A Little Yarn On The Side

In spite of yesterday's rude awakening, I have resisted the urge to lock myself in a closet and knit lace for 3 days--partially because of a job that strongly discourages that sort of insanity, and partly because my closet plans didn't involve any wine. Besides, unless I learn more creative storage techniques, the "Year of the Stash" is about clearing volume out of my stash. It may be an irrational amount to own, but 46,000 yards of lace weight yarn doesn't actually take up much room. So, on with the plan! As I write, I am wearing the March sewing project--pajamas made out of flannel-backed satin and the "Cheap Thrills" sweater back is done, and half of the front. 14 days left for half a front & sleeves--thank heavens for those big needles!!!

I have 46,634 yards of lace weight yarn in my stash. WOW. What I have on the needles this year will use up 5190 yards, and I've used about 1500 yards so far this year, but still.... WOW. Lace weight yarn is obviously very sneaky. It's small, doesn't take up much room, and is generally much less expensive than say, yarn for a sweater. This is obviously their plan--lulling you into a false sense of security--a feeling of harmlessness. What harm would one more hank do? What's a little merino between friends? And that skein of alpaca--why it weighs almost nothing! What harm could it do? Mohair? It's mostly fuzz--that doesn't take up much room! They sneak up on you, one by one, looking totally soft & harmless, then before you know it....BAM! You have enough yarn to knit lace for the next 10 years. "Denial" is not just a river in Egypt--it's apparently a yarn shop with terrific discounts on lace weight.

The "Cheap Thrills" sweater is progressing--the back is done and so far the front is progressing without incident. I still haven't figured out how I shifted the pattern over by one stitch on the back, but so far I haven't done it on the front, so whatever I did it was totally my fault & not the pattern's. Rats--it's so much better for my ego the other way. Partially because I needed a new "stop light" project, which by definition has to be simple & easy to pick up and put down, and partly because the pile of yarn used from the stash was looking small and pathetic, I started a simple blanket using Lion Brand's Thick & Quick Chenille. When it's finished, this will be out of the stash which is much more gratifying than the little balls of laceweight yarn. The blanket will be a present for one of my nephews, so I'm not JUST doing it for the April stash-depletion picture, but you will notice there aren't a lot of baby sweat...

Dem fischer sin fru: no progress Birthday poncho: no progress "Cheap Thrills" sweater: no progress MS3: no progress Work: 2 breakfast meetings, 2 lunch meetings, 3 demos, 50 phone calls, 2 proposals. What happened to my priorities in life?????

Not for crafting. This week I finished the "stop light sock," so named because it spent its formative days on the passenger seat in my car waiting for long stoplights and slow traffic to get attention. I don't exactly know when these were begun--the mate has been sitting on my desk for a few months now, so besides the sheer joy of adding 459 yards and 1 ball of yarn to the Year of Stash tally, I can quit having to explain why there is one sock on my desk. This weekend we took a quick trip to Las Vegas, and the Lady's Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today, started back in January, was the lucky traveling project. I made great progress, and in fact, I was quite nervous on the way home--I almost ran out of yarn!!! This from the woman who took 5 extra balls of yarn along on her honeymoon !!! You can imagine my stress when we were sitting in the Las Vegas airport & heard the news talking about snowstorms in Ohio causing flight delays. Flight delays could mean ...

This is probably a good illustration of my tendency to ignore all realistic expectations when it comes to knitting or sewing....

I am not the person I thought I was. My cheap thrills fling has distracted me from all other knitting. It's a chunky weight yarn called Gedifra Living, which I would link to if I could find it on the internet, and the pattern, which also can't be located, was free with the purchase of the yarn. Yes, I know it sounds like I made this all up, but it was out there somewhere at some time--I promise. This was even Deep Stash yarn--the stuff that has been in stash for more than a year and has very little chance by now of ever getting used, which makes me more than a little proud of myself--and explains how I have somehow inexplicably shifted the lace pattern over by one stitch--proving that old knitting adage, "pride goeth before a frog." (rip-it, rip-it) This time, however, I have left well enough alone. I can't find the error and have decided that searching down an invisible, unnoticeable mistake cannot be part of a "cheap thrills" knitting experience....