Mystic KAL with Anna Dalvi

pi_day

Happy Pi Day, knitters! Hope you’re enjoying your Pi and/or pie…we celebrated a little early with a homemade pumpkin pie.Li’l Buddy was trying to memorize Pi to 45 places for a math contest today….

Podcast winners

Thanks to everyone who entered with so much wonderful information about your local yarn stores and indie dyers! We learned so much from your responses and you gave us a lot of places to add to our must-visit list…

The Winners Are:
Amber gets the Mrs. Crosby Likes to Play

Rachelle takes home the Sakkie courtesy of Intertwined Yarn Shop

Joyce will enjoy two skeins of alpaca yarn from Bleating Heart Haven

If you’re anywhere nearby, please check out the Rites of Spring Fiber Frolic on April 16th!

MYSTIC HAVEN KAL

We love Anna Dalvi‘s ingenious lace designs, and are thrilled that she chose our Greatest of Ease gradient yarn for her next Mystery KAL!

anna_dalvi_mystic_haven

We don’t know exactly what she’s got up her sleeve, but we know it will be fantastic.

The KAL starts on March 30th and we’re offering participants a special 10% discount! If you’re interested, you can choose from any of the 100g Gradients we have ready to ship, or order a custom-dyed Greatest of Ease 100g Gradient and we’ll do our best to expedite it so you can start on time (to order: choose your color, then choose Greatest of Ease as the yarn base and 100g as the size of the cake). Please check out the fun and find out the discount code in the Knit and Knag Ravelry Group.

Have a great Monday and happy knitting,

Jaala and Amy

Hat and Cowl Knitting, Sale Yarns and Holidays Yes

The holidays approacheth! I love hosting, getting out the good china, and making pumpkin pies (I think I might need to practice that one this weekend so the T-day ones are perfect…)

Here’s wishing all of you US knitters safe travels, enjoyable times with family and friends and plenty of time to knit over the holiday.

Cold Weather; Knit Faster!

Look at this awesome t-shirt my mom got for me! This pretty much sums it up…You can find it at Northern Sun. If you’re more girly, this is a unisex style, but I think it’s perfect for layering in the Lair. 🙂

On My Needles

During this latest cold snap, I realized that the handknitter has no knits! I love wristwarmers and wear them all winter whenever my hands aren’t in buckets of rinsing yarn. I’m working on a pair of the new Gradient Stripe Handwarmers for myself in Hummingbird.

I’m also working up a quick textured hat and cowl set for myself to keep out the winter wind. Patterns coming soon.

Over the long weekend, when I’m not hosting, feasting and playing indoor mini-golf (new family tradition) I’m thinking about whipping up Kirsten Kapur’s One Day Beret for my sister-in-law and trying some simple ornament designs to surprise the kids…

What are you all knitting? Lots of holiday gifts?

Let It Snow

It’s been very January-like here, with a couple of inches of snow staying on the ground.

Sasha was excited because the whole backyard was covered with something she could eat. She kept bounding around, snuffling at the ground, then licking her muzzle.

Sale Yarns and Holiday Orders

More knitters have ordered yarn from us in the last two months than ever before, and we are immensely grateful! I’m dyeing up yarn as fast as I can (including on weekends) and if you’ve ordered yarn, you’ll still get it by Christmas.

We’re making sure to put up ready-to-ship yarns every day between now and December 21st, and to help your holiday jingle,we’ve added many Sale items to the store; just as soft and knittable as all the rest, but unusual colors, or with small color spotting, one knot, etc.

Indie Gift-a-Long

Wow, 293 independent designers are participating this year! This is a great chance to get literally thousands of wonderful patterns on sale, and they’ve got tons of activities, KAL’s and chances to win goodies in the Giftalong Group on Ravelry.

Have a lovely weekend and stay warm,

Jaala

Cables and Lace Video, New Colors and Mitts

Hi, Knitters,

It’s getting cold here, tea-drinkin’, stew-makin’, bundle-up cold. I’ve got a hot mug of Chai Spice tea on my desk as I write. As you know, this is the time when handknits come in handy…

Aran Lace Video

I’ve been a little obsessed with cables and lace lately (for about the last two years). An expert at combining these two techniques is designer, teacher and tech editor and my friend, Stephannie Tallent. Stephannie has a new video out from Interweave Knits unfolding all kinds of useful tips for combining these two knitterly techniques: Aran Lace Knitting.

In a step-by-step format, Stephannie explains and demonstrates techniques like using a cable and/or lace chart, picking the right yarns for showing off your lacy cables, using a cable needle, cabling without a cable needle, swatching, blocking, and all kinds of other techniques to keep you on top of beautiful charted patterns like the one below.

The video also includes a pattern for a gorgeous cables-and-lace cowl. Stephannie really knows her stuff, and this video is definitely a winner!

Aran Lace Giveaway

One lucky reader can receive this video for their very own. Just leave a comment telling us which of Stephannie’s beautiful patterns you would knit first! Giveaway runs through Monday evening.

Gradient Eye Candy

Wow, how exciting! Jess/Frecklegirl on Ravelry put together a Gradient-themed Community Eye Candy page and our yarn is featured!!!!!!! See the adorable pink baby dress? Talented knitter Greenfiber made her Mia’s Dress out of our Wild Rose Corriedale Sock yarn.

What an honor. Everything on the page looked gorgeous! Thanks so much, Jess!!!!!!

New Gradient Stripe Socks Colors

Speaking of thanks, a million to the wonderful Susan B Anderson for hosting a Gradient Stripes giveaway on her blog! She sent a lot of new customers our way and we’re very grateful. Check it out, because right now, you have a chance to win some Manos yarns on her blog! Susie was the very first to knit with the Tropical Sunset colorway (above) and it’s officially released now!

The next new yarn is Blue Skies Ahead, an optimistic mix of cloudless white and saturated blue.

We’re excited to present the next in the House Colors series: Cunning Folk, representing Slytherin with pure silver-gray to aristocratic emerald green.

Last, but certainly not least, Brew Crew! The sunny yellow and cheerful blue works for many school colors, but for a Wisconsin baseball fan, they have to represent the Milwaukee Brewers.

If you’ve ordered Gradient Stripes yarn, we’re making many of them every day, so you should get it soon! If you’ve already got your stripes in hand, please do join us in the Knitcircus Ravelry Group for a Gradient Stripes KAL! (Don’t worry, you can use the original Matching Socks sets too).

I had gotten half of a sock done, then I was leafing through a magazine and saw some lustworthy striped armwarmers. My DH, looking over my shoulder, remarked,”You could make some of those.”

He was right! I could make some just as stripy with the new Gradient Stripes yarn! So I have frogged the sock and re-started a pair of Gothy Gauntlets. I can’t wait to see how they turn out, and I’ll post progress pics in the KAL group.

Happy knitting,

Jaala

New Stripes, New Shop, New KAL

Wow, Knitters,

I’ve got so much that’s new and exciting to share with you! it’s hard to know where to start.

New Shop

First, and very big news to us: we have our own Knitcircus Yarns web store now! You can purchase 100g Gradients, 150g Gradients, Matching Socks Sets and Gradient Stripes Socks right from our site now. Whooo! Big props to Webmistress Cindy for her hard work getting it all prepared for you.

New Stripes

The new Gradient Stripes socks are flying off of our virtual shelves, and I’m dyeing them up as quickly as I can so that you can start playing with them! We sent many, many packages out the door in the last two days, so if you live nearby, you may have your sock sets in hand soon! More are heading out today because we really want you to be able to knit with them.

New Knitalong

We can’t wait to see what you’re knitting, so we’ve started a KAL in the Knitcircus Group to bring everyone together to share and enjoy progress on their Gradient Stripes socks. We’ll have weekly prizes and surprises, and Webmistress Cindy is putting together a list of good sock patterns to use. Just post progress pics in the progress thread to be eligible to win! Note: if you would like to work the KAL with original Matching Socks Sets gradients, of course you can!

Webmistress Cindy has already knitted most of her first sock! She knits fast. She’s using a prototype for the Sand Castle colorway that has a little less contrast in the blue section than the for-sale colorway will.

Susie Anderson’s finished sock so intrigued me that I wanted to try the Tropical Sunset colorway for myself.

Gradient Stripes Giveaway!

Speaking of Susan B Anderson, she’s doing a fun giveaway on her blog right now, in fact, two giveaways for the new Gradient Stripes Socks! She talks about the yarns and shows her finished sock on her video podcast, and has a really creative idea for the giveaways. It’s so fun that she’s doing videocasts now, because Susie’s personality just shines and she’s one of the dearest people I know. I’m so lucky to live near her, but now knitters in far-flung places get to be charmed by her, too!

Bye, Bye, Baseball

In kid news, Lil Buddy’s fall baseball season wrapped up; unfortunately, he hurt his hand right before the last day of play, but still had a blast with his fall tournament team. What a talented and fun bunch of kids.The World Series starts next week, so that will be the last hurrah. I can’t wait to make the traditional homemade caramel corn….

It warms the cockles of my heart that he still wears my handknits in public; above he’s sporting two-years-ago’s Gryffindor hat. 🙂 Belle has a new hat, a variation on the Valentina I made for her last year, but I haven’t gotten to snap a pic yet.

Happy Friday Pet Pics

Of course, I couldn’t have a blog post without including some cute pet pics! Sasha and Squeak are good friends and enjoy napping together when they’ve worn themselves out chasing and play-fighting.

Buppa purchased an early holiday present for Lil Buddy; new ski boots! And Squeak got the box.

Trapeze, Calliope, and a KAL

Hi, Knitters,

Wow, what a day, I have not one, but two new yarns to introduce!

But first, some fall apple-picking fun:

We grabbed my mom, my brother’s family the kids and even Sasha for an afternoon in the orchard last weekend. Can you believe the twins are in kindergarten now?! A good time was had by all, and caramel apples were had by the youngsters. We’ll be making sauce, crisp and maybe some pie this weekend. Does anyone have a favorite apple recipe?

Trapeze Cashmere

Now for the yarn! The first new one is unbelievable; a new 100% cashmere handspun. Fair-trade, spun by a women’s collective in Afghanistan, and probably the softest yarn I’ve ever felt.

At TNNA this summer, I saw a booth with fair-trade cashmere from Afghanistan. They had samples. Just one touch and I was hooked; I knew we had to get some for our wonderful Knitcircus knitters! We arranged with the wonderful women who run this business to get a special, limited-run of worsted-weight 100% cashmere Trapeze yarn, and now we have it just for you!

The yarn itself is so special I had to develop the deepest, richest, most saturated colors. Every single skein is dyed on its own in a batch of one, with several different dyebaths layered over each other to achieve a color with boundless depth. We named them after precious stones that mirrored the colors’ depth: London Blue Topaz and Pink Tourmaline.

To highlight the yarn’s specialness, I developed the London Blue Topaz pattern specifically to make the most of the yarn’s yardage and of course, to arrange around your neck and shoulders so you can feel Trapeze’s fantastic softness and drape.

The shawl uses what I think is one of the most elegant stitch patterns, Dayflower Lace, with a diamond-shaped construction.

Here’s the Pink Tourmaline colorway, a deep, rich red perfect for holiday knitting. (This is the color I kept for myself!)

Calliope: Merino-Cashmere-Nylon DK

Speaking of cashmere, we’re thrilled to introduce another new yarn, but this one will be available all year round! Calliope is 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Nylon , 10% cashmere, in a touchable, delightfully soft and springy yarn. It’s shown here in our new cozy fall color, Mr. Tumnus, and you can custom order it in any of our repeatable coorways. It’s 230 yards in a 100g cake, or 345 yards in a 150g cake.

As part of the Calliope excitement, we’re also now offering all of our sport, dk and worsted-weight yarns in 150-g options, which was only available for fingering weights before.

Silk Moon KAL

We started off the autumn in style with a Ravelry KAL for the Silk Moon Crescent Shawl, now with a new fingering-weight version included in the pattern! I know a couple of people in the KAL are going to work it in fingering and keep on going to make larger shawls, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

The KAL just started, and we have our first weekly winner; Taine on Ravelry got her choice of patterns from my Ravelry Store.

This shawl knits up quickly in either fingering, dk or fingering weight yarn. I made this rainbow one below as my new Silk Moon for the re-release of the pattern and finished it in under a week!

The lovely model in the photos here is Cindy, who joins us in the Lair to help with Ravelry groups, website and finances. She works at beloved LYS the Sow’s Ear and has lots of knitting expertise as well as the talent for creating and maintaining order, which I dearly love and appreciate. Cindy will be participating in the KAL and checking in with everyone every day!

My Silk Moon is in Knitcircus Lap of Luxury silk blend in the colorway Over the Rainbow, which you guys know I can’t stop knitting with.

There’s still plenty of time to join us in the Ravelry group, and the prizes will be getting bigger each week. 😉

WASHCLOTHS for a GOOD CAUSE

Stephanie from Space Cadet Yarns just shared this project by a motivated knitter to send handknitted washcloths to be distributed as part of hygiene packs in Haiti. Good cause, and the time commitment is actually charity knitting I can do!

I’ll be knitting up a washcloth this weekend and hope some of you will join in the good, clean, fun. 😉 If you post a pic of your washcloth in the Ravelry group, or a link to your project, i’ll give away a pattern of your choice as a reward for your good efforts!

Knitcircus Podcast #42

Jaala just came up from the Lair, and Amy’s leaving on a jet plane!

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes

Mentioned this podcast:

Vogue Knitting Live Seattle

Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

Yarn Con Chicago

Shetland Spindrift Yarn

Divergent book

Medium Raw book

Fingerless Gloves Leaves by Valentina Georgieva

Ivy vest by Kay Dahlquist

Adrian

Adriana by Julie Weisenberger

Richard Castle mysteries

Fantastic Fiction

Sarah Wilson/Sexy Knitter KAL

Cookie Crumbs Ravelry Group

Lovely Knitted Lace, by Brooke Nico

Green Gables Knits, by Joanna Johnson

Hitch Giveaway Winner

And Lmecoll on Ravelry was the winner of HITCH: PATTERNS INSPIRED BY THE FILMS OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK, generously provided by editor Stephannie Tallent and Cooperative Press! She’s been notified.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Leaf Lace, KAL’s and Good Times

In the Lair

It’s March, so we have a new featured color in the shop; it has to be green, of course, and my whizz-bang office manager Chris named this soft gradient Lothlorien. We both fell in love with this pale blue-green to deep forest shadows yarn. Available for a limited time on any of the in-stock fingering bases in the shop.

It’s a busy time in the Lair, with much excitement form Susan B Anderson’s lovely blog post; thank you so much, Susie! Have a great time at Vogue Knitting Live Seattle!

And we’re getting ready for new yarn clubs and Yarn Con in just a few weeks, so much dyeing, drying, processing and packaging going on! Amy J and I certainly appreciate Chris’ organization and energy in keeping it all rolling.

Weekend knitting:

As soon as the Olympics wrapped up, my sweater-knitting mojo seemed to wrap up, too. I’ve bound off the bottom of my Argo, but seem to have stalled at the sleeves. In true multi-knitter fashion, I of course decided that starting a small, easily-finished project might jump-start the knitting juice again.

While checking out all of the finished Ravellenics projects, I came across the Fingerless Gloves Leaves wristwarmer pattern, by Valentina Georgieva. What is it about leaf lace that’s just irresistible every single time?

This was a perfect chance to try out a worsted-weight 50-g gradient. I’ve been toying with making these part of the Kniticricus repertoire, and I have to say, it was pretty fun to knit. What do you knitters think? Would you like smaller worsted-weight gradients for matching mittens and such?

This is how much I knit over the weekend; this morning I finished the top ribbing and am working on the thumb now.

And guess what? I posted my sweater on the Team Sasquatch Silver, Bronze and Agony of Defeat thread and got a message in my inbox telling me I’d won a prize; any pattern on Ravelry! Since I didn’t even know there was a prize, what a thrill!

My choice? The Caviar Dress by Yoko Johnston, another Contiguous pattern. Not sure about making the whole dress, but I do love a good tunic-length sweater.

Weekend Fun

I’ve been making this Allrecipes hot chocolate with good success on the many frigid days of this winter. Sunday morning, Belle and I hosted a hot chocolate party for Grammy and Buppa; I stirred the cocoa, sugar and milk, while she whipped up homemade vanilla whipped cream. We set the table with white plates and napkins and felt very sophisticated. One of these days, I’d like to try a hot chocolate with melted chocolate bar rather than a cocoa base.

KAL’s

Knitcircus is honored to support two upcoming KAL’s!

Sarah Wilson, The Sexy Knitter, encourages knitters to find their inner diva with her stylish patterns, and Knitcircus will be providing a prize; a choice of any one yarn from the shop for a Ravelry KAL finisher! The current KAL is for Sarah’s Lonicera Cowl and Grimhilde socks.

We’re also tickled to be part of the ongoing KAL in the Cookie Crumbs group, for fans of Cookie A’s gorgeous sock patterns! Watch for more info about the prize you could win there.

Cool Bag

A sweet treat; I couldn’t resist this little Squirrel project bag, from Knitting by the Mile Designs. She’s got all sorts of fun, quirky fabrics, and if you’re a Dr. Who fan, will find many designs to love! My fingerless gloves-in-progress definitely enjoy their stylish ride!

Take care and knit away,

jaala

Guest Blog Post: Get Inspired and Knit a Sweater

What better way to really dig into the fall season than to knit yourself a beautiful sweater? Our friends at New Stitch A Day are ready to help you do just that with their exciting 30 Day Sweater Challenge.

Literally thousands of knitters have signed up to join in the KAL, starting October 1st. I’m going to do it myself!

If you’re having trouble deciding where to start, Lacie from New Stitch A Day is here to tell us how she gets her sweater knit on.

Get Inspired to Knit a Sweater

I love the idea of making my own clothing but sometimes I’m just not inspired to sit down and get started. I have put some serious thought into what inspires me to create and now I know just what to do to get myself excited again. Inspiration is unique to everyone; one person could be inspired by graffiti, another by the runways of Milan or a fluff of raw fiber. I am going to share with you how I get ready to knit a sweater, but you may become inspired in different ways. I encourage you to take notice of the things that get your creative thoughts popping so when you are looking for inspiration you can turn to them.

Inspiration = Enjoying Life

Generally, when I slow down and take a couple hours to just enjoy life I find myself feeling very inspired. My favorite outing looks something like this: it’s a foggy morning; I grab a paddle board, spend some time out on the ocean. Next, I head to my favorite coffee shop, grab a hot chai and walk over the beach to enjoy the cool stillness and the occasional sound of foghorns coming from the port. I put on my headphones and listen to cello music; it makes me feel like I’m in a movie and there is a soundtrack playing, the more epic the better. I walk past the garden shop and stop to look at the crazy little succulents before grabbing a snack at the cafe on the corner. I sit outside and watch as people walk by. Taking time to enjoy the small beauties in life is almost a sure recipe for inspiration. I get so excited about the sounds, textures and people that I can’t help but want to make something beautiful! I think the kicker is that when I am happy all I can see is potential and an invitation to create.

Inspiration = Creative Friends

When I spend time with my friends I get so inspired by their styles and the little things that make them unique. They are creating and putting things together in way that I would never think to try and it’s contagious! Recently, six of us spent a weekend together and I was so inspired by their creativity and energy that I spent the next three weeks finishing projects and starting new ones. If you need inspiration, spend time with other creative people. It’ll rub off. Hang out at your local yarn store or knitting group or try visiting museums or art exhibits, an open mic, a symphony or a choir concert. If you don’t want to leave your home, look up something that people are creating on youtube (I particularly love watching Agnes Cecile paint. Serious talent!).

Inspiration = Boundaries

This one may seem a little bit contradictory but it turns out that people are most creative when given parameters within which to create. At first this may be a little bit intimidating, but it is a great way to get inspired to knit and try something new. If you decide that you want to knit a sweater but that it has to include Fair Isle motifs, waist shaping and be made in exactly 30 days, your brain will light up with ideas. There is nothing like a good challenge to get you inspired and to work your problem-solving muscles. Try setting boundaries for your next project and see what you come up with.

Inspiration = Pictures

I am a very visual person, so to get inspired I look at pictures. If I have just decided to knit a sweater but have not chosen a style to knit yet I will look through current fashion magazines to see what catches my eye. When there’s not a magazine handy I check out some of my favorite brands (J Crew + Anthropologie) online to see what new things they have that I love! Once I have found a sweater style that I like I go search for it on Pinterest to see more pictures, perhaps people are adding different details or styling differently. Once I have an idea in mind, I try to find a pattern that will help me to make it or begin writing my own design.

Inspiration = Education

The last thing that I do to get inspired is read blogs and books or watch videos online to learn something new about knitting. When I see how something is done, I automatically want a reason to try it. If make a swatch and love my clever new technique then a sweater is obviously the next step! Learning new things reminds me how amazing it is to have the skills to create something useful like clothing!

There you have it, these are the things that inspire me. What inspires you?

Sweater Challenge

If you’d like to learn more about getting started on your next sweater download our free Sweater Planning Guide. This guide talks finding a sweater style, choosing yarn, checking gauge and everything else that goes into planning a sweater that you’ll love! Click to Download

Join us this October as we help 5,000 knitters around the world knit a sweater they’ll love, in 30 days. To sign up just visit 30daysweater.com/knitcircus and download your free Sweater Planning Guide. It will help you get started!

See you in October!

–Lacie Lynnae (Vasquez) is a model and knitwear designer you may have seen on the cover of KnitScene Magazine. Her modeling career has taken her all over the world including New York, Brazil, and China. She currently works as a house hair model for Vidal Sasoon and is the in house knitwear designer for the Yarn Craft Academy. She is also a guest instructor on New Stitch a Day and will be joining Fiberstory TV as co-host.

Design Competition and Prizes

The Sweater Challenge will be followed by a Design Competition with original designs using the 30-Day guidelines and some pretty fantastic prize packages. You could win a Sweater’s Worth of yarn from Knitcircus! The 1600+ yards of fingering-weight Aerialist yarn makes a gradient sweater for a deserving designer.

I’d better get swatching for my sweater…

Take care and happy knitting,

Jaala

Corrina Shawl Pattern Release and KAL

The Corrina Shawl pattern is now available, and will kick off this year’s Summer of Shawls KAL! Last year, we had a wonderful group of knitters participating, and some fun prizes, so I hope you’ll join the party. We’ll have three newly-released shawls, one each for June, July and August.

The Corrina Shawl was created for the Knitcircus All Wrapped Up Yarn Club, to use one skein of fingering-weight handpainted yarn, approximately 420 yards. It would be a perfect stashbuster for a subtle or not-so-subtle handpaint. The constant increases for the crescent shape minimize color pooling, and the simple dropped-stitch lace pattern makes it fun and achievable.

Want this shawl, in these colors? There’s a limited number of Corrina Kits available in the Knitcircus Yarns shop! Kits include a printed pattern in plastic sleeve, a skein of Pixie Dust yarn in the Andromeda colorway shown, and a mini-skein of Knitcircus Aerialist yarn, just for fun.

The shawl was knit in Knitcircus Pixie Dust fingering, USA-made superwash wool/silk/nylon combo, so you can choose any Pixie Dust skein from the shop for a similar subtle glittery effect, or use any fingering-weight stash yarn you’ve been saving for something fun.

Please do join the fun in the Corrina Shawl Knit Along Group on Ravelry, where we’ll have prizes and surprises throughout the KAL!

The Knitalong runs from June 1 to July 15th, plenty of time for this one-skein shawl (maybe even one for you and one for a friend…)

New Pattern: Juniper Lemon Shawl

Two new shawl patterns in a week?! This seems crazy! But it’s a happy kind of crazy…

I had such a great time knitting up both this and the Red Sumac Shawl, and hope you will, too.

The Juniper Lemon Shawl was inspired by a delicious flavor of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream I got to try at TNNA. Maybe I should try to track down some more flavors and do a whole series! Multiple tastings would be in order, just to make sure I got them right…

This design was created with some of my favorite knitters in mind, the Silk Crescent and Balm to the Soul KAL knitters; it’s kind of a combination of the triangular shawl construction of Balm with the periodic increases of Silk Moon to give it a nice, shallower silhouette.

The lace edging uses the same construction as Balm to the Soul, which means that there are increases on each side of the lace pattern. Juniper Lemon begins with one of my favorite knitting techniques, the Garter Tab Cast-On, to make a crescent-shaped starting row. The shawl uses 440 yards of fingering weight yarn, so makes a fun stashbuster.

The Juniper Lemon Shawl pattern is available for $4.50. I hope you’ll join us in the Juniper Lemon Shawl KAL group on Ravelry, for a chance to hang out with fellow Juniper-Lemon knitters and win fabulous prizes, too! The KAL runs from August 15th to October 1st, and you can join anytime!