Just like we wish that peace on earth wasn’t only on Dec 25, we’ve decided to extend “Earth Day” to at least an “Earth Week.”
Katie made these awesome rear view mirror hang tags and/or a placard for your dashboard to help you remember your reusable grocery bags. By the way, that’s the first time I’ve ever used the word “placard” did I do it correctly?
I went digging through those dark, sad recesses of the cabinets around the printer and found a bunch of abandoned file folders. I literally had to wipe the dust off of them. I cut one side of the folder to 8 1/2 x 11 and stuffed it in the printer. It worked! Then, since I work for a knitting company, I threaded a tapestry needle with yarn and stuck it through the top and Viola, hang tag! I’ll keep …

I took a quiz online this week to find out how green my diet is. It turns out that since I don’t eat meat, I’m going to prevent 165,000 lbs of CO2 from polluting the environment in my lifetime! Crazy!! Since I eat a lot of vegetables, I’ve also been trying to do my part by getting my veggies locally whenever I can. Christy and I went to the farmer’s market in downtown Vancouver last weekend, and it was tons of fun walking around and seeing what is in season.
Last year, I belonged to a CSA (community supported agriculture), but this year I’m going to try growing some fruits and vegetables myself. You can’t get much more local than your own backyard, can you?

Here is my little raised bed with my broccoli, kale, and spinach starts. I’m giving the square foot gardening method a …

We’ve received several questions about the development of City Tweed and especially how we chose the colors for the DK and HW (heavy worsted) lines, so we thought we’d have a little fun and film a short video about it! <

I only took yarn and instructions for the Lindsay sock on vacation this last week. We had family with us so I didn’t think there would be much time for knitting. The airplane trips to and from Mexico provided lots of focused time. While we were in Mexico I became quite fond of the Quiver I bought at the Aurora Fiber Festival the weekend before we left. I could easily knit and watch grandson, Fritz, crawl around.
During the flight from San Diego to Portland I began the garter stitch short row heel. I love the stitch design so much that I decided to make the socks knee high. That means a bit more knitting but it is worth it. It took just a few rounds for me to memorize the lace pattern and feel comfortable toting the sock around with me. As usual, it came along when we went out …

Here’s a pic–the project looks nicer than my gloomy pic shows

Actually I finished it this weekend while watching the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, “30 Days of Night” about vampires that attack an Alaska town in winter. I was alone and it was dark and I was gripping my needles with all my might.
It’s quite a bit smaller than the original tote pattern called for because, well, I’m short. I made the the body about 10 inches instead of 12, and I made the handles shorter. And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I accidentally knit it wrong side out–the bottom panel has the “wrong side” on the outside of the bag, but I’m ok with it.
I’m very, very happy with it. I promptly threw it on the floor in the back seat of my truck, so I’ll always have it when i go …

I don’t think it’s a big secret that Sheldon is my favorite turtle ever.

Obviously, I’m not the only one who is enamored with the little guy, our kits for his career outfits and animal costumes sold out much faster than we’d anticipated! To keep up with the demand, we’ve now released all 9 of the patterns for Sheldon’s costumes as free downloads. You can easily access all 9 here, or you can look for them on the free patterns page on KnitPicks.com.

Happy knitting! <

I confess that I have not ever been happy with short row heels on socks. I love the concept but the execution left a lot to be desired. Well, it left a row of tiny holes going up the heel no matter how carefully I wrapped.
Thanks to my podcast interview of Cookie A. and reading through her book, Sock Innovation, I have been intrigued by her mathematical mind. I suspected that her designs would be things of analytical beauty. Thanks to the Sock Innovation KAL, I’m happily exploring Cookie’s sock patterns.
I finished the short-row heel on my Lindsay Sock and it is absolutely fantastic!!! So easy! I am back to loving this heel style. No issues of picking up heel flap stitches and shaping a gusset.
Isn’t it a lovely thing? …