I baked the cookies, thinking I would knit while the batches were in the oven. Not happening with cookie dough on hands and clean up to be done; the two just don't mesh! My friend may get one sock with the promise of the second after Christmas. Since she has been a knitter, she will (?) understand!

Buckle up, everyone. It's going to be a wild ride.

You have just written the first review of an iPad that makes me think I might want one after all, which is quite a feat. Now to leave this page open for my non-knitter to find!

Thank you Stephanie!! First thing after I write this comment is downloading that pattern app, Christmas present to myself. Stay strong, and remember that there is no such thing as too much chocolate, the same does not hold true for alcohol.

Knitting apps... I think I just finished my C-Day shopping! Oh, wait... supposed to buy gifts for others...

I'm with hollyk.. I want an iPad now too. Good luck with your planned panic attacks...

Thought I was coasting along just fine with 1 teacher gift to finish tonight and a few last bits to finish up over the weekend when I got next week's work schedule and realized the person whose socks are unfinished won't be in next week so should really get her gift tomorrow. Am considering telling her the sock and a half is deliberate because I wanted to check the size of the first one before I finished the second.

I really think your posts get funnier as you get more stressed out :)

Well, now I want an ipad too! Although we scaled back on Christmas quite a bit this year. Maybe next year! I also have a couple of items to finish, hopefully by the weekend(early family party). Good luck! (I get no help with cookies)

This is my favorite gift for knitters you have done, and I never thought I would want an iPad. I've seen through friends who have one what a really wonderful tool it is for a knitter, and I think I would really like to have one. Let's pray my son gets the job he just interviewed for, and then he will be able to buy me one. I am also praying that he gets the job so he will be able to buy himself food and have a place to live, but first things first after all. :)

Me having the flu has totally put a wrench in my knitting and cookie baking plans, but I'm trying not to stress. You'd think being home for days on end would be a good thing, but not when you lose all desire to knit because of your aching body, head and eyes.

You've turned the corner, remember? (Something about perfecting things?)

I'm in a similar state with my knitting projects. If I have something hand knit for most of the people on my list, I feel it essential to have something hand knit for Everyone on my list, lest someone take to thinking I don't love them as much as the person sitting next to them when gifts are opened......

And my incredibly generous techie son gifted me an iPad for the holiday last year. I love it! I use Goodreader, but haven't used the chart highlighting coolness so will have to knit some lace after the holiday to see it in action. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Ok, I'm officially saving up for an iPad. I have... um... whatever change is in my wallet. :/

Ann Budd's little booklet "The Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements" is now an iPhone/iPad app called "Knit Handy," with calculators for project type, gauge, and size that will tell you how much yarn you need. It's just 99 cents. There's also one for crochet.

All the knitters I know are geeks.

an iPad is a most excellent idea. another good app is knit companion. and i like the one called needle sizer for the iPhone which has a needle measurer for all of those rogue needles whose size is a mystery.

Attention non-knitter - if you go this route for the beloved knitter on your Christmas list, let others know that are buying your knitter gifts that your knitter would love iTunes cards. This way your knitter can fill their iPad with fun apps like the ones Stephanie list above and http://www.knitcompanion.com/ and music and audio books and TV/movies that they can enjoy while they are knitting.

Now I want an iPad just for the needle sizer. That way I can stop handing Brian two needles and telling him to close his eyes and tell me if they feel like they're the same.

I have an ipad and would love to hear about other knitting apps that you all like!

I was convinced I didn't need an ipad until I read this post. You are trouble, and helpful, all at the same time.

*waves geek flag proudly* I am an aerospace engineer who knits. (Too bad I'm such a dork...)

I have an app for yardage calculator on my iphone - it's a wonderful shopping tool. I select the type of project, put in my expected gauge and size, and it will give me an estimate of yardage. Obviously it's not exact, and I usually add 10-20% depending on whether it'll have cables or whatnot, but it at least gets me in the ballpark.

And I thought I was the only odd one that sits with my iPad next to me while I knit! Thanks for validating.....

I'm in complete agreement about the iPad & Goodreader - awesome! I received my Christmas gift (yes, and iPad 2) about 6 months ago...

Renata, you beat me to it!

And I was just extolling the virtues of IPads for knitters/craftspeople last night to my book club. No, I don't have one - but I'm can tell others are getting a lot of use from them...

I'm due for a 48 hour crafting push right about now, but alas, with a 6 week old baby and a 3 year old big kid, this is not going to happen. I might get 1/2 an hour here and there during witch I will be furiously knitting a 3ply shawlet and wondering why 1/2 an hour of knitting only yields me 2.5 rows. sigh

Oh.Wow. I was allowed to pass Gr. 12 math so long as I agreed not to take Gr. 13 math (sympathetic teacher). Always believed Math and Science were not my strong suits. So thinking of myself as a technology, engineering and construction geek is a novel experience. But one I could get used to.....

There is an app called Knit Handy by Interweave that gives you yarn requirements for a variety of projects from scarves to sweaters based on yarn type, size, gauge etc. I'm enjoying all the gift suggestions and your wonderful humorous advice for making Christmas more relaxing.

I'm looking at 2 pairs of mittens (one for a toddler, one for a grown woman) and three hats (two adult, one child) in the next week. I can totally do that, right? ... Right? (plus holding down the 40 hr/wk job and running my house. No biggie).

Maybe if I make it, I'll buy myself an iPad.

Knitting and iPads go great together! I just got my iPad and am loving it - thanks for the tips on the apps. You had me at "a post it, only it never falls off"

(shhh, the iPad is really for "work" so don't tell on me).

Knitters can be grannies, and grannies can have iPads. My mother's a grandmother (as evidenced by my children), and she has an iPad - I don't. I have daycare expenses - she doesn't. She takes her iPad to her knitting group and they look up patterns and stuff. She loves it.

Utterly and completely BRILLIANT idea! Wish my non-crocheting husband had the dough for one. Wonder if I can make-do with my new iPhone 4S until the fundage *appears*.

OMG, Goodreader for patterns. Why did I not think of this before? And for what it's worth, my iPad was purchased for me by the lab where I work, and we build NASA missions.

Steph, I found a great Xmas present for knitters, a carousel! http://www.etsy.com/listing/88682280/knitters-carousel-with-walnut-finish?ref=af_new_item

Just in case you were running out of ideas. Apparently my husband just bought me one, don't tell him, he doesn't know yet!

There is a yarn app for the Android Market that is the best app,(ie enabler), in the world. It's called Yarn Shopper. You type in your project, how many yards it calls for along with the yarn weight and "Presto"! It will tell you how many skeins of yarn you need from Red Heart to Wollemeise.
Not sure if it's on the IPad/Pod Market yet.

Yup, just like the Hitchhikers Guide says, don't panic!
iPad also doubles as a work device for me. Or it would if I had my own. Which I don't. Not that there's anything wrong with that. (which there is).

Knitting might just be the ultimate geek activity. I just blogged about that two days ago! Even my daughter, the 19-year-old computer science major has taken to knitting like a duck to water (though there might be some sort of genetic thing going on there).

I have a netbook and do not need an iPad for its awesome Goodreader ap. I have a netbook and do not need an iPad for its awesome Goodreader ap. I have a netbook and do not need an iPad for its awesome Goodreader ap.

Dang it, Stephanie. You may have started something here.

Oh man. Since I have an Android phone, I could never really see the use of a tablet before. You may have just convinced me...

OK, I need an iPad for that app. I really, really do.

If it helps, Christmas baking should be done *after* Christmas to celebrate the feast--prepare for the feast by fasting (or not baking and knitting instead)!

Must tell computer programmer husband that knitting is really just binary code being used to create attractive, warm algorithms.

Excellent suggestion on the iPad and GoodReader. Knit Companion is also a good app.

Cookies and knitting are totally compatible, as long as you get Hank to do the messy parts. Good luck!

I think it shows great generosity and thoughtfulness that despite your new saner attitude to Christmas, you're willing to undergo the traditional Christmas panic and hysteria for the entertainment of The Blog. Thank you!

I've decided that any unfinished xmas gifts will be wrapped up as is -- that is, on the needles with a promise to finish before New Years. I may even wrap up yarn and a pattern if things get really sticky! Good luck.

It's getting to a point that if I get get the pattern on the i-pad, I will seriously reconsider if I want to actually knit it.

Last night I spent 99 cents and now I have a ruler and gauge calculator on my ipad too.

I have managed to thus far resist the urge for an iPad, but now I totally want one. For Goodreader. That sounds like the Best. App. Ever.

I have to echo the above sentiments about now I want/need an iPad. Disappointingly,that's going to take $$$ away from stash enhancement. Now I have to prioritize: stash? iPad? portable washing machine for felting? lottery tickets to accommodate all three?

Um I'm a fairly new Ipad owner...how did I not know about this Goodreader? a.mazing.

Also check out Kindle fire $199. It has a pdf reader (download patterns from Ravelry or transfer from computer), is an ereader, can listen to audiobooks, etc. It doesn't have a camera (I use my phone for that). It is 7" - fits really well in my knitting bag. Look on amazon for more info. I just wanted to let people know there is a cheaper alternative to the Ipad.

I went to MIT...I'm a geek who knits! And I love me my ipad! But, well, I don't take it with me everywhere, so I don't have all my knitting patterns on it. But, my iPHONE goes everywhere with me, so it usually has my patterns on it!

I met a guy in the wool shop I work in who was looking for wool to knit a gift for a friend with. I asked him how he came to knit as he was young and socially attractive and this is NZ which I find fairly entrenched in genderism. Turns out that as part of his post grad work they were required to study and learn 'manual techniques'. he was travelling lots at the time so he chose knitting since it was more portable than the obvious things like carpentry.

I love thinking of crafting as 'manual technique' and the iPad and its relatives fit beautifully into that idea.

oooooh! You make me want an ipad.

This would be a really good time to go back and read your lovely blog essay about how Christmas doesn't have to be perfect. Maybe some of the more mature (in age and wisdom) giftees will be receiving a picture and an IOU at the Christmas gift exchange this year? I know I would be most happy to receive one of your beautiful hand-knitted gifts in January, just to be able to see you relaxed and happy at Christmas. Just sayin'.

I usually send handmade greeting cards -- this year I have run out of time & will send store-bought ones.

Hells yeah your knitter is a geek!

I love my iPad. I use it for entertainment, knitting, reading, connecting. It's the reason I didn't go mental when my laptop broke a week ago.

Holy cats now I need an ipad. Well, hopefully in tomorrow's medical school holiday party that will be one of the raffle prizes...and I shall put all of my raffle tix into that bucket.

I won't go into details as to the fact that my holiday knitting is done (this fact being cancelled out by the fact that a pair of long a go knitted gift socks are MISSING!).

You can survive this. Let the short one do the cookies.

I love, LOVE, that you have brought up the binary nature of knitting. I have often used it to explain to my geeky friends why I have, it seems to them, wondered off into the realm of the granny.
Also, Goodreader sounds magical - I may have to get it.

OMG - I may have to run out and get myself and iPad RIGHT NOW!!!!

I've managed to stay disinterested in my hubby's ipad so far. You've just changed that. Pity the man.

I am currently reading your book, "Yarn Harlot; the Secret Life of a Knitter", and it appears that "IT" is right around the corner!

I REALLY dislike my iMac, but you sure do make sense of having an ipad. Since I am a bit of a technophobe, wonder if I would make enough use of it?

Gitty up horsey! Onward knitter!

I bought an i-Pad to bribe myself to go back to work this year. (I do go back every year, some years involve a longer discussion and a bigger bribe than others.) I love it. I looked at my corner of the couch last week. There was my knitting, my iPad playing NPR tiny desk top concerts with my headphones so nobody can complain about my taste of music, my cat curled up on the blanket that I was using as a cover and a large glass of diet coke. I sighed in happiness. It was such a picture of me.

We bought my 83 year old mother an ipad for Christmas and she absolutely LOVES it! I think it is an awesome gift for the over 70 because if you get somewhere you don't want to be, you just press the home button and viola! You can do something else! It is even better if the purchaser is willing to get it all set up and connected to their wireless with their favorite games installed. I did: Join it (my mother loves jigsaw puzzles), Words with Friends, Solitaire, Kindle (we share books), Mah Jong, pandora radio (she loves to listen to hymns on it).
Also, an ipad is a personal device, don't get one thinking you are going to share.... you don't share your phone with others, do you?

If you want a lower price point than the iPad, I'd recommend a Nook Color, Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire. They're cheaper and have similar functionality. I use my Nook Color as my portable pattern library as well as an ereader and instant trivia answer finder. :)

This is the first time I've ever commented here but I had to after reading about those two iPad apps. I've been trying to figure out a way to mark up pdf's on mine and now my problem is solved. My mind has been blown!

I have to say, I so admire you. Not only do you keep up a family, attend/put together/over see workshops, etc, but you also always maintain your blog; I'm good if I put up two posts a year. Thanks for always being attentive to your blog because I always look forward to reading your posts. By the way, when are you going to come close enough to Columbia, SC so all your readers online and book wise can meet you? Happy Holidays to you and your family.

P. S. I so love Canada; not only are your men so handsome, but your equality is something to be envied! Let's hear it for Canada, eh!

Calvin
Columbia, SC

Oh, dang, you've gone and blown our cover! Non-knitters still have us pictured as little grey-haired ladies sitting in rocking chairs!!!

I so love introducing my husband and son to some of the knitters I know...especially the ones that don't fit that profile!!! Now, all I need are a couple of baseball players that knit...

I have been saying this exact thing about my iPad since I got it! And I have just been looking at the PDFs in iBooks, I hadn't even thought about using GoodReader and marking them. I got the iPad to read eBooks, but immediately decided I didn't like that. But for patterns, it truly is amazing. No more printing a PDF and losing the 3rd page, or getting the pages out of order, or finishing a project on a trip and not having access to the next pattern. It's amazing. I can't even understand why a non-knitter would even want an ipad.

I was also thinking Douglas Adams as I read your post. "Don't Panic!"
And I too may have too look more closely at an Ipad. I have to navigate so many different computer programs with work that working one more piece of technology may bury me. I'll have to take it up with my techie daughter-in-law when I see her next week.

Great post! I love my iPad. Sorry about the Christmas knitting. I was just thinking that you were doing so much better this year.....I'm getting ready to bake 12 dozen cookies for my mom to take to her annual Cookie Party. It's a Christmas cookie marathon!

I don't have an ipad but I do have a tablet and it IS a wonderful tool. I also have purchased my favorite knitting reference ebooks so I always have help when I need it. (bonus is that if you have the books on something like google books you have the same book on your smartphone too).

Also, I have done some un-scientific research in all my Sock Summit classes and the sciences are overwhelmingly represented in those knitters. Now I admit that technical people may be more likely a person to take classes for skill building but make no mistake...Knitters can be, and are, techies!

Yup, you got that right about being a geek. I'll own up to that. Only I never thought I needed an ipad until today . . .

I wonder if Apple will notice the yarn harlot bump?

Three dish cloths, a dish towell and a pink pig. I can totally do it! except that's what I had to do a week ago. Not to mention the scarfs that I thought about making before I realized it was much more fun to watch you. :D

Also, thanks for the ipad info. I finally just bought an e-reader, and lap-top last Christmas, and . . and... damn why am I so behind on these things?? I too want a post-it note that doesn't fall off!!

I knew about most of the iPad apps -but did not know about GoodReader! Going off to search it out now.

Here I thought the best thing (besides the games) was FlipBoard and seeing blogs, facebook, and twitter set up like a magazine.

Dang! I wish partner had said yes to an IPad. Then I could steal it and... I mean borrow it... I mean, ask for my own?

I have an ipad, but I never thought of using it for knitting. I was wondering how the needle gauge would work, thinking how annoyed my husband would be if I stuck a needle through the screen, so I checked the link. I want that app. Didn't think of using it for audio books, either. I might start preferring the ipad to my laptop, which would make my children sad.

I didn't want an iPad until just now.

Oh please, oh please, oh please.

Best Christmas knitting/crafting motivation tool ever? Baby due Christmas Eve. I finished everything weeks ago (actually started in August this year) and have been hibernating and nesting ever since. Was even suggested by one friend that I do this every year to stay on top of my holiday preparations. Yeah, no, no thanks.

And like so many others, this review of the knitting ipad now has me convinced that I need one - for the very first time. Dangerous.

Merry Holidays!

At the risk of having yarn, needles and other sundry knitting paraphenelia flung at my head, I might point out that a mere two days ago you were gloating that you had this holiday thing ... um ... nailed I believe was the phrase you used. Of course, we all knew better ... Of course, this won't be the first (nor the last) time someone gets a gift still on needles!

I LOVE that you see knitting as binary and called knitters geeks, because, yep, that pretty much sums up me and how I see knitting!

An I-Pad is a perfect knitting accessory. And if you have a moment (not before Christmas....after) go check out the I-Cord I-Pad cozy that I knit up at the end of the summer. It's on my website. It cozies your I-Pad and also props it up at the perfect reading angle. Also I-Cord I-pad is funny....

OMG I was wondering if there's was something that would read/mark-up PDF files on an iPad and you and go and grant my wish. Now I just need that iPad.

I have a nook! I love it. I got specifically for knitting purposes. It does everything the IPAD does for half the price. Only downside is that there aren't yarn/knitter specific apps yet. (keyword being: YET) They do have a PDF reader that allows me to copy and mark up the crap out of my patterns. I have found my nook totally comfortable, portable, reasonable in size, price, and battery life, as well as not too complicated to navigate!

One solution is to take your knitting down to the laundry and knit there. No one will find you and if they do, Put them to work.

Thn
Anks for app reco Ms. Harlot. May I recommend Knit Companion? It's the mist I have ever paid for an app but I use it absolutely every day and it's wonderful!!!!!!! Strongly recommend it for pattern management.

I agree that an ipad makes a great present for a knitter. I have dozens of patterns on mine but I store them in ibooks. It has 2 sections - one for books & one for PDFs. I also have them on my iphone but the ipad works much better (you can actually read the type without enlarging & only getting a small portion).

Which brings us to part 2 and 3. If your knitter already has an ipad or itouch, an itunes gift certificate would not suck or one for audible.com.

A few months ago, I bought my husband an iPad for Christmas. Hmmmm.... I wonder if this is going to be like when I bought him an ice cream maker for Father's Day, and I was pregnant. This could be good.

Wow. My DH got me an Ipad last C-day and I love it and use it a lot for work and play, but I didn't know about the knitting apps. I do visit Ravelry on it and access my library, but that is all I've ever done knittingwise. That will change. Thanks for the heads up.

Oh Sister I'm sharing your "if I pretend it's good, it's all good" approach. I only have two items to knit before I'm done for C-day. A hat and a lace scarf. I have a whole entire nine days for these two simple projects. "Cake!" you tell me, "why are you stressing". Well for starts I'm working five out of those nine days, 10 hour shift, 45minute commute each end, family/house demands at day's start and finish, you know how it is. Not much happens those nights. But still, that leaves me four days for two simple projects, an easy go. Oh yes, I'm also hosting two large family dinners, lots of food prep time there but surely I can knit while waiting for the potatoes to boil. Darn, I can't knit in front of the guests or the prezzie surprise will be spoiled. Okay, I've got two solid, obligation free days for the knitting, it's still not crazy to picture lace happening, after all it's only a scarf. I'm totally good.

Oh wait. I forgot a small, tiny little detail. I still have to FINISH SPINNING the yarn to make these two projects! Did I mention lace in there anywhere because I've got to spin lace!

Okay, now I'm hyperventilating and I think I've got a rash starting up. I'm going to go pour a large glass of wine and hang it around my neck with a straw while I spin frantically. (How many calories does treddling burn?) Solidarity! We can do it, yes we can!

(I'm starting to think the best gift that those who love a knitter could give would be a large valium and a massage.)

Maybe you'd like to show the Catkin now?

I bet you there is an app to help you keep track of your stash, too.

I don't drink Apple Juice. I have a perfectly wonderful Android tablet (EVO View) that does everything the iPad does, including a really great app for pdf reading and marking and highlighting. Also half the price and its storage capability is extendable. One thing the iPad doesn't have. Happy Holidays to all!

I love my iPad! I love that I just discovered your blog and knitting all over again on my iPad! Thanks for the app suggestions.

Here are some great knitting apps for iPad and iPhone http://www.tmellc.com

Whoa, I never thought of using Goodreader for patterns. It's already my favorite app, and now it's even better!

Oh my gosh!! I bought myself an iPad this fall for . . . hmmm, cuz I wanted one. I go in cycles of playing around with it, but I had NO idea that there were knitting apps. Thank you thank you! I am requesting a few knitting ezines through Zinio in my stocking this year, but now I need to fire it up and check out everything knitting. That's after I find my little microfiber "magic fingers" swabby thing to remove all my grandson's little fingerprints so I can actually read the screen ::}

I am in absolute denial. My denial is strong. Christmas WILL NOT HAPPEN until I give it permission to, and it does not have permission until three handmade projects, a dozen baking projects, and all of the cleaning and cooking is done.

I'll let you know how that works out for me...

Re: Your final point

You can point any disbelievers to me; I'm a Systems Engineer who designs submarines for the US Navy.
Knitter, spinner, weaver :)

I, too, love my iPad as an adjunct knitting tool and love Goodreader for all the reasons you list. I was lucky enough to find an incredibly talented designer, Matthew Heston-McInnis,who designed a wonderful Orenburg shawl and -- for people like me who are chart-impaired -- wrote the pattern out line by line. I finished it this week and it is gorjus!

Happy Christmas to you and yours. And a very Happy New Year as well.

Hi Stephanie,

You've convinced me that an iPad is a useful knitting tool that I need to make me a better knitter ;). I managed to finish my gift knitting early this year. Good luck with your knitting!

So glad I found your blog!!!
Summer 2011 Texas wildfires are rampant. My way of dealing with it: I'll teach myself to knit and start with a chunky wool. Did I mention I started having hot flashes about this same time? The hottest summer ever and I'm covered in wool and menopausal sweat.
I discovered I was meant to be a knitter. I love it.
I now have iPad envy.

Love the calm tone, considering whether to freak out just yet. Want someone to come up with a Schedule for you this year, or is it too soon for that?

SO GLAD you brought this up -- I can't live w/out my ipad now .... we don't all have places nearby to enlarge knitting charts, etc. Goodreader, the internet, and the ipad + needles and yarn -- the way to go! I've also found a stand (Griffin) that has exactly the right "tilt" to place the ipad on for that chart reading.

I got an iPad as a belated birthday present in the spring:
- I love reading patterns on it in Good Reader (they never get lost)
- I've been marking up a Japanese pattern as I translate the symbols (much easier to move pixels around when I run out of space for my notes in the margin than erasing them and rewriting them somewhere else in the margin)
- But it never occured to me to draw a line and use it to mark my place (it could even be a colored highlighted line to make it easier to spot!)
Thanks for the pointer!

P.S. While it's not technical, translating Japanese in order to knit a sweater strikes me as pretty geeky. ;)

ou've convinced me that an iPad is a useful knitting tool that I need to make me a better knitter ;). Rosetta Stone

Knit companion on the iPad is fantastic! My husband listened to the tutorials and saw how it worked and said it was one of the best coded apps he'd seen in a long time. They have a Ravelry group, and are very active with communicating. For the price of less than a skein of nice sock yarn, I know can leave my chart minder, paper patterns, and even my row counter at home!

I think I've been finished with the Christmas knitting, oh, three times so far this year. It's not that the projects don't behave themselves or don't get completed -- it's just that I keep thinking of something else that would be "fun" to give someone.

Which is why, at one a.m., with the ornaments I decided yesterday (!) to make for my co-workers finished, I'm finally toddling off to bed. It takes longer to knit a batch of wee, tiny sweaters than one would expect. Alas.

always thought it would be neat to knit binary code

I love my iPad and Goodreader! The ability to use it for knitting patterns instead of printing them was what convinced me to actually get one (I *wanted* one ever since they came out, but I needed a Real Use for it, not just as a toy :-)
And only yesterday I got many interested questions about it at knit night!

Well said. Would it be too obvious if I emailed my husband the link?

Help! I and this new laptop are clearly not compatible. Somehow I managed to put a response to today's post on yesterday's comment list! If you don't get back to it, the gist was, bake the cookies with Hank and give his dad a box of yarn with a picture of a scarf to be made in January when things calm down! Hank will remember the baking session all his life.

It's 9 days until Christmas. I have one baby sweater to do, because my sister and my husband are just going to have to suck it up and get their gift when I find where I put the pattern and when I'm not sick to death of fair isle sweaters. Instead I'm working on scarves... because it's not as if we don't already have a 4 foot tall bag of winter stuff, including about 25 scarves, on the porch. But scarves are easy to knit, they let me play with my really pretty yarn, and I'm sick of fair isle.

Darn straight! Knit like the wind !

I had no idea that I urgently wanted an ipad until RIGHT NOW! UGH. Thank you for posting it's knitting related capabilities (and damn you at the same time because now I must have one). Good luck finishing up the knitting!!!

9 days and counting, I still have 2.5 pairs of socks to make and just finished finals yesterday. Like you I am trying to hunker down to get some knitting down over the weekend and will start panicking Tuesday when I'm baking cookies :-)
Hang in there Steph!

"Knitting is binary (knit/purl.) Knitting is technology, engineering, and construction, and your knitter has a knack for it. Your knitter is a probably a geek."

I love it!

This won't help, but I'm going to post it anyway: despite your self-imposed deadlines, what your family REALLY wants is YOU, functional and in one piece. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a spinner/knitter myself, but when I've received knitted or handspun gifts in January or February, they've actually felt like a huge bonus, a little sparkle of by-gone holidays brought into the hardest part of winter. Bright new multicolor mittens in January are just what you need to get you through February. (One year, in dire straits, my family decided to do Christmas on January 25th. It was WONDERFUL!)

Take care of yourself, and I, too, am impressed that you keep up the blog for us! I appreciate it.

ooooh,now how do I get an Ipad and a Dyson canister vacuum from my son? Torn between two presents, feeling like a fool...

Thanks for the app tip! A serious marker-up of patterns, I think that is something I could get into...
Fingers crossed that your next 48 hours are filled to the brim with knitting!

See Dec. 12th post

an iPad...someday I hope!

Knit Handy.. it is an app developed by Ann Budd and Interweave. It tells you how much yarn you need for projects. It replaces that plastic covered card you got when you started knitting.. sizes of people and projects meet yarn requirements. Also Crochet Handy.

I don't have a smart fone or an i-thingy. But it went live at the KR Retreat and Ann Budd was there. Everyone was buzzing about it.

I recently got an iPad and had not yet discovered GoodReader. Thank you so much for writing about this - I sense a productivity revolution in my future, both knitting and otherwise!

Ugh, I had NEVER been interested in an iPad before. Now I am. I've been searching around and, yeah... the chart thing is WAAAAAAY cool. I wonder (and I can't imagine that it wouldn't work) if you can also ENLARGE the charts, or zoom in. It's not too big a deal for me yet, but I just got the Jane Austen Knits magazine and a few of the charts in there are seriously printed with squares that are about 1/16" across. I mean, ridiculously small. I'd personally rather work with a chart over two pages than deal with that. Anyway... it'd be great to easily enlarge the chart and just be able to move the image around with my finger rather than wrestle several pages.

I think I'm doing the freaking out for you this year!
This year has been really hard for my family. My mom got cancer right after Christmas last year. I seem to want everything to be perfect for the family since she might not be with us next year. Trying to put all that emotion into a holiday and corresponding gifts is hard.

I couldn't agree with you more! My problem is that I share the iPad with hubby and sometimes have to wrench it out of his hands while he is saving the world from Nazi zombies. After Christmas I am going to seriously look at selling off some of my stash to buy my own. Yes, it's that serious!

That needle gauge app just changed my life.

Other than using my ipad to watch videos while knitting, I hadn't thought about the other uses I could put it to. Knitting patterns on GoodReader?! Why the heck didn't I think of that??? Thanks for sharing your tips/tricks -- off to download my pattern library from Ravelry. :)

Enabler.

iPad for my knitting?! Egads, woman, that's IT. Here I've been, languishing around the house, hinting pitifully about how much I need an iPad for my (piano) teaching. Tax-deductible and all that. But ...... gasp (duh) ..... there are such wondrous knitting apps as you describe here? I'm going to wait just one more week, then buy meself one of my own-i-o. Would you consider publishing a more serious list of knitting apps you know of? Commentors too? Oooh Oooh! (Obviously not until after The Big C Deadline' has passed mercifully by.)

My Nook Color has a lot of handy dandy apps for knitting. I can finally download and explode the charts from Ravelry so that I can see what I am doing. Neato!

I LOVE MY IPAD.
I do exactly what you mentioned and I use Goodreader to mind all my charts and take notes.

Also - several TV networks have iPad apps where you can watch recent TV shows. Not that I watch Days of Our Lives and flip back and forth to my patterns or anything. While I'm at work. Not me. Nope.

And a needle sizer app!? Genius! I didn't know about this, but it is downloading presently.
Now if you can find an app that I can use as a darning needle that would be the bee's knees.
(I did do a pretty bang up job using a paper clip as a darning needle this morning though)

Oh heck, great suggestion with the iPad. I have only recently started knitting with my ipad in my lap and darn it, I don't know if I ever want to go back to a pattern that isn't backlit and glowing. zoom in, zoom out, it's amazing. good call, Stephanie!

Happy 48 buckle-down hours! I think you'll come out the other end in better shape than you think.

My sweetie insisted on giving me one for my birthday after all. Now I just have to learn my way around it. Fabulous, fabulous gift.

Hmmmm . . . tell me if there's a little discrepancy:

"Perfecting things doesn't perfect people."

and

"Freaking out about a deadline pushes it back."

;o)

I vote no-freakout. You'll have more energy for knitting. Good luck!

OMG I love goodread and my iPad...don't know how I lived without them! (I bought it for myself for my 40th b-day last spring!) Fabulous!

Yes to the I Pad. I bought one for myself this year since we got the work bonus... and I did not think I needed one, but after seeing a knitter friend with hers, I had to have one and it is remarkable for all the reasons Stephanie lists. I use a program called I Annotate PDF, which does all that she describes GoodReads does. First think I did was knit and full a cover for it, to protect it. I do also use it for work but it is a knitting tool, and I play words with friends as a bonus...

Hurrah! Hurrah! My iPad2 is here. It is my 69th birthday present. I'm completely dumb about it, because I actually downloaded GoodReader for an iphone(I don't own one) instead of the app for an iPad2. I'm trying to have that rectified at the moment. It's going to be great if I ever figure it out. I was very proud of the fact that I actually managed to configure it myself without irretrievably ruining it. I'd love to be a geek; I just haven't accomplished geekyness yet!

I just got an ipad several weeks ago-so excited to find out about goodreader! Hurray!

How can you do this to me, Stephanie? I already have iPad envy and very little chance of being given one, but now you tell me it has knitting pattern apps? Waaaah!!

Good luck with the gift knitting.It looks like you'll need it. :-(

Thank you so much for the Goodreader tip.
I just got it for myself.
I love it.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Martha

I bought myself an iPad last month for my birthday and have loved it. I use GoodReader as well. I also like that I can stream shows on it while sitting in my comfy knitting chair instead of having to sit at the computer.

This year I'm starting a new tradition of knitting gifts as a way to celebrate Robert Burns' night. That way, I have a little leeway and it's so cozy to carry on the tradition of the Highlands.

The final line of this post is something I want to add to my "favorite quotes" :)

Panic- no- get done what you can get done. What doesn't happen, doesn't happen. In the end no one notices but you, and that's OK.

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