Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Humans are excellent at using tools in creative ways, often in ways beyond the original design. Today I was shopping at Publix. I was in the tool section and discovered this little round box: As you can see from the label, this is a bamboo salt box. It is meant for storing salt. The lid swings open. There is a magnet to hold the lid closed. Of course, I immediately saw it could serve another purpose — stitch marker storage! This would be a lovely way to store other small notions. Or it might be handy as a place to put little things that will get lost if left sitting on the table.

Today's post is not about knitting. Instead, it is about weaving. Specifically, it is about this video of an unusual weaving gadget. As I mention in the video, frame looms of this type are fairly common. This strange shed-cylinder thing is the brilliant gadget. I'm posting because I would dearly love to be able to purchase such an item. And I think there are weavers out there who would like it as well. I have no idea who made it. I have no idea if there is a patent associated with it. All I know is it is clever; and I have never seen one in a book, magazine, or the booth of a fiber festival. Clever makers, please, have at it! By the way, the whole loom comes apart. I can store this in a box a little larger than a pencil box. I can foresee a manufacturer offering a loom bag for this system. It would make it easy to store and transport, and it could hold the assortment of pieces. I could also foresee a design for the side pieces allowing them to shorten as the warp ti...

I believe I am not the only knitter who likes gadgets. There's something charming and appealing about a trinket that makes a task just a bit easier. I am not only a fan of fiber arts, but I am also a big fan of board games and all things geek. Earlier in the summer I attended Awesome Con in Washington, D.C. Not quite Dragon*Con — what is? — but still very nice. The vendor hall was very, very large. And mixed in amongst that merchant horde was CritSuccess . CritSuccess is a company that makes dice rings. What are dice rings? Dice rings are spinner rings with the spinning part marked off in numbered increments. They can be used in place of regular dice. In fact, one of the advantages of dice rings is they can be manufactured to any number set you desire. Do you need a seven-sider so you can roll days of the week? No problem! Do you need weighted numbers -- a set where some numbers are more likely to come up than others? Again no problem -- some numbers get a larger space than other...