Dec
Seven can’t miss stocking stuffers
Posted by Emily in UncategorizedIn my house growing up, it was always my mom who got stocking stuffers for everyone. Poor Mom ended up with the results of a December 24th drugstore run by my dad and me, consisting invariably of emery boards, a tooth brush, travel-sized toiletries of various ilks, and small candy. In her case, the problem was confounded by a very skinny stocking, but that’s another story.
To help out the beleaguered husbands and kids of knitters who celebrate Christmas, here are seven can’t miss stocking stuffers.
| 1. Tape measurer. $9. The most popular is the chicken, though my personal favorite is the pig. Why? Because you can always use another tape measurer. |
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| 2. KA bamboo mini crochet hook. $2. Yes, it looks silly. But, it is the single most perfect tool for picking up dropped stitches. |
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| 3. Fish, stork, rooster and rabbit scissors. $7. You can never have too many sharp little thread snippers around. |
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| 4. Zephyr Style stitch markers. $15 - $22. Lots of styles, including “Sexy Knitters Club,” holiday themes, and new lettered markers to use with the Cat Bordhi book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. |
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| 5. Needle gauge. $2. It’s a ruler. It’s a needle gauge. It’s in metric and America. The only thing it can’t do is your taxes. |  |
| 6. Frabjous Fibers felted notions bag. $10. Handmade in Nepal. Because knitters have lots of notions and they have to go somewhere. |
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| 7. The Knitter’s Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements. $5.95. This handy, laminated pamphlet by Interweave Press gives yarn yardage requirements for all the most common projects in multiple sizes and gauges. |
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Dec
Seven can’t miss gifts
Posted by Emily in UncategorizedHanukkah is over, but Solstice, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are still to come. Here are seven can’t miss gifts for the knitter or crocheter in your life. Feel free to send this link to a friend/bookmark it/print it out and leave it conspicuously laying about for someone to find…
| 1. Ball winder. $40. Usually paired with… |
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| 2. Umbrella swift. $75. One of those things you can get by without, but don’t really want to. Which makes it the perfect gift. |
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| 3. Lantern Moon needle case. $19-$36. My husband got one of these for me our second Christmas dating. Clearly I was impressed… |
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| 4. Jordana Paige bag. $90 - $115. Three styles to choose from - Bella, Knitter’s Satchel or Knitter’s Messenger Bag. These have a place for everything a knitter wants to pack along for the ride. |
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| 5. String Along Yarn Caddy. $20. Local designer. Keeps your yarn nice and tidy and, if necessary, safe from pets. |
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| 6. Yarn Traveler bag. $22. Local designer. Cute fabrics and the perfect size for a pair of socks. |
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| 7. Gift certificates. Always the perfect size and color… |
Sep
warm and fuzzy
Posted by Shannon in Uncategorizedwanna make a sweater? wanna make an easy sweater? wanna make a SEAMLESS sweater? we’ve got the class for you at twisted. a top-down sweater class, completely seamless, knitted in the round in aran weight wool, this is a quick, easy, and relatively painless knit. great for curling up in on those chilly winter nights, for skiing or snowboarding in, for giving to that special someone in your life…
Saturdays, Oct 6. 3:00 – 5:30 pm; Oct 13 and 27. 3:00 – 4:30 pm.
Sep
knitmap
Posted by Shannon in Uncategorized
we all do it: google “knit shops” when gearing up to take a trip. (we also usually pack about a hundred times more yarn and projects than we could ever need, but let’s not go there today, okay?) wouldn’t it be great if there were a one-stop website with a complete database of knit shops, AND where you could search for exactly those qualities that matter most to you? well, folks, let me tell you, there is. and it is called knitmap. and it is fabulous.
we are living in an electronic age. we twisted chicks are dependent on our blog, our website, our computers for much of the day-to-day running of the shop. we communicate with customers and vendors via email and blog posts, have an electronic newsletter, and discover new and exciting products via the web. as knitters and crafters, we find inspiration, camaraderie, humor, on knitblogs throughout the world. we join knitalaongs, we compare yarns, needles, projects, techniques, books, you name it, it is discussed on the internet. we can find out pretty much anything we need to know about knitting, crochet, crafting, at any time, day or night, on ye olde internets. sometimes we even make life-long friends through our computers, friends we may never have the chance to meet face-to-face. we are living in a brave new world, crafty folk, and it is getting better every day.
for those of you who have come in to twisted, or are keeping up with shop progress electronically, you know who the yarn traveler is. 
she makes the amazing oilcloth project bags that we have a hard time keeping on the shelves (particularly the lil’ sock monkeys). well, she is also 1/2 of an amazingly talented couple, and, along with her other half, has come up with a pretty darned incredible new website. knitmap. it’s a social mapping-type of thing. her boy and his creative partner had designed something similar a while ago, a happy hour search site called unthirsty. this inspired the talented and creative stacy to have one of those “aha!” moments.
the result is, as jem would sing, “truly outrageous, truly, truly, truly outrageous…”
not to mention easy to use, practical, and cute, to boot (just look at those lil yarn balls, people).
stacy is having a whole slew of contests over at knitmap - giving away yarn, her project bags, and other fun fun things. head over, check it out, add some shops. and, the next time you go on a trip, after packing enough underpants, your toothbrush, and waaay too many knitting projects, make sure to map out the most important part of your trip - the knit shops - on knitmap.
Jun
Car talk
Posted by Emily in UncategorizedCar Talk is one of my favorite NPR programs, and that’s saying a lot as I’m an NPR junkie - pretty much listening to it every waking moment. I also have warm memories of it being on the radio every Saturday morning growing up. In any event, I got a huge kick out of their puzzler this week… because it’s about knitting! Well, sort of. They’re not quizzing listeners about how to do intarsia or aran sweaters or anything. But, I think it’s a good example of how knitting is taking over the world!
Click here to read the puzzler, or here to listen to it in Real Audio player (if you’re on a PC).