Monday, March 8, 2010

It's a Circus! A Knitcircus!


Today is a rather exciting day for me. I have a my very first guest blogger. I'm so thrilled, I've got my yarns in a knot! My guest of honor today
is, Jaala Spiro, Editor-in-Chief of Knitcircus Magazine.

Sit down, have a cup of tea or coffee and read all about Jaala, her friends and their adventures in publishing a knitting magazine. I'm always impressed by how small groups of determined women seem to be able to accomplish so much good. Be sure to leave a comment to win your opportunity at a year's subscription to this online magazine and 4 pattern collections. The luscious photos in today's post, courtesy of Knitcircus magazine, are just a taste of what awaits in the Knitcircus, Issue #9, Spring collection.


I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here is Jaala and the story of Knitcircus:



As a massage therapist specializing in chronic pain, a wife, mom to a three-and-four year old and ardent knitter and sewist, I had plenty to do when Knitcircus first started. A friend and I had been publishing an old-skool Zine for moms of young children for a couple of years and we sensed that it was time to move on.


One day I got a chance to read the Vanity Fair special Africa edition, and went outside to sit on our concrete step and think. So much need in the world (you see that every day, Rudeek!); what can one woman do? How could we send just a tiny bit of the affluence around us to help out other people?



Then it hit me—knitters! Knitters are a generous bunch and can always find a little bit extra for a ball of yarn or a magazine….Yes, that’s it, we’ll make a knitting magazine! I wanted to be able to help people out, but not bring other people down. A knitting magazine would provide something fun for knitters and with any proceeds, we could pass on the good cheer.



Of course, local charity means a lot, and we do as much of that as we can, but I knew that the amounts we raised wouldn’t be huge, so decided to target Heifer International and KIVA because each of them help people learn and improve their lives and each of them allow people to pass on the gift to others as they succeed.



Fast forward two years, and what started as something printed on my laser printer grew into a glossy magazine distributed to LYS’s, and now we’ve made the leap to cyberspace! Now with my kids in school, Knitcircus is my full-time job, and with the help of creative and dedicated women like MS. SABLE, Enid, Cindy, Miss T, Ada, Amy and Erica, we’re getting better and growing all the time. The online debut, Issue #9, Spring, is our biggest and best issue yet; it’s a free magazine including interviews with Terri Shea, Lily Chin and Liesl Gibson, a free sewing pattern, articles and reviews, plus pattern previews for 20 original patterns(three free downloads). To knit the patterns, people can purchase the Pattern Collection here for quite a reasonable price.



We’re very excited to move online, because now we have room for lots of full-page photos of our designers’ work, we can go all over the world without stamps and we can have as many pages as we want.




To celebrate our big move, we’d like to offer not only a Spring pattern Collection pdf download, but a year’s subscription (4 Pattern Collections) to one lucky reader of Nurse Rudee's blog. Please check it out; three rings of knitting, sewing and fun, now with less paper!


Thank you for visiting today, Jaala. The spring issue is a work of art!


Make sure you check out Knitcircus and don't forget to leave a comment to win this subscription. I'll be closing comments on Friday, March 12th at 11:59 PM, EST and the winner will be selected by the random number generator and announced on Saturday, March 13th. Good luck!


Even though there is no baby around here, I HAVE to knit that adorable little green dress. HAVE.TO. I'll find a baby to wear it, somewhere.


23 comments:

Jane said...

lol, my sentiments exactly. Lovely to see how people end up doing what they do. I wish them every success for their online adventure

Ruth said...

love the dress and the wrap.

Rose said...

What a great idea and a great mission. The knits look great too! Enter me please.

Stephanie V said...

My sock-knitting fingers itch for that pattern of the yellow socks. Imagine if all the knitters in the world got together to create social change...the mind boggles.

Pandora's Box of FIber said...

I love the idea that a knitting mag is also a way to donate to Heifer International!

Jaala is such a sweet person, and I'd love to read more :)

sandy said...

That was enjoyable.

Rositta said...

That dress is so sweet. It if comes in a size for a three year old I would buy that patter, I'll have to go check it out. Congratulations on their success...ciao

Jaala said...

Thanks so much for letting me appear on your lovely blog!
Jaala

LambChop00 said...

I was thinking I need to knit that green dress too. I just happen to have a few new nieces too.

Jane Prater said...

I love these women and their sense of mission. I have the issue 9 directions and they are great.

Jean Ashley said...

I've been a supporter of Heifer Project for many years now, and it's so nice to hear that a knitting magazine is donating to this organization! The magazine is lovely!

Nancy N (n2n on Rav) said...

Circus indeed. I've had my eye on that wrap (as I actively avert my eyes from the baby things)...

Brenda said...

Really cute items here.

Mrs. A said...

That green dress really wasn't very nice. Sure, it looks ADORABLE!! But it's doing very bad things for my baby itch which I try to keep beaten down to a dull roar at all times.

I love that Jaala shared her behind-the-scenes story of her new mag. Great post today!

Anonymous said...

KnitCircus is an adorable e-zine!! I would LOVE to have my very own subscription!! (Maybe I'll follow you in knitting the cute baby dress too, even though I don't have a baby to put it on!)

Katie said...

Thanks for the chance to win! I have been a long time Knitcircus follower and would love to win a subscription.

andrea said...

The dress is darling! Enter me please!

Knitnik said...

I just checked out the magazine and I would knit so many things from it!

Devon said...

Oh, they are all so nice. I really like the socks!

deb said...

Congrats on moving to online! Very exciting. It will make it so much more excessable to so many more people. Thanks for sharing.

Jane said...

Wow! What an inspiring story and beautiful patterns too. Good luck to Jaala and her team.

Anonymous said...

Yea!! Thank you so much for introducing me to this beautiful zine! I can't wait to get my hands on it and my needles into that precious green dress. My 3 yo, 2yo niece and her soon-to-be born sister should all be getting versions of it ( anyone that needs a baby to model and love their pieces, here we are ;). ) Hope I win and can get started immediately!!!

Andrea@Mikeal.org

greta said...

LOVE the zine! SO many of the patterns are excellent!
Especially love the man's cardigan.
Fingers crossed, I'd love to win!