A Little Yarn On The Side

It's the last day of the first month of the Year of 100 Projects, and..... Project number 10 is done!!!!!!!!!  (And yes, there are finished pajama bottoms as well, but we all know I can do that....it's the pajama tops that are always in doubt......or in a black hole or wherever the heck it is) Checking in on my progress for the year: Projects done: 10 Yards of yarn used up: 1442 Skeins/hanks of yarn used:  7.25 Yards of fabric used:  9.08 If I kept up the same pace all year, (which we all know is seriously unlikely, but work with me here for a second), I would finish the year with: 120 projects 17,304 yards of yarn 87 skeins of yarn 108.96 yards of fabric Which is pretty close to what I did during my first year of cold-sheeping, so I guess it doesn't sound too far off at all.  Rats....I was hoping my first month had been more...record-setting?  One of my hopes for 2010 is that by finishing all these projects, I will use up huge amounts of my stash,...

So, the front of the cowl-neck sweater is one inch PAST where I'm supposed to divide for the neck: which, by my calculations, would be approximately just above my belly button. Okay......... Now, not that I'm a prude or anything, but there's a difference between wearing a low-cut sweater and just standing for a picture.... and wearing a low cut sweater in real life....and the odds are pretty good that the difference would involve randomly flashing people.  So, I'm thinking I want to add a few inches before the neck.  Maybe 3? 4?

Alison over at Yarn in my Pocket recently presented me with the "Sunshine Award."  Ta-da: (Or, in the spirit of my spell-checker , tuba!) The award is "for bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blogging world." Awww...* blush* Of course, I am well aware that I often inspire people in sort of a reverse-sort of way....like discouraging them from placing that late-night yarn order because they don't want to face 3 years of Cold Sheeping just to be able to get their closet doors closed (which is still impossible, by the way...).  But we who dig ourselves in to strange and often humorous situations grasp at what we can.... So, the rules of the award are: Put the logo on my blog or within a post Pass the award onto 12 bloggers; Link the nominees within your post ; Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog; Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award! Alison ...

Originally I had intended to assert that I had not yet actually decided to attempt an entire sweater for the Ravelympics, when I found myself scrounging in the closet for the appropriate yarn.  This means that I have apparently committed to trying to knit one entire sweater in 16 days.  I haven't actually forgotten that in the past I have called Elizabeth Zimmerman a few purls short of a ribbing for suggesting that her January aran pattern could be completed within a one month time-frame--especially since it took me 4 months just to whine about the steeks--but I think yarn must emit certain fumes that erase all rational thought.  Think about it--this would explain the existence of size zero (or, heaven forbid, size 000) knitting needles.  It is such a powerful force that I actually caught myself thinking, "Hm....should I also enter a WIP just in case I finish the sweater early????" I was relieved to see that projects could be entered in more than one event, so I w...

For Valentine's Day, Andy and I have made it a tradition to make each other gifts.  So far the tradition is also that we don't actually manage to get them done BY Valentine's Day.  BUT, in a fit of forward-thinking and being-on-top-of-things (which I can only guess is a leftover effect from the cold medication as it is so obviously not a part of my nature), I started Andy's gift yesterday.  Any guesses? That's right....pajamas AGAIN!  I promise, I really don't have a monomania for pajamas...well, maybe...but these are cotton and will be short sleeved, so they should be nice for summer.  My little sidekick felt the need to help as usual, until I distracted him with an organization project that must have looked like more fun to interrupt The pajamas are all cut out....and I haven't lost any of the pieces!  I hope to distract Theo enough to start sewing them tonight.  After all, the Ravelympics start on February 12, and if I'm going to do something cr...

The signups for the 2010 Ravelympics are in full swing.  I have joined "Team Stashdown" and now I need to pick my events.  The choices are: Aerial Unwind   (Frog those poor unloved projects to reclaim that yarn. (This event only: requires a WIP pic and frog pile pic) Bag Jump   (Bags, totes, pouches) Beading Biathlon   (All things beaded and embellished) Bobsled   (All things pets) Cable Cross-Country   (All things cables) Charity Curling   (Projects for charity) Designer Biathlon   (From a swatch to published pattern in 17 days sample completed and pattern released on ravelry - swatching allowed before torch lit) Designer Original Dance   (Create your own design sample from scratch in 17 days {swatching allowed before torch lit}; pattern need not be written) Designer Pattern Skeleton (Create a publishable pattern (sample can be already knit); do what you feel is necessary to produce a publishable pattern testing, edit...

A badly finished project is still a finished project, right? The day started off well.  With my enthusiastic sidekick to cheer me on, I finished the snowflake runner which I am immensely pleased with.  I call it a table runner because I can't think of what else to call it.  It's to go here which is a shelf halfway up the stairs (the picture is looking down from the top.  Fully decorated, it looks like this now from the top--hoping not to give anyone vertigo and from the part-way up the stairs view.  I am REALLY pleased with how it looks--not to mention it is finished project NUMBER 8!!!! Then I decided to embroider a set of towels while I did some knitting, and towel number one turned out perfectly: I thought they'd be cute for the guest bath for spring.  Towel number two I'm not ready to talk about yet.  Let's just say it's done, and it will probably be used in the master bath because Andy will have the sense not to ask why I spelled...

In the future I'm thinking it would be a good idea to either A) combine all my button stash into ONE container, or B) remember that my button stash actually is in several containers.  Not to get all "organized" or anything, but this does seem somewhat logical..... All of that aside, I found buttons! And I think they are perfect.....aside from the fact that they're sort of pointy and catch a bit on the yarn but isn't cuteness more important?  Especially when I'm not the person who will have to button them.......? After swearing loudly about how long the BSJ was taking and how I was tired of working on it, last night when I was ready to cuddle up under the covers with a book I discovered--horror of horrors--that I didn't have anything to knit while reading! Now this might be a tragedy in my life at any time, but in a year when I'm trying to complete an insane number of projects, this was just an impossible situation.  So, after a brief check t...

I didn't get to work on the table runner today either... It seems they're taking turns now. So instead, I finished the BSJ..YAY!!!!! I'm thinking navy blue buttons would look fabulous...which of course I don't have in my stash.  And, just to spite the cats, I made a towel today as well: The stabilizer still needs to be washed off, but I love how it turned out.  Unfortunately, the coffee cup is embroidered with REALLY long satin stitch, so I need to see if I can change that.  Otherwise, it's not a great design for a towel because it won't hold up to many washings.  Now, if I had ever read the instruction manual that came with the software, I would probably know exactly how to do it--and would possibly even know how to check what it will do BEFORE stitching it out.  As it is......I'll be lucky to find the manual.  At any rate..... 7 down - 93 to go!!!!!!!

This weekend I wanted to ASTOUND you with 2 more finished projects.....which is why there were no blog entries.  I swear that the BSJ should be almost done.....but I've thought that for the last 2 days as well.  I do have one finished project to show you.  Remember this? Yah, I don't either, but I started it sometime this fall and I have been moving it around in the craft room ever since.  It is truly lucky to have survived this far, as I missed a step on the pattern and to fix it I had to rip out the zipper and do it over a second time!  It seems that my desire to finish 100 projects for the year has overridden my loathing of zippers and has saved this dress from the Bin Of Projects Which Shall Not Be Named.  Of course, I'm going to chalk it up to "personal growth" anyway.  Hey, my blog....my rules. Theo wanted nothing to do with the dress, but the next project, he is all over.  Literally.   When Theo is through with it, it will ...

There was sewing today!!!!!  Not that Theo cared--it was sunny today so he went out to find me a mouse--which was thankfully dead before I received it.  If I weren't a cat owner/staff member, dead animals in my house might freak me out.  As it is, it's more of a "Whoo hoo!  At least I don't have to catch it" sort of thing. Anyway, we can add 4 gift bags (which I'm counting as 2 projects because they don't feel like 4 projects and I'm not stupid enough to call them 1) to the "finished" tally: You've probably noticed there are only 3--the 4th had a tragic incident involving a cup of coffee, and has been rinsed and is hopefully drying safely in the bathroom (you never know with dry-clean-only fabrics).  I had intended to make lots more bags because I thought they would be really cute to put jars of jam in, but after wrestling with this very ravel-y fabric through 2 wine bags and 5 jam bags, I decided that making both the gift AND the gif...

So, remember that resolution of mine to NOT renew my knitting magazine subscriptions? I might have blown it.  Depending on technicalities. Today I subscribed to Piecework magazine, which technically I didn't "renew" because I've never subscribed to it before, though technically it is sort of a knitting magazine, so it depends which technicality we go with.  It feels like I've blown my resolution, so I think that's the one we're going with.  But maybe I can content myself with just this ONE magazine.  Sure, there's still the issue of finding a place to put the magazines, but there will only be 6, so maybe I can do it.  I have been interested in the history of knitting for a while, but the only book I found on it was boring & not actually much of what I was looking for.  This magazine hopefully is focused on the history and heritage of knitting, crochet, embroidery and other needlework crafts, which I thought sounds fascinating.  There do seem ...

It began with a sulk because I had errands to run instead of sewing then he decided to help me while I hung these which are wooden snowflakes that Andy made for me this year.  We have this huge, blank, curved wall just as you walk in the door, and now that the tree and the festive garlands are gone, it's big, white & boring, so I was looking for something to liven it up a bit.  Anyway, you know how when something is on a string and you push it away from you, it will come back?  So does Theo now, though he seems to think it was attacking him.  He ran down the stairs and took up refuge down next to the bottom of the stairs, but then when I lowered one of the snowflakes (which are suspended by fishing line), he seems to have thought the snowflake was attacking him, and spent the next hour hiding under the improvised "kitty tent" in our room. He was just getting over that, when I frightened him again by taking my blocking wires out of their tube--don't ask me ...

(You know at some point, that I won't be frightened by the "to-go" number.) The lace scarf is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Okay, it still needs to be washed & blocked and all of that, but I now have TWO finished projects!  Whoo hoo! I thought I might finish yesterday--which explains the lack of a post.  I can see that this might lead to a little obsessive behavior this year--or more obsessive than normal, let's say.................... 

Well, the bronchitis is still with me, but the knock-out drugs are all gone, so I'm coughing but not sleeping all the time.  I don't know if it's an improvement or not, but I have to be getting close to the end of this.  According to the handout I got from the doctor's office, viral bronchitis generally lasts 10-14 days, and I'm probably at 12 right now.  (Not counting the weeks of a cold of course).  This is beginning to make surgery recovery look speedy! Since I can't really sew--or do much of anything else--I have been knitting.  The latest project is a faggoting sampler scarf which is just over half done now.  I'm not sure how well you'll be able to see it, but I started with a k2tog, double YO pattern (purling even rows): then after a stockinette break, moved on to a k2tog, YO pattern on every row: then to a K2tog, YO on right side rows and purling wrong side rows: then to my new favorite, [k2tog, Yo, K1] on every row I think it will be...

*  If there is a worsted-weight yarn, why isn't there a bested-weight? *  Is Fun Fur really fun? *  Did the first knitter actually know when he or she made mistakes, or was that privilege reserved for the second knitter? *  Would tea help my bronchitis more if I knit it a tea cozy? *  Why did Red Heart Yarn become so popular in the 1970s?  Were drugs really that widespread? *  How many cotton sweaters must I knit before I realize that I rarely wear them? *  Can I make it an entire year before losing my resolve and resubscribing to every knitting magazine I can find? *  Do people knit "willy warmers" just because it's fun to say, or do some people actually wear them? *  What does it say about me that I was able to teach myself to knit using just a cheap booklet, yet couldn't even begin to figure out tatting even though both grandmothers tried to show me? *  Will the third year of Cold Sheeping finally end with me ...

With the aid of a lot of coffee, I have managed to not nap today so I could finish this: The January Project of the Month is done!  YAY!!!  It actually still needs a couple buttons, but I thought I might wait until I'm not on drugs for that.  I want to make sure they match, are in the right spot, and are sewn onto the correct side and I'm just not sure I can guarantee that sort of accuracy this week.  I'll let myself nap again tomorrow, but I am just so tired of being sick right now--I really felt the need to accomplish SOMETHING.  I haven't decided if I'll cast on something new or content myself with existing projects.  Certainly something very easy in yarn that can't split might be a good idea.  A scarf perhaps?  Three more days of the drugs to go........

In spite of the massive drugs and that I am actually napping more than Theo this week, there has been knitting!  The baby sweater has a front & back, one sleeve, and I am about to cast on the second sleeve.  I'll have to take another dose of knock-out pills shortly, but I promise to get a picture during my next bout of consciousness.  Theo is still playing nursemaid, but thankfully Andy caught him before he got upstairs with his "get-well" mouse yesterday.  Not that I don't appreciate the thought, but I'm just not sure a live mouse would have helped me much........

Due to a case of bronchitis and some seriously powerful drugs, our normally scheduled knitting blog will not appear today.  Theo reports that he is keeping a close eye on our groggy knitter, and promises to sleep on her head as often as possible. 

What was I thinking???????????????? Okay, 365 days and 100 projects.  So, I need to finish a project ever 3.65 days.  Oh my. Since it is the first of the month, I pulled out a Project of the Month bag and found which I'm going to guess meant that I was to cast on for this It's a cute pattern that I've made before, but to finish it in one month might take some doing.  I did get this far today but even in my best knitterly optimism, I'm pretty sure this won't be finished in another 3 days.  Even if this cold continues to hang on--which it seems determined to do.  Since we had to bow out of the New Year's Eve parties last night, I took a shot of Robitussin and spent the evening with Andy's sweater which was a lot more enjoyable than the Robitussin.  Meanwhile Theo, who does appear to read the blog after all, has been regularly checking the ironing board for more surreptitious blocking He and I both know there' still a kimono shawl to be bloc...