A Little Yarn On The Side

Drum roll please...... It's the end of the first quarter of The Year of the Stash, and this has been used up. (Well, okay--obviously not this exact yarn & fabric, since I couldn't take the picture that way, but this volume ). 19 yards of fabric and 37 skeins (5061 yards) of yarn. Look--it almost completely fills the laundry basket! This is easily the most excitement I've ever gotten out of a laundry basket, but since a load of whites was the previous front-runner, it wasn't exactly a challenge. Still, 3 months and my stash has actually shrunk!!! I haven't added ANYTHING to it!!!! I promise, it isn't smugness--it's shock. It's amazing what a woman can be driven to when she runs out of closet space...

As I am currently taking a decongestant that would stun a horse, Andy is my chauffeur for the next few days, and on a sunny Saturday afternoon I had him take me to Joann's Fabrics, which was inundated with women with that crazed crafting look in their eyes and sale fliers clutched tightly in their hands as they charged racks of 50% off fabric, so I could get these: Size 10 and size 9 dpns, to make sure we prevented any future needle emergencies. I have 2 days left to finish Cheap Thrills--the race is on! The pressure has gotten to Theo but I was able to hold it together enough to finish off another ball of yarn on the sweater I shouldn't be working on until later this fall: No vacuuming yet, though. Rats!

And Cheap Thrills may not make it. I've been working on the seams, and they could get there, but the collar has hit a snag. It turns out that I don't own any size 10 double-pointed needles. Or size 9 or size 10.5. How it is possible for there to be not one size, but three sizes of needles that I don't own will forever remain a mystery--like the whole socks-eating dryer thing. The Fruity Pebbles socks are progressing. But the unscheduled knitting is getting most of my attention: Whether it's because of the pattern, the softness of the alpaca, or because it isn't what I "should" be working on, I am obsessed by this sweater! Just in case it is some compulsive need to do what I shouldn't be doing, I'm going to find a way to convince myself that I absolutely SHOULDN'T vacuum tomorrow.....We'll see what happens!

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!!!!