KNITTING’S SEAMIER SIDE
Too good not to share immediately. Not everything that can be knit should be knit. Proof positive of this.
GALLERY – SOX, TACO, AND MORE
I promised a while back that I’d post pix of finished projects done from the patterns here, on wiseNeedle, or adapted from The New Carolingian Modelbook. I’m tickled to say that I’ve gotten pix from a couple of people recently.
First there’s Frieda, who worked up these little blues from the Tiny Sock pattern I posted here on String. She’s got a red one artfully posed on a present, too. Very cool!
This kiddie-size Taco Coat was done by Dana. She took the general principles of the thing, then invented her own. Great job!
I hope I’m not breaking blog-etiquette by posting the following links, as I’ve been too lazy this afternoon to write and ask permissions from the various original posters. But I’m posting links to the sites themselves, not pirating bandwidth, so it should be o.k.
Works from TNCM patterns can be found in several spots.
- Two handkerchief borders in blackwork embroidery
by the very accomplished Lady Ethelind of Darkwind Keep (an SCA member from Caid) - A magnificent blackwork panel, worked by Linda. Very nice!
I’m also wildly impressed by these knit things:
- See Saw Socks, knit by Marilyn (a pattern I sold long ago to KnitNet, that has been reprinted by them twice)
- Jelly Bean Toe Ups, also knit by Marilyn – pattern here
- The Knitting Geek took the basic texture pattern from my See Saw Socks and adapted it for a beautiful lacy scarf
- Impossible Socks done at a human gauge, knit by Katherine (who in an amazing coincidence, happens to be the highly talented mom of an old friend) – pattern here
Since I’m in this for fun not money, my biggest thrill is seeing what my pattern "children" are up to out in the real world. If you’ve ever knit or stitched something inspired by a work I’ve published, please let me know (and make my day). If you’d like me to post a picture or a link, please let me know, or leave a comment below.
FOR THE COOKIE CHALLENGED
Heading out to a friend’s house and need a hostess gift? Is that friend someone who makes you feel like your own cooking skills are limited to opening a jar of peanut butter? You CAN make something edible that they’ll love, and you CAN do it with minimal skill. (Purists may object to using frozen puff pastry. They can make their own. I do it when it really matters, but for this the frozen kind is a useful stand-in.)
Cinnamon Nut Ears
Here’s what you need to make about four to five dozen cookies. Enough for a generous looking pile on a plate. If you need fewer, use only half the box of pastry, half the sugar and cinnamon, and half the nuts. Although you’ll end up using only a bit for brushing, you’ll still need to crack one whole egg, as at last report chickens have not yet learned to lay halves. (Note that precision on the ingredients here doesn’t matter much, so don’t worry if you’re not spot on.)
One box of frozen puff pastry from the supermarket’s frozen desserts aisle.
1/2 cup of sugar, plus a bit more set aside for sprinkling
About 1 cup of shelled nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds – it doesn’t matter), chopped up fine.
One egg, cracked in a little bowl and beaten
About 3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
At least one cookie sheet or flat pan. Two if you’ve got them.
A spoon
Baking parchment (looks like waxed paper, but is meant to go in the oven. Supermarkets carry it.) If you can’t find any DON’T use waxed paper, instead smear the cookie sheet with butter or shortening.
A rolling pin, large dowel stick, or cylindrical glass.
Medium size mixing bowl
A knife, preferably serated.
A flipper or spatula to turn the cookies over
A rack or heat-proof surface on which to cool the cookies
1. Take the box of pastry out of the freezer about a half-hour before you begin.
2. Turn on your oven to 400-deg F.
3. Make a spotlessly clean, large clear spot on a countertop or very large cutting board.
4. Sprinkle some sugar on your clean spot.
5. Take the first puff pastry sheet out of the box (there will be two, packaged together). Gently ease it open and flat. Try to keep it from cracking along the folds. Sprinkle some more sugar on top.
6. Roll it out until it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Try to keep it roughly rectangular and untorn.
7. Take a bowl and mix together the nuts, a half cup of sugar, and the cinnamon.
8. Paint the dough rectangle with the egg.
9. The bowl of cinnamon/sugar/nut stuff is enough for both puff pastry sheets, so figure on using only half of it in total for this first sheet. Keeping this in mind, liberally sprinkle your dough with about half of the amount you’re contemplating using on sheet #1.
10. Fold the bottom edge of the dough up to the center line. Fold the top edge of the dough down to the center line.
11. Sprinkle about 2/3 of the nut/sugar mix you’re reserving for this dough sheet on the resulting long thin folded dough blob.
12. Repeat step #10 to make an even narrower log.
13. Sprinkle the remainder of the nut/sugar mix across the top of the log.
14. Fold the log in half and pat it a bit so it stays in a log shape.
15. Using sawing motions instead of squishing motions, cut the log into slices roughly 1/4 inch thick.
16. Put a some parchment paper on the cookie sheet and place the slices on it. (If you don’t have parchment, grease your baking sheet by rubbing butter or shortening on it, then put the cookies directly on the pan.
17. Bake the first sheet of cookies in the 400 degree oven for about 4 minutes. At the end of 4 minutes flip the cookies over and bake them for another 4 to 5 minutes. At the end of that they should be lightly golden and stiff. They may still look a little bit soggy, but they’ll crisp up provided they’ve lost that translucent, doughy look.
18. Slide the whole sheet of parchment to a rack or heat-proof surface to cool. (This is one reason to use the parchment, otherwise you need to pick up the cookies one by one to put them on the rack to cool, plus the baking sheet will need to be washed before you put batch #2 on it).
19. After the cookies are cool, you can sprinkle them with confectioners sugar (highly optional) then put them in a box or tin, or cover them with plastic wrap.
See where one’s missing from the photo?? That’s the odd shaped one from the very end of the roll. That’s the taste test portion reserved for the cook. (It served its function.)
Variation:
A savory as opposed to sweet cousin of this is to do pretty much the same thing, but dust the board with flour, but instead of stuffing the dough log with cinnamon and nuts to use lots of grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese (or a mix). A sprinkling of some type of herb or garlic is good, too (but optional). I like to serve this unsweet cheesy type of toast with soup and a salad.
LAST OF THE HOLIDAY KNITTING; GENETICS
One last scarf to go. Since (at this point) I’m brain dead and desperate for something quick and easy, it’s a great thing that Knitty’s latest came with a fast-knitting piece that offers great bang for the time unit investment. Add me to the legion of folks doing up a Wavy Scarf.
I’m using that same sport-weight alpaca I used for the Kombu I finished last week. Because it’s of finer gauge than the standard-issue worsted written up in the pattern, I’ve added an additional six-stitch pattern repeat to make up the width. Mine is done on 48 stitches instead of 42. I’m also visually lazy, so I graphed out the pattern so I don’t have to rely on the prose write-up. Note that if you want to use a different weight yarn, modifying the thing is quick and easy – either add or remove multiples of six stitches.
In other knitting-related news, most of my knit presents are winging their way cross country right now, or are about to be distributed to those nearby. Once this scarf is done I’ll be done, done, done. (Huzzah!)
Cookie Liberation Front
Today’s cookie was an experiment – a coconut/oatmeal drop, based on a standard brown sugar drop cookie recipe, with toasted oatmeal and unsweetened coconut tossed in. Since I had some whole blanched almonds left over, each was topped with a nut. Younger Daughter said the rough-shaped cookies with almonds atop them looked like birds nests, so that is now their name.
Tomorrow’s cookies – Chocolate rounds stuffed with marzipan. I haven’t decided to do them flat or folded in half like little chocolate/almond gyoza yet. Also another experiment, but this one will be a shortcut cheat. I’ll be taking a sheet of frozen puff pastry, painting it with a beaten egg, then spreading it with sugar, cinnamon, and chopped pecans, folding it a bit and cutting it into elephant ears. Pix for sure, as this is something impressive looking even the Cookie Challenged could do.
Genetic Component of Crafting?
Marilyn the Knitting Curmudgeon posted an interesting thought the other day (one of many for her, I might add). She mused about whether or not the urge to do something like knit or make other crafts might have a genetic component to it. That got me thinking…
I’d guess that there would be a large inborn aspect to the desire to do these things. But I think there’s more than one influence at work here. To simplify, I’d guess that there are at least two:
- Some set of things governing the process that generates original ideas
- Some set of things that governs the "gotta-do-it" urge
I know people who have a strong concept-generation bent. They fairly sweat ideas, finding new viewpoints or perspectives, synthesizing disparate influences, or distilling previous exposures in innovative ways. The most affected of them sometimes have a hard time sticking to one idea long enough to bring it to full fruition, and may not have even mastered all of the skills necessary for optimal completion, but neither limitation strikes them as a problem. A person like that is off and running, captive to the next idea before the earlier one is completed.
I also know people who have the "gotta-do-it" urge, but the idea generation set in them is less strongly manifested. They are in constant motion, producing endless streams of items verbatim from directions or patterns. They often have extremely accomplished sets of technical skills, but can be stymied by roadblock problems. I have a friend who would seize upon an idea and explore it in hundreds of minute variations. She’d make wonderful little toys or identical baby sweaters by the dozens (in the case of toys – by the hundreds). All were beautifully crafted, yet it often seemed that once she started, "retooling" to make something else was difficult for her. She’d hum along happy to make even more of the item under current exploration rather than switching to a new thing. For her I think that fulfilling the "gotta-do-it" urge to keep busy was the true reward.
And then there are the folks who have both influences working on them in various proportions. Some feel particularly pressured or depressed because they have an inexhaustible source of new ideas and the urge to see each through to completion, but rarely have the time available to accomplish them all. Others are at constant war with themselves, reining in their urge to start something new before the item at hand is completed, and (sometimes) growing to hate the almost-finished item for blocking the beginning of the next.
Why do I think this might be genetic? Because I’ve seen these urges run through families. Not every person in the family need have the exact same hobby, but the mindsets do replicate through the generations. I know my father was a very compulsive "gotta-do-it" guy. Detail oriented in the extreme, he was a classic definition engineer. He never just sat still, he was always reading something, tinkering with something, or meticulously graphing something (he would have adored PCs and spreadsheets but died before they were sold). I know families where the parents or grandparents are method makers or idea shedders. Their households are sometimes chaotic places, but their kids also scatter innovation behind them and flit from project to project.
Why do I think these things are inborn rather than learned? Because in some cases I see these traits skipping generations; manifested in a household where the older influence was physically absent while the younger example was growing; or emerging later in life. Plus I know from experience it’s very hard to teach either creativity or perseverance. These are bents that people are born with. You can encourage these characteristics, but you can’t transplant them into someone who doesn’t lean that way to begin with.
I’ve got a very strong "gotta-do-it" bent. Perhaps it’s related to the milder forms of ADD, but I find HAVE to be making something, and I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. Even as a little kid I had all sorts projects underway (and heaven help the adult who put them away before I was done). I even fell into needlework at a very early age, and completed my first clumsy cross-stitch sampler before Kindergarten.
Just sitting has always been extremely difficult for me. Even just sitting and listening/watching something is hard. My hands have to be occupied. When my fingers are distracted, my mind is free and I concentrate better. Conversely, if my fingers are free, my mind is bound by the minutiae around me and zeroing in on some one thing in specific is harder. That fly buzzing around the lecturer’s podium; the interesting detail on the curtains behind her; the texture of the cracked wood at the edge of my seat; the air currents around my ankles; an amusing joke the guy sitting across the room told me last week; where I might be meeting with friends after the lecture; the faint sound of sirens outside the lecture hall; what color combo would be best for the thing I’m planning to make the day after tomorrow – all of these at once descend upon me and compete with the content being delivered in the lecture itself. Mindless autopilot knitting has always been my best defense against them.
I have to believe that I was born this way because I certainly didn’t learn this behavior from anyone. I can’t help this, it’s just the way I am and I’m glad to have found the coping mechanism of knitting. So I guess I agree with KC’s basic thought. There’s an enormous genetic component to many people’s affinity for crafts of all types. Why fight it?
Panforte, Piping, Presents, and Paeans
Panforte
I promised a post-tasting report. Yesterday I spread melted bittersweet chocolate over the tops of my two cakes, dusted them with cocoa, and stuck some left-over almonds on top as a decoration. Did I mention that for the past week, I’ve been drizzling rum over one of them – a little bit each day? No? The secret’s out now.
Wow.
This is an adult chocolate dessert. It’s not soft, gooey, and sweet. To be truthful, it’s hard and chewy from all the fruit and nuts. The taste however is out of this world. It’s spicy, more bitter than sweet, yet with just enough sweetness from the fruit to round out the flavor. The faint hint of rum was a good addition, and seemed to bring out more of the toasty notes from the nuts. We served our cakes with a selection of white wines. It would also be great with hot coffee or tea.
This one is a make-again keeper, but unless you’ve got a huge crowd coming or want to freeze or give away cake #2, I’d suggest halving the recipe. I’d also suggest sticking with the hazelnuts and almonds. You can use any dried fruit you wish (I used prunes, dried cherries and apricots because I don’t like citron and figs were too expensive), but I think that substituting walnuts or pecans would overwhelm the cocoa’s flavor and change the character of the cake.
Socks!
More holiday gift socks.
I knit these Saturday night from Lion Brand Magic Socks, while watching Present #1 below. These socks are worked at 7spi/10rpi on 2.5 mm needles (in between a US #2 and #3). The yarn is serviceable enough – a standard wool/nylon blend sport weight as opposed to fingering weight sock yarn. The color patterning is pretty uninspired compared to most. I get two speckled fake “Fair Isle” sections in this repeat, one in gray and white, the other in red and black. The entire repeat cycles in about 1 inch. Not terribly exciting, but at $7.00 US per 100g ball (enough to make up to about a man’s US size 11 shoe) – a very good value.
This pair is for a new neighbor who showed me how our 100-year old hot water heating system works, and helped me figure out the Rube Goldberg device that’s our boiler:
Presents and Paeans
The Resident Male and I buy gifts for the two of us together, but don’t wrap them or bother to save them for holiday debut. This year’s presents were the extended DVD edition of Return of the King (better than the theatrical version, but unsatisfying if you yearn for much of the books lesser themes and characters); the long awaited Lurulu by Jack Vance; and the Vance Integral Edition. The latter most was a major splurge that will count on the present roster for years to come.
Vance is writer whose works are easy to satirize because of his unique style, and who is dismissed all to lightly for it. At the same time, he has a devoted following of readers who appreciate them for what’s deeper underneath. His following in is bigger the UK and Europe than in the US.Vance appears to be especially popular in the Netherlands, Germany, and France – all in translation. That surprises me as so much of the texture of his prose is in his precisely worded detail and structured phrasing – things I wouldn’t think would move well from English to other languages. Even his old fashioned space opera style stories have a depth of character and sardonic insight into the ironies of human nature that push them beyond the genre.
If you’ve never read anything whatsoever by Vance, I’d suggest you start with the widely collected short story “The Moon Moth.” You can find a list of books containing “The Moon Moth” on this page. If you can’t find a copy, you can listen to a dramatization here. After that, pick up anything. His better known works include The Dragon Masters, the Demon Princes series, the Planet of Adventure series, Lyonesse and its sequels; the Alastor cycle; and the Dying Earth books. I’d start with his earlier, shorter works. They’re each masterpieces of tightly crafted plot construction, and fit an amazing amount highly evocative storytelling into some truly slim volumes. Enjoy!
ROUND-UP
Mail and comments have brought some inquires:
How did the panforte turn out?
Looks great. It’s extremely dense, but not brittle-hard, with a deep cocoa/spice/fruit aroma. The recipe calls for coating the entire cake in bittersweet chocolate before serving. We plan on having ours at a party on Sunday. Since I won’t be tempering the chocolate, I didn’t want to coat it too soon. To do so would mean I’d have to find fridge space for it. So I covered it tightly in plastic wrap and let it sit out on the sideboard. (I might pour something spirituous over it between now and Sunday, just for fun.) Sunday it gets coated and served. Reports on Monday for sure.
And the cookies?
I’m still behind on cookie production. So far I’ve done the peanut butter cookies, the chocolate chip cookies, the brownie crinkles (to die for!). plain old sugar cut-outs (mine are flavored with lots of lemon), the rum balls, and the Mexican wedding cakes. Today’s agenda includes Oysters but with walnuts instead of hazelnuts (I ran out of hazelnuts, but have a ton of walnuts left), and a cookie with marzipan filling. I’d originally planned on doing a chocolate cookie with the almond filling, but I’ve already got several chocolate varieties. Perhaps a cinnamon cookie instead… I’ll be figuring this one out on the fly. That leaves two more before we’ve got the requisite 10 kinds in house, not counting the party-destined panforte. One may be orange drop cookies (recipe in hand from a dear friend who lives far away). Not quite sure what I’ll do for the last one yet. Suggestions are welcome.
The monitor?
"It’s dead, Jim."
It’s a classic case of you get what you pay for. I didn’t have much to spare at the time I got it, so I opted for a bargain basement model. There’s a reason it was so inexpensive. If you’re monitor shopping, avoid Samsun SynchMaster 997DFs, even if they’re so cheap they’re almost free.
However I’m happy to report that a solution is on the way. Having had the foresight to register this dog, it’s still under warranty. The horizontal control transistor problem is well known. The official Samsung remedy for blown horizontal transistors still under warranty is to replace the whole thing. So they’re shipping me a new unit. For free. When it arrives, I’m to box up the dead one and mail it back. (They do hold a credit card deposit until the dead one arrives back at the warehouse). So with luck, by the New Year – give or take a couple of days, I should be able to work outside my 3-inch square box. Which is just as well. Squinting at the type in this teeny window is tiring in the extreme.
What am I going to knit when the gift knitting is done?
Back to the Birds Eye shawl and the Crazy Raglan. The latter item just turned up. It sprang out of nothingness as I was hunting for the boxes in which we stowed the holiday cards. (I never found the cards…) Which proves the point. If you’ve lost something and can’t find it, look for something else and your problem child is sure to turn up.
STARS OF THE BLOGIVERSE
I’d mentioned knitting the 42-stitch hats earlier. I’ve got them, they’re cute, but I thought they needed a certain something to make them truly special. I’ve got six now, two each of red, purple, and blue because each skein of Brown Sheep Burly Spun makes two hats with a tad left over. So I went looking for inspiration in several spots that have trims, embellishments and the like.
Of course I checked out Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments and her new Knitting on the Edge. I won’t be buying On The Edge, too much duplicates the KE book already on my shelf, plus I have most of the sources she drew upon, so there’s very little there new to me. Nice photos, though. Useful if your library isn’t as out of control as mine, or if visual inspiration is key to your thought process.
I also looked through Thomas’ Knitting Book to check out picot point knitting, and a couple of other books that had tassels or other freeform motifs. I even dipped into my crochet resources, but crochet in finger-wide bulky yarn looks ridiculous to me. I tried out several knit flower and leaf type motifs, but nothing quite hit the spot as being bold enough for the ultra-bulky hat.
Then while taking my daily blogstroll, in a fit of serendipity, I hit on Nanette’s Knitting in Color (she of the stranded colorwork book and bunny haven). There she’d posted some directions for knitted stars, worked from the outside edge in. Even in supergiant yarn with a distinctly ruffled look her stars are perfect for my hats!
I played with them a bit, working them up in the round instead of flat to spare myself the joy of a purl side double decrease and a seam, and using a double decrease that leaves the centermost stitch on top. (This first pilot star was done with the decreases as described in the original directions). I had just enough left over from each skein of my Burly Spun to make two stars, plus have a bit extra for sewing and surface embroidery.
MORE SOCKS
More holiday gift socks. Nothing special, nothing exciting (and nothing learned).
I knit these last night from Schoeller+Stahl’s 6-ply version of Fortissima Colori/Socka Color. It’s a smidge lighter than DK weight. I’ve added into on the length of its color cycle to the striper repeat chart I posted earlier. All in all a very quick and satisfying pair. A bit heavy for my own sock wearing preferences (I prefer 4-ply regular sock weight yarn knit at tiny gauges), but nice none the less. Another blurry photo:
I find it easier to knit self-stripers when I’m watching TV or a computer game. Otherwise I’m tempted to watch my fingers and micro-adjust my tension to modify the striping effect. That never quite works out right. So I save this type of autopilot knitting for when I’m otherwise distracted.
Cookies
I’ve gotten some good-natured ribbing back on the cookies. For the record, I’m no domestic diva. Martha Stewart makes me think of those Victorian women’s magazines, filled with advice on decorating a status-conscious parlor, complete with directions for crocheted chair leg cozies and decorated cardboard toothpick holders. Then I shudder.
I’m more of a tallish, glasses-wearing, workbooted, aging grrlnerd with a weakness for needlework, history, books and good food. Not necessarily in that order.
SCARF-A-RAMA
My holiday knitting. I’m pleased to say the Hannukah socks were graciously received by someone who both knows and appreciates hand knitting.
The scarves aren’t scheduled for distribution until later this month, but as all are to be mailed, should be boxed up as soon as possible. Here they are:
First, the blue one for which I offered up the texture pattern earlier in the week.
Not terribly exciting, but soft and warm. And blue. I’m debating whether or not to fringe this one. Fringes aren’t my favorite edge treatment as they often look ratty too quickly, but I have a feeling that this recipient would like them.
Second, the gray alpaca Kombu scarf is finished. Here’s another blurry photo to prove it:
And finally, after sitting completed (but never used) since earlier this summer, the Spring Lightning scarf joins its siblings in this year’s gift parade:
I love it, but I think the intended target will love it more. Plus, I can always make another. I did however want to take a final good picture of it for use in the pattern I plan on posting on wiseNeedle (which I’m still writing).
Two more hats and two more pairs of socks and I can return to my regularly scheduled knitting.
YARN MANUFACTURER WEBSITES – FEEDBACK
Last week I posted a review of the Debbie Bliss Yarns website. The Blissfolk were kind enough to offer up feedback. You can read it in the comments appended to that day’s entry.
Although I accessed the old site and reviewed it on November 30, 2004, apparently the site I visited had been replaced by a newer one, although redirects from the old to the new URL weren’t working a month after the stated fix was published. That error has been corrected. So in the interests of fairness, I review the site again.
Debbie Bliss Knitwear
The beneficiary of a general look/feel aesthetic overhaul, the new Debbie Bliss website is still divided into three main sections, patterns, yarns, and information. It offers up much the same material as before, with a couple of clarifications and enhancements. As noted before, the site offers limited retail capability, but a clarification has been added in several spots, noting that it sells pattern books direct, but not the yarns. The books are offered to customers world-wide, and there’s an exchange rate tool to see how costs work out in international currencies.
DB now offers a for-fee membership club, similar in concept to Rowan’s. It’s implied that there will be a members-only chat area to support the club, but any password-protected or limited access section of the website isn’t active yet. Personally, I’m not fond of this trend. Even though members get a scarf kit, newsletters, and supplemental patterns for their annual 28? (international cost, about $54.50 US at the current exchange rate) , I don’t like the idea of creating two-tier systems of paid customer support. While it works for appliances, I find the thought of restricting help to an "inner circle" who pay above and beyond the cost of the base books to be antithetical to the concept of publishing in general. Perhaps I’m missing something, and there’s a subculture of designer-devotee knitters out there that work both exclusively and enough from one maker’s line to justify this sort of fee, but I’ve never met one.
The yarns section is the most changed. It’s vastly improved from the previous sketchy offering. Yarns are illustrated by small color chips. Fiber specs, yardage/weight, recommended needle size and gauge are all documented. There are no photographs of yarns in their retail put-ups, nor are there photos of swatches. Yarn appearance has to be deduced from the roughly 2.5cm square color chips alone. There is an on-page link to local UK stockists and international sources on each yarn page, although the international source page lists Knitting Fever, Diamond Yarns, and Woolshack (the US, Canadian and Australian distributors), relying on their resources to provide links to actual retailers. The roster of UK stockists doesn’t appear to be yarn-specific, so even if you call one up from a particular yarn’s page, call before you visit the shops listed because they may or may not carry the entire Debbie Bliss line. There are no links on the yarn pages to patterns made with specific yarns.
The patterns section as before shows the various books available, with thumbnails linking to more detailed pages for the contents of each book. Most but not all contents are shown – especially for the yarn-specific later books – and the layout of the detail pages has been made easier to use. Most patterns now bear a difficulty rating, needle requirements, sizing, yarn requirements per size, and the name of the color(s) used in the accompanying photo. There are links back to the yarn detail pages, and it’s easy to browse all of the designs shown for each book. Navigation among books is also easier, with a nested link history line provided at the top of the patterns page.
There is no explanation of the criteria used to classify the patterns into the various difficulty ratings. Almost everything is "Easy" or "Intermediate." The only "Advanced" patterns were both large Intarsia pieces I’m assuming were worked from big charts. A hover-over pop-up that listing a brief bunch of basic skills that define each level would be a nice touch. (Carefully worded, that list could be the same for every "Easy," "Intermediate," or "Advanced" symbol site-wide.)
There’s an errata section listing corrections for existing books up to and including Simple Living. About the only ease of use link I’d add here would be a link back to the pattern revisions page from the main book page for any item that has associated errata.
There is no historical info provided beyond pattern errata. I am not familiar enough with the DB lines to say whether or not any of the offerings have aged out of current distribution, nor am I familiar enough with the individual books to note which designs are not shown. If there are lines no longer being sold having historical info on them would be of great use, especially if there were contemporary substitutes among the still-active products. Also some of the DB books sold on the site are now of "classic" status – I doubt that the yarns they use are still current. A list of some of the more prevalent with suggestions for substitutions in the current lines would also be a very consumer-friendly touch.
On the information section, aside from a general neatening, little has changed. The news column still discusses the summer/early fall trade shows, and speaks of one offered back in early October as being in the future. There’s not even a mention of the new improvements to the website itself. The workshops heading lists a past offering and no upcoming ones. The contact page lists major distributors of the yarns, but there is still no contact for DB itself – not even on the errata page for those who have found problems and wish to report corrections. T
So to sum up – the clarification that yarn is not offered for sale here, plus remedying the major info lack on the yarns themselves make this set of site improvements very welcome. I still wish for more historical info, a more shelf-recognizable illustration of the yarns themselves, timely oversight of the information pages, and for some sort of direct contact mechanism. Recent fixes pull the Debbie Bliss website mark up to an A-, in spite of the incipient members-only club.
String-Or-Nothing 
