Feed Aggregator (or in other words an easier way to read a blog-feed)

Notorious Sock Knitters | February 28, 2008
By Tinker Tots

I’ve been installing (and removing) a lot of Feed Aggregators trying to find a ‘good’ way to read the blog. For those that may not know, a feed aggregator takes your RSS feeds and gathers them all in one place. Bloglines is one such application. I think I’ve found a good stand-alone application that other people might like to know about.

It’s called SharpReader (http://www.sharpreader.net/) and it is free. While it is not as gorgeously pretty as some, it does have one really great feature–it threads comments to the original post. This means you can subscribe JUST to the main feed (not the comments), and yet within the listing for each original post, it will gather all the comment posts in order.

Sadly, the program doesn’t magically tell you when there are new comments, but it is very easy to peek in the thread you’re watching from time to time, and the newer comments show up with bold text. I’m still finding it to be a wonderful way to keep up with our blog. I hope other people find it useful, too!

once upon a time

Designer's Corner, Notorious Sock Knitters | February 27, 2008
By adrienne in the bellybutton of california

there was a yarn.  it was sent to me by the lovely tina. it was meant to be used for a sock which was named “clueless #1″. but alas, the yarn did not want to be THAT sock. it striped! it fought with the pattern. “no, don’t make me”, it screamed!

so, stripey yarn, what do you want to be when you grow up? you need to be something special.  the more i looked at the stripes, the more i thought that it would be fun to “play” with the stripes. maybe a simple lace to make the stripes go zig-zag. who wants plain stripes when you can have wild, fun stripes?! i found a simple lace and used the stripey yarn.  YES!  “serendipity” was born.

original “serendipity”

“serendipity” was originally knit with a heel flap and gusset (because i am that kind of gal) and a wedge toe. but the sock lost its cute stripyness over the gusset area. what to do?! ah, the voices in my head said, “short row heel”. yes, that will work. then i looked at the wedge toe. it was “ok” but kind of plain compared to all the fun striping on the foot. the little voices popped up again. ” how about a cute little star toe? ” why! it even looks like a little “bellybutton”!

original wedge toe on left; cute little bellybutton toe on right

after that, i sent my little baby to tina who worked her color magic on some yarn. i didn’t know what colors tina was going to use or what the colorway would be called. i waited but didn’t hear from tina in like forever (ok, maybe it was 2 months, anyways it seemed like forever).  “tina, the kit!  tell me about the kit!”   i saw the final product in the early weeks of january. be still, my heart! tina had used chinese new years for inspiration! “dragon dance” and ” serendipity”!  it was meant to be.

i have enjoyed following your adventures through rockin’ sock club land.  and i am thrilled to pieces when i see your pictures of “serendipity” and your lovely comments.

p.s. i know a lot of you were skeptical about combining lace and stripes. yes, the lace is hidden by the stripes but the purpose of “serendipity” was to play with the stripes; not the lace.

…and yes, i am of chinese heritage!  gung hay fat choy!  may the new year bring you good health,  prosperity, happiness, and all kinds of fibery goodness!

Anybody?

Notorious Sock Knitters | February 27, 2008
By Twinkerbell

Just wondering if anybody else out there has seen the new Blue Moon Fiber Arts ad in the new Spring 2008 Interweave Knits edition? Also just wondering if this will be a new color study like the Raven series?

A little help with directions for star toe, please….

January Kit Questions | February 27, 2008
By Ann Foultz

I am a little confused by the directions. I understand where to PM for beginning round well enough, than knit 2 rounds even, ok, got it. But….It says star toe starting with round 4 shape as follows. OK….it tells you what to do for the first 3 rounds for the size large, then jumps to all sizes starting at round 4. What about the first 3 rounds for size small and medium? Is there something missing from the directions? ETA by Alice

Star Toe confusion

JANUARY KIT QUESTIONS | MARCH 07, 2008By JaneLindbergI have survivied thus far but now I’m confused at the start of the toe -  I am knitting the medium size and have 33 and 36 stitiches  (total of 69 stitiches) and after completing Round 4 I have 3 left over stitiches and don’t know what I’mn supposed to do with them.  What’s gone wrong?? The math just doesn’t work out. Please help.