We are painting and re-carpeting one entire floor of our building. One section each weekend spread over a month. On top of that, we are moving departments around as well. That means that nothing will settle back down until the middle of January. What chaos!

And then there is my “interesting” new office. Down near Marketing and Knit Picks. Lots of energy and enthusiasm! It was meant to be a conference room so I will need to pick out some furniture, etc.

Then I saw this and couldn’t resist snapping a photo!

Little knit creatures that aren’t quite “finished”. …

Actually it arrived on Monday but our office renovation has left me so exhausted at the end of the day that I couldn’t do anything other than read and rest every evening. This morning I not only woke up ready to bond with my new little friend but I was determined to learn how to “Navajo Ply on the Fly”! More about that later.
Let’s start with the comfortable feeling that came back amazingly quickly! Remember that my “crushed” spindle was a Golding Aromatherapy Spindle. I loved it but I decided that I wanted to replace it with a Golding Celtic Sheep spindle. The same size and pretty much the same weight so I shouldn’t have any trouble starting back up with my sock yarn spinning.
Love, love, love Golding Spindles!! And, I am so grateful to Abby Franquemont for my finally truly appreciating the joys of spindling. Look at me!! All …

Ready for Part 2 of the holiday radio play Miss Eiderdown’s Stocking? Here are the links to the files – you can right click and select “Save Link As” in order to download each part.
Part One (in case you missed it)
Part Two (available now!) <

Hi Everyone!
Have you all listened to parts 1 and 2 of Miss Eiderdown’s Stocking holiday story?
When I listened to the story, I was inspired to knit a special Christmas stocking of my own. We released a Miss Eiderdown’s Stocking pattern, knit with Gloss HW, and I designed duplicate stitch charts so you can add a design after you finish your stocking. There are charts for a snowman, a snowflake, and an evergreen tree (with falling snow). Can you tell I was inspired by the snowy Christmas we had in the Pacific Northwest last year? It’s also easy to add your own design. Write your name across the top. Or find a neat Fair Isle or cross stitch chart and duplicate stitch that onto your design. Or add duplicate stitch to any of your existing knitted projects.
Duplicate stitch is an easy was to add colorwork to your knitting without using stranded …

As modern knitters we are blessed with a potentially mind-boggling array of new methods for knitting.
For centuries knitters used Double Pointed Needles (DPNs) for knitting small circumference items like sleeves, sweater necks, mittens, etc. But, with the advent of circular needles, knitting with two circular needles became another method.
When Socks Soar on Circular Needles came out, we had quite the civil war in the building. I, for one, completely converted to knitting with two circulars.
Then, Bev Galeskas wrote The Magic Loop and I embraced that method. I prefer to think of myself as an early adopter rather than fickle.
Since then we (knitters) have seen dozens of new books focusing on using one, or all three methods to knit socks. Here is where the confusion begins.
“How do I convert a pattern that is written for DPNs so that I can knit using the Magic Loop Method.” Or, “I much prefer knitting …

We are heading into the third week of renovation chaos in the office. Thankfully my office space is shaping up nicely and I’ve been able to be productive all day! What a nice change!
The problem is that Xena is not at all comfortable with boxes in hallways, strange men walking around pushing big, heavy carts and people in new spaces! When she does find someone in a “normal” space, she demands attention. Kate offered some love and comfort.

When all else fails, she jumps into her bag – the ultimate comfort!

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Can you believe that Christmas is only 10 days away? And Chanukah is already here!!

I’m 90% done with my holiday knitting, I have a few more ends to weave in, and two edges to reinforce with crochet, and then I am DONE! I think I’m going to make it, but if I don’t, at least I have these cute downloadable IOU’s as a back up. It’s nice to have a contingency plan.
I’m planning on including our printable care labels with my knitted gifts this year (my sister accidentally felted the cowl I made her last year, oops!) and while I’m at it, I’ll probably use the gift tags that match.
If I have extra time, maybe I’ll even knit Grumpy or Lumpy as package toppers out of stash yarn. Don’t you love holiday freebies? How’s your holiday knitting coming? …