Interweave Knits' WebWatch

Looks like a lot of us are overdoing it!

So let's get right down to the links. There's a lot to read, and before you rush off, remember that only your doctor should advise you about changes to your lifestyle or health. These links, however, might be helpful in steering you towards the right questions to ask your doctor!

Ergonomics defined
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, with lots of links in the left sidebar on specific topics

- The Centers for Disease Control [US] -- a little drier, but lots of info

Helping you avoid the ouch
- Donna Druchunas has an informative page with lots of links to related information including helpful aids and different knitting and crochet tools

- The Crafts Report has lots of recommendations to share

- Knitting RSI [Repetitive Strain Injury] prevention information from About.com

- Information from Physical Therapists and Doctors on RSI

- Watch your kids -- as computer use becomes more commonplace, they're susceptible to RSI as well!

- Ruby taught a course on the subject and shares a lot of information with us

- What hurts? -- this page has recommendations on specific stretches to combat your sore spots [please check with your doctor before doing any of them!]

- Ergonomics for the craft professional

Interesting products that may be helpful
- Down Under Chicago has a wide assortment of products from chairs to shoulder bags. I love the look of the Zuca!

- Chairs, desks and more from Simply Ergonomic

Posted 8:57 AM PST

Get organized!

Okay, you've search, tidied, purged the stuff you don't want, right?

[Hint: these guys at Warm Woolies will gladly take your spare knitting needles size US 8 and larger, wool and novelty yarn. Sorry, no acrylic. And I'll guarantee you there's an association or club near you, like the Brownies or Girl Guides, or a women's shelter or community center, that would also be glad for any donations. Do call first, though.]

Needle organizers:
- here's the review I wrote for the Kitty needle organizer made by Lexie Barnes -- scroll down to the bottom of the page. Lexie's shop is full of goodies, and don't forget to check her sale page. She's clearing out last season's stuff right now and you can grab great things for almost nothing.

- fly fishermen need boxes to organize tiny things. sound familiar? take a gander at these from Orvis.
- I have the middle size in this style and I love it -- the compartments are adjustable in size so you can make it fit your Chibi, and almost everything else.
- more here

Now, shelves are a very personal choice. Do you want small spaces to stack with a few skeins, so it stays tidier? Do you want larger cubbies so you can slide a basket into each? Here are a few options I like:

- Expedit is a good choice, as long as you're not worried about stuff falling out the back. Would be great for the basket solution! Comes 4 cubbies high by 2 cubbies wide, and progressively larger units ara available. Looks most like what you've often seen in yarn shops all over the place. Easy and modern.

- Grevback is a totally different look...more like furniture, less like utility storage. The shelves are wide, so using baskets here wouldn't be a bad idea either.

- Granemo would be great if you like the buffet-style look -- wide and low storage. Again, I recommend baskets. This unit is nice because you can use the top for storage...maybe your Interweave Knits magazine collection?

- Leaving Ikea, this basket-based shelf [ooh! baskets again!] is really cool. You can customize the unit and have deep wire baskets in place of shelves. These shelves aren't cheap, but Metro is a very reputable brand used in commercial kitchens everywhere because it's practically bullet proof.

- Like your options open? Try these stackable AkroBins. They come in a variety of widths and are translucent so they won't hide what's inside. Stack a tall tower or two smaller ones or slide a few under a shelf if you can find the room.

- If you must have tubs with covers, try this, which the site clearly shows holding yarn [so it must be good! :-)]. But seriously, it's got wheels, tubs of different heights and again, it's translucent. It'd be nice if you could customize the depth of each layer, but still, not a bad option for less than $40.

- Go crazy with these melamine storage lockers. 3 cubbies for $59, and you can add as many 3-cubby units as you need.

Here's my solution. I bought it in 2006 from Ikea, and it's called Magiker. But sorry -- I've checked and it's no longer available. Never mind -- you can do something that suits your needs perfectly with a little browsing, online or not!


And don't forget to take good notes! Do you like your notes paper-based? Here are some lovely options:
- From Meg Swansen...beautiful and functional
- My favorite blank books: Moleskine in a variety of sizes, page styles and configurations to suit almost everyone
- Are you just too tied to the web [as I happily am] to use a paper-based system? You'll find Ravelry an amazing place to organize, inspire and get lost in.

Have fun!

Posted 11:45 AM PST

Organic!

It's a linker's paradise, this topic! So much to read and digest, so let's get to it!

- "Have You Any Organic Wool?", an interesting article by Donna Drachunas with great links at the bottom

- The National Organic Standards Board Definition of "Organic"

Note this key sentence: "Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products are completely free of residues; however, methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water." Yup, nothing is perfect. But still, minimizing pollution is better than doing whatever the heck you want and letting the environment suffer!

- IFOAM [International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements]: their goal is the worldwide adoption of ecologically, socially and economicaly sound systems that are based on the principles of Organic Agriculture - Third-Party Certification. Read this one. It's much less dry than it sounds, and very interesting. Lots more content there, if you're interested.

- from the American Society of Plant Biologists Plant Physiology website: Internalizing the Societal Costs of Agricultural Production. "Societies and social groups within them are becoming aware that food and fiber are not gifts of nature that come to us cost-free from the natural world because their production involves consumption of renewable and nonrenewable resources as well as expenses for capital and variable inputs in the production process, plus outlays for transportation, processing, marketing, and food preparation." This realization is something that many of us are becoming more aware of. Interesting reading.

- Third-party certification is handled by Control Union Certifications (formerly Skal International). Their certificates are accepted by authorities in nearly every country.

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Okay, enough research. Let's find some nifty products that fall in line with organic standards:

- an assortment of organic yarns for the Australian market and renewable fiber for spinning -- read the intro page for an interesting perspective on cotton and wool yarns

- organic, vegan, recycled, fair-traded and other yarns at this US online shop

- Treliske organic merino from New Zealand, sold in the US

- organic handspun yarn from Tanager Song Farm

- Tierra Wools of New Mexico

- Garthenor Organic Pure Wool - Soil Association Certified 100% woollen yarns from traditional and rare breeds of Organic British sheep

- Cornish Organic Wool including organic wool batting and organic knitting kits

- Irish wool and woollen products -- fully organic from sheep to processing

- Pakucho Organic Cotton, naturally colored and very soft

- O-Wool, Vermont-grown organic wool yarn

- Green Mountain Spinnery, Maine-grown, Vermont-processed wool yarn

- Organic textiles sold by the yard or Fat Quarter [for quilters] and lovely organic towels in natural and blue. "Our fabric is dyed using traditional dye methods that have been used in India for thousands of years. The dye materials include: indigo leaves, madder root, aal wood, cutechu, turmeric, pomegranate rind, onion skins, alum and iron. This alternative to conventional dye processes eliminates the use of thousands of chemicals, many of which contribute to high levels of toxicity in the environment."

- The Organic Directory -- a UK directory of organic goods, with over 2,000 listings of retailers, producers, wholesalers and manufacturers

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And finally, how are you affecting our environment by the choices you make? Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz and find out. Maybe it'll encourage you to take some new steps toward reducing your impact on the planet.

Posted 11:46 AM PST

please stand by

Due to illness [I recently had emergency gall bladder surgery and am recovering well, for those who worry], this update is late.

I apologize for the delay and will get the fall issue organic information up here as soon as possible. Your patience is appreciated!

signed, healing Amy

Posted 7:09 AM PST

Do you like cruises?
I do. So when Patricia Babischkin [of Cruise Planners] asked me -- thanks to a connection made by Mama E -- asked if I'd like to join her and her guests on the 2008 Sea Socks cruise to Alaska, can you imagine how long I hesitated? Yup, barely a millisecond.

Well, details are now finalized, and guess what: we have another cool cruiser coming along with us. Are you sitting down? Brenda Dayne. Yes, you read right. The patron saint of knitting is coming from across the sea to sail with us! She and I will both be teaching classes, and there's way more going on than I even know about.

You can find full details here -- or if you're really keen, just call the lovely Patricia at 888-286-9827. We'd love to have you join us!

We sail May 9, 2008, from Seattle for 7 days aboard Celebrity's Infinity, with stops in Victoria, Ketchikan and Juneau. I believe I need to lie down now.

Posted 8:44 AM PST

The Etsy of Europe?

Just spotted this: DaWanda. It seems to be the new Etsy for European artists, though I recognize some of the work on the front page from Etsy artists located elsewhere [North America, Australia].

Not every seller there takes Paypal [which is quickly becoming the ubiquitous universal web currency exchange], but a lot do. I think this requires further investigation. Race ya!

Posted 8:53 AM PST

Shop Indie!

Indie is a huge movement and it's only getting bigger. If you love unique goods and think it's cool when someone starts their own business, here's how you can do your part to support this movement. Spend a little of your disposable income with someone who makes everything by hand. It's just way too cool.

First, you're probably going to want to bookmark Etsy.
Etsy tips:
- register so you can save your favorite shops and items for later on - don't forget to check out their feedback system if you're going to make a purchase [kind of like eBay]. There has been recent talk of a shop on Etsy who got so much negative feedback about the quality of their product, they closed their shop and reopened under a new name [and bye-bye went the bad feedback]. Buyer beware!

[In my experience, most indie artists are the coolest people you'll ever meet, but there are bad seeds in every area of life.]

By the way, the links that follow are in no particular order.

These yarn and fiber shops are all indie, or specialize in indie artists:
- The Sweet Sheep
- Kpixie
- Yarn Rescue
- Hello Yarn
- Pick Up Sticks
- Miss Hawklet
- Scout's swag
- Woolgirl
- Pippikneesocks
- Ernst glass knitting tools and buttons
- One Planet yarn and fiber
- Happy Fuzzy Yarn
- The Urban Knit
- SuperCrafty
- Spritely Goods
- Briar Rose Fibers
- Fun With Yarn
- Woolly Wonka Fibers
- Jenkins Woodworking
- Lisa Souza
- Spunky Eclectic
- HollyEQQ

Indie collectives [shops that sell items from a variety of different indie artists]:
- I Shop Indie
- Cut + Paste
- Modishoppe
- Indie Shopper
- India Romeo
- Anezka Handmade
- Shana Logic
- Buy Olympia

Indie-spotting blogs, websites and magazines:
- Indie Collective
- Miss Malaprop
- Indie Finds
- Indie Obsession
- Indie Designer Labels
- Jrosebud
- Culture Junkie
- Squidoo's list
- Craft Revolution Magazine

And I'll leave you with this:
- Buckaroo Style's definition of Indie...and then check out the cool stuff this indie shop has to offer.

Posted 6:38 PM PST