attn: knitters of whimsy

Glad tidings, knitters of whimsical items! 

It's clear from reading fibery blogs that holiday gift-knitting is in full swing for many crafty folk. And much of that gift-knitting is in the "cute stuff for kids" category.

So when I saw that Morehouse Farm CritterKnits (usually $9.99) is a free Kindle download at the moment, it seemed worth a quick post.

Wish I could post more of the pattern pictures, but I'm not sure about the legality of posting display pages from Amazon. I hope just this picture of the cover will be okay!

These patterns get rave reviews from knitters, both for the patterns and the results. So if a pair of lobster mittens or a striped gecko scarf sounds like just the thing to keep a loved one (or oneself) cheerful in the third month of winter, hurry and download, as it may not be free for long!

Margrit Lohrer is a gifted designer, and she and her husband, Albrecht Pichler, raise sheep in New York State. Several years ago I bought some of their Morehouse Farm Merino yarn at Rhinebeck and saw many of the designs firsthand.

I would love to visit their farm someday. And if I ever do, I should like to be wearing an alligator scarf.

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free books

This may be one of those things that everybody already knows about. I am quite often late to the party.

Except that one time when I was hours early because I had the time wrong, and those people never invited me again, which makes me feel a bit foolish and sad.

Ahem.

Onward.

Here's something I find quite useful from time to time. And the price is definitely right!

Audiobooks are daily fare here, but a while back I wanted to read a book that was only available as a e-book. Rats. I don't have a Kindle or a tablet. My cellphone is a very basic pay-for-use, and while it may be smarter than me, it is certainly not a "smartphone." (To be honest, I'm not even sure what makes a smartphone "smart." Maybe my next phone will tell me.)

But I really wanted to read that book. So after doing a little poking around on the internet, I discovered and downloaded the free Kindle Reading App for my laptop.

Because here's what I didn't know: Amazon offers a free Kindle Reading application for all sorts of not-a-Kindle devices. See here, and click to embiggen:

It was So Easy. Also, Fast.

Also - did I mention? - Free.

And in keeping with the "free" theme running through this post, here's the bonus: you can also download free books from Amazon.

Amazon sells a quadrazillion books, of course, but they also offer loads of free e-books - thousands! - in all sorts of categories; everything from Jane Austen to gardening books. The list changes frequently. The search function works well.

For example, this morning I searched for "free kindle books canning preserving." Here are the search results, again with the clicking and embiggening:

Important: many books are free for a very short time and will soon revert to their usual price. So if you see something interesting, best download it immediately. I missed out on a book about dehydrating last week, but today I'll download several books on preserving.

These e-books will live quietly in my laptop library, perhaps until a snowy evening spent planning the next garden and feeding the woodstove.

And at that point, if a book doesn't look useful, a click will delete it. So much better than dusting the bookshelves (not a high priority task here, as you might imagine) and trying to decide - again - whether to keep a book I haven't opened since 1989.

If you haven't tried this app and would like to check it out, here's a link that should take you there.

Have fun! And if you find any special treasures, please come back and share them in the comments :)

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