Well, if you ordered one from Kickstarter, it is either in the mail already or it will be this week. (Unless you didn’t give us your address, then it won’t be until we track that down. We do have to know where to send things!)

But if you missed out on the chance to pre-order…don’t worry! Because the calendar is for sale on Etsy. And you can get your very own right here.

Check it out:

They make great Christmas gifts for the knitting or pinup fan in your life!

I also meant to have pictures of knitting to go with it but, well, that didn’t happen either.

Sorry, guys.

I’ve been plugging away on the knit stocking for my mom. It’s fairly quick, although I probably should have gone for straight up intarsia rather than carrying my yarn across the back. But I hate weaving in ends so I decided to strand it. It’s a little puckery in places, but I think it will be okay when it’s done, plus it’s going to look better when it’s filled with stuff.

Also, um, rustic homemade charm?

At any rate I passed the name and date chart, and have now moved on to the creepy devil children. I know they’re supposed to be cheery festive children, but come on, look at the chart! They’re creepy devil children. I think they may be stealing my soul while I knit them.

But the big thing is that I finished the layout for the pin up calendar, so we can get it off to the printer this week! Hooray! That’s a huge item off my to-do list, and I’m very happy toget to that point. Plus, I made photoshop bend to my will, which is always nice.

But–there are still photos to share! Right now my time is taken up by finishing up the photo shoots and beginning to sort out the layout. Once that’s done, we’re off to the printers! We’ll also be putting calendars up on Etsy or similar venues, if you weren’t able to get one via Kickstarter, so I’ll make sure to let you know when those are up, too.

One of the photo shoots I haven’t had a chance to talk about Miss October! Isn’t she delightfully wicked? Brenda is a knitter and spinner, and I loved getting a chance to see this sexy and spooky shoot take shape.

I’ve been happily writing posts about all of our other pinup models (more to come!) for Off the Needles but when it comes to writing about my own photos? So. Much. Harder.

I almost didn’t show them to you, actually.

But they’re the only photos I have of this project.

Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective

The  pattern for this is Mon Petite Chou from Knitty. The yarn is Cascade Fixation, and it is very pink. The pattern was surprisingly difficult to knit, and not the quick knit I had thought it would be. The pattern stitch is written (not charted) and not easily memorized. There’s also, as many have noted, an apparant error in the left bra cup. I was able to wing it and fix along the way but if you haven’t got experience ‘reading’ your own knitting, I wouldn’t advise trying that.

Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective

As for the photos…well. I’m turning red just posting these. Modeling for them was a great experience–Erin is a fabulous photorapher, and she made me feel super comfortable. When I took the photos, I wasn’t thinking at all about how they’d turn out, just enjoying the experience. I think that definitely shows, and I’m glad that she was able to create that kind of mood.

But once I got them? I immediately began freaking out over how I looked. Even though I will say they’re some of the best photos of me, I immediately began picking out the imperfections and things I don’t like about myself. I almost didn’t post them because of it–and I have more to say about this in the future–but I am because I realized after reading Jezebel’s post on photoshopping that I’m a great example of why we do need more unretouched images. (All of the images in the calendar are minimally edited; lighting issues may fixed, or temporarly blemishes like the giant bruise on my leg which isn’t actually visible in these anyway, and of course the watermark is added. But we’re showing you women as they exist.)  So I’m posting them.

(Okay, I also wanted to distract myself from the fact that my photo shoot is this afternoon and I’m starting to get nervous.)

20. You need a calendar for next year anyway, right?

19. Knitters are awesome.

18. January 

17. Pinups are awesome

16. March

15.  Because you know that knitting really isn’t a boring hobby.

14. May

13.  The more calendars we sell, the more likely we are to continue to bring you sexy pinup calendars.

12. Real women are way hotter than models in magazines.

11. June

10.  You’ll be the envy of all your knitting (and non-knitting) friends

9. July 

8. We’re bringing crafty back.

7. August

6. We still have three photo shoots to go and the pictures just keep getting hotter.

5. September

4. These calendars make great gifts and, hey, the holidays are just around the corner.

3. October

2. November

1. Everyone needs a calendar featuring 15 gorgeous, crafty pinups.

But instead, the theme for this really was COLOR. And it was awesome. And way better than what I had thought of originally. Our Miss July is Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls podcast, and she was a fantastic subject. With some fantastic knits, too. I wish we could have photographed all the options she brought.

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Seriously, look at how all the color just pops. It makes me want to go run outside in a sundress and celebrate summer.

Except that we got our two days of summer, and it is now apparently fall.

Never mind.

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Isn’t she gorgeous?

But enough rambling from me. You want to see Miss September. Right?

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Yes, it’s the lovely Rachael Herron aka yarn-a-go-go! We had a great photo shoot with her. It was so, so much fun to do and I’m loving all the photos. (And y’all, these aren’t even the best ones.  We’re saving those for the calendar. Super secret.)

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Isn’t she just adorable? I love this. And I loved the stack of books, too. How cool is that? (BTW–totally endorse How to Knit a Love Song. I got it and read it in one setting. I wanted to make it last but once I got started there was no way I was putting it down. This coming from someone who rarely reads fiction.)

We have less than two weeks left to finish funding the calendar–so if you want a copy, head over to Off the Needles on Kickstarter to help us out and reserve your copy. If you know anyone else who would be interested, please let them know–and if you’d like to have a blog interview or get some of our promo photos to use to promote it, please email me at knittingivy(at)gmail(dot)com.

We recently had a photo shoot with Miss August. She looks lovely and yes, that is corn behind her. Yes, we found corn in the middle of Oakland.

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gary Lady Artist Collective)

It was a great session, and as always so much fun. I love watching people start to relax and have fun in front of the camera!

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

I’m also still working on my outift–quite a ways to go, but I can’t wait for my photo shoot now so I must hurry up and knit, knit, knit!

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Recently, we had a photo session with Branwen, who is Miss January in the calendar. Of course, she was fierce and fabulous, and  I can easily imagine her sitting in her throne with her giant hammer, knitting. All the time.

(Photo by Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

It was super fun, and I’m loving all the photos we’ve taken. Everyone looks so fabulous, and each session is totally unique. I can’t wait to put everything together! We just have to get the rest of our funding together in the next 16 days–you can still back the project if you like, by going to the Kickstarter page.

On Sunday, we went to Baker Beach to do a photoshoot. It was not too cold, and Seana Lyn, our knitting pinup Ms. June, was wonderful. She looked adorable in the pink knit bikini top, and the beach was the perfect setting. (Though we did have to photoshop out a few tourists and naked dudes.)

(Photo credit goes to Erin Dean Colcord of the Gray Lady Artist Collective)

Isn’t she just adorable? I’m loving each and every month we do, though I’m starting to have some nail biting moments around funding. Lots of people I talk to love the project, but with 22 days left, we’re only at 47% funding on Kickstarter. Eek!