Jessie At Home
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That’s a wrap, check the gate.

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September, 1997: my first day on set as the wardrobe intern for CBS’s show Early Edition. Kaye Nottbusch, the costume designer explained “check the gate”: Scenes are shot by location, lights, camera angles; not in chronological order. Once one angle is done, and all the takes needed are finished, you hear the phrase “check the gate.” This refers to checking the camera to make sure no debri got in which could ruin the shot. If anything is found (a hair, a speck of dust, anything) everything since the last gate check needs to be re~shot. This almost never happens. It never happened in my time working in film. If the gate is clean, you move on. “Check the gate” can be uttered many times throughout the day, depending on how many scenes need to be shot, and from how many angles; but at the end of the day, that last call of “Check the gate!” is what everyone is waiting for.

There’s a little trivia for you.

So 2013, all wrapped up. It has been amazing. This little blog of mine increased it’s daily views by 10 times in the first few months, and then tripled that number in the last few months. I have actually been recognized in person from my blog on several occasions, and not all of them were at the knit and crochet show!

The CGOS/TKGA Knit and Crochet Show…wow. Just. Wow. I was not expecting that. I was hoping to maybe earn a place with one of my entries in the Design Competition, but I did not realize where that would lead. Now I have this amazing mentor (Hi Andee Graves!) and these amazing designers and editors who actually know me, and like my work, and believe in me. I have sold several of my designs, which you will start seeing very soon. Don’t worry, there will still be free patterns here on the blog, and I will still sell some of my designs independently on Ravelry, Craftsy, and Crochetville; but now you will also find some of my patterns on other sites, and in magazines. It’s all a bit crazy and surreal.

Octie-with-a-ribbon-CGOA-2013Pin

I keep waiting for the gate check. What if it’s not clean? I don’t want a to have to do it over, I like this take.

just a note ~ There were a lot of other wonderful (and some not so wonderful) happenings this year outside of my blog/yarn endeavors, they were all important, but I could go on for days about how amazing my kids are, how proud I am of my husband, how badly the Paterson, NJ teachers STILL need a contract, don’t even get me started on politics, but I didn’t want to go on forever, and the big happy this year is me finally finding where I fit.

Where I fit. My corner of the sky. As a theatre kid, that means something to me. Many a night I sang myself to sleep:

Everything has its season
Everything has its time
Show me a reason and I’ll soon show you a rhyme
Cats fit on the windowsill
Children fit in the snow
Why do I feel I don’t fit in anywhere I go?

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

You get the idea. It’s been a long journey, and I have looked in more corners then I can count. Who would have thought, that exiting the very empty Charlotte airport late on October first, I was about to find MY corner.

Empty-airportPin

There is still a long way to go. I am no where near my goals yet, but I finally know I will get there. I finally know what kind of goals to set. No more wondering if this career will be the one that I keep. This one works. It doesn’t keep me from my family. It is so much fun. I am good at it. I am GREAT at it. I love it. Doug and the girls love it. And the people. Oh the people. The amazing woman and men in this industry are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. They are REAL. I love them all.

So, yea, I am happy. I hope you all are happy too. 2013 was an amazing year for me, one that I”m sure I will look back on as a turning point for the rest of my life. Now to build on that and see what amazing places we can go in 2014. It’s going to be a fun ride, I hope you will join me.

That’s a wrap, check the gate.

The gate is clean.

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