A couple of years ago my granddaughter, at the age of 2 weeks, was admitted to the NICU unit at our local hospital, where she spent the next two weeks. She's now a happy, healthy 2 1/2 year old, but it was really scary back then.  My daughter spent almost all her time by her side. One day, my daughter was given a knitted hat & bootie set for Kalyn. It was a heartwarming experience for her and a comfort during a difficult time.  That's when I realized a need and that I would like to pay it forward for someone else.

I've been using left over cotton & acrylic yarns to create the baby items. I don't remember which yarn was used with this set, but it is so darling.

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I was looking for a quick but not mindless project to work on while I wait for the oodles of yarn to arrive in the mail for my next BIG project. I sat down to page through my knitting books for inspiration when My Grandmother's Knitting popped open to Jared Flood's Tilden Baby Hat. I loved the colors and simple but beautiful pattern. I definitely wanted to knit this for myself, but the pattern was for a toddler sized noggin.

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One of my favorite parts about working with other knitters and crocheters is how much there is to learn! It seems that everyone has their own repetoire of tips and tricks that they have gathered from years of experience. That being said, this is exactly how this week's technique of the week came together! Kerin is always working on something, whether it be charity hats, pullovers, or complex colorwork sweaters. While knitting on a hat she had been making up, the converstion turned to the techniques of stranded colorwork, which led (obviously) to how one handles stranding three colors across the row at once! As usual, Kerin was nice enough to indulge my excitement and we created a video tutorial to share this technique with other colorwork obsessed knitters!

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Surely the Oscars made you hungry for more beauty and competition? Well, we're pleased to announce that Knit Picks was nominated for “Best Needles” in the 2012 Reader's Choice Awards on About.com! To become a finalist, we were ranked in the top five by dedicated About.com staffers, sifting through hundreds of nominations.

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I finally got some decent pictures of my Swish Bulky sweater! This is not only to show that I did make said sweater, but to immortalize its temporary whiteness.

You see, I'm really, really good at turning white clothes pink. I don't really have problems with any other color of clothing, but white things just don't stay white. So, in order to prevent my inevitable disappointment, I'm planning on dyeing my sweater. But I can't figure out what color to dye it - or what dye to use.

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