Bonus!

It’s not secret that I like a cup of coffee (or twelve). And I’m pleased to report that Portland, Oregon, seems to be my kind of town. The residents of Portland, seemingly, love coffee as much as I do. There are excellent coffee shops on every block. I had terrific cups of coffee wherever I went: at Grand Central Bakery at the legendary Stumptown Coffee heck, I even had good coffee at the convention center. Yes, there is a Starbucks at the Oregon Convention Center, although apparently they ran out of coffee on the first day. I will only take partial responsibility for that – there was also an Open ...

As Knitty’s technical editor for socks, I get to talk to a lot of knitters and designers about sock patterns. The number one question I hear from designers and knitters is how to size socks. When sizing socks, foot circumference is the key measurement. For the vast majority of sock designs, the length of the foot is controlled simply by working fewer or more rounds in that section- totally independent of the number of stitches you cast on. The challenge is that information about foot circumference is very hard to find. When sizing shoes, foot length is the primary measurement; and so all of the information out ...

It’s been a few weeks since our last knitting contest. Let’s remedy that right now! This time, the prize is a copy of the brand-new book, Silk Road Socks, by Hunter Hammersen. [Winner’s choice of print or digital version.] You can peek inside at all the sock patterns on the book’s Ravelry page. The Knitalong has already started, and you’ll find it here. Here’s how to win: leave a comment to this post by Monday, January 24, at midnight eastern time, and you could win! We’ll choose a winner at random, make them answer a  skill-testing question, and post the results next week. Prize ...

You might want to today. I’ve lived in Canada since I was 6 [aka a long, long time]. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October when it’s usually barely cool outside, with leaves on the trees and jackets optional. I’ve never gotten used to it. My first 6 years imprinted Thanksgiving time into my brain as what it is now in November in the northeast: a real bite in the air and leaves on the ground. Winter is definitely coming. So I’m feeling very Thanksgivingy today, even though it’s business as usual over here in Toronto. Everything’s open, airports only crowded on the way out of town. ...

When last I blogged, I’d caught  you up about halfway on our recent trip to the UK and France. The first half was a real treat, being driven around in a luxury coach with really nice knitters and a tour guide I’m still crushing on. One of the bonuses of this trip was that it took us right across the path of our good friends Brenda and Tonia who live in West Wales. So we planned to stay with them for a few days after leaving the group. We haven’t seen each other since the Sea Socks cruise in 2008, and we missed them! Here they are in Tenby, one of our favorite places on the trip. I love these women. ...