Stewart Ordered to Prison by Oct. 8

Martha Stewart must report to prison in less than three weeks, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in granting the lifestyle entrepreneur’s request to begin serving her sentence for lying about a stock sale. Her namesake company’s stock surged 12.5%.

The judge also suggested that Stewart, 63, be assigned to prison camps in Danbury, Conn., or Coleman, Fla. -- the two Stewart had requested.

Stewart was allowed to stay out of prison while she appealed her conviction. But she said last week that she would surrender anyway in order to “reclaim my good life” and put the ordeal behind her.

The Oct. 8 surrender date means Stewart probably will be out of prison by early March -- in time, as she told reporters last week, for spring gardening. She must serve five months of house arrest after prison.

Stewart was pleased with the judge’s decision, a spokeswoman said.

“She remains hopeful that she will be designated to Danbury, which is the facility closest to her home,” spokeswoman Brooke Morganstein said.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons must now decide where Stewart will serve her time. Her first choice, the minimum-security facility in Connecticut, is close to Stewart’s home in Westport.

Shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., Stewart’s media empire, rose $1.64 to $14.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.