We’re always working on something new around here, and lately one of the projects has been a group of new Knit Picks tools. For the first time, we’re focusing on tools – making improvements to the old faithfuls plus developing a couple of brand new things. One of the main improvements you will notice is that the prices will be much lower – yay! You know it already – that we work directly with the factory, cutting out the middle man, thus keeping prices low. But one thing you may not know is how much fun that is. It means visits to the factory, which I got to do last week.

Here I am in Taichung, Taiwan at the factory showroom to approve samples:

Sheldon went with me. Here he is inspecting a set of double ended crochet hooks designed for knitters – for fixing mistakes and doing crochet edges. They look perfect!

The date’s not firm yet, but you’ll see these tools in the catalog and on the web site in early spring 2009. If you want to be the very first to know when they’re here, sign up for our e-mail.

The business part of the trip went so well that I had a little time left over to be a tourist. Meg and Vicky were my gracious guides for a walking tour of a very old part of town. We had a progressive lunch of street food along the way – yummy! My favorite was the almond powder on shaved ice, or maybe it was the steamed bun with pork and onions inside, or maybe the noodle soup, or maybe…….

We met lots of friendly lions:

And, Sheldon was excited to get reacquainted with a long-lost cousin:

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