I will be ripping out my knitting and starting again with 6 inches fewer stitches. So, my new number will be 160 stitches. I’m taking off just a few more stitches to play it safe.
I will knit a couple of inches and try it on for a second time! Yep, then I will be sure that everything is fixed. <

Angela knit a Wool of the Andes bunny nugget as a catnip toy for her cats, and I’m a little jealous. She did let me snuggle with it during my nap today though, that was nice.

She said she got the pattern on Ravelry for free. It would make a good Easter present for someone, don’t you think? (hint hint).
There is also a very clever pattern for a seder plate for Passover on Ravelry.
I don’t actually play with toys much, but I can see their appeal. And who doesn’t love presents! I hope you have a Happy Easter or Happy Passover this weekend!! <

I had a lovely chat with Cookie that will be my podcast on April 29th. To prepare for the interview I carefully read through Sock Innovation and it is such a fantastic contribution to the knitting world.
Just looking at the photos of Cookie’s intricate socks can be intimidating. I know because that was exactly my reaction. “Why in the world would I knit socks with that much textural detail?”
Well, I read Cookie’s book and did a complete 180! Then I talked with her for the podcast and I’ve not only decided to join the Sock Innovation Knit-A-Long but I am going to knit the Lindsay socks with Gloss Parsley using Harmony DPNs. I love the beauty of the Harmony needles and I don’t think I want to have two of Cookie’s socks on a Magic Loop at the same time. A bit too mind-boggling since her designs often mirror each …

Two weeks ago, Angela and I both saw the new craft documentary “Handmade Nation” at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in downtown Portland, OR. The movie explored the lives of indie crafters and the DIY movement, and there were tons of crafty-folk in attendance. They had a kiosk set up for people to take pictures of themselves showing off their handmade goods, and they later published all those photos to a Flickr stream.

That’s me! I had a two-fer, since I was wearing my Tempest sweater and a scarf I made out of my handspun (Ravelry link). The lighting isn’t the greatest, but I’m just tickled that they posted photographic proof of my attendance.

There’s Angela! Her lighting’s much better, so you can see her linen-stitch scarf (Ravelry link) in Imagination.
If you’d like to see more crafters sharing their projects, …

Note: If you’re just in it to win it, scroll down and read the bold print.

I think it’s something that’s happened to every knitter. You put hours into knitting a present for someone- picking the right yarn, finding the perfect pattern, knitting, ripping back, knitting again (maybe that’s just me). In the end, you think you have the most perfect gift ever created. You just know they are going to LOVE it. And then they open it… and….nothing. No squeals of delight. No bear hugs of appreciation. All you get is, an “oh gee, thanks” and then the knitted item you toiled over ends up in a drawer or the bottom of a closet.
Despite the heartbreak, some of us just can’t seem to stop ourselves. We feel compelled to knit things to give away. The staff here at Knit Picks feels your pain, and …

This is the OpArt Baby Blanket from Fall 2008 Knitty. I immediately fell in love with it because not only is it not overly baby it appeals to the graphic design side of me. At the time I wasn’t pregnant but knew that was part of the upcoming plans so I kept it in the back of my mind. So when we did get pregnant and we finally found out it was going to be a boy, I knew this was the perfect blanket and seeing as my husband is a huge GA Bulldog fan I was able to make him happy by picking red and white, still high contrast and kind of like a candy. Anyway, the original pattern was knit up in Swish DK but being that this is a July baby and I know I won’t block it everytime …

Since Earth Day is coming up, this week we’ll be featuring some Reduce/Reuse/Recycle tips on the Knitting Community.

Here’s a video tutorial on how to recycle old, worn-out t-shirts into soft cotton ribbon yarn. All you need is a t-shirt that’s been through the laundry recently and a sharp pair of scissors. I’ve been thinking about making a bulky mat for the laundry area in our garage. I’ve been looking at patterns like Absorba (Ravelry link) from Mason Dixon Knitting. The sample swatch in the video was knitting up at about 3 stitches to the inch in garter stitch, which would work perfectly for the pattern and also let me put all of Dan’s ancient grubby white t-shirts to good use!
I also think this could be a good project for teaching a beginning knitter, since the t-shirt yarn is bulky and you remove the whole “Oh, but I’m not good at …

Our grand prize winner of the POW! contest is Kate Palmateer. Kate wins a copy of Handknit Heroes and 7 skeins of Wool of the Andes in the color of her choice.
The two runners up who will each receive a copy of Handknit Heroes are Marta and Darlene M. Thompson. Congratulations!!!!
All three winners have been notified by private message.
And thanks to everyone who entered, reading about your superhero powers was really fun! <