OK folks, time for another banner ad test! It's a little more loud, but it seemed fun. Whaddaya think? The Prozac ad finally went up on Monday. Technical "issues" had kept them from getting my order earlier, so I just had to re-submit it. Heck, I love Blogger, I don't mind. The only creepy part about this is that I don't have control over where exactly these ads appear within Blogger. And let's just say that some blogs are not exactly, um, PG material. It must be pretty funny, actually. Some sleazoid porn freak getting his daily fix, glancing up to see... "What the... huh? knitting??" Still, if things get weird I'll pull it.

At last, a sunny day! The pond is beginning to melt, most of the snow is gone, and best of all, we have GRAVEL on the driveway now. Does it get much better than this?

Lots of people ask me for information about how to knit in the continental style, which involves holding the yarn in your left hand. I know of very few resources out there, so I normally send readers away empty handed, so to speak.

But this bugs me because I'm a born-and-bred continental knitter myself.

So today I broke down and slapped together some pictures of my lovely pale hands (hey, it's winter, gimme a break) doing both knit and purl stitches. I profess no grand academic expertise in the subject. Others may hold the yarn differently. But it's how I do it. You can really gather steam this way, especially when bopping from knit to purl rows.

And hey, if you have no interest in continental-style knitting, you can still check out the pics to see how much of my home office you can make out in the background. (I'll give you a hint: That weird thing in the background is my funkadelic radio.)

Because this is a Clara's Window exclusive, there's no link to these pictures from anywhere within Knitter's Review.

One of the best things about living in coastal Maine is that I can periodically slip down to Boston and absorb big-city vibes.

I just spent a whirlwind 24 hours in Boston feasting on flavorful Vietnamese food, trying on $750 Burberry coats I pretended I might actually buy, and, most fun of all, having afternoon tea with my mother at the Four Seasons Hotel. And yes, in case you were curious, I did sneak out with one of the cute pencils they place by the pay phones. Shhhhhh.

Then it was time to bid adieu to the congestion and race back up the turnpike to Portland, where I published this week's newsletter before getting back in the car and making the remaining three-hour drive to my humble farmhouse. Whew!

Near midnight I finally pulled into our recently graveled driveway. Stepping out into the fresh, cool, silent darkness, seeing a sky full of bright stars, I was truly grateful to be back home.