Have one pair of socks in progress at a time!
Last weekend I finished off the second pair of Ric Rac Socks from The Little Box of Socks. After that I took a critical look at the two pair of socks that had been languishing in my knitting pile. I made myself be honest about why I had been leaving them sitting for so long. It turned out that there weren’t any excuses, I just ended up not liking that patterns once I got started.
If I am completely comfortable giving up on a book I’m not enjoying because I know there are thousands of other books out there waiting for me, why do I get all worked up thinking about abandoning a project? Particularly one as small as a sock. The other justification for ripping out the two pair of socks is that I …

I’ve decided that Friday should be an inspirational seque into the weekend! Check out this spectacular project at Painted Threads!
Just what I need to keep in mind as I do some of my fall cleaning!! When I find little bits of yarn and fiber I can set them aside for felted balls! That and the audio book of Master and Commander makes for a lovely weekend! <

Remember the Portland contest I posted a few weeks ago? Sorry about the delay in picking a winner–we had lots of great entries, and I got sick last week, so it was a double whammy. We had so many awesome ideas suggested that we ended up choosing the top 10 entries and then drawing a random one from those. The lucky winner is Gwyneth who posted the following suggestions:
1. The Armory Theater in the Pearl District
2. Pix Patisserie on SE Division
3. If you can do outdoors, the Beverly Cleary statues in Grant Park
4. New Seasons or Whole Foods, esp produce sections
5. Bridgeport Brewery in the Pearl District, if you want to start a brewery series
6. Ecotrust Building in the Pearl District — bonus: get pizza at Hot Lips
7. Ace Hotel and its tenants: Clyde Common, Stumptown, Kenny & Zukes and the Cleaners event space
8. Again, if you can do outdoors, …

According to our very official poll results, 79% of you are knitting at least a couple gifts this holiday season. If any of you gift knitters are on a budget, you might appreciate our Knit 1, Give 1 kits. Each of the kits marked with this logo on the product page…

…contains enough yarn to make more than one item.
So for example:
You can knit ornaments as gift tags or make one for each of your aunts, uncles, and cousins with the Tidings of Joy kit.
Or knit accessories for the little girls on your gift list with just one Belle of the Ball kit.
Both colorways of our Modern Classics Christmas Stocking kit make more than one stocking.
The Clock Tam kit makes more than one so you can make a hat AND a clock (or 2 hats…or 2 clocks…).
And the Learn to Knit Gloves kit makes more …

Five more inches and I will be able to join body and sleeves!! That is quite an incentive!!
Thanks to a staff meeting this morning I was able to finish the second sleeve up through the increases. Now all I have is simple knitting around and around for the last five inches. I have to say that the windy, rainy weather we are having today is ideal for knitting. I started my day knitting by the fire since I didn’t have my computer at home. I think it would be an excellent idea to end my day in the same way. But, I’ll exchange my sock for the sleeve of my Classic Lines Cardigan (CLiC). <

Last year when Brooke Higgins designed Sheldon’s career costumes, she also made him a cute little Santa hat. When Melissa was working on the design for Grumpy, the lump of coal, we realized that if she knit the hat out of Palette instead of Shine, it would be Grumpy sized instead of Sheldon sized. Well, that got us thinking… What if you knit the same pattern out of Andean Treasure? Or Gloss Lace? Or Suri Dream? So we all started knitting Santa Hats out of different yarns. It turned into a bit of a race.
Melissa threw down the gauntlet and knit her hat out of Palette for Grumpy in only 52 minutes.

Stacey tried to beat her, but clocked in at 1 hour using Swish Worsted.

I knit my City Tweed HW hat in …