A Little Yarn On The Side

It's New Year's Eve, just 3 hours away from 2013............and I'm beginning to think that 365 ornaments in one year might be a bit deranged.  Or a lot.  Perhaps completely and totally.  So I thought a bit of prep work might be in order.  If one is going crazy, one should prepare for it. First up, rounding up all my Christmas books for ideas.  When I first dreamed up this daft scheme of mine, I thought I would spend the months leading up to it making a nice list of all the ornaments I wanted to make, which books the pattern or idea was in, and making myself a little index.  Yeah--there were some good drugs involved.  You have probably already guessed how many ornaments are recorded in my handy little index...... Yep--none.  Today I did at least sort through the sewing room looking for Christmas books, and got them all together in one shelf: and the part of me that wasn't relieved that they would all fit in one shelf is dreading that there ...

Okay--I'm delusional most of the time, but even I'm thinking I won't finish four sweaters, 6 placemats, 6 WIPs, or 9 clothing items before Tuesday, but I have finished one last "12!" I have done SO little sewing this year that it felt good to cut out, embroider, and finish a project--even if it was as simple as a few gift bags.  I finished something and there's a bit less fabric in the sewing room.  That feels good.  Shocking, of course, but good.  Now if I can just sew a great deal, knit a great deal, and buy absolutely nothing, next year the sewing room could even look good enough for some pictures...........

 So, the year of the 12 12s is ending, and there's no way I'm going to make all 12.  There is, however,  a slight chance that I could knock off at least one more "12."  These 2 brought me to 6 bags for the year, and I have 5 more red felt bags in progress,  which would frustratingly bring me to 11 bags.  Luckily, I found this: which is a box full of half-finished bags, most of which are waiting for handles.  So if I can locate the white felt, make some handles, I think I can get there.  Of course, what I am dying to do is to get cracking on the 365 ornaments, especially after Andy gave me this for Christmas: 13 ornament designs for my embroidery machine.  The cool colors you see are from doing appliqué with the designs, which I haven't done before but the instructions seem pretty thorough, so you can guess what I'll be doing on January 1! I also started a new baby sweater,  to have a small, non-complicated project to ...

Since we're going to be together a while, Andy and I borrowed an idea from friends of ours to do "themes" for Christmas gifts.  Some years we've done cooking as the theme, but for the last 2-3 years we've made "Hobbies" the theme because it's just so much fun for us.  Andy does woodworking, so every year I make a trip to our local wood working store to pick out interesting wood to give him, which sounds a lot like giving someone coal, but is exciting for wood crafters.  He bought a lathe a few years ago, so since then I've bought him some pen kits and wood for turning.  Because of all my ongoing back issues, we have just taken a slow week, so he finally got the chance to make a couple of the pen kits I gave him two years ago.  The first one (a fountain pen) he was tremendously pleased with.  The second, also a fountain pen, he said had some mistakes.  Being no idiot, I pounced on it.  I don't care at all about the spot on the finish--to m...

Nothing says "I don't believe the world is ending" like lace knitting: and nothing says "I almost wish it HAD" than working with mohair, but it makes such lovely things, and what better time to work with mohair than when one has Valium?  I mean, really.... I am having a little knitter ADD (if that isn't a redundancy) now that I've reached the 20,000 mark, and can't figure out what to do next--which is how the mohair shawl came out of the WIP basket.  It's going to be WELL into next year before I even use up the first ball of yarn on it, but it actually felt good to work on a WIP and not care about yardage.  Then, of course, I came back to myself, so: I made a little bell ornament for the Holiday Music stash-dash, which I think took about 20 yards of Red Heart acrylic.  It turns out that it's more difficult to get out of "high maniac" phase than I thought, so there may be another ornament or two or even a hat before the end ...

Did anyone actually know people who believed the world would end today? And w hy is it that I strongly suspect that the only people who honestly believed the Mayans correctly predicted the end of the world for today were the people least likely to know who the Mayans actually were?

11 days left in the year, and here's where I'm at on the Holiday Music Stash-dash.  I'm thinking 6,000 yards in 2 months was completely insane, don't you?: **A. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - knit something small (less than 6 inches or thereabout) - mitten ornaments** **B. Frosty the Snowman - knit a snowman of some sort or something with a snowman on it - Mr. Flurry** C. Toyland - make the toy of your choice **D. My Favorite Things - make “warm woolen mittens” in your choice of yarn and size. Mini mittens do count - mitten ornaments** E. Here Comes Santa Claus - knit a Santa or something with Santa on it F. A Marshmallow World - spin the fiber of your choice G. Silver Bells - make a bell or something with a bell motif H. Jingle Bells - make something (such as an ornament or stocking or whatever) that can have jingle bells attached to it **I. Blue Christmas - make something blue - blue cable sweater** **J. White Christmas - make something white - M...

Finished socks: for 330 yards, and finished but unstuffed Mr. Flurry: who will get his eyes when he gets his stuffing, and maybe some scarf fringe--haven't decided on that part--for another 393 yards according to someone else's yardage estimates, but which seems about right, so......... I have just crossed the 20,000 yard mark for the year!!!!!!!!!! If only that were a sizable dent in my stash.............

As I prepare for my sixth year of Cold Sheeping, I am just tickled to death at how widespread the term "cold sheeping" is in the knitting world now.  I didn't start the Cold Sheeping thread in the Ravelry Stashdown group until I was starting my second year of cold sheeping, so the thread will be in it's 5th year, and the Stashdown group is one of the 10 most active threads on Ravelry with more than 4300 members, and the Cold Sheeping thread is always either THE most active or second most active thread each year.  It's become so popular, in fact, that one of our members spun off and started a Cold Sheeping group on Ravelry and now it's made it to Facebook.  I love the online knitting community, and to have contributed anything, even something so simple as a term, is just thrilling.  It's like I've been able to give something back to a world that has been so welcoming and menat so much to me.  I've made so many friends through knitting blogs and Ra...

Have you ever had to explain to anyone--perhaps the person you live with--that the really loud "YES!!!!!" resounding through the house was because you proved you are not a robot on the very first try?

We have a finished scarf!!!!!!!!!!! It's not blocked, but it's done and I now need only 640 yards in the next 15 days!  Thank heavens for this: The second Magic Stripe sock is past the heel and I'm working the gusset.  I'll still need another 300 yards when I finish the socks, but I'll be closer!!!!  And then when THOSE 300 yards are done......... I can obsess about something else! Like maybe...... I have NO idea what the ornaments are going to look like, but I had so much fun with the thread/stippling adventure that I had to try it again today.  This time I used more blue hues: which I thought turned out well--or was at least fun.  So much fun, in fact, that: I had to do another.  This is my favorite version so far.  I can't wait until I'm totally off the pain pills so I can clarify whether or not this really looks good or if there are more side effects than I thought.  Maybe it's just distracting right now because I'm really cl...

there has been crafting.  The brioche scarf is almost done: as is a 440-yard ball of lace weight yarn in one of my favorite color ways of all time.  The second sock is at the heel turning, and I'm beginning to think I'm going to make it to 20,000 yards of yarn for the year after all.  WHOO HOO!!!! I've been resting and exercising mostly, but today I did venture into the sewing room for a bit.  As a break from movies, books, and audio books, I've been watching "Sewing With Nancy" videos online.  It's been nice, as I've gotten new ideas for sewing and ornaments for next year, though the unfortunate side effect is a "wish list" at Nancy's Notions of over $100.  I suppose if one is going to make a living having a show on PBS, one probably has to have a sideline income and one that you can integrate with your show is really clever, but thank heavens for the buying ban! I decided to experiment with a technique she called a "pizza...

*  One finished sock! (which looks a bit odd, but does actually fit) *  Sport weight sock yarn! *  No Valium needed since last night! *  The invention of Valium (since it really was needed last night) *  Having NOT done anything stupid which would set my recovery back *  Being on a spending ban while laid up and bored with access to the internet *  That we never feed our cats tuna or anything else that results in a sidekick with bad breath. *  Theo leaving his "get well" gifts on the floor rather than bringing them onto the bed *  All the get-well gifts from Theo thus far have been dead *  Having a hobby like knitting that I can do to entice myself to rest my back muscles--probably preventing me from going completely and utterly bonkers.

I spend most my days knitting right now.  This would be a more enjoyable state of affairs if it wasn't because my back is fried, but as weird as it sounds (considering I've spent most of the day laying flat), I think I'm finally on the mend. What I have is called "sacroiliac joint dysfunction."  I'd provide a link to something helpful if I could, but while it is the first thing I've ever looked up on Web MD that didn't say death was likely or even eminent, I don't recognize anything they describe.  In layman's terms (and thank heavens I was referred to a specialist who speaks Layman fluently), this is the most common cause of back pain for women.  If you look at your pelvic bones (which is sort of impossible, I realize, so maybe visualizing the bones would be better) there's not really anything to hold them in place except muscle.  Because women often have children, our pelvic bones are designed to be more prone to movement.  It makes s...

There is a finished Fun Fur scarf: I almost added another yarn to it to double the yardage (awesome suggestion, Gaidig!), but couldn't think of anything cool to put with it that I could find without lifting bins, so plain it is.  Nothing like a little back strain making crafting decisions for one. Because I ran out of the nonscary pain pills while Andy was gone, I resorted to the massive dizzy/sleepy ones, so the socks got a LOT of attention: and are now ready for the finishing end weaving AND gave me "all used up" Ravelry stash entry number seventy.  There may be a party at 100.  The chemo cap was finished a couple days ago, but seems to have not earned a picture yet, but it's done, and I need 1079.35 yards of yarn by the end of the year to reach 20,000.  Meet new project number one: Magic Stripe plain socks with size 3 needles and sport weight yarn.  When they're done, another stash entry will be gone AND 330 yards of yarn will be used up, and I...

The good news:  I've made some great yardage progress in the last few days. The bad news:  This has been achieved because my back hurts and knitting is one of the few things I can do while laying on ice packs. The good news:  I think I've figured out why my back muscles keep getting inflamed and swelling. The bad news:  I found this out the hard way. The good news:  Once my back feels better, I think the hip/back progress will be steady and this whole mess will soon be a thing of the past The bad news:  That doesn't help me right now The good news:  I have an amazing store of pain pills that DO help me right now The bad news:  The pills also make me tired, dizzy, and slightly nauseous The good news:  I have a simple sock project I can do while tired, dizzy, and nauseous. The bad news:  The sock involves size 1 needles, which make very slow progress. The good news:  I'm just a sock leg away from crossing the 19,00...

I have no idea why this matters so much to me, but if I am ever to knit 20,000 yards in one year, this is it.  I am so close, but in order to get there I still have to have one of my best yardage months, which I explain in order to somewhat justify this: It's the Running of the Fun Fur!!!!!!!!!!!  One of the Christmas parties I will be attending is a Secret Santa gift exchange involving things we already own.  Personally, I'd probably just wrap up the Fun Fur as a gift at this point, but I am trying to encourage my friends to knit--not provide them with justifiable reason to run screaming from the room.  So, scarf it is.  Would two be overkill? Of course, being me, what I really wanted to make were ornaments, but the pattern doesn't state yardage used, and my original thought was to keep making these until I used up the skein, which was only 100 yards.  But after making this yesterday, the skein wasn't looking depleted enough for this to seem like...

So yesterday, I was thrilled to use up the first ball of yarn on the new yellow sweater, but it just seemed really WIDE.  "Impossible!" I kept telling myself.  I had checked gauge very, VERY carefully because I've been on pain pills all weekend and was being very careful to double-check anything I was doing.  The TOTAL circumference of the sweater for a medium should be 41 inches.  Maybe a little bigger than I'd like, but doable.  So I measured.  MY sweater would end up 45 inches around.  ??????? Just on a whim, I decided to check the pattern.  The required gauge was 25 stitches to 4.5 inches in the chevron pattern stitch.  Fine, that's what I had.  Then the pattern calls for 127 stitches cast on.  Now I'm on drugs, but I have a calculator.  By my figures: 127 stitches divided by 25 stitches is 5.08. If you multiply that by the 4.5 inch gauge, that makes each piece 22.86 inches , for a sweater circumference of anyone ge...