Karatstix

Knitter's Ruler & Needle Gauge

Handmade from bamboo, this is every knitter's best friend. It is a handy ruler with which to measure a standard swatch (4-inch/10-cm square). Measure your swatch in inches on one side and centimeters on the opposite side. When not using it as a ruler, it can be used to determine the size of any knitting needle from US 8-0/.5 mm up to US 35/19 mm.

The gauge was handmade by Karatstix using a laser engraving and cutting machine. It is then sanded and embellished with colored pencils. Finally, it is coated with a satin polyurethane finish and polished to a silky feel. Cared for properly, it will last a lifetime.

All designs copyright© 2007-2008 KaratStix™. All rights reserved.

Meet Your Moderators, v3

You've met Sherri of SherriCrochets and Mette of KnittingMette.

That just leaves me. Out of the three of us moderators, I'm the only one who doesn't have my first name in my Etsy store name. My store name is KnittedGems. You can rest assured, my parents didn't name me Knitted or Gems. I am thankful. Instead, they named me after my grandmother, Marie.

Another oddity, I don't have any monkeys in my store. Both KnittingMette and SherriCrochets sport monkey patterns. It never occurred to me to knit animals; I wouldn't even know how to begin. So, I stick to more traditional items: shawls, blankets, pillows, and scarves.

Goodness, I'm starting to sound boring. Well, Jake to the rescue!

Jake is my 4-year-old golden retriever. Here he is - doing what he loves - breaking big sticks up into little sticks.

We rescued him almost 2 years ago from DVGRR. I hardly remember what life was like without him. He's my walking buddy in the morning and my gardening buddy in the afternoon. As you can see, he really likes to prune the trees and bushes.

When I'm not playing with Jake, I knit, sew, cook, bake, craft, garden, and hang out with my hubby of 8 years. Though "hanging out" normally consists of me sewing in the sewing room/office while he plays Guitar Hero.

I quit my real job two years ago to focus my full attention on becoming a knitwear designer. I have self-published 14 designs. All of which can be located either through Etsy or through Lulu. My latest design is Anastasia Alpaca Stole. My upcoming design is XandO dishcloth.

I am also the main contributor to this blog. I volunteered to take over the authorship of this blog when EtsyKnitters was taken over by us 3 moderators. Thus far, I have done a miserable job. I am a bit embarrassed by it, but have yet been unable to turn this bus around. It's odd. I LOVE to blog. On my blog, I am giddy about posting an article at least every other day. I never run out of things to talk about. Here, it's quite the opposite. I think the problem lies in the fact that I haven't ascertained the direction of this blog.

It occurred to me that I could blog about business, such as selling on Etsy, free marketing, paid marketing, selling off Etsy, consignment, etc. I haven't because the purpose of this blog is to shine a light on EtsyKnitters.

It also occurred to me to randomly pick an EtsyKnitter member and blog about their store. This is perhaps the most appealing choice.

If you have an idea, please let me know.