Tecno Technique Blanket Class

So I've begun work on my newest endeavor: The Tech Square Afghan by Joanne Clark. So far I've made three of the sqaures and I am having a blast playing around with the different techniques! I especially found the travelling stitches tree square to be quite addictive. Here's a picture of the first square in the book:



I'm knitting it out a wild combination of colors from the wonderfully bright palette of Sheep Shop Yarn Co's Sheep One - this is going to be a bit more colorful than the example shown in the book.

I'll be teaching this book at a monthly "block party" class at knit-one-one in Berkeley and I'm really excited about it. I think this is just the kind of class that I, the type-A knitter, would have loved to take as each square teaches you a different technique. Plus, we'll get to nosh on Sile's shortbread so you can't go wrong there. If you live in the area, I'd love for you to join us! It should be a blast!

Brenda Dayne - the new homeopathic no-doze.

I have recently made an incredible discover - knitting podcasts! Oh, I know, I'm waaaay behind the times - most of you have probably been on board with Cast-On, Lime & Violet and Stash & Burn since the beginning, but I never really figured out how to make them a part of my life. For those of you in the know on my life, you're already aware of my recent expansion of time on the road, but I'll fill the rest of you in. I'm into my second season on the road as a Yarn Sales Rep. This is the best job ever, but I do have a hard time dealing with extreme waste of time that driving seems to be (and there's a lot of driving now that I go up to Oregon and Washington in addition to my home territory of Northern California). After all, there are many things that one can add knitting to that make them feel productive - tv watching, doctors office waiting room visits, family gatherings, etc - but unfortunately I have just not figured out a safe way to knit and drive.

Thanks goodness for Brenda Dayne - this genius of the podcast has held me captured to her tales of knitting and her antics with other podcasteres the world over. If you haven't gotten on board with Cast-On, I strongly advise you to give it a try. This is not your typical knitting podcast - it's downright professional. There are all kinds of knitting podcasts, and I'm sure that everyone has their favorite style, and it's quite possible that I may amend my *favorites* status for no apparant reason at any moment, but I am very Type-A and I really appreciate how planned and organized her podcasts are (I can just imagine her ticking off the boxes alongside her outlined show-notes and she goes through the cast.)

Here's my dilemma - Brenda has now entertained me for 29 episodes (which is nearly 29 hours of driving time) and I feel as though I owe more than a blog-post as gratitude. She has a donation button on her site, and I feel like it's time for me to contribute to her art. So what I'd love to hear from you is - how do you show your appreciation for such great free art? Do any of you have a "per-cast" formula for donations?

While I'm waiting, I'll see if I can't at least add a link to her podcast on my blog.

Meet my new boyfriend, Oregon.

Did you know that attendants still pump your gas for you in Oregon? Seriously, it's either 1985 or the good people of Oregon are just that good. Either way, it's like you always have a boyfriend in Oregon - because in my dream-1985-reality a good boyfriend would pump your gas for you.

Ahh... Oregon. Bestill my beating heart