Kris HowardInterview
Tech leader, blogger, crafter, speaker
Adapted from Kris Howard's interview on Uses This, published 7 January 2021. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
On my work desk, I've got a 13" 2017 MacBook Pro that is well due for an upgrade.
It sits on a Thermaltake Massive V20 laptop stand for extra cooling and plugs into an Alogic USB-C hub.
Tabletop 10" USB LED Ring Light
For extra light when streaming, I've got a Neewer LED ring light as well as Dimmable Bi-Colour LED Light on a stand.
When I'm working, I sit in a ridiculous Secretlab TITAN D.Va gaming chair.
I also spend way too much time staring at my iPhone 11.
We've also just got a Brother 2750 multi-function printer, which I use for printing reams of German bureaucracy and the occasional sewing pattern.
On the craft side of the office, I recently got an IKEA Bekant electric sit/stand desk.
At one end sits my Janome Skyline S5 computerised sewing machine.
At the other end is a large 24"x36" Fiskars self-healing cutting mat that I use with a KAI rotary cutter.
I've got a set of addiClick interchangeables, as well as an assortment of addi Turbos and KnitPros.
On the rare occasion I buy yarn in a skein rather than a ball, I have a hand-cranked ball winder that I use with a swift.
Beyond that stuff, I read books on a Kindle Paperwhite.
On my wrist I wear a Withings Steel HR, which I love because I get the benefits of a smart watch (activity tracking, notifications) in a form factor that actually looks like a watch and only needs charging every few weeks.
Communication
For knitting, I use Ravelry to record all of my project data and find new patterns to knit.
Productivity
Browser
Notes
(I'm "webgoddess" over there if you want to friend me.) I use Notability on my iPad to organise my knitting patterns and mark up PDFs with the Pencil.
Security
Coding & Development
If I need a terminal, I use iTerm2.
Design
I also use Canva to occasionally create graphics.
Media
If I need to do anything with images, I use Acorn.
😭) I listen to music and podcasts on Spotify.
Storage
Other
Amazon Web Services+ 16 others
My name is Kris Howard, and I'm a manager in the Developer Relations team at Amazon Web Services.
We also use YNAB (You Need a Budget) for managing our joint finances.
I also use Contacts+ to augment my address book, because it allows you to add tags and arbitrary notes to people and then search on them later.
For my crafting, I'm a big fan of (and contributor to) FreeSewing, an Open Source Javascript library for creating made-to-measure sewing patterns.
I also occasionally use Knit Counter Lite on my iPhone, if I'm knitting a pattern that requires keeping track of rows.