Check out this nice wee movie of Kevin Pearce getting a hands on tour of the Burton board manufacturing center in Burlington, VT:

The first winter gear websites are launching now – so 2008/9 shopping season isn’t far off.

Westbeach are offering a hint of their key fabrics and prints – click here to check it out.

Nomis are launching women’s outerwear for the 2009/10 season but for this year they’ve built a dedicated women’s site for their growing streetwear range at www.nomisgirls.com

I got new boots last season and getting them mail order I couldn’t get them moulded in the shop.

Their first outing was during a week’s visit to Morzine early in the season. For the first few days they were pretty tight and grippy – the way new boots are. But a couple of days later I was in agony – they were starting to pack out and were squashing bits of my feet that definitely didn’t want squashed.

So (foregoing the usual visit to Bar Robinson) I headed down to The Park – a cool, friendly snowboard shop near the middle of Morzine.

Explaining my aches, the guys there took my boots off me, heated them up and helped me remould them. And they wouldn’t take a penny (or a cent) off me for their troubles. I hadn’t bought my boots from them and they knew that, but they were still happy for me to hang out in the store, read their mags and get my boots sorted.

It was a good example of a store offering great service. Maybe they didn’t make any cash out of me on that visit but I make sure I visit and check out their wares whenever I am in town as a result. You can also visit them online at www.thepark.fr

What about the stores near you? Have you got any examples of good snowboard store service?

How to Crochet a Cat Hat

Steps

1. Make a slip knot, and crochet 4 Ch (Chains); Slip stitch in first ch made. This will make your ring that you'll crochet into.
2. Crochet 7 sc (single crochet) into the ring, use slip stitch to join sc into first sc made: 7 sc.
3. Ch 2, work first hdc (half double crochet) in same stitch as the ch 2; work 2 hdc in each stitch around in circle; Slip stitch in first hdc made: 14 hdc.
4. Ch 3, dc (double crochet) in same stitch as ch 3, 2 dc in each stitch around, slip stitch in first dc made: 28 dc.
5. Ch 1, 8 sc in circle, ch 13, skip 4 stitches, re-attach using slip stitch. (This will create the first ear hole.) sc 10 more stitches in circle, ch 13, skip 4 stitches, re-attach using slip stitch, sc 3 more stitches, slip stitch in first sc made. By now your hat should start to curve a little bit, which is what you want.
6. Ch 1, 7 sc in circle. Note: You will be working into the 'ear hole' now, so you will be working in the space under it, but it's basically like working a normal stitch. 16 sc in the 'hole', sc in in each stitch until you hit the next ear hole, 16 sc in hole, 3 sc, slip stitch in first sc made; cut yarn and tie off. Weave in yarn ends with yarn needle.Alternate explanation:Ch 1, sc in next 7 sts.16 sc around ch of 13.Sc in each st up to next ch.16 sc around ch of 13.Sc in next 3 sts, slst in 1st sc made.

1. ch 4, slip stitch to first ch to form a ring.
2. ch 1, 7sc in ring, join with sl st to first sc. (7sc)
3. ch 2 ( this will be the first hdc) hdc in same st, 2 hdc in each st around, join with sl st in top of ch 2. (14 hdc)
4. ch 3, dc in same st, 2 dc in ea st around, Sl st in top of ch 3. (28 dc)
5. ch1, sc in same st and in next 7 dc, ch 13, skip 4 dc, sl st in next dc, sc in next 10 dc, ch 13, sk 4, sl st in next dc, sc in next 3 dc, sl st in first sc.
6. ch1, sc in same st and next 6 sts, 16 sc in ch 13 loop, sc in ea st around till next loop, 16 sc in ch 13 loop, sc in last 3 sts. Sl st in first sc. Fo weave in ends

Tips

• You can make a chin strap but this is only for the most patient and mellow of cats, and definitely not recommended if there are children who'll be trying to put this hat on the cat. Cut a 6 inch piece of yarn, and tie it onto the middle of the ear hole, try the hat onto your kitty to determine how long the chin strap should be, hold the spot and cut off the extra yarn, but leave an inch so you have room to tie it loosely. If the cat is clearly stressed, tying the hat on with a chin strap is not a good idea--it's rather cruel!

Things You'll Need

• Size H 5.00 mm crochet hook
• Yarn
• Yarn needle

Related wikiHows

• How to Crochet a Granny Square
• How to Hold a Crochet Hook
• How to Crochet a Hat
• How to Crochet a Snowman
• How to Repair a Crochet Blanket

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Crochet a Cat Hat. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

I just discovered the Dutchtub in an interiors magazine and thought you might like to see it – and add it to the list of items for your fantasy mountain chalet.

It looks a bit like a giant teacup and is a hot tub with a wood-burning fire attached to it.  It takes a couple of hours to heat up, uses two bags of wood per use and doesn’t need to be near an electricity supply. It also comes in loads of colours and has a matching cover to keep the cold out.

In the UK a Dutchtub costs around £3000 but you can hire them for special events and they’re available worldwide.

Check em out at www.dutchtub.com

Eka - the fairtrade headwear company run by British snowboarder Gilly Seagrave - has a pretty healthy sale on. There are hats, headbands, mittens, laptop cases, iPod cases and other accessories in loads of colours and designs. Postage is worldwide and really reasonable too.

Visit www.ekawear.com

Vans London have been nominated in the best streetwear category of the inaugural London Fashion Awards.

Our mates at Blueskin (who also make our powderroom.net t-shirts) have also been nominated in the Urban category.

There are 16 categories and winners are being chosen in a public online vote. You can cast your vote by visiting www.LondonFashionAwards.com

Quilsilver are running a contest to win a year lease of a beach-front apartment in Capbreton, south west France.

The prize also includes a Fiat car, surfboard, plasma tv, Xbox 360, laptop, wetsuit and a wardrobe full of Quiksilver or Roxy clothing.

To enter visit www.quiksilver.com before March 14.

Just got wind of some awesome limited edition Oakley gear.

Remember the WWW snowboard the London Police produced with K2 a few years back? Well the gang are in action again, this time working to create a range of products including a new print for the Oakley Gascan shades, Crowbar goggle and hoody to create a limited edition winter pack.

Only 500 have been made and they’ll be in the shops in late 2007/ early 2008.

To give you a little more info about the London police, their ‘LADS’ characters started to appear on the streets of Amsterdam after the English artists moved to the Dutch city in 1998.

You can now see them on the streets of cities including London, Manchester, Brussels, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Torino, Copenhagen, New York, LA and Tokyo

EESA kooky mail sending base layer company has just launched their new site for the 07/08 season.

A big fan of my Rucker top from last year, and their socks too...I will be placing an order soon to make sure i get what I want before its all gone.

The range has expanded greatly with some nice stuff for us ladies...

I have my eye on the Abscond henley...

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Check these out - they're USB drives featuring Burton snowboard graphics. We're loving the GTwin but there are also Vapor and Custom models for the boys.

More info: http://www.acp-ep.com/snowdrive/index_burton.html

They were spotted on the wonderful Snowflakes and Cupcakes blog.

For those of us that are in the northern hemisphere, snowboarding season is still a bit far off. Instead of just throwing your board in the back of the closet or under the bed, there are some simple things you can do to make sure it will be in tip-top shape and ready to go once winter arrives.

1. Basic tune and wax

This would be the perfect time to get an end-of-the season tune and wax for about US$20 at your local board shop. They will remove any dirt and muck on your board. Besides, it's better to do it now than wait until the beginning of the season when there's a mad dash for the store.

2. Clean at home

If you want, you can clean your board at home if the base is a bit dirty. Just head down to your local shop and get a bottle of general base cleaner. Make sure you follow the directions on the label. After you're done with that, go ahead and apply a fresh coat of wax. You can either scrape it now, or if you're a procrastinator like me, you can wait until winter arrives.

3. Bindings

If you remove your bindings before storing your board, make sure you record where everything was.

4. Storage

When you do put your board away, don't leave it in direct sunlight. Storing it under your bed or in your closet - if there's enough room! - is just fine. One final thing, don't stack anything heavy on it because it could flatten out the camber. You'll have to find some other corner to stash all your shoes and purses.