A Little Yarn On The Side

My love affair with the scarf continues.... to the exclusion of all other projects, including the birthday poncho, which I really truly have been working on until I met Sweet Pea here. Why can I only develop good habits when it's a really inopportune time to do so?

After deciding to do The Year of The Stash, I allowed myself one last purchase from Knitpicks in December of 2007 : Today is May 22 and I have not yet used up the number of skeins I bought in just one order. I'm not even that close . Yardage-wise I might be a little bit better (though there was some lace-weight in there, so that might be even worse), but it is going to take me at least a total of 6 months of knitting to use up the yarn I added to the stash "just in case." Granted, it was a much larger order than I normally would place (sale + not getting any new yarn for an entire year), but under normal circumstances, I would have purchased a similar amount in smaller orders by now--AND have not knit any faster than I currently am. Anyone ever tried knitting from stash for 2 years????????????????????????????????

Ever since casting this on last night I have been completely obsessed with it! Details: Knit Picks Gossamer in "Sweat Pea," which unfortunately was discontinued (Sorry RobinH --and yes, I have counted my stash yarns and would know if something suddenly went missing.....). Size 6 needle--though for some insane reason, this is a 4.25 mm size 6, not a 4.0 size 6, which does indeed prove that some people just like to mess with knitters' minds. Simple moss stitch border and simple faggotting stitch (yo, k2 tog on odd rows, yo, p2 tog on even ones). Not quite mindless, but pretty close. Sorry, I've been away from it long enough......must keep knitting!!!

Somehow, this makes rational sense. Not sure HOW yet, but it does. So last week's hat was looking a little, well, small.... Not that size matters, but it does look an awful lot like a child's hat. Not that there is anything wrong with children's hats, or children for that matter, but I have several young nieces & nephews and refuse to be Aunt-Toni-of-the-boring-knitted-hat-as-a-gift. I'm a great lover of hand-made gifts now that I'm an adult, but as a child, they were a pretty big let-down--especially at Christmas. This is just the ribbing of a stocking cap, which can stretch, so....... .is it wrong that I'm more excited about using up a ball of yarn than in getting a hat out of it??????? Yikes Sometimes, we all need a little motivation. Sometimes, it's a pep talk. Sometimes, it's an idea. Sometimes, it's bribery. Tonight I made a deal with myself. I can cast on this AND this if I will quit sulking about not being able to buy new yarn. Som...

50-yard balls of yarn. My main motivation in knitting has become to change the stash progress tally . End up with a sweater? Fine. Finish some socks? Whatever. Use up another ball of yarn? Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I realize that bigger balls of yarn are accounted for by the total yards used and that I am still using up stash which was SUPPOSED to be the idea, but it takes SO much longer to knit up 200-400 yards of yarn than say, 80, so I don't get to change the tally as often. And THAT has become my main focus this year. Did you see how close I am to 50 balls??????? This is what happens when "Type A" personalities knit. Now I'm going to go find the project with the least yarn left on the skein......

It's May and this weekend it was over 90 degrees!!! I had not even turned the heat off yet. I guess we're skipping spring this year & going straight to nasty-hot. So, even the most devoted/obsessed knitter can't be too excited about wool in times like these, so today I finished this: It's actually a red & white patterned cotton--not pinky-orange as it looks in the picture. Chalk up another 3 3/8 yards used up from the fabric stash--which even I have the sense to not tally up. Let's just say that I'm not going to run out of fabric anytime during the "aught" decade... Speaking of stash, if you follow my main blog you are aware that I ordered 3 balls of yarn yesterday. :( I had always told myself that the only yarn I would be allowed to buy this year was IF and only IF it was to finish a project that I had started in good faith (no starting a shawl with 200 yards of sock yarn or something like that), but it's still depressing. I have d...

Today while waiting in the drive-through of my regular coffee place, I worked on the Fling scarf--which is the only scarf I've ever made that I wanted to keep. It's sparkly, it's fun, and there are tons of things it would go with. When I got to the window, the server was a girl I've gotten to know fairly well, and she LOVES the scarf. She even wanted to feel it (I think sparkly things have that effect on people). I'm never going to be able to keep this scarf now, darn it. She's just a great young lady and she's working to put herself through college, and it would TOTALLY make her day. If I don't give it to her, I'd always wish that I had, and I don't like those sorts of regrets. So, let's hear it for Random Acts of Knitterly Kindness! As Alison put it, RAKK 'em up!!!