A Little Yarn On The Side

Ron:  We're here at the 2012 Ravellenic Games, and it looks like Ms. Sutton has just broken her medals streak.  With 6 medals so far, unless there is some furious knitting tonight, her medal-a-day streak has come to an end.  Bob:  It's been an impressive run, but I think you're right, Ron.  There has been some knitting today, but nothing completed, and nothing nearing completion.  Ron:  With some big WIP contenders such as the Kauni cardigan, her streak was unlikely to continue throughout the games, but it was probably highly motivating.  6 medals is certainly a new record for Ms. Sutton, which could impact the rather impressive dedication we've seen so far.  Will she try for one more?  Three more?  No more?  It's too early to tell, of course, but we have heard rumors of company coming to visit this weekend, which could have a serious impact on Ms. Sutton's performance.  Will it slow her down, or even knock her out of...

Bob:  We're here at the Ravellenic Games on Day 4, and Ms. Sutton has just earned THREE medals with a single Gingerbread Hat: Ron:  That's right, Bob.  Not only does it earn medals in Cable Steeplechase and the Hat Dash, because this yarn has been in what is known as "deep stash," (owned for more than a year), it qualifies for Synchronized Stash Busting.  Bob:  This was definitely deep stash, Ron.  Ms. Sutton had actually believed that all of this particular yarn had been used up and had removed it from her Ravelry stash page, so we might call this "subterranean stash." Ron:  How right you are, Bob.  With the discovery of TWO balls of this yarn as well as the leftover balls from the ABC sweater, Ms. Sutton's stash has actually grown on Ravelry during these games.  This could lead to an inquiry into Ms. Sutton's standing as an effective "Cold Sheeper" for 2012. Bob:  It does at least raise questions about Ms. Sutton's organiza...

Bob:  We're here at day 3 of the Ravellenic games, and I don't mind telling you, today has stunned this reporter. Ron:   In completely unexpected show of knitterly dedication, Ms. Sutton finished her first WIP by 7:30 this morning: which gives her three medals in three days, and instead of being distracted by other projects, Ms. Sutton is more than halfway through a Gingerbread hat, which is cross-competing in no less than THREE events.  If Ms. Sutton finishes this tomorrow, she will have racked up six medals in the first FOUR days of the games--certainly a record for this knitlete and a strong showing for a knitter who has been known to take 4 years to finish just the seams and buttons on a sweater. Bob:  It is indeed, Ron.  If we continue to see this level of unexpected dedication, Ms. Sutton could possibly finish the 5 remaining WIPs she has entered for the games. Ron:  She could indeed, Bob, though that will be a stretch of both knitte...

Ron:  We're here at the first full day of the Ravellenic Games, and in a stunning display of knitterly discipline, Ms. Sutton has just earned her second medal by finishing a mitten ornament for the Holiday Hurdles.   Bob:  Two medals in two days--that is impressive, though could this mean that our contestant is getting distracted from WIP Wrestling even earlier than anticipated? Ron:  Shockingly, she seems to have retained her WIP finishing focus, and is down to just the seams and buttons: on the first WIP entry.  At 8:41 she's still seaming furiously, so we may see a finished item before the day has ended.   Bob:  Three medals in two days?  That would be a new record for Ms. Sutton as a knitlete--do you think the addition of a training camp has made the difference this year? Ron:  It's hard to say this early, but even finishing one WIP will be more dedication than Ms. Sutton has shown so far this year.  Still, she has five...

Bob:  We're here at the first day of the 2012 Ravellenic games.  Ms. Sutton has shown an early burst of speed with an early medal in the Frogging Trampoline. Ron:  That's right, Bob.  Not only has she frogged with great speed and agility, the icky blue acrylic yarn has been tossed into a donation bin.  We haven't seen Ms. Sutton part with yarn willingly very often--if ever--and that was a surprising early move.   Bob:  It certainly was.  Considering the bin full of Red Heart acrylic yarn she insists is for ornaments and other crafting items--not to mention the stash of Fun Fur recently uncovered--it's surprising to learn there is any yarn so icky that Ms Sutton might part with it.   Ron:  Too true, Bob!  Perhaps the recent sewing room shelf project has truly created a sense of moderation in our competitor. Bob:  That seems unlikely, Ron, as Ms. Sutton was seen to be briefly browsing lace shawl patterns shortly before ...

Bob:   With the 2012 Ravellenic Games less than 24 hours away, we're here with one of the contestants.  Ms. Sutton, as a previous knitlete, what can you tell us about this year's games? Toni:  Well, as you know, Bob, there's been some contention with the U.S. Olympic Committee that Americans knitting in something called the "Ravelympics" denigrates U.S. Olympic athletes, while having their uniforms made in China by underpaid workers does not.  In the end, it was decided that since the knitters had no unskilled workers to exploit for profit or sponsorships to sell to fast food and chemical companies , it would be best to rename the knitting games to preserve the purity of the Ravellenic spirit. Ron:  Has the controversy changed the games at all? Toni:  Yes--this year we have more than 11,000 knitters worldwide set to denigrate the U.S. athletes, and an event that normally gathers no press coverage has been covered by NPR, the Atlantic Monthly , Busi...

 For those of you who are curious about EZ's Epaulet Jacket shaping, you can see some of it here: I'm guessing the shoulder will be a bit boxy since it's based on a square, but I still want to see how it turns out. The TENTH cross stitch thread is in progress: though not quite finished.  Obviously, doing 12 threads on this thing is actually keeping me sort of interested in it.  If I were thinking about ALL the stitching left to be done, I'd be sobbing in the corner, but just having to do 12 threads on it is doable.  I think. The sewing room project has generated a few patterns and books to be donated: I wish it were overflowing, but getting myself to admit that there is ANYTHING in there I don't need or won't eventually make is rather a unique accomplishment, so it's a start. Speaking of starts,   The new "Baby Attitude" quilt is in process.  I was a bit disappointed to see the quotation marks turn out to be going the wrong direct...

Andy added this wonderful little shelf to my temporary sewing furniture to hold the long, thin things like my blocking wires, sleeve board, and longest rulers. And we're seeing it again TODAY so you can remind me of it the next time I'm about to spend 30 minutes rummaging around in the sewing room for that plastic ruler grid.

This is my EZ's Epaulet Sweater.  It would actually be farther along by now if I hadn't been dumb enough to treat this like any other sweater.  Most top-down sweaters will have increases on BOTH sides of the markers for the sleeves if they have markers for the sleeves.  This is called "raglan" and is a sweater style that those of us who weren't Elizabeth Zimmerman use to make sweaters.  But the reason I am making this particular sweater is to learn her shaping technique for this particular sweater.  It starts with a long skinny band of garter, then you knit a rectangle just on the center stitches, then you pick up stitches on one side of that rectangle and knit another rectangle, then repeat on the other side, and then shape that skinny band into the neck band.  (Thank heavens there is a chart in the book for this--otherwise I would be writing this from a corner in the back of my closet surrounded by frogged and tear-soaked purple yarn).  Now this ...

The sewing room is progressing!  It was really hard to start hanging things initially, but I finally found the motivation when I couldn't find the right pair of scissors for anything.  I still can't locate the extra bobbins for the Husqvarna machines, so I'm sticking to things made with colors of threads I already have bobbins assigned to, but at least this helps a bit.  Of course, the fact that we're having company in a few weeks is also a great motivator.  Amazingly, I didn't want to have to explain why they would both have to get in bed on the same side because the far side was completely blocked off by sewing things.  Perhaps this is a sign I need approval or have some sort of odd ego thing going on, but since it got me motivated to clean and reassemble the sewing room, I'm totally cool with whatever the problem is.  I'd make it even worse if I could--my closet needs some work as well.........

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...

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......

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.

The new scarf is done, which brings me to 9,742 yards of yarn for the year.  I'd like to say I didn't sort through my yarn stash looking for a quick project involving a skein of 260 yards, but I'd also like to be able to eat chocolate without putting on the pounds--and that certainly hasn't happened.  My fantasies obviously have NOTHING to do with the real world. In the end, I opted to cast on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Epaulet sweater: I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which isn't my favorite for sweaters, but I had bought a couple bags of the stuff when I was trying to convince myself to learn steeking, thinking that I'd rather cut up cheaper yarn than nice stuff, but I did learn to do it anyway, and have had this yarn lurking in the closet for a while.  This is a brilliant but complicated pattern, so the odds of me making a mistake are pretty high, so I thought this would be a good project/yarn match.  It's another of her seamless sweater ideas...

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 ...

According to the news, Boise just set a record high temperature today of 108.  I know--that's a refreshing day in Arizona, but this is IDAHO.  We're a northern state.  We get winter and everything.  This is crazy hot for us. I am hosting my knitting group tonight, and I have already notified everyone that the air conditioner is on full blast and that the house is livable, though if it gets any hotter, I may have to relent and make it "clothing optional."  Meanwhile, I need to go find a non-wool project for tonight.  Even with the air conditioning blasting, it is STILL too hot to handle wool.  Argh!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I just say that??????????????????

Okay, so in one light: Tonight, however, when I was showing the sweater to Andy, it looked more like this: NOOOO!!!!  A cheap, mass-produced acrylic yarn had dye lot variations!!!!!!!!  I'll admit, I have gotten very lazy about checking dye lots on big commercially produced yarns, and this stuff is TLC Wiggles which was made by Red Heart--the kings of the mass produced yarn!  I don't imagine ANYTHING in their yarn process is done by humans--how does this still have dye lots? Sigh.......I'm going to send the sweater as a gift anyway and just hope they don't notice.   If they notice, I'm going to blame it on all the nifty drugs.  Or age--does 41 count as old enough to be "slightly batty" to those in their 20s?  Would it help if we got another cat?

Sweater number 4 and hat number 6 are done! That makes me still behind, but it is done BEFORE the birth of its destined owner, so still an improvement in my normal program. The Ravellenic games are coming in a couple weeks, and I'm going to try to finish a couple sweater WIPs during the games (which have nothing to do with any televised events of any sort), which will bring me closer to being on schedule, and maybe if there's a quick shrug in bulky yarn and big needles before the start, I could actually be on target for the 12 sweaters for the year.  OK, I didn't begin the year planning that 3 of the sweaters would be baby or toddler size, but I pride myself on my ability to disregard rules flexibility.  I didn't actually say they couldn't be baby-sized, though I'll admit that I do have enough pride to be unwilling to consider doll-sized.  One has one's limits........or at least until December............

Always have a very simple knitting project on-hand for the 4th of July, so when our nitwit neighbors are still shooting off illegal fireworks until well after midnight, I have something simple to do when I can't sleep.......

 Thanks to a rather persistent wake-up kitty, I was up slightly before 5:00 AM this morning, so I've had lots of time to do stuff today.  I even did an early morning grocery run and managed to be in, out, and home carrying groceries in by 7:30 AM.  Not that I'm agreeing that this is a good program or even tolerable, and I might have disrupted a few of Theo's naps today in retaliation, but it did give me some extra time today.  So, the 9th Christmas ornament is done, all the knitting on the new baby sweater is finished and I'm down to just sewing seams, I've started the matching beret, and.... a few more things are in the sewing room!  While not very attractive, this is the best way to get the yarn tubs in the room without blocking anything.  I won't swear how accessible that bottom shelf will be, but everything else can be reached.  And the top tub contains this which is all the yarn I hope to use up from stash before the end of the ...