A Little Yarn On The Side

Scorching heat aside, I still love this project.  To be fair, it wasn't until after I started it that I discovered that the "yarn needed" notes on Ravelry aren't accurate, so I made a shorter shrug than the pattern called for, and if it looks odd on the right, it's because my mattress stitching there is so wonky that I'll be ripping it out and starting over, so it's only partially done.  BUT it still counts as finished sweater number FIVE.  Yay!!!!!!!!!!  When we get out of the perpetual state of sweat, I might even be willing to try it on.  It's supposed to "only" get to 104 today.  Whew!  Good thing I have wool in such a break from heat! Aside from having a new finished sweater, I am tremendously proud of myself for this sweater because I used gift yarn for it .  I struggle with using up any really great yarn in my stash--you know, because then I won't have the yarn any more--but I become a positive maniac over gift yarn.  RobinH ...

Did you see that????? I have passed the 10,000 yards of yarn mark for the year! There are now 66 (there were those 3 balls of mohair to finish the Lady's Circular Cape, after all) fewer balls of yarn in my stash than when I started the year. YIPPEE!!!!!! But on to other things... The Stealth Project is now in the hands of its new owner, and to directly quote from the text messages received: "OH. MY. GOSH. I LOVE IT!" "It fits perfect, I love the color, and I love the style!!" "It's my favorite piece of clothing." "Ha ha! It's so beautiful, I already had someone comment on it!" Now THAT is what makes knitted gifts worth doing! The "finishitis" contest--The rules: 1. Post a list of your WIPs in the comments. Remember, they must already be started. 2. Keep us posted on your progress 3. Any and all projects will count, but size and complexity of the project will be considered. 4. The winner will be the one who finishes...

As it turns out, actually crafting  on Finishing Friday makes a BIG difference on stash progress.  I finished the grey socks last night (picture to come), which used up a 460-yard ball of yarn and pushed my total-yarn-used for the year tally over 10,000.  The first year of the yarn tally I crossed that mark in July, but since then it has been late August or September, so I'm having a decent knitting year I suppose.  It does create a problem with that 25,000 yard goal however.  Not that I'm ready to concede yet--I prefer to ignore reality until at least  November.  Besides, I still have tonight free.............

I have passed the 10,000 yards knitted mark!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The January aran almost has one full-length sleeve. Well, okay it almost has 2 full length sleeves, but only one is on the needles right now. I'll fix the other one later. The steeks are sort of freaking me out, so last night I did a little hand-sewing reinforcement of where I'm going to cut for the front. I'll still sew it on the machine, but this is "just in case." I may not be cut out for steeks....

I just finished the socks, and have tied my best record for when I passed the 10,000 yard mark!!!!!!!!!  Can I meet or beat the 19,000 yards used in 2008???? I do realize that some knitters would be excited about the pair of socks that was just finished and a bit less obsessed about yardage, but they didn't just have to move their entire stash out of the sewing room, then back in again......

And it WASN'T a bottle of wine!  Which, frankly, seemed the logical contender after wrestling with the tubular bind off again.  But it was an honest-to-goodness normal knitting project: A finished project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now on to the next 10,000........ Speaking of which, I have no excuses.  My resolve to not buy any new fabric doesn't even slow me down when faced with the right thing.  Tuesday I'd been to the gym and was meeting a friend for lunch, but popped into Craft Warehouse to see if I could find a small doily to use on some extra placemats for us, and was gobsmacked by some great fat quarter bundles with EIGHT fabrics in them-- and they were on sale!!!!  Know how many fabrics I need for a Spicy Spiral table runner?  Eight!  Why can't I use fabrics I already have........?  Well, if I had that kind of self-control, I wouldn't be Cold Sheeping or making up mad challenges for myself.  Anyway, the one t...

      Bob:   Well, it's been a tremendous couple of weeks, but it's time to say good-bye to the 2010 Ravelympics.  With tonight's closing ceremonies, the games and the knitting frenzy come to an end. Ron:  Hard to believe it's only been 17 days.  What a tremendous woolly output we've seen from the nearly 10,000 worldwide participants.  Bob: We're here with one of the participants.  Tell us, Ms. Sutton, how do you feel now that it's all over? Toni:  Well, Bob, I think I'm still a bit shocked to have actually finished. Ron:  So you weren't sure you would finish? Toni:  There are just so many things that can happen--a design flaw, running short of yarn, broken needles, a freak moth invasion--nothing is a given in competitive knitting. Bob:  Now that you've come this far, what are your plans?  Are you considering turning pro? Toni:  Well, Bob, I did consider it briefly, but the life of a professional kn...

The brioche scarf is now done: and with it's 440 yards of yarn, I have now achieved my second-highest yardage in a year with two and a half months to go!  And--even more encouraging in many ways, this yarn is all used up from my stash!  In a fit of madness obsession with variegated yarns, I ordered 4 HANKS of this yarn in either 2006 or 2007.  Call it a "youthful indiscretion," or, if you'd like to include the other 18 hanks of variegated yarns I also acquired around that time, call it "complete idiocy."  I am happy to say that even I came to my senses and realized that variegated lace yarns have never work out for shawls as I hope they will, and it might have taken me about 10,000 yards of lace to learn this, but with my stash, it could have been worse.  Much, MUCH worse.  Rather than starting another scarf for portable knitting, I opted for: a new sweater!  I might be obsessed with yardage, but I haven't yet given up on finishing those 12 ...

I'm trying to reach 10,000 by Thursday and what am I doing?  Working on socks with size ONE needles and fingering weight yarn, with a massive 460-yard ball of yarn.  Oh yeah--I see this going well.

There's just a little over 4 months left in my second Year of the Stash, and I'm not even halfway to my goals. I'm not even halfway to where I was last year. How is this possible? I'm not working this year, I had a 6-week surgery recovery period where almost all I could do was knit--and I have used about 45 skeins of yarn. Do you realize I could replace that in 1.2 minutes if left alone with the internet and my credit card????? Sigh...... I had it figured up last year that if I knit approximately 20,000 yards per year (last year I managed 19,000 but I'm taking advantage of my knitterly optimism) I could use up my stash in about 9-10 years. And be able to get the sewing room closet doors closed in about 3. HOWEVER, if I'm currently on target to only do 15,000 yards then I might have a 15-year stash which is a bit depressing as I had visions of going on a yarn-shopping bender in 2018 that would leave my credit card whimpering in pain. I have 4 months left--w...

It's finished, blocked, furred, the ends are woven in, and it's wrapped and ready to go. Theo is in mourning. This is the second sweater I've made from Elann's Shawl Back Shrug pattern, which can be found for free here . It's definitely one of my favorite patterns, and I used 6 skeins of Elann Peruvian Quechua DK-weight alpaca. I'm distinctly proud of myself this month. I have finished two projects, and have not yet cast on a new one. I am choosing to view this as personal growth rather than a reflection of having run out of room in knitting bags for any more projects. I cling to what I can. Instead, I have chosen to continue working on the plum scarf (and Daniele is right--I do seem to be having a purple lace obsession lately), which is this far from being done: It will be a decent-sized scarf, I think, but it will definitely be done when this yarn is gone because I don't have any more and don't remember what it actually was. I have narrowed it d...

Finally!  First, a picture of the new socks: which I thought about keeping for myself, but if I put them in the gift bin I get to count them as one of my 12 gifts for the year.  Which works for me, as I really don't wear gray.  AND this used up the last of the 3 double-balls of this yarn, which I bought at least 6 or 7 years ago, which put me over 10,000 AND gives me number 65 in the "all used up tab."  I promised myself I could think about stopping Cold Sheeping when I get that tab to 150, and am really trying to be good and not just focus on the single-ball entries.  This one only showed 2 because one was knit up before Ravelry, but there were at least 3 origininally--if not 4.  I am thorough when I go on a yarn binge. I was so excited about hitting my target on time that I whipped out another Tribble: though it doesn't do anything for my yardage.  Because these take so little yarn and it's so hard to estimate, I've decided to just count th...