A Little Yarn On The Side

One of the flowers to earn in the spring flower dash is the Cosmo, which is earned by spending one hour cleaning or organizing one's stash.  (You might have guessed that I pick these things according to what I desperately need to do).  My back was feeling pretty good yesterday, so yesterday without getting too crazy and after notifying Andy to come find me if I didn't surface again by evening, I dived in: One of the things I've noticed while doing the 365 ornament challenge is that I have several boxes containing the same things.  I like these plastic boxes for specific projects--so the winter mitten ornament garland has a project box, as do some quilts or other projects until they're finished.  But there were several different containers containing Christmas ornament stuff, so after emptying a larger container that had been in our back room, I started combining.  In reality, much of what I am doing right now is specific only to this year, but that's okay....

Meet finished WIP number 3! I'd like to say that this encouraged me to try to top my own personal record of 14 WIPs in a row (finished, not abandoned--that record is probably much more frightening), but in order to convince myself to get this thing finished, I promised myself this: which uses some FABULOUS cashmere/merino/silk yarn that a friend gave me, and is now finished, and severely in need of blocking.  It's a quite adorable pattern, which is available for free here .  Right now mine currently looks like some ramen noodles had an accident with Pepto Bismal, but if you click on the link, you'll understand why this worked so well as a bribe.  In fact, it worked so well that I'm working on another WIP!  Being my entry for the March Sweater Madness, it's a fairly recent WIP, but I finally got some issues with the pattern figured out, and the sweater is now zipping along again.  With bigger WIPS like this, I've promised myself a quick little rewa...

Okay, so in March I failed dismally on my March Sweater Madness, keeping up with the ornaments, the sewing streak, and just pretty much anything crafting related.  But I swear to do better this month.  Ahem... There was a last-minute ornament catch-up frenzy, which still didn't get me to 90, but I did reach 70 so ended less than a month behind.  There was a second tree ornament: which would look better with a flat star button, but as usual, I don't have any of those.  There were also 6 new treble clef lace ornament, which I hope will STOP smelling like desperation once the stabilizer is soaked away.  Today I decided to try some of the new ornaments Andy gave me for Christmas, so while I write, Jeeves is merrily working away, on what will hopefully look like this: Okay, I don't actually know what eggs have to do with Christmas, but it was the only pattern that didn't require applique, and I wanted to figure out one step at a time.  Somehow o...

Be vewy, vewy quiet.....I'm hunting WIPs. I have, right at this moment, 21 knitting WIPs.  I got to count the new socks as a WIP for the Spring Flower Basket Dash, so I earned an azalea:   That motivated me to continue on with the lilac baby sweater, AND to dig out a scarf   that has been languishing since January for no good reason.  These could be finished WIPs 2 and 3, and I'm hoping that finishing 3 WIPs in a row might just allow me to catch that very illusive fever known as finishitis .  It's the most rare condition known to knitting world, but I know it exists--I was lucky enough to catch it once , and finished 14 WIPS in a row.  If I can manage to catch even a light case, it would be marvelous, and I'm starting to feel that little finishitis twinge ........... If I'm vewy, vewy careful, maybe I can catch a wabbit finishitis..........

I finished my Waterfall Rib socks, and without even trying, they are as close to identical as I have ever gotten with variegated yarn: I had actually given up on the whole idea as it never seemed to work, so of course the Knitting Gods decided I shouldn't get off that easily, so now I will be haunted by how very close these came.   Of course, my first impulse would be to grab another ball of yarn and see if I can repeat my success, but luckily that involves moving many bins of yarn and I have distracted myself by this:  The Spring Flower Dash has entries for 3 WIPs, and the socks count as 1, this baby sweater is close enough to be within striking distance for the second AND would count for "Lily" as well because the yarn color is "lilac," AND it's a gift so it would fill "Carnation" as well.  The fact that I have crept back up to 21 existing knitting WIPs may also be a factor in my new-found finishing determination..  Well, that and the fac...

It's spring, and time for another basket-dash on Ravelry..or in the blog world.  Really, it's just a way to make spring cleaning about yarn, but isn't everything really about yarn anyway, or is that just me?  Anyway, Between March 16 and May 31, find the cheeriest bag or basket you own and fill it with: Azalea – finish 1 WIP Poinsettia – complete one holiday decoration or gift EARLY Carnation – make one gift Daffodil – finish a second WIP Tulip – start and finish 1 project Jasmine - make a project you’ve wanted to make for at least one year Columbine – donate one item (yarn or otherwise) to charity Aster – finish a third WIP Crocus – try a new technique Rose – write someone a real letter or notecard Lavender – do something nice for yourself that DOESN’T involve buying yarn Lilacs – take a 30 minute walk somewhere you can smell flowers Poppy – contact someone you haven’t seen or talked to in at least 6 months Daisy – finish or frog one item Hyacinth - try something...