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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