A half-million LOTS and LOTS of views. Thank you, I am humbled

Today, TECHknitting reached a major milestone--a half-million LOTS and LOTS of views since inception. Thank you all so much for coming by. I am humbled by your patronage.

Edited 9-8-10 Actually...

Further investigation reveals that the number of page views is actually far higher than a half-million (something to do with what page/s the stat-counter counts). It is now estimated to be more than 1 million views, and maybe even more than 1.5 million?!? eep.

If it seems like things are winding down here at TECHknitting, don't believe it for a second. There are tons of projects taking place backstage here--mostly test knitting and development of patterns for small shaped things, such as gloves. Like the new Tulips buttonholes, some of these patterns have been in development for years and years, so a big push came on this summer to try and make some progress. And, of course, the series on style and body shape is "to be continued"--it's at a standstill now (too many other projects) but lots of new illustrations have already been done and these should come out this fall.

Also coming out this fall will be an article in Interweave Knits, winter edition, on how to install zippers with absolutely **no** sewing. It's all very hush-hush at the moment, but I'm hoping you'll like it--this new procedure will make zippered knitwear a breeze, instead of the sewing chore it presently is, and all will be revealed in due course.

So, thank you dear readers, for making TECHknitting a stop on your internet rounds and staying to visit for a while. We'll talk more soon.

Have a great rest-of-the-summer.

--TK

Felted Mitten Tutorial in Knitcircus e-Magazine

The new issue of Knitcircus e-magazine is out, and contains a tutorial by TECHknitter (hey, that's me!) for making felted mittens, as part of the fall pattern collection.

Here's the link.

These kids' mittens are very easy to make--very forgiving of mistakes. Although made by hand, these are actually superior in performance and durability to high-tech winter fabrics. The "alien eyeball" pair you see with purple cuffs are quite used: they were worn as the only hand-coverings for two entire winters by an active boy, here in the frozen north of Wisconsin before being photographed! Now outgrown, they are still good for further wear by another, smaller child.

There's just one little error in the pattern presentation: The e-magazine (which contains a sort of a catalog for the pattern download) indicates that the mittens are made with Blue Sky Alpaca, but they are not. The actual pattern in the download correctly identifies the mittens as being made with either Ella Rae Classic/Ella Rae Superwash worsted-weight yarns or Dalegarn Hielo /Falk DK weight yarns.

--TK