I’ve had several emails from readers who tried to post a comment only to be redirected to the FBI’s web site. Some have wondered what interest the FBI could possibly have in comments left on a knitting blog.

Ahem… I am not in league with any nefarious parties. Nor is any agency, as far as I know, keeping track of who may be hanging around here and commenting.

It’s the anti-spam utility I use to keep the blog spammers at bay. It redirects commenters that it decides are spammer right to the home of the FBI, where it is to be hoped that they might see the error of their ways.

But nice, ordinary readers who just want to leave nice knitterly comments should be able to!

As far as I know I haven’t made any changes. But for some reason the spam checker has decided to clamp down. I’ve loosened things up a bit — hopefully not so much that the spam gates have opened.

Please try to comment on this post. If you have problems, email me at (just click on that link if you want) and I’ll try tweaking it again until I get it right. Believe me, I have no desire to keep anyone from posting a comment (unless they’re a spammer)! If necessary, I’ll look for an alternate spam-blocking method.

Danielle asks if I have a favorite bind-off for a 2×2 ribbed sock.

On socks for women, I like to use a picot bind-off (cast on 2, bind off 4, repeat). It’s very stretchy, and cute besides! For some reason many men are a little squeamish about having a picot edging on their socks! So when knitting socks for men, I usually use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off, or a single-crochet bind-off. I also like the purl or lace bind-off.

Unless the pattern calls for 2×2 ribbing, though, I usually do a 1×1 rib and a Kitchener bind-off.

Susanne points out that there’s a bit more errata in the Magic Cast-On instructions:

On the bottom of Page 3 on “Row 2: K all stitches on both needles (no decreases).” I think you mean no INCREASES as we have just cast on.

Susanne, you are so right! Good catch! I have fixed the on-line instructions and the PDF document, and I’ve added it to the Knitty article errata.

Like me, it’s a work in progress!