Vine Lace is one of those great lacy knitting stitches that you're bound to go back to again and again once you learn about it. It's really cute, with a viney looking space between a bunch of eyelets, and it is super simple to knit.

The whole pattern is just a four-row repeat, and two of the rows are just purling. The other two rows are just one stitch off from each other, so it's pretty easy to remember what's going on.

This would be a great choice for a little scarf or wrap, or to add interest to a top or any other sort of summery project you might be contemplating.

Cotton yarn often gets a bad reputation for being rough and hard to work with. While that's true of a lot of the cotton yarns out there, it's about the opposite of what you get when working with Berroco's Pure Pima yarn, which is a great choice for any summer garment knitting you might have planned.

This yarn's combination of shiny mercerized and matte regular cotton plied together makes for a nice subtle shine on the surface of the yarn, and the long Pima cotton staples make for a soft project, whatever you're knitting.

It's a little fussier than a standard cotton yarn typically is, but it's worth the extra work for the beautiful basics you can make with the yarn that you'll love to wear year after year.

Have an opinion about Berroco Pure Pima or other knitting yarns I've reviewed? Many of the more than 40 reviews allow you to rank and add your own opinions (if they don't, e-mail me your thoughts and I'll see that they get added).

Even if you're not interested in designing your own knits, it can be fun to peek into the world of a knitting designer and see what she thinks about when she's designing and why she makes the choices she does. Debbie Bliss' new book Design It, Knit It allows readers to do just that, as well as providing 15 classic patterns that will deepen your knowledge of the concepts explained in the text.

Rather than being a nuts and bolts how to design book, this book covers more of the thought processes a designer might go through as she tries different things and decides what elements are needed to add interest or make a piece fit better. Example swatches that illustrate various concepts are included, as well as the projects themselves, which help illuminate the ideas the book explores.

This book is quite inspirational and educational to people who are interested in design, but even if you've never designed a sweater before you're likely to learn something about why a designer might have made a particular choice in a design that can make your knitting experience that much richer.

If you've ever thought it's too much of a bother to carry around a measuring tape when you're just working on a small project, you might want to check out Omni's Knit Stix, knitting needles in aluminum or wood that have the measurements down to an eighth of an inch laser-impressed right on the needle.

That means you can use your second needle to measure the length of the knitting, while the project on the needles can be measured for width just by bringing it down to the bottom of the needle (where the zero is).

For people who do a lot of smallish projects (the measuring tool is only handy up the length of the needle, after all), I think this is a brilliant idea. It's one less thing you have to put in your bag, and I know I for one am always losing my measuring devices, anyway, so this makes it less likely you'll be unable to find a ruler or measuring tape when you need one.

Tools that do double-duty are always appreciated, whether in the kitchen or in the knitting bag.