I've got a wool/soy blend from Patons (made in China) -- it's 70/30 wool/soy, so feels more like wool. Somewhere between sock and DK weight. Makes great socks (I use bamboo DPs, re another thread; I'm a slow knitter and likely to drop stitches with metal DPs, and socks take long enough!). Soy yarn is 100% recycled from tofu waste, of all things, then mixed with (I don't know what!) and "extruded" from a machine into the ribbon type of soy yarn. You can also get "rovings" sort of stuff and spin your own, if you like that kind of thing. Allegedly it spins like dupioni (sp?)silk. I don't do much spinning, and am sticking to the cheapest wool I can find for that. But I'm interested in soy yarn options!

natal, can you post a photo or link of your foot-operated trash/recycle cabs, muspic, can I see your cork floor? We're doing cork as well. The telling sign for me was when I went into a "wood flooring" showroom. When I asked where their cork display was (the whole floor was covered in the different wood flooring), I expected them to say they didn't have one (like most stores). Instead, they took me to the area where the employees stood all day. All cork. No wood. Enough said. Alabamamommy, our current house has white Corian counters. They were here when we bought the house and were afraid of them at first, but now we love them. I cook every day and never had any problem getting anything off them, including red white and tumeric. I spilled about 4 t. of tumeric on the counter when I was making keema yesterday. I got most of it right away. After I was done cooking, I saw that I missed a spot. I sprayed the spot with 409, let it sit a few minutes while I cleaned up then came back and it came right off. We've also had success with set stains using Soft Scrub, and even a baking soda paste. For the kitchen in the house we're building, my must haves were: * cork floors (I need the sound proofing for living with a brain injury and active boy!) * walk in pantry (that it is 9'x9'11" is a bonus) * all base drawers * wide aisles * pulls instead of knobs * dropped baking center so I don't have to stand on my tippy toes while kneading bread, and open on two sides so my son can help. * foot pulls for trash * hands free water faucet * island (I ended up with two. WIth my TBI, I can't go out to socialize much, so two islands give me a "little kitchen" where I can focus and not be distracted (aka, burn the house down). The second island allows others to be "in the kitchen" to help prep, socialize, clean up, etc. without being in my space. I can't wait! *desk area for printing recipes, menu planning, etc. * side by side frig. It just works best for the way we live. Funny story, when we bought our current frig, the deciding factor was the one that fix a pizza box. In the last four years, there have been less than 5 pizza boxes in there! We cut out most processed foods. So we love the side-by-side because when I cook dinner, I always make larger portions so we can get 2-4 leftovers out of it. There are packaged in lunch size containers in frozen. Everything is easy to see in the morning, when DH grabs his lunch. * Full size freezer in pantry. We currently have a chest freezer, but we'd like to be able to buy a part of a cow from a local farm, so we're getting a side by side freezer to store our meat and extra bulk goods. DH's must have, beyond what's above: * deep single sink for washing pans (Usually I clean up as I go, but often I run out of steam by the time dinner is done, so he'll do clean up. I figured if I give him the sink he wants, he'll do it even more!) * energy star appliances * water sense sinks * Sharp microwave...

Thanks for the input. And yes, you found one of the changes since I made the last diagram of my kitchen. After much struggle and even having electrical put in for three different locations for the microwave since I couldn't make up my mind, I finally and definitely have decided to put it in one of the pantry cabinets. Luckily, there is an outlet inside (#4 microwave location) however, I have to check with the electrician to make sure my microwave won't trip the breaker at that spot). My refrigerator was one of the hardest compromises I had to make. The good news is that I have room in the broom closet (if I put brooms somewhere else) to add a secondary fridge (though still quite small at less than 24 inches deep). I particularly like your idea of a second set of silverware for the prep area. I have room for the step stool under/adjacent to the island - I will probably follow your example on that too since that will help me reach into the tall pantry cabinets especially. Thanks again!

While working in a home center, I helped a family with their paint order. They had several kids that were running out of control, all over the store.They picked a hideous color, but it seemed to fit their personality, so I didn't argue.LOL I gave them all of the instructions and suggestions on how to paint their exterior. They even refused to buy primer because they felt that was just a sales ploy to get more money out of them! It took forever because they were chasing these darn kids. As they are leaving, Dad notices that we have some nice paint sprayers on sale. We explained even the tiniest details in how to use and care for it. Finally they left and everyone in the store let out a sigh of relief. About a month later Dad returns with the sprayer. It hadn't been cleaned so the nozzle was completely plugged up and he claimed it never worked from the beginning. Company policy was refund no questions asked. So he left a happy camper. Lo and behold About 2 weeks later, in comes the Dad with the paint sprayer. Even that wasn't the kicker. Our sales rep from the paint company, came in and said he had been sent by their headquarters because of a customer complaint, and they would be meeting in the store, so he could follow them out to the country where they lived. You're ahead of me! Yes, it was the same family. Their complaint was that they had not been properly instructed on their project and the paint had been poorly mixed and the color was not correct. We were well covered, with not only their sample but lots numbers and all. What they wanted this time, was for us to come and prep thier house and at out cost repaint it. The rep brought back pictures and you could see nothing had been preped, even the windows were not cover and this clown had used the spray painter, we had ended up refunding, and every window and shrub within 20 feet of that place was painted! Thank goodness, he had gone after the paint company and they were not so generous and didn't approve any adjustment. I really wanted our manager to charge them with fraud for the sprayer, but of course they didn't. Idiots abound! The other thing we dealt with at this store is we had an 80 year old klepto, that store small things like drill bits every trip to the store. He son was so embarrassed, but she seemed to always get the expensive ones and get several because they were small. LOL Working for the public is not for the faint of heart!