This morning I worked the early shift which means, among other things, I work from home and am up early enough to catch plenty of morning news. This morning, the Today Show had an interview with Danica McKellar that really caught my attention.

McKellar, as you may know, played Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, and also happens to be brilliant at mathematics and the author of a couple of best-selling books that are intended to help girls embrace math.

One of the questions that came up was regarding her recent Maxim photospread. She posed, looking quite hot, in standard Maxim fare–bra and panties, tall boots, etc. The photos, I have to say, are pretty hot.

But what really impressed me was her answer to a pretty judgemental sounding question from Meredith Viera about if there was a conflict between posing for Maxim and writing books intended to get girls excited about math.

McKellar’s answer? Of course not. She made the point that there is nothing with girls seeing a role model who can be smart and sexy, and who still have sex appeal in their 30s. She also pointed out that it’s not about making girls downplay or deny their sexuality, but about teaching them to be smart about it.

This was incredibly refreshing and it really speaks a lot to what I’m trying to do with the calendar. It feel like so often we like to put things in boxes–you’re smart or you’re sexy. You like domesticity, so you aren’t ‘fun.’ I feel like crafting in particular is one of those things that can be easily boxed into cute, quirky, but not really something that the hot girls do. On the other hand, what really makes someone hot? Isn’t it about their mind and imagination and confience as much as anything?

I admit, I had my own reservations about doing this calendar. I worried, a lot, about what people would think. Oh my god, I’m going to pose in my underwear and people will see it. It will be on the internet, and never die. Will people think I’m slutty? Will they think I’m dumb? Or anti-feminism? Then I thought–who cares? I’m not any of those things, and anyone who knows me pretty much at all knows that too.

What are we serving by putting girls and women into these boxes? Do you deny the parts of yourself that don’t fit in your box? Or do you spend your time wishing you were more like other people who seem to fit better? Do you agonize over things you’d like to do but feel you can’t?

Here’s the thing I’m learning: I don’t have to fit in the box. I can be the knitting, baking, sewing, domestic girl who also goes to the office and hangs out online and nerds out over geeky tech things. I can be shy and demure and still be a pinup model. I can be the person who is much happier being alone than dating someone just to be dating and still hope to fall in love someday. Being smart doesn’t mean I can’t be pretty, and wanting to be attractive doesn’t make me any less smart. I don’t have to fit in anyone else’s box.

You know what? Neither do you.

So, among the many things I’ve got simmering away in my mind, one that’s been there for a while is a knitting pinup calendar. Look–let’s face it, kniting hasn’t always been the hobby with the most exciting reputation. Yet I’ve always met some pretty amazing knitters.

I started tossing this idea around a couple of years ago and this year I finally got it together early enogh to actually make it happen. I’m funding the project via Kickstarter, which is a crowdsourced funding for creative projects. It works like this–if you think this sounds like a fun project, sign up to back it. You won’t get charged until the end, and that’s only if we get enough support. If we don’t, nobody gets charged and I move to figuring out plan B.

Here’s the deal:

I’m super excited about this, and if you think it sounds interesting, I’d love it if you’d back the project and share it with your friends. All of the models are real knitters–and real people–of all sizes, and it’s shaping up to be pretty amazing.