A Little Yarn On The Side

August 1, I started with this: At the end of the "dead heat" stashdash, I am left with a bit of yarn I didn't get to, some remnants from finished projects, and two projects not actually finished: which is probably farther than I really thought I would get in just two months.  I haven't had a chance to figure out my yardage yet, as I've been busy rounding up this for our next challenge.  Starting today and running until the end of the year, instead of emptying a basket of yarn, the idea is to fill a basket with finished projects.  Lots of people have cute little baskets to use for this challenge, but I need 44 projects by the end of the year, so I scrounged in the garage for the biggest "basket" I could find.  Since I have 4 whole months, a wee part of me was sorry I couldn't find the big box our chest freezer came in.  But I suppose this one will have to do.  I am kicking off this challenge with a crafting weekend.  That's right--for the...

6 (okay, 6 1/2 counting today) days left in the "dead heat" stashdash, and my basket is not so much empty...........   Not so much even close.  All the fun fur is pretty much used up: for 3 niece scarves and one doll scarf. Two scarves are getting close to the half-way mark, (or already half-way if I only had some pygmy friends). 6 days--do I accept reality and try to get ONE of them done, or keep deluding myself that I could finish both of them even with the pesky  wonderful bounty from the garden to deal with?

I didn't garden today. I didn't can anything today. We didn't have company today. I didn't even make coffee today.  I CRAFTED!!!!!!!!!!!!! To be fair, I did start with a little mending.  Andy had ripped 3 holes in some pant he uses for camping, and my sewing machine actually has a mending stitch, which is really just short rows of stitching side-by-side, which sounds simple but until I saw it, I actually would never have thought about this being a good way to mend anything.  With small holes, it can blend pretty well, but with three big tears, it's noticeable--though perhaps not as noticeable as Andy flashing everyone at a campsite.   Then I decided to tackle some of the quicker projects in my "dead-heat" basket, so meet Niece Fun Fur Scarf #1: and Niece Fun Fur Scarf #2: which has to be a little bit longer than the first one as the niece in question is older and taller, and while I had 3 skeins of Fun Fur in the colorway "confetti," no tw...

I'd like to say I avoided the garden all weekend long, but I'd also like to be taller and able to knit 35,000 yards of yarn a year AND buy unlimited amounts of yarn AND have unlimited storage space for yarn, so I try not to pay too much attention to such wishes.  As promised, the finished socks: It's my standard toe-up sock with a very simple K2, p2 rib that shifts one stitch after every 4 rows, and I really like how it wears, as well as how it looks with the striped yarn: Of course, MOSTLY I like that it used up 460 yards from my stashdash basket.  YAY! The new hat got lots of attention, and is almost ready for top shaping.  The pattern calls for 5 inches on the sides, but I have one of these and it's just a bit too short to go over my ears for when it's REALLY cold, which is actually the only time I wear hats, so while I love how my hat looks, my ears are freezing which makes me cold and the hat completely pointless.  Which is the longest way I could find to ...

Down to the second sock, almost to the heel, and...............   not one, but TWO new projects.  Restraint?  What? The first is a scarf I'm calling Rosemary and Thyme.  I'm hoping it will be easier to see in future pictures, but there's sort of a leaf and spiky-thing motif going on......and we've been listening to lots of folk music recently.  As there was a white chocolate martini involved, I'm just happy that we weren't listening to anything stranger, as I don't want to have to continually explain why I'm knitting a scarf called "Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Bamboo Stick."  The second one is another slip-a-color hat, which is my current favorite hat pattern.  Both of these involve bigger needles than the socks or Foreign Correspondent scarf, so I'm hoping to get both of them done fairly quickly.  But then again, I think I said that about Andy's birthday sweater as well, and that took 11 months......................

......I made a lot more progress on the grey sock without Calisto's help, so I'm pretty sure I'll get them done for the "dead heat" stashdash.  Unless, of course, I am lured away by this: which is also in my "dead heat" basket and could either become a hat or mittens or both.  Part of me wants to try EZ's mitered mittens again since I have not successfully made a mitten and this time I know that I need to go DOWN a needle size to get gauge, not up.  BUT part of me is thinking that I might prefer to do a hat as a hat is a finished project after one thing is done, not two.  The responsible part of me--which isn't a very big part, unfortunately--is trying to keep myself focused on the socks or the blue scarf, but I'm not sure it's a battle that part is going to win.  Would I have over 50,000 yards of lace yarn if I were a responsible person??????

Whoo hoo!  After a marathon canning day on Thursday, I did absolutely nothing yesterday except craft.  Okay, and a little laundry.  I decided I needed a quick project after all the non-crafting activity of the last 2 weeks, so I dug some of the novelty yarn out of my stashdash basket and: we have a "feather" boa for the costume basket!  I am a big fan of costumes and Halloween and murder mystery costume parties, so new costume ideas are always welcome.  Now I just need the dress to go with the boa or the courage to wear a boa in public.  I also finished yet another scarf: which doesn't look like much right now because it hasn't been blocked and this one will need some SEVERE blocking to look good, but I think it will be nice. That's 4 projects finished from the "dead heat" basket, and I still have the whole weekend before me........ 

Remember when I said I had probably put way more yarn in my stash-dash basket than I could reasonably  expect to knit?  So far I've finished two scarves and used up 4 1/2 balls from my basket.  The newest scarf:  and the next one already on the needles: and the first ball of the gift vest. the entire thing is not part of my basket (thank heavens--cable needle, size 5 needles)--just this one ball. Shall we just stop pretending that I'm not trying to finish the entire basket by September 1, no matter how idiotic this might be?

 .....is the guilt-free knitting time.  The blue Foreign Correspondent scarf is done, and I'm already a little over halfway on a scarf for another niece: which means I've already used up FOUR balls of yarn in my Dead Heat stash-dash basket, which has me giddily thinking that I just might get through all of this: before the end of August.  Boy, good thing I decided to be more realistic about my goals, isn't it?????

I have a new obsession, and it is called the Foreign Correspondent's Scarf .  Possibly my fascination is just because it's not pink , but I spent all of Finishing Friday with it.  It's other big draw might be that the yarn for it (besides being delightfully soft and blue), comes in 109-yard balls, which would normally irritate me to no end because it means lots of splicing, but I can only change that stash tally on the right when I use UP a skein, so I am willing to splice in order to be able to brag that I have already knit up 109 yards from my "Dead Heat" stash-dash basket.  and if I'm knit that much already, maybe I really could knit it all up in two months....................

Today is a significant day.  Want to know why? 1.  It is the start of the mid-point of the year, which shows us that I am behind  on my 111 projects goal, and probably impossibly behind on my 25,000 yards of yarn goal.  I might  have to start considering being--and I shudder to say this--"realistic." 2.  It starts the "Dead Heat" stashdash on Ravelry, which will run until August 31, and I have compiled an impressively crazy  optimistic basket of yarn to knit up in two months. 3.  In the crafting world, it is time to get serious  about Christmas crafting, which in my world usually means that it's time to decide I should make 5 quilts and 3 sweaters between now and Christmas.  Stand by for insanity updates. 4.  It is Finishing Friday, so I am crafting to my little heart's content.  Which is knitting today, because it's easier to knit outside than it is to sew.  It's only 83 today, so I am enjoying nice weather while I c...

About one hour ago, I finished the last seam on this baby..... and it's a bit big.  I think I'll eventually redo the collar seam at the "V" and I'll see what blocking does for it.  If that doesn't solve the problem, I'll be frogging and making something else with this yarn.  I've hung onto it for possibly 10 years now--I'm getting a sweater out of it, dang it! Of course, it might be fine once I fix the neck.  It was 95 degrees yesterday and today, and thanks to a mouse that Theo brought in and lost when it crawled into a crack underneath the bathroom cabinets where we can't get at it, we have eau de dead mouse permeating the upstairs of the house.  If we close the windows so we can turn on the air conditioning, the stink is unbelievable.  So, we have all the windows open and roast, we're hot but it doesn't stink.  I wouldn't have automatically guessed it, but it seems hot beats stinky hands down.  So, I had this sweater on for ...