It’s been awhile since our last update, but we have exciting news to share with you! A date for shipping the new issue, a HKH appearance by Stephanie, and a new team member. Things are rolling along well again. We appreciate the patience you’ve had with us during this delay.

So, first the news we have been receiving lots of inquiries about: Issue 3! We are very happy to report that Issue 3 is coming together and will be shipped to you on March 30th. Marc and Stephanie have been very busy, and we can’t wait to see what you think of this issue. Maybe I’ll release some more content hints as we get closer to release date. Maybe.

Also, for those of you in the Pacific northwest, we hope you’re coming to the Madrona Fiber Festival! Stephanie will be there all weekend, and she’s going to be demonstrating mask-knitting. How awesome is that? Look for her in the rotunda, and be sure to stop and say hello. It looks like the festival has an awesome line-up of vendors and instructors. If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out!

And the last bit of news would be…me. I’m the newest member of the Handknit Heroes team, and you’ll probably get to talk to me if you e-mail HKH about something as my role is mostly customer service. I’m happy to help with subscriptions and other questions, so don’t be shy! You can find me on Ravelry as emwall24 as well (that’s my personal account – please continue to direct HKH questions to the support e-mail!). I’m so excited about where this magazine is going, and I have enjoyed getting to “talk” with some of you. We have awesome subscribers!

I know it seems like it’s been quiet in the house of Handknit Heroes, but it has not!

We’ve been busy. VERY busy! But first, a public service announcement:

Address Change?

If your address has changed, or if for some reason you didn’t receive Issue #2 by now (it went out months ago!) please contact us using the Contact form on our website. We process your address changes immediately, and this is really the easiest way to let us know so your comics can arrive quickly. This is especially important as we’re gearing up to mail out the glovelet pattern, and I want to make sure it gets to you!

Marc’s Back!

Marc came back to work about a month ago, so we’re back on production schedule. We’re still sending out the Villainess Glovelet pattern to thank you for your patience. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now is the time to do so, so you can get your hands on the glovelet pattern when it ships out next week!

Here’s what the glovelets look like:

They are lovely and elegant, and will make a beautiful accessory for you this winter. They’re relatively easy to knit, too– if you can knit the bag in Issue #2, you can make these glovelets. The yarn is ShibuiKnits Sock, which is a lightweight sock yarn, with an absolutely decadent feel– very soft and luxurious. And the Glovelet pattern is already on Ravelry.

Show Me the Funny!

I went to Sock Summit, had a great time, and we took hundreds of photos of sock knitters turned superhero! Check them out in our Flickr tag! I want to thank everyone we met at Sock Summit– you made the whole weekend so much fun, with your willingness to be daring, have a little fun, snap a picture, and smile for us. I have come to realize two things about this particular product: fun makes a long show worthwhile. No matter how exhausted we were, we were always able to engage people because as soon as you put a superhero mask on someone, she turns into a superpowered fun generator!

What was really amusing, to me, was the fact that people recognized me more easily when I put one of the masks one! Probably because of my avatar on Ravelry, with the superhero mask knitted out of Malabrigo worsted.

After Sock Summit, we headed up to Seattle for the Mariners Stitch n Pitch, which was also a great deal of fun. It was a madhouse of knitters, fast-paced and immense and wonderful, and I only have two regrets! 1) That we were in a spot where there was no light after the sun set (and too much light before the sun set), and 2) That I didn’t get to see any of the ball game! Ah, well. The Royals won, which was kind of neat, since my mom (also a baseball fan) lives near Kansas City. Here’s the two of us at the last baseball game I attended (in lieu of photos from Stitch n Pitch, which I wasn’t able to take because we were sooo busy!):

And now, I’ve retreated to Sequim, Washington, to plan and prepare for the Big Upcoming Trip of Massive Shows:

• British International Comic Show: Birmingham, England, October 3-4. Marc and I will both be there, and the admission is pretty low, so if you’re in the area and want your comics signed by BOTH of us– do come!
• The Knitting and Stitching Show: Alexandra Palace, London, England, October 8-11. We’re in booth D8. Marc will be there on the weekend, I’ll be there all 4 days, and Erssie may even make a rare appearance for a signing session! Check back for details!
• Dutchess County Sheep and Wool: Rhinebeck, New York, October 17-18. I will be attending as an attendee, but I’ll be at the Keep the Fleece tent for the awards event.
• STITCHES East: Hartford, Connecticut, October 23-25. Sharing booth 228 with Knit Princess, we will have our comics and books and t-shirts and all sorts of fun goodies for you to enjoy!
• Aki-Con, in Everett, Washington, November 6-8. It’s an anime and cosplay event. Every so often, I find an event or show a little outside the normal intersection of knitting and comics, like Maker Faire, and if I’m going to be in the area anyway, and the booth fee is reasonable, there’s seldom a reason not to come and set up and see if the participants respond to it. Who knows? Maybe nobody at Aki Con knits (yet)…. but I’ll bet there are TONS of cosplayers who would love a handknit mask!

Action Figures

A couple of folks have already found the Action Figures in our webstore. These cute dolls action figures in crochet were designed by Vox Mortuum, an excellent designer who I’ve been pleased to work with. They’re our first crochet pattern, and… they’re not quite ready yet. I still have to edit them and put them into the Handknit Heroes format and style. Sadly, I can’t actually show them in our store without making them available for purchase, so please just be aware– if you buy the pattern, the PDF will be emailed to you once it’s ready. It’s a pre-order, and we’ll be sure to get them to you as soon as possible! The good news is, this and Issue 3 production are at the top of my to-do list this week, so you won’t have long to wait!

Shout Outs

Waaay back in the day, Knitch Magazine reviewed the comic– I just found the review via one of my searches.

Janelle brings a roundup of Sock Summit, including her visit to our booth!

Geek Girls Rule, a blog and podcast, reviewed the comic book after Stitch n Pitch! Thanks!

Have a shout out, comment, feedback, question, or address change? Drop us an email via the Contact form!

Issue #2!!!

Issue #2 is at the printer! Marc and I are very excited about this issue, and I think you’ll all be very happy with the continuing storyline, the artwork, and of course, the neat pattern for a cool bag that every superhero knitter needs.

So when can you expect to get it in your hot little hands? Well, we will have some advance copies at the KnitWitz meet and greet and signing on May 1 in Stockton. About 6 days later, our stock copies will arrive and immediately go into archive bags to mail out to our subscribers.

So…. What’s the Delay?

We’re a little late delivering Issue #2, I know, but we have a really good reason. Marc had a new addition to his family in March (cute little Edith), and he rightfully took about 2 weeks off to enjoy the new baby and take care of his lovely girlfriend. Everyone is doing well, and I’m thrilled and send many happy congratulations.

But it’s not all Marc’s fault! I was about halfway through writing Issue #2 when I realized that I was having a really hard time with a major story component. Creating quality story, art, and patterns are our priority here, so I gave myself extra time to write it right. The up side of that is I now have some great story momentum carrying me into the script for Issue #3.

The other up side is that if you were planning to design a mask for Issue #3, you have a little more time. The deadline has been extended by a month, to July 15, since the comics don’t get into your hands until May.

Special Kit: Available at TKGA Portland: May 14-17

As you know by now, I’m going to be at the TKGA show in Portland from May 14 to 17. I’ll have t-shirts and postcards, comic books, and a special, completely awesome kit that you’re going to just love (but which I’m keeping secret… for now!)

If you’re going to Portland, please stop by– we’re in booth #60, right next to the entrance of the marketplace. And if you’re looking to get into the marketplace on the cheap, go here to get a $2 off coupon.

We’re on Facebook: X2

In addition to the Facebook group, we now have a Facebook page. You can become a fan to show your Handknit Heroes love. I’m figuring out how to coordinate Facebook with all the tools I currently use (you know, the ones using open standards, like iCal and RSS?) to share the HKH love there.

Shout Outs!

Misfit Yarn, a knitting feminist blog gave us some love last week!

This is Awesome and slightly related; the knitter being kinneared on the subway is one of our readers! Isn’t that scarf just full of awesome?

This is cool but not related, a knitting webcomic called Pearl Too.

KnitLuck has a really thoughtful review of comic books from a knitter/feminist perspective. The article prompted me to send an email to Marc thanking him for remembering our heroes are 16 years old– they have the bodies of 16 year old girls, not cover models for Super Juggs. I will definitely check out Fables, too!

One of our shops, Hill Country Weavers, posted a shout-out for the comic this week. They’re in Austin, Texas, if you’re looking for a local shop!

I’ll call the review “lukewarm” from Lifetimes Short Now, but I really liked it for the rather in-depth nature of exploring the feminist side of geek crafts.

And one of my favorite magazines, Bust, gave a really nice, detailed overview of the comic.

Craftnectar gave a quick shout-out this week. While visiting, I also found her really great pictorial on the Oak Park, IL tree sweaters.

I want to give a shout-out to The Royal Empress, but the blog is protected, so I’ll just have to say “hello, and thanks for the shout out!”

Finally, I stopped by the Yolo County Knitter’s Guild yesterday in Davis, California for their bi-monthly meeting and sit-n-knit, which was lovely and fun. Afterward, I had coffee and lunch in downtown Davis, where I spotted this nifty little bit of knitted graffiti. Mad props to the anonymous bike-rack-cosy knitters of Davis!

Whew!

What a week! Just 6 days after opening the online store, the company hosting my web space changed all of my servers, causing all email to bounce, the online store to stop working, the updates blog to cease working… everything broken! This all happened at 2 AM on Easter, leaving me somewhat in the lurch! 36 hours later, I was receiving email again, but if you sent anything to me via the Contact Us form, I didn’t receive it and, unfortunately, I never will. The good news is, if you sent in a subscription order, we did receive those because PayPal has a record of it, and your order has already gone out in the mail.

Meanwhile, the t-shirts were on their way to us, I was confirming several events, and not having my email was very, very difficult. I don’t know about you, but I clearly store about half of my brain on my computer!

The T-Shirts Are Here!

The T-shirts have arrived at the shipping center and the first orders are already on their way to happy customers! More importantly, though, with the shirts in hand, I was finally able to tweak the shipping calculator to be more accurate (I’ve also refunded any overpayments on shipping from the initial pre-orders). Thanks to everyone who sent in feedback and suggestions on getting our shipping into sanity levels. In general, if you buy 1 t-shirt, you’ll be charged $4.90, 2-3 t-shirts you’ll be charged $7.10, and up from there. Child’s t-shirts are about half the weight of adults, and plus shirts are a little more– for example, ordering 4 adult sized shirts is $7.10, but 4 plus-sized shirts is the next price bracket.

International shipping is, as always, expensive, ranging from $11 for 1 shirt to Canada to $53 for up to 10 shirts worldwide.

On almost any t-shirt order, we can squeeze in a postcard pack or 2 without pushing it into the next price break.

Our stock numbers for shirts and postcards are accurate in the database. If you are able to place an order, it means that we have enough of the item in stock to ship to you.

Events

Looking at my October travel schedule, I saw that I’d be flying back from London just days before Rhinebeck… and New York is a common stopover from London, right? So I’m going to extend my stopover by a couple of weeks, go to Rhinebeck as an attendee, and then…. show at Stitches East! Knit Princess and I have decided to share a booth, so we’ll both be there with tiaras and superhero masks, ready to sell and sign comic books all weekend long! So, the upcoming show calendar is:

• May 1: Knit Witz shop visit in Stockton, California.
• May 12: KnitPurl shop visit in Portland, Oregon.
• May 14-17: The Knit and Crochet Show in Portland, Oregon, where I’ll be releasing for the first time ever a new superhero mask kit!
• May 30-31: Maker Faire in San Mateo, California.
• August 6-8: Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon.
• October 3-4: British International Comics Show in Birmingham, England.
• October 8-11: The Knitting and Stitching Show in London, England.
• October 22-25: Stitches East in Hartford, Connecticut.

Issue #2: Coming SOON!

Issue #2 is coming soon– it’ll out at the end of April– probably shipping on April 29th or 30th. I may be hand-carrying them into Stockton for the Knit Witz event, even! Once we’re shipping Issue #2, you won’t be able to start your subscription with Issue #1 anymore– you’ll have to buy it as a back issue, and only subscribers can order back issues from our site. Everyone else has to go to a yarn shop and buy it from a retailer (but you were going there anyway, weren’t you?)

We have a cute pattern for Issue #2, one which will give you a little bit of a challenge without being impossible (I promise). It uses an eco-friendly yarn from o-wool, and I think it’s a great project, and perfect for summertime.

Shout Outs

KnitPicks is having a blog contest to win Issue #1 and some yarn to go with it!

This is Unrelated but utterly cool. Hey– I have a few mask patterns if they’re interested in more ways to hide their secret identities!

On Monday, I had a lovely dinner with a knitting group from Orange County, which was delightful. It was delightful because, even though I’m now writing this comic book and doing this cool thing, I’m still a knitter who likes hanging around people, and once in a while… well, it’s nice to just hang out and knit. You can see pictures from that night here.

Last night’s event was way more than a friendly dinner, though– it was quite an event! I went to A Mano Yarn Center early because I never know what L.A’s traffic will do to my travel time, and I like to sit and knit and have dinner before something like this starts. I got to work on my first Baby Surprise Jacket ever– I’m making it for my best friend’s impending arrival, and when it’s done (and I’ve figured out what gauge does to this jacket), I may need to make a second one real soon.

Anyway, it was A Mano’s usual Wednesday night knit group, but we also had a couple of new folks come in to see the comic and talk knitting. A Mano sold out of the comic, then sold out of the extras I’d brought with me (don’t worry– another batch is on its way to her today). I signed them all! To knitters or to their kids, I had a great time meeting everyone and putting a silver pen to their comics and not getting told “Don’t! You’ll deface it!”

I talked about the comic book, gave the guided tour, so to speak, and did a Q&A session with the lovely folks who were there. Many lovely knitters tried on the scarf and look beautiful:

More pictures of the scarf on the lovely ladies at A Mano are here.

In the course of my travels across the US, I have dropped in on many knitting nights, from Massachusetts to Florida, to Kansas City (more than once), and Texas. Here is something I’ve learned about knitters and crocheters: you are sassy people. I’ve found that many knitters have a slightly bent sense of humor. And they’ll crack a joke that’s a little bent, maybe a little racy, and they’ll often look over at me, and apologize and say something like “I only say that cause Debra and I have known each other for years– we’re not really like this!” and I nod and smile and keep knitting…. and a few minutes later, I’ll zing them back with one that makes them realize yes, we’re in that happy weird-humor knitting basket together.

Which brings me to Knitty. If you don’t know about Knitty, it’s a free online knitting magazine and a source of quality knitting patterns. Each issue has several great patterns of varying difficulty levels– a little something for everyone. And some time between each issue’s release, they post up a few bonus patterns to the site. They’re like finding a forgotten skein of cashmere laceweight in the bottom of your knitting bin. We missed the initial deadline for advertising in the Winter issue, but we got into the “Bonus pattern” sponsorship queue. To my delight, the Knitty bonuses went up yesterday. I’d like to encourage everyone to check it out and possibly give your heart to someone special this coming Valentine’s Day.

Shout outs!

3 Kittens yarn shop in St. Paul has almost sold out of Handknit Heroes, just a few days after they received their order!

Woolly Way in Ireland gives us a great review– very thorough and thoughtful. She also re-linked from another one of her blogs.

Ooo-Shiny posted a squee over finding out she’s in the Sneak Peek group. I hope she got her copy by now and will post an update soon!

Chris Church is giving away a copy of Handknit Heroes as a prize in her What Does the Future Hold? contest.

I found this awesome blog by a knitter who entertains kids on Hollywood Boulevard by dressing as a superhero and posing for pictures.

Finally, I’d like to welcome anyone who found us from LiveJournal’s knitting group.

Don’t forget! I’ll be at A Mano Yarn Center on Wednesday, January 28th at 6 PM to meet and greet, sign comic books, and hang out with some cool knitters. Come join us!

We had a great meet and greet on Saturday, with several visitors to the shop– and Joanne had almost sold out her inventory before I even arrived! She had a number of yarn kits with the right amount of yarn for the project, ready to go in the shop, too. See more pictures from the meet n’ greet here.

For designers, advertisers, and the generally curious, our editorial calendar is now available in .ics format here (for Mac or Thunderbird), or as a Google calendar here. Or you can see it on our website here.

We’ve added our first non-US shop! American Yarns in Queensland, Australia has a batch of copies winging its way over there next week! As always, you can check our Shop Locator to find stores near you that carry Handknit Heroes.

Shout Outs

Technomom gave us a linky shout-out. Thanks, technomom!

Largehearted Boy linked to us in the “shorties” post this week.

And a personal shout-out for me: Shannon Okey (author of How to Knit in the Woods, among other marvelous things) pointed that Issue #2 of El Gorgo is out, and there’s a shout-out in the credits/acknowledgements to me and Marty from ReadComics.org. Yes, the fangirl squeeing could be hear round the world.

Thanks everyone. And remember, if you’ve blogged about Handknit Heroes, or you sighted it in the wild, please drop me an email to let me know!

Don’t forget! Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, January 24), I’ll be showing Handknit Heroes in Los Angeles at the Needlepoints West shop from 1-3!

And next Wednesday evening after 6, I’ll be at A Mano Yarn Center to show the comic and talk about knitting and comics as well.

If you’re in the area and want to take a look at the comic and see what it’s all about, come by either shop to check it out! Both shops stock Handknit Heroes and will have the comic available to sell right there in the store.

Also, I posted a little video to my personal blog tonight, to give you a peek inside the comic (if you haven’t had a chance yet).

Shout Outs!

Knitter’s Review put us in their roundup of great things to take from TNNA. Wow! Thanks!

Kim Werker posted a mini-review of the show and the comic– awesome! She even included a great, if goofy, picture of most of the Handknit Heroes team.

Skyline Chilly enthusiastically likes the concept of a knitting comic book.

SlightlyFoxxed found the comic to be so-so, but loves the pattern.I always hope that, with a story and artwork and pattern, everyone will find something valuable in each issue. Darcy’s also been a big supporter from Day 1, so we’re glad she’s looking forward to knitting the scarf. And I hope she finds Issue 2’s writing to be better than Issue 1.

My friends over at ReadComics.org posted a review and a longing to knit the lovely POW! Hooded Scarf pattern!

GoLightly blogged about her review copy’s arrival. Hooray!

Also, today’s “not-related-but-cool” link comes from Knit Princess, an online webcomic strip about a knitter! I don’t know if she has superpowers, but I certainly adore the impulse!

Thanks everyone for the reviews and shout-outs. We love the attention, and we especially thank you for your support!

Upcoming Events!

I will be at some launch meet n’ greet parties in Los Angeles in the next week. A couple of awesome local yarn shops have asked me to stop by and show off the comic and talk knitting and comic books with all the awesome knitters who frequent their shops. I’m really glad to be able to do two meet n’ greets at times that should be convenient for many people.

• Saturday, January 24, 2009, 1-3 PM at Needlepoints West at 6227 West 87th St., Los Angeles. 310-670-8857.
• Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 6-8 PM: A Mano Yarn Center at 12808 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles. 310-397-7170.

Updated Website

We’ve added the Shop Locator to our website. If you still haven’t put your hands on a copy of Handknit Heroes, check out the local listings to find a shop. And if your favorite shop isn’t listed, ask the shop owner to carry it!

I also updated the design guidelines today to give a few more suggestions for colors and what we’re specifically looking for in our upcoming issues. If you’re a designer or would like to be, go take a look.

And as of this morning, we have a quicker checkout for advertising. We still want you to make contact first, just so we don’t oversell any issues, but you can now add an advertisement to your cart and pay for it online.

Shout Outs!

Mad props to the blogosphere for getting the word out. We have a couple of sightings and another unrelated coolness:

Crafty Ginger posted a quick review on her blog.

Hege posted in her blog about getting her copy.

Danido posted another shout-out on their videoblog (approx. 6 minutes 50 seconds in).

We’re now in the Comic Books app on Facebook. If you use it for your pull lists or collections, stop by and add it in.

And in unrelated awesomeness: Kniiting for the Wii, this one sent to my by my mom’s hubby Oren.

Update frequency to ease soon

I promise, the frequency of update emails and posts will slow down as we head out of the post-launch frenzy and get back to doing what we do best: making a cool comic book for knitters! So if you’re thinking “I don’t know if I want to hear from them every day,” just hang in there. I already know that things heat up just before and after we release an issue, then cool off during our development cycle.

Hello, and welcome to Handknit Heroes! Our launch is just 1 week away, and we’re all very excited about how it’s all turned out!

Sneak Peek Update

We ran into a couple of delays, so the Sneak Peek issues will go out early next week. If you signed up and aren’t chosen for the Sneak Peek, don’t take it personally and don’t despair– you can still ask for Handknit Heroes at your local yarn shop, or subscribe to an annual subscription. We accept PayPal, credit cards, checks, and money orders.

Join Us on Ravelry

Naturally, Ravelry is one of our favorite places to hang out. We have a wonderful group for Handknit Heroes and we hope you’ll consider yourself invited to join!

Thanks to the International Crowd

I wanted to give a huge round of applause to everyone from outside the US and Canada. Thanks to the overwhelming number of Sneak Peek requests we received from such great locations as Australia, the UK, Sweden, and Germany, we’ve opened our market. If the U.S. postal service can deliver to your country, you can get Handknit Heroes, too!

Welcome, Partners

We’re also welcoming retailer, distributor, and advertiser queries through the website, from anywhere in the world.

If you’re a pattern designer interested in submitting a pattern, please check out our pattern guidelines and consider sending in a proposal. If you already sent one in, thank you and thank you again. We will get in touch with you after January 21st with a reply. We’ve been focusing on getting the current issue ready to go and ironing out the bugs in the system. We really appreciate your patience and your creativity, and encourage you to visit the website for details and query/contact form.

Check Out the Website

If you’re catching this announcement in your email inbox, be sure to stop by the updates page to see it live and in person. Why? Because we’ve posted the cover art for Issue #1, and you won’t want to miss it!

Handknit Heroes Issue #1 (ISBN: 978-0-9822810-0-0) was written by Stephanie Bryant and illustrated by Marc Olivent. The awesome knitting pattern, POW! Hooded Scarf , is by Erssie Major. Handknit Heroes is published 4 times a year.

This is the first update for Handknit Heroes. If you signed up and have changed your mind about getting updates from us, please visit the subscription page to take yourself off the list.