Whew! Now that it looks better, I’ll show it to you…. When I took the photos of my Apres Surf Hoodie on Monday, I placed the body strategically so you couldn’t see the sides because I was embarrassed by how the sides looked. Early on, I had decided that I didn’t want to deal with increasing and decreasing in pattern while I was knitting in the round, so I started at the hem with an extra 8 stitches in stockinette at each side. These stitches got decreased out to the waist, then increased back in to the bust. And, they looked terrible!
I’m glad the bottom side sections of stockinette are there because I will use them for the steeks for the side vents, but the side stockinette sections at the bust height were just plain ugly. Soooo, …

Wow – it doesn’t feel like I knit all weekend. I had time to work in the yard, start sewing a blouse, go to a movie with a friend, plus do all the normal weekend catch-up-on-housework stuff (oh, except go to the grocery store; I didn’t do that), yet, I was shocked this morning when I laid the sweater out and looked at how far along it is! The lace pattern is so easy and fast (plus I’m knitting it in the round, so I don’t have to purl the WS rows!).
What I’m doing different from the pattern:
1. Knitting in the round.
2. I won’t be doing the I-cord edging at the hem or cuffs because Shine Sport is a little thicker and more substantial than the yarn originally used for the pattern, and I don’t fancy the idea of having a tube of knitting …

Do you remember the evening before the first day of school each year, when you laid out all your brand new school supplies, and organized and reorganized them, and couldn’t wait until you could use the crayons for the first time on the clean white paper? That’s how starting a new knitting project is for me every time. I usually stay up late collecting all the supplies and skimming through the instructions to make sure I’m not missing anything so I can start in earnest the next day.
The Apres Surf Hoodie from the new Summer 2008 Interweave Knits caught my eye. I’m going on a trip this summer, and I think this lightweight hoodie would be perfect to take along – to wear that is, not to knit, which means I need to get going on it!
I think Shine Sport will be a good …

Hi all,
I’d like to get your opinions about bamboo fiber for yarn. We’ve been researching bamboo and bamboo blends to see if we can add bamboo to the Knit Picks yarn line up. So far, we haven’t been satisfied with what we’ve seen.
Bamboo fibers are relatively short, which means that 100% bamboo, unless it is super tightly spun or in a ribbon, tape, or other special construction, sheds a lot. The fibers don’t pill because they don’t have the scales or barbs on them that animal fibers do which causes them to cling to each other. Rather, bamboo just develops a pretty thick fuzzy halo quickly and with very little abrasion.
Bamboo is commonly blended with other fibers, probably to help minimize the fuzzing issue, but also to lend bamboo’s positive attributes to the other fibers. Sheen like silk but less expensive, relatively cool to wear, and it does have antibacterial …

Mr. MuddyBin, our rolling composter, wishes you a happy Earth Day.

Tonight’s celebration includes a viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth” – my husband still hasn’t seen it, and he thinks I just like it because I have a crush on Al Gore.
I also thought I’d share something interesting that I learned this week about Shine Worsted and Shine Sport. I knew that both yarns contain Modal, and I knew that Modal is a cellulose-based fiber that’s smooth and shiny. What I didn’t realize, until writing a tutorial for the Knitting Community, is that Modal has a great eco track record. It’s made by an Austrian company, Lenzing, out of beech wood harvested from local tree farms that practice sustainability. The byproducts from Modal production are used in a number of different industrial applications – for example, the leftover wood sugars are further refined to make …

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we’re having a “pot(luck) at the end of the rainbow”. Doesn’t everything look delicious? Alison baked that bread from scratch. I had no idea she was so multi-talented!

In addition to wearing a green sweater and gorging myself on bread, vegetable pie, red pepper and asparagus curry, strawberries, and chocolate, I’ve decided to get into the spirit of the day by making a list of all our green yarns. I love making lists. Here we go.
Lace weight:
Lost Lake Heather (Shadow)
Moss Heather (Alpaca Cloud)
Tide Pool Heather (Alpaca Cloud)
Fingering weight:
Green (Palette)
Mint (Palette)
Grass (Palette)
Ivy (Palette)
Verdan…
Terrain Twist (Essential)
Lily Pad Multi (Essential)
Meadow Multi (…Woodland Sage (Gloss)
Arugula (Felici)
Grass (Risata)
Sport weight:
Cilantro Heather (Telemark)
Rosemary (Telemark)
Pesto (Telemark)
No…
Grass (Shine Sport)
Green Apple (Shine Sport)
Moss Heather (Andean Treasure)
DK weight:
Lime (Crayon Boucle)
Spumoni (Twist)
Moss (Merino Style)
Asparagus (Merino Style)
Key Lime (Cot Lin)
Moss (Swish DK)
Asparagus (Swish DK)
Grass (Elegance)
Worsted weight:
Pampas Heather (Wool of the Andes)
Thyme (Wool of …

It’s moving day at the KP office. Actually, what was moving day is dragging into more of a moving week or two. We’ve got a LOT of stuff.
“Now where in the world are they moving to?”, you might be asking yourself. That’s a fair enough question. And it’s kind of hard to explain. See, this used to be Tina’s office downstairs,

but now she’s in this office upstairs.

And all of KP used to be downstairs right here,

but now they’re moving upstairs into this room,

and almost everyone who was in that room is moving to this room,

except for the few random individuals who belong to no specific department and are being peppered liberally throughout the building where ever space allows.
I think it’s …