A Little Yarn On The Side

The Mystic Light KAL started today, and I have the yarn--and heaven knows I have the needles--but haven't yet decided if I will cast on or not. It is in fingering weight, with size 7 needles, so there's some potential for instant gratification, but I didn't PLAN on much lace this year, and then there's little Dem Fischer Sin Fru sitting in the corner of the sewing room, muttering to MS3 about "starteritis" and "flaky knitters" who can't make a commitment. Meanwhile, the new sweater--which has not yet earned an ignominious nickname of any kind--passed skein number 1 and brings me to 33 skeins for the year, which earns it my undying affection this week. Monday will be the end of first quarter (see how hard it is to keep my business life from bleeding over into my knitting?), and whatever stash I have used at that point could be considered an indicator of how much of the stash I can use up this year--provided I quit getting sucked into lace KALs....

Andy is still away, so last night I had an evening to myself. Did I sew up Cheap Thrills? Work on the overdue birthday poncho? Get caught up on dem fischer sin fru? Work on the Lady's Circular Cape? Finish those last 30 rows of MS3? Nope. I cast on for an alpaca cardie I was planning to knit later this fall: DK weight, size 6 needles, and the body is done in one piece, and I'm thinking I can finish it in one month? Well, I'm sure it would be possible, but I would have to give up A) sleep, B) work, or C) my sanity. My plan--which always makes more sense than what I actually do--was to alternate some of the longer projects with finishing some of those pesky WIPs lurking around the sewing room. So, if I have any sense at all, I will be putting this little project aside until I finish the planned April sweater, then work on it for a week, do the May project, work on this a little, and so on. Of course, if I had any sense I would not be in 4 KALs right now that I have ...

Today, for the first time in several months, the stash is completely contained within the sewing room. Hurrah!!!! I'd like to believe that it's a product of the stash-reduction project (32 skeins & 4433 yards of yarn and almost 19 yards of fabric used!!!), but I think I need to credit a little creativity in the storage arena for this one. Still, I am now COMPLETELY surrounded by fiber! It's like living in a yarn shop, but without getting arrested for shoplifting if I take things. And...drum roll please--the sleeves for Cheap Thrills are done & I just have a neckband and the seams to do and 8 whole days to do them in! (No, I will not be taking bets on whether or not I wait until the 8th day to tackle the seams--that would be what is known as a "sucker bet.") The pattern is called the "Living Lace Pattern Pullover" by Gedifra, and I got it from Elann. They offered it as a free pattern on their website when they had the Gedifra Living yarn, but...

Friday night and it's time for some instant gratification: A project started and finished all in one evening! They're Christmas napkins, and possibly by December I can get some sort of placemats done to match. Another 2 yards of fabric out of the stash!!!!

I just used up my 28th ball of yarn and my 4072nd yard of yarn--That's 2.31 MILES of yarn so far this year. Ha!!! Take THAT Excel!

I think Debra was right--to have totaled up even part of the stash was either brave or crazy, but personally I'm leaning toward crazy. I mean, I knew the stash was large--it's started to get its own mail--but now, thanks to that darned Excel spreadsheet, in my most wool-fume induced optimism, I can't even PRETEND that I have a "reasonable" amount of yarn. "Reasonable" would be a few sweaters ahead, to give me "options." "Reasonable" would be a few additional balls of sock yarn for fast gifts. "Reasonable" would be a couple color choices for lace. It's obvious--I'm going to have to give up Excel.

A few days ago I complained that "real life" was getting in the way of my knitting, so the universe struck back with some cold/flu thing that left me in bed with chills and knitting earlier today. I'm not going to share the downside, but on the "up" side, "Cheap Thrills" is ready to be divided for the neck. [I have got to quit calling it that before I start wearing it--I don't want to be known as someone who gets Cheap Thrills out of the laundry] And for a small, portable project, I started a sock out of a cotton yarn that looks remarkably like children's breakfast cereal. Great--I'm now knitting Cheap Thrills and Fruity Pebbles. And you thought the lace-weight yarn was my biggest problem....