A Little Yarn On The Side

Tonight I had the house all to myself, and faced with the prospect of two full hours of uninterrupted knitting, I caught myself actually checking the WIPs to see if any of them were attached to balls of yarn that could be used up in two hours, thereby allowing me to change the little tally on the side of the blog. Obviously, the part of my mind that is delusional enough to A) start sweaters two months before Christmas, B) stockpile insane amounts of laceweight because it's comparatively small and won't take up much room, C) hoard wool like it's possible that all the sheep in the world will instantaneously burst into baldness, and D) stash away Andy's Christmas pajama tops so thoroughly that we STILL haven't found them, can always find new forms of crafting insanity.

When I initially declared April to be the Work In Progress month, what I actually envisioned was FINISHING projects, thereby reducing the number of WIPs. I have indeed reduced my Works in Progress, but only one has been completed. 2 were unceremoniously thrown into the trash--being of cheap yarn and unworthy of continued closet space, and 4 have now been frogged. With only a few days left in the month, I fear for MS3's safety......

Suckers! Today has been a day of quilting, knitting, and swearing--not exactly in that order. Between actively battling Theo for control of the quilt (11 days and counting until B-day), struggling to machine quilt without sewing unintentional "pookies" (the technical term my family uses for unintentional pleats in sewing) onto the back of the quilt, ripping out the quilting seams that did involve "pookies," trying to figure out how my sewing machine's "walking foot" might actually work because Husqvarna does not believe in printed instructions, and trying to remember that this whole experience is to create something that one of my best friends will absolutely love, it's been a busy day. I found that it helped to bribe myself with some knitting: and The big draw for each being I can now say I have used 44 balls, 6085 yards, or almost 3.5 MILES of yarn so far in 2008 without buying so much as one scrap of yarn. After getting my "arse" ki...

Last weekend, I put the borders on the birthday quilt, and thanks to everyone's much appreciated input, I've decided to quilt it with a simple ("simple" being not elaborate, not "simple" as in "I can't mess this up," because I can and have repeatedly in the past. Incidentally, it only took me one really disastrous quilt to realize one should quilt from the inside out rather than vice versa--I consider that a triumph of personal growth over stubbornness) stitch-in-the-ditch pattern and to let the zig-zag of the music notes be the real focal point. So, this afternoon I laid out the backing, the batting, pinned the top on--smoothing everything repeatedly (OK, that one took me about 3 project disasters to learn--sometimes stubbornness wins), pinned militantly, turned around to set up the sewing machine, and I swear, they must have radar. To be fair, she does match the quilt rather nicely. This morning I realized--this is a gift for a birthday tha...

I've got this much yarn left on the alpaca cardigan before I get to say I've used another skein, but it's really REALLY close and in the interests of not having to wait until 9:00 for an update, I'm going to call it close enough . I am rarely a precise knitter, which explains a lot of Neandertholish sleeve problems.... 42 balls used for the year and ZERO purchased!!!!!! Excuse me while I do the Dance of Smugness.....

...there are just ones that people haven't learned to brag about properly. Victory 1: It is April 14 and I have not purchased any yarn or fabric since 2007. Victory 2: April has been designated the "Month of Works in Progress" and I have not yet cast on a new project. Victory 3: It is April 14 and our taxes are done and filed!!!!!! (Okay, that has nothing at all to do with knitting, but it is fabulous nonetheless) So, maybe it's okay that I've mostly ignored my "A" and "B" rating system in favor of the alpaca cardigan. Look! I just divided for the sleeves!!! It could be done in May! Wow, good thing too--it might get down to a bone-chilling 60 degrees over Memorial Day weekend. Actually, this is Idaho, and snow is even possible on Memorial Day weekend--we like to keep our options open. And even better--I've almost used up another ball of yarn! I'll soon be scratching off another 122 yards--putting me over 5,500 yards so far this...

Remember these from yesterday??? Today we hit a bit of a snag. The pattern said to start the toe decrease about 2 inches before the desired length of the sock, decreasing every other row--which I did (I know--that surprised me, too). The result left me with a sock that was still one inch too short. Now, not every project has to be perfect, but when a sock is already made of a scratchy yarn with dubious merits as a foot covering, THEN develops pattern problems...... Not exactly what I was aiming for this month, but to be fair, it is no longer a Work In Progress. After that episode, I did not feel I should be allowed around other yarn, so I resumed work on a quilt for a friend's upcoming 50th birthday. I finished the main part months ago, and had been trying to decide what sort of decorative quilting to do on it, but after putting the sashing on it today I don't know--I think I like it plain. I don't know if it's just because I find it soothing after getting my ass k...