That’s like the WORST karma you can get! I hope they’re happy in that hat, with the spirit of Jayne’s mother lurking over them. Better still, the spirit of Jayne – you just know he’s hopin’ to get an ear.

I’m cross-posting this to and . And then I’m going to be listening very, very closely for the sound of Vera being locked and loaded somewhere north of the U.S. border. Canadian Jayne hat thief, beware…

The article about me knitting cunning Jayne hats and other stuff for sale is live. Looks like this is as far as you can go before they make you register. So I’ve scanned it below, and I also have a copy of the whole page as a very nice, very clear pdf.

The Style page PDF.

Somebody’s reading it, because it’s not 8am yet and I’m getting Jayne hat inquiries from Charlotte. Tarheel Browncoats, unite!

Friday, my little blurb/interview appears in the Charlotte Observer.

Thanks to my superb super-secret inside connections, I have a copy of the interview in front of me. It’s on newsprint, exactly as it’s going to appear in the paper. In the picture accompanying the interview, I am wearing two hats (one Jayne, of course) and two scarves, clutching the ends of scarves in my hands. Mercifully, I am not twirling them around like an exotic dancer. I guess the ends stuck out too far to fit into the alloted space. However, I am clutching the ends of the scarf with my mouth wide open. I think I was going for “wacky and carefree” but it looks more like “I’m being eaten by a scarf monster.”

Heh.