Hello again, lovely knitters!
I hope everyone had a great week, and a fun Halloween. I spent this past weekend in Santa Fe, soaking in the Southwestern sun and gazing at golden aspens – and teaching knitting, of course.
In knitterly news, I finished the last sweater sample for the next Ultimate Sweater Box on the plane. Now, I’m pulling together the remaining details:
This Box will be a November one: I’ll reveal it and list for purchase soon, and they’ll all ship toward the end of the month. I’m so excited about it, I’ve worn this cardigan a few times to knitting events and everyone has loved it.
Some News.
Those of you who have been following me for years know that until 2013, I balanced my knitting activities with a full-time career in computer security research. I loved lots of things about leading a large research portfolio, but my favorite was the creative dance of getting teams and pieces in place to solve a bigger problem than any one person could solve.
In September, an old friend reached out to me with a really special opportunity to rejoin the corporate world in a strategic, organization-problem-solving role. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m super happy with what I’m doing. I’m excited about this company I’ve built, I love soaking in the connections knitting gives me to all of you, I adore hearing your stories and helping change the way you approach your projects. Blending my creative side and my technical side to make software that I’m proud of, and seeing thousands of people use it. This is amazing.
On the other hand, I’m faced with a truly one-in-a-million choice. One of the (many) things that running Amy Herzog Designs has taught me is how to run a software organization that’s super-lean. We still don’t have a full-time coder on this project, and I’m able to keep small updates regularly going out to production as well as make steady progress on really big new features. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of.
This new role focuses on helping lots of really large companies achieve the same kind of software development quality and efficiency that I have with a super-efficient, tiny team. It feels like such a perfect next step in the evolution of my career.
So I’ve done a lot of thinking, talking to people, and soul-searching since September, and I’ve decided to take the opportunity. Next week I’ll join Pivotal Software‘s Systems Advisory Group as a Director of Platform Architecture, working with a bunch of different teams to make software work better for the people who use it and the companies who make it.
What this means for you.
One of the nice things about working in tech is that it’s really common for people to have side-gigs, so Amy Herzog Designs is staying right where it is. I’ve got a fun set of improvements planned for CustomFit:
- Continuing to improve the infrastructure around the account structure and make it easy to navigate where you need to go;
- Expanding the engine to produce different kinds of patterns, starting with cowls;
- Then, adding hats and other sweater constructions;
- Expanding the kinds of pattern formats you can produce with the site, and the support for mashups.
That’s about a 3-year list of features at the rate we’re currently going, and I’m confident about our progress.
Some things will mutate and evolve, of course. The new gig requires a bunch of travel when I’m not working at home, so I won’t be accepting any new weekend teaching gigs. (I do have a handful of events on the books already, and I will be doing those.)
I’m not likely to do much deadline work (e.g. magazine designs and articles), but I will keep designing and knitting, and sharing them with you.
I’m excited to continue to share and chat on social media, though I may not always see your responses right away. (Ditto for email – I’m still going to be answering the inbox, though wait times might increase.)
Honestly, it’s possible that not much will change from where you sit – your subscriptions, your patterns, our conversations online will all still be there and work just as they do today. But it felt wrong not to share this news with you.
I’m (still) so excited to knit with you.
I can’t thank you enough for your kind words, beautiful sweaters, interesting questions, and friendship as I’ve walked this 7-years-and-counting journey. While my 9-5 life might be evolving, our knitting together? Is full steam ahead.
Amy Herzog Designs