I'm heading down to the TNNA trade show this morning, for three days of non-stop yarn action, chatting with fab crochet professionals, a class I'm teaching on crochet in the LYS*, and new boots that make my heart sing (and don't make my feet ache).

*Let me know by comment or email what you, specifically as a crocheter, want from your LYS (local yarn store). I'll be speaking with store owners, kids!

And now, about that TV thing. Below is the first official press release about the new, in-production public television show Knitting Daily TV, of which I'll be co-host along with the most amazingly talented and fun yarn and thread women I know: Eunny Jang, Liz Gipson, and Shay Pendray. Good thing our Vancouver basic cable carries the Seattle PBS station! The show won't begin airing till July, but I'll be sure to post pics from our April taping, along with any neato information I come across. I admit: that it will soon feel normal to have a mic pack stuck in my skirt is not something I ever anticipated.

---

Loveland, Colo., January 9, 2008: Aspire Media today announced the launch of “Knitting Daily TV” on many public television stations around the country beginning in July 2008. Bringing a fun, contemporary new approach to needle arts how-to programming, this PBS magazine-format TV series is a makeover of Needle Arts Studio with Shay Pendray, the first and longest-running program on public television to focus on the needle arts, which Aspire Media acquired from host and executive producer Shay Pendray last year.

“Knitting Daily TV” will be hosted by a cast of popular magazine editors: “Interweave Knits” Editor Eunny Jang, “Interweave Crochet” Editor Kim Werker, “Handwoven” Managing Editor and former Managing Editor of “Spin-Off,” Liz Gipson, along with Shay Pendray. The 30-minute themed episodes will cover a variety of needle crafts—from knitting and crochet to stitching, felting, and spinning—and guide viewers in learning to make fun yet smart one-of-a-kind designs using the latest products in yarn and fiber.

Industry experts and renowned designers will appear as guests and join the “Knitting Daily TV” team to bring fiber fans great projects for the beginner to advanced, updates on tools and materials, in-depth technique tutorials, and creative ideas that are sure to inspire.

The makeover of Needle Arts Studio starts with a new name, set, music, and graphics, but the changes are more than cosmetic. “The growing community of DIY-ers doesn’t just want to watch, they want to be a part of it. “Knitting Daily TV” will merge how-to television programming with the online community of knitters in an exciting new way,” said Executive Producer Kathie Stull.

KnittingDailyTV.com is the online companion to the TV show. The site will feature video clips, episode recaps, patterns, interactive discussion, local TV schedules, and more. In addition, “Knitting Daily TV” will have a presence on MySpace and Facebook and episode previews will be available on YouTube.

The show will regularly invite the Knitting Daily online community to be a part of the program by incorporating segments such as “You Asked It,” where hosts answer everyday needle-arts questions of people in the online community or “You Made It,” featuring their handmade creations—bringing a fun twist to the traditional knitting circle and the viral concept of the online knit-along.

“Knitting Daily TV” is produced by KS Inc. Productions and will be offered in the same public television time slot as Needle Arts Studio.

Boteh Scarf:kpwerker

I lied a little yesterday when I updated my last post to say I'd fixed the RSS feed problem I'd inadvertently created. I didn't mean to lie. So.

Now I'm pretty sure the feed is fixed, and I'm also pretty sure I at least band-aided the problem that caused some visitors to the site to receive that internet database equivalent of the blue screen of death, the fatal error. The band-aid might make the site run a bit more slowly for some; I thank you for your patience. When I'm back from TNNA (must pack!), I'll see what more I can do.

To distract you from this boring techspeak, I bring you my newly-begun Boteh Scarf. This yarn was sitting on my desk for months before I simply had to start a Boteh with it last week. It's from my first issue working on the magazine, and I've heard innumerable crocheters sing its praises, but man, I cannot stress enough how fun this pattern is. I think it's the first crochet scarf pattern I've ever followed. I'll have it on the plane with me tomorrow. Yum yum.

Have I ever mentioned how dark winter is in Vancouver? Beyond being a wee bit North, although far south as far as the rest of Canada is concerned, the cloudcover is brutal. I think it's out to get me. I've had a bugger of a time getting work done today.

But I did tinker a bit with the site, and think it's about time I give you a tour of how you can maximize your CrochetMe.com fun with our sidebar widgets. You have to be a logged-in registered member of the site to use most of these (it's free!).

1. Tag This
   You can label content any way you'd like! Not only will this help you categorize your own posted content so people can find it more easily, it also enables you tag any content on the site. And that makes all the content easier to find. Rad.
2. Rate This
   Since the revamped site launched, there's no editorial vetting of content. Although this is a change it's taken a little while to get used to, it doesn't have to mean that the quality of content you encounter here has changed at all. Use the Rate This feature to mark content you think should be most visible (it's the best!) and not so visible (it could use some improvement). For now, the most salient result of content ratings is on the main Patterns and Tips pages, where there's a list of the top-5 most highly-rated posts.

   A related aside: Something that's very different now is that patterns are not tech edited and nothing is copy edited before being published. Certainly one shouldn't judge the quality of a posted pattern on the coolness of the finished object alone, but also on the clarity and quality of instruction in the written pattern. Since the beginning, I've had a slew of ideas for how to implement some community-based editing on the site, and I haven't been able to figure out a way to pick and choose. Got some ideas? Wanna help out? Leave a comment or drop me a PM.

3. Blue links
   1. Add to Favorites
      Click this link to mark the page you're on as one of your favorites. On your profile page, there's a section that lists your favorites from different areas on the site (patterns, tips, forum posts, blog posts). So not only will you be able to find them easily another time, other people will find them, too.
   1. Print-Friendly
      Click the link for a printer-friendly version of the page you're on. No ads, no fancy formatting.
   1. Email This Page
      Click to bring up a page that will allow you to enter a friend's email address to send them a link to the page. Neither your own address nor the recipient's address is saved by us; it's just used to send a note saying you think they'll enjoy the page. Fun!
4. Share This Page
   This is a new box in the sidebar. Click any one of the icons to add the page you're on to that service. If you hover your mouse over an icon a tip will pop up letting you know which service it's for. In most cases, you'll need to have an account on that service to use this feature. Spread the CrochetMe.com love!
5. You Might Also Like
   This is another new box. It lists a recommendation of other content on the site you might enjoy if you like the page you're currently on. This is CrochetMe.com spreading the love just to you.

And there you have it. Are there functions you wished were there but aren't? Think something could use some improvement? Wanna help with the editing thing? Let us know.

PS You might also notice there's now (finally) a link to comments on the main blog page. Older posts are displaying just title and categories for now, but all posts from now on will show up in full on that main page. In case you were curious.

PPS (8 January) Note that around the time I posted this a few days ago, I managed to screw up the RSS feed for the blog. I've since fixed it (I think), which is why you might first be seeing this in your reader or inbox now. Oops.

Beach:kpwerker

I hate resolutions. I prefer to let time pass and then look back to see what sorts of funny new habits I formed.

2007 was a year of habits I'd prefer to break.

Although I see no particular problem with starting crafts projects and never finishing them, I'd actually prefer to have some more completion in my yarn life. I'll do my best to revisit this topic here.

I don't much like being ill, and I spent more days in bed in 2007 than I ever had in a single year. Not that I consider that to be a habit, but it's certainly a trend I'd like to buck.

I worked all. the. time. Good work. Work I'm proud of. But I neglected my friends and idly watched my home fall into disarray. My sense of humour suffered, as did my generally vibrant disposition. 2008 will be for reconnecting with people I love, and for having a more intimate relationship with my vacuum cleaner. The telephone, that old-school contraption: I will pick it up.

In a feat not entirely unrelated to the amount of time I spent feeling awful, I watched an insane amount of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD (thanks to an alert from a snappy Raveler, I recently bought the box set for a low-low price on Amazon). In addition to geeking out over some great crochet throughout the series, I also watched the first season of Angel (not so great; debating watching more) and Firefly (damn brilliant), thus making me, for the first time ever, a hardcore fan of a person (that would be Joss Whedon). This is both exhilarating and creepy. Related to this kick of television fandom, I've been reading the Buffy comic books, and am growing more and more obsessed with the medium. As such, I'm into the third volume of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and also read his very good novel American Gods. I'm two books into the His Dark Materials trilogy, and of course read the final Harry Potter book the week it was released. I'm not intending to imply that comic books must be linked with young adult fiction, but I have been enjoying both very, very much. This is a habit I'm quite happy to have formed, and see it colouring a good chunk of my 2008.

And, alas, Crochet Me. Immortalized in print! My workaholic year involved revamping the website, and battling desperately with the multitude of work I still have to do on it. That said, a lovely community has started to develop here, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I hope you are too. 2008 will certainly involve a more regular schedule here on the blog, and some much-needed (if not awaited) improvements to the site.

This photo (above) is from last week. It's of a beach on the Mayan Riviera. My first experience of that bizarre beast: the all-inclusive resort. Not a habit I'd like to form, but an excellent, perfect setting for the end of 2007.

I wish you all a very happy, healthy 2008, filled with yarns your fingers won't put down, creations that satisfy your mind and conscience, and only good things.

Ah, the holiday season.

Seriously. For how else would I miss KnitMap? What a brilliant site!