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FUN STUFF!

Websites for fun/useful items:

• Glasspens.com  Handmade glass knitting needles, glass crochet hooks & buttons. 
• Lighted Knitting Accessories (ebay store)
• Random Stripe Generator
• Island Girl - darning tools & Nostepinnes hand-turned from post-Katrina wooden debris.  Nostepinnes are used to wind center pull balls. Ordering info is on her blogspot

FUN STUFF/IDEAS SUGGESTED BY MEMBERS:

• Don't like the color of your yarn? Heather C introduced the guild to Kool-Aid™ dying during the August 2010 meeting.

• Margy R. loves her “knit'n'spin” to hold her yarn in place while knitting. You can email   orders@aloomwithaview.com with questions.  The wood options are maple, cherry, poplar and walnut. They also have a few “mystery wood” which have been stained a deep rich red, very pretty. Height options are 5 inches and 7 inches.  If they have the combination (height/wood) in stock, they send it right out. If not, they make it and ship when it's ready, usually about two weeks.  Betsy Martin, A Loom with a View, 31R Pleasant Street, Newburyport , MA 01950 ( 978) 463-9276  

• Rena M. purchased a great plug-in box light from JoAnn Fabrics to set on her lap and light her knitting from underneath - she wanted something portable like it for travel & found the battery operated closet lights work great!  You can find them for about $3 at Michaels & other shops!
• Carol H. says Wren Ross' knitting CD is great!
• Ginny Z loves her ice pink knitting bag from Lands' End.   Lands End calls it a "large tailored tote diaper bag" but Ginny was wise enough to spot a great knitting bag when she sees one. It has lots of compartments, organizing pockets, easy clean, great price - comes in different colors too.
• Per Kate B: I love my PDA (Personal Data Assistant). It is a Palm IIIc. It's a pretty old model now, but does everything I want it to do. It has a color display and 8mg of memory. I've downloaded quite a few programs for it and still have about half the memory left. Software that comes with it includes; an address book, calculator, Datebook, Expense report, and email feature (which I haven't used), memo pad, and to do list along with other stuff to make it all work. At first I thought these things were expensive calculators and address books, but I use it all the time.    I have 3 knitting programs I use on it: KnitAble, CountAble(both from HandAble.com), and eKnit-Kards(from Nancy's Knit Knacks), a couple of games, and a data base called Smartlist which I highly recommend. I also use a program called ewallet to store a bunch of confidential info. I started putting recipes that I was always misplacing in it. Instead of having lots of pieces of paper to keep track of I just put everything in the Palm. I bought mine used from a coworker who was upgrading their model.
• Toni K's photobook:  Toni uses a small bound booklet of nice handmade paper to document her knitting projects. Use transparent photo mounting squares to pop photos into the book. Write notes on the page about pattern, gauge, needles, yarn info along with a sample of yarn & maybe who the item was for. She gives lots of items as gifts on the condition that she receives a photo back of the receiver wearing their gift. Toni advises this is also a good way for beginners to see their knitting history, admire their finished projects and see how they've improved!

• Valuable Knitting Information Book -  Carol Hurt recommends this book which is one of the most extensive yarn interchange references available (info on over 13,000 different yarns!).  It is updated twice a year.  Another option for this type of info is:  Yarndex.com

KNITTING IN THE NEWS

• Suggested by Kate B:

  On November 18th London's Ministry of Sound played host to the 2010 .net Awards. Ravelry beat out Facebook and Twitter as Community Site of the Year. Knitters rule!

• Suggested by Amanda Y:  
  The Red Thread Project: An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. Chinese Legend of the Red Thread. This spring students from six local elementary schools will be participating in The Red Thread Project®. Based on a Chinese proverb that describes how an invisible red thread connects us all, the Project is a community art endeavor where students create art while performing a community service. It visualizes a community’s interdependence through the making, connecting, exhibiting and distributing of handmade hats.  
      In February, 2011, artist Lindsay Obermeyer, who created the project, will teach students at St. Roch, Kehrs Mill, Wyland, Brown, Ames and Valley Park Elementary School how to knit hats with looms and yarn provided by Springboard. Through Lindsay’s stories of adopting a child from Romania, the students will realize how much the actions of one person affect another. They will together in the classroom, helping each other make the hats. The will be asked to think together -- who would benefit from their hats? Children with cancer, those without warm clothes, perhaps a St. Louis charity? Each hat the children make will be unique and will represent their creative effort, concern for others, and a desire to be part of the greater community.
      On April 16th, the students will invite their parents and school communities to Laumeier Sculpture Park to learn about the project and hear stories of community by Springboard storytellers. Students will demonstrate how to make a hat and share stories about the ways they are learning to respect and value each member of their school community. By May, the students will be finished with their hats. Lindsay Obermeyer will return to St. Louis and lead the students in a Dance of Hats. Wearing their hats, the students will be led through a series of simple movements while they are connected to each other. After the performance, the hats will be exhibited at school and then given to the charity of the students’ choice.
      To get involved in this project, you are invited to join us at the Springboard office on January 28, 2011 @ 10:00 for a crash course in using a round loom. Volunteers are needed to help Lindsay Obermeyer teach the students how to knit the week of February 7th and to help connect the hats April 18th - 20th during the school day at the various schools. Download a volunteer form here.
      If you would like to assist us with this important project and can attend the meeting on January 28th at the Springboard office, please RSVP to Dina DeMasi at (314)289-4130orddemasi@springboardstl.org.
  Websites: TheRedThreadProject.com and Springboardstl.org