Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Summer Madness Starts

(Suppressing a long rant here about my kids. Just wondering, those of you who talk about how great your kids are at amusing themselves, at what age did you have to get really harsh to make that happen? Because I obviously failed in this aspect of parenting and I would love to get back on track now.)

Anyway, in the last month I've had a crash course, mostly self-taught in the ways of InDesign. This has been a lot of fun and part of the reason my kids are so put out. They expect that they should be the center of my world all day, every day. I kind of think that by ages 13 and very-nearly-7, they should be able to something, anything, without my constant presence. Bah. But, Issue #3 of Knitcircus is well under way and should be available within the next couple of weeks.

What is Knitcircus? It's a new 'zine about knitting and other crafts, produced in Madison, but certainly not Madison-specific in content. We have knitting and sewing patterns, book and yarn reviews, articles on craft-related stuff, recipes. Three rings of knitting and crafting fun! Issue #3 will be the first one professionally printed and bound. It's a smaller issue, but we hope the fall one will have a larger page size and more pages, too. Knitcircus is the brainchild of Jaala Spiro, a fellow Madisonian. She needed a bit of help to continue producing it and a few of us answered the call. Stay tuned...

So, all that activity leaves me without much knitting content to show you right now. When the issue is in print, I'll have new knitting to show you.

Meanwhile, here are some recent garden pictures:




14 comments:

YarnThrower said...

WOW -- I'm looking forward to seeing the magazine. Do you know where it will be available for purchase?

Anonymous said...

The colour of your lily is beautiful.

I'm not a parent but as the oldest of 5 who had to make it through the summer without even a tv (sigh) we entertained ourselves all the time. If you say you are board in my dad's hearing he'll give you a job. His strategy seems to be one of "annoy me I'll annoy you" and it works to this day since most of them are still in high school :)

Leslie said...

My teens are very self-sufficient but I do remember summers where I was constantly "on call" to help or play or drive them somewhere. Good news is, it will get easier! The magazine sounds intriguing. I've heard about InDesign but I've never had access to it. I think it would be something great to learn, though. Good luck!

turtlegirl76 said...

Is there going to be a subscription service available?

Bezzie said...

Hm, I think Chunky's kind of learned it from being an only child. He can amuse himself for hours with Legos or just with his scooter and the driveway or a shovel and my compost pile--hahaha!

Cool sounding mag. Can't wait to see/hear more about it.

Lynn said...

Ooh, I'm looking forward to seeing KnitCircus! And your photos are lovely, I wish I had the patience to be a good photographer.

Cindy G said...

Amusing themselves is good. Wondering what they are up too when it's been a little too quiet, to long...well maybe not.

They'll get the hand of it.

Looking forward to the next edition, it will be fun to see the finished fruits of you labors, both knitted and typographic.

Emily said...

Wow, you sound busy!! I think Knitcircus sounds really cool.

Marcy said...

Hmm, one of mine can entertain himself because he lives inside his own head almost entirely. You wouldn't want that.
The other one can do it because he is a robot. You wouldn't want that either.

dale-harriet said...

I doubt if it's much consolation, but I think the fact that the kids are perhaps "brighter than the average bear" may have something to do with it.....and those photos are STUNNING! I find that, in my yard, all the rain (and now some delicious sun) have caused a huge growth spurt in general.

Poops said...

I've been telling my kids to go away and leave me alone since they were born. It seems to have worked.

Plus I use my mother's tactic of taking a child who has been in one spot too long and putting them to work cleaning something. They either disappear, or you get something cleaned. It's a win-win, really.

Kathy Kathy Kathy said...

Elizabeth, I'm bored. I don't have anything to do. What are you doing? What is that In Design thing? Can I try it? Why not? What's for lunch? I don't like that? What are you doing? What time is it? Where's my shoe? I'm still hungry. Not hungry for salad; I want a cheeseburger! Wanna play with me? Please, please, pretty please with sugar on top? Sprinkles on top? The cat keeps looking at me. It won't stop looking at me. Oh yeah, I forgot to flush again. Sorry. How do I know where your good scissors are? Can a tiger beat up a wolf? You don't love me anymore, do you? Wah, wah,waaaaaaaah!

Molly Bee said...

Gorgeous flowers! Good luck with the magazine. Can't wait to see the third issue. Do the boys get along? Time to set up a Wii Summer Olympics!

florencemary said...

I can't honestly remember when my kids started to 'amuse' themselves, but they were/are quite close in age and I think they were happy to hang out/do things together. Perhaps it's an age thing?

Looking forward to hearing more about the magazine!