Stashdown update #7 and other things

Did I miss update #6? Who knows (or cares)? Not I. The stash count is a very palindromic 111 - can I get to that magic 100 by the end of year? At this rate, not likely! :/ I should really stop going to fibre festivals, that's half the problem. Like being on a strict diet and going to a food fesitval.

Deletions, deletions. Every so often I do a dead link check on the Machine Knitter's Treasure Chest site (if you haven't checked it out yet, what are you waiting for?!). This time it was prompted by an email from Charmknits - one of her links needed to be redirected. Discovered links to some 15 patterns from Kangamooknits must come down, plus another ten or so from Smoking Needles. It's always sad having to remove links. Time was I'd hunt around online, because sometimes they've just been moved somewhere. I had a quick look yesterday but drew a blank in both cases. I think Kangamoo Knits closed a while ago (judging by the message archives in Yahoo) and as they were PDFs I don't think the Wayback machine will be any help either (I might still give it a go though - you never know). The domain hasn't expired yet, it's a pity they couldn't have left a "we are now closed" page up (and left the free patterns there until the expiry date). Such a shame - if they'd only asked, I would have been happy to host them myself. I've 50Mb of webspace, but as my site is mostly links and a few PDFs, I'm not using most of the space.

Whilst I'm on the subject, if YOU have a personal pattern you'd like to share online and you're blogless/website-less, please drop me a line (email addy is on the front page of the website) - I'd be happy to host your pattern as a PDF, with full credit/copyright to yourself, free of charge, in perpetuity. I'm already doing it for one lady who lost her website when Geocities closed. I will not share scans of magazine/book  patterns, because that breaches copyright, but if it's your own pattern then it's fine.

Yes, it makes me a little sad - because although I have added new patterns lately, the deletions outnumber the additions. Come on machine knitters - let's prove to the world that we are very much still alive! :)

In other news, I've been swatching pre-programmed pin tuck patterns in the Passap E6000. Acrylic 3ply makes a squat swatch you could, in the words of my friend Yarnmonger, "shingle a house with". The 2/30 one (half the thickness of 3ply) was a lot nicer (and I have a LOT of it to use up). I'm planning a sleeveless bodywarmer with a zip. Even though I still have flashbacks from the last time I tried to insert a zip into knitwear. Wish me luck!