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Several people I know and love are going through cancer right now, and I am sending all of them all the love and hope that I can their way. Some are facing chemo, some radiation, and some are doing alternative therapy. All are worried, scared, and hoping the treatment does its work. 32 years ago, I too went through cancer and chemotherapy. I was young and living in Denmark (which has a fantastic socialized medicine system - it works so well, I wish that the U.S. would take it as a model - but that is a topic for another... Continue reading

For a while I felt I had lost my knitting mojo. Deadlines and non-stop stressful knit-related thoughts will do that to you! But now that I've got a little breathing space... the mojo has been creeping back and my fingers have been itching to sing with the needles once again. What better project to ease me back to knitting fitness than petiole? I love Miriam Pike's designs, and this one is my favorite so far. It's sophisticated and homey at the same time with a graphic quality that appeals to my design side and a leafy shape that appeals to... Continue reading

Recently life has been throwing me quite a few curveballs. Someone very near and dear to me was diagnosed with cancer, family members have been ill, and home life has gotten a few complications. All of this has meant that blogging went right out the window. Most of this stuff is back on track now, we continue to hope and send love to those in our little world who are needing it. And in the meantime, I launched my second magazine! Skein Theory came out early in October and we are proud, proud, proud. Like a mama duck whose ducklings... Continue reading

hmmm... good lesson. Typepad changed the colorspace of the original jpg. Continue reading

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If you got a weird message from my assistant Miriam, it's probably Miss Marple laughing at you.... This is what happens when Miriam goes home. Continue reading

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Spent a day on the coast this weekend, trying escape the heat. It was downright frigid in Yachats, I was sorry I didn't bring a jacket! But we saw lots of beautiful scenery and flowers, and some industrious summer workers... Continue reading

Lookie, lookie! These just arrived today. The Sock Report is now available in print! You can purchase it at your LYS (they can order it from Unicorn Books) or you can purchase it directly from us. It's also now available on Amazon . Yipee! The price for the print version is $16, same as the online version, plus shipping. So for those of you who like to have copies in your hands... here it is. The print run is done, but the full shipment hasn't gotten to us yet, so there is still a delay of perhaps a week if... Continue reading

Here at Rustling Leaf Press World Headquarters we all cram into a single basement office where we run hard on our little hamster wheels bringing you the best in knitwear. Every once in a while we need a break though and when it's not a tea break or a cat-petting break, it may as well be a garden break. In my dreams I am a great gardener. My garden looks like a cross between an English cottage garden and Hendricks park. In reality my backyard is a tangled forest of weeds, trees and shrubs that are threatening to eat my... Continue reading

Thank you to everyone who came and voted for Mr. Lonely Sock last week! We are now that much closer to have Mr. Lonely Socks date all sorted out. Last weeks winner was Lara's entry #3: "Sultry cashmere sock seeks solemate for walks in the park, cuddling up cables by the fire, and ribbing on the go. Decorative heel flaps are a plus! Acrylic's need not apply." Her sock will go onto the finals with all the other contestants. This week the lovely hopefuls are: 1. Sock, reappeared from black hole, all alone, wants partner for friendship, symmetry and sense... Continue reading

I've gotten a little obsessed with Chris deLongpre's Pocket Pals! This pattern is so quick and fun, it's kind of like potato chips. You can't stop at just one! And they're super easy too. I was totally in love with the owl, so the owlie had to come first. This cutie pie made a great, super fast, baby shower gift! He's so cute I just want to pinch him! I used felt discs for the eyes since I didn't want any babies chewing off the buttons. I then moved on the the mice! Even when I followed the pattern wrong... Continue reading

For those following us, we have tallied the votes from last week and the entry that will go into the finals is: "Knee High Seeking Solemate Beautiful and strong knee high looking for knee high to go the distance with. Are you warm and cuddly, maybe even a little cashmere in your blood? Do you love long hikes in the winter and cuddling afterward? Do you want to have a drawer full of anklets to call your own? Put your best foot forward and let's get a leg up on making our dreams come true!" In this installment of the... Continue reading

When we launched The Sock Report at the beginning of June, we put up a fun little contest; reply to our Mr. Lonely Sock ad. Mr Lonely Sock got so many replies, he is having a hard time making a decision. Please help him figure out who will end his lonely sock existence. To help him, we will post all of the sock personals here on our page 5 per week. Each entry will have a number, in order to vote leave the number(s) in the comments. Whoever has the highest number of votes will move on to the next... Continue reading

Right before I left for TNNA, a new family member came to stay with us... meet Miss Marple, a grey haired lady who likes to stick her nose in everywhere! Miss Marple came to us from a former owner who had named her Poly, because of her lovely mittens, also known as polydactyly. I named her Miss Marple because she loves knitting and yarn.... She likes to help And she's a good investigator. She's not afraid to stare you down... And, of course, Miss Marple always gets her man. Most of all, she's sweet and friendly and smart, and just... Continue reading

The beautiful photography really helped make our first issue of The Sock Report lovely. We don't all wake up and shoot gorgeous snapshots though, there is primping, and ironing and driving to locations involved - truly glamorous stuff! Before our professional photographer arrived, we went out and scouted our locations and did preliminary photoshoots, in some cases 2 or 3 prelim shoots at the same location. All of the locations featured in the first issue of The Sock Report were in or near our home base of Eugene , Oregon. The beach shots were done at the Heceta Head Lighthouse... Continue reading

Whew! As you can imagine, it's been a whirlwind over here at The Sock Report World Headquarters since we launched The Sock Report. The response has been overwhelming and fantastic, and I just want to thank everyone who took the time to email me from the bottom of my heart, you all make it so worthwhile! We have been living with The Sock Report for 6 months now, and we have become intimately acquainted with every possible nook of the magazine. So by the time we launched we had no perspective left. It's so great to see that, in fact... Continue reading

Today is the last day of May. That means something special..... Continue reading

The Sock Report now has a home on Ravelry. This is where we'll have KAL's host our ravelympics team and answer questions about each issue. We're planning lots of fun things on Ravelry! Today's contest is another guesser. Can you guess which sock yarn this is? To enter your guess and take part in the random drawing from among the correct answers go here. Good luck! Yesterday's winner was Maaike! Congratulations - you win a complete collection of The Sock Report, vol. 1 Continue reading

The Sock Report now has a home on Ravelry. This is where we'll have KAL's host our ravelympics team and answer questions about each issue. We're planning lots of fun things on Ravelry! Today's contest is another guesser. Can you guess which sock yarn this is? To enter your guess and take part in the random drawing from among the correct answers go here. Good luck! Yesterday's winner was Maaike! Congratulations - you win a complete collection of The Sock Report, vol. 1 Continue reading

When The Sock Report launches in the next week, you'll be able to view and purchase the patterns online. But we also have a print version debuting in late June. That version will be less like a magazine, and more like a pattern booklet and will be available in yarn shops across North America. If you're a yarn shop, you can order the booklet directly from Unicorn Books. It's 96 pages of beautiful patterns to use with sock yarn. Today's contest is another question. Winner will be chosen randomly from among those who respond. Who (besides Janel of course -... Continue reading

Although it has "sock" in the title, The Sock Report is not just about socks. Yes, we have socks in there! But we also have shawls, scarves, sweaters and toys. There are so many things you can do with sock yarn that it's kind of mind boggling. Sometimes a sock yarn just begs to be something different. So even if you're not a sock fanatic, the sock report probably has something you'll love to knit. And everybody loves sock yarn, right? Today's Sock Yarn Countdown Contest is actually a poll rather than a quiz. We'd like to know, do you... Continue reading

Here at The Sock Report we love our yarn, we love our customers, and we love designers! We work with independent designers and we feel strongly they should be compensated fairly for all the hard work they put into creating a design, writing a pattern and making sure it works. That's why The Sock Report pays a royalty to the designer on every single sale we make. So knitters can feel assured that when they purchase a single pattern, or an entire collection, from The Sock report, they are supporting the livelihood of an independent designer. We feel good about... Continue reading