A Little Yarn On The Side

As of tonight I have used up 80 yards of yarn from my stash so far this year. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, technically I'm counting this as a "used up" skein but if you knew how much I didn't want to work on this, you'd understand that I need all the encouragement I can get. After all, tonight I have buckled down & worked on my second entry for Ravelympics--the poncho. We started out here: An "L" of loopy knitting, then I sewed one bottom edge to the other panel's side to create a funnel shape, then added the top border. It's a bit long right now, but I think I just need to wash it as I stretched it a lot while working with it, and as it's acrylic it won't stay that way. Tomorrow night the bottom border and WIP #8 in a row will be done!

The good news is, I didn't cast on anything new. The bad news is, I didn't work on my Ravelympics entries. The back of a toddler sweater was really close to using up a ball of yarn (I am so pathetic sometimes), so I worked on it until I finished ball 78 for the year then promptly abandoned it for Fir Cone, which also finished up a skein of yarn--bringing me to 79 balls and 12,662 yards used from the stash for the year. I would LOVE to keep going on Fir Cone--it's a scratchy wool & really hot and just the sort of thing I am generally dumb enough to fall in love with in August--but that ball of yarn was the last one I had, so until the new yarn arrives, it is on hold. The good news is that the 90-day spending ba n is finally over, and I have already ordered the yarn. I decided for purposes of the Year of the Stash project, if I started a project in good faith and subsequently ran out of yarn, I could buy the yarn needed to finish the project provided I kept working ...

Our WIP marathoners--me included--are slowing down a bit, and some are struggling to stay motivated with all the new projects and yarns facing them on a daily basis. As everyone has been great about supporting and encouraging each other on Ravelry and through each other's blogs, I have decided to alter the contest slightly. Any of the WIP marathoners who can finish 10 WIPs in a row (without casting on any new projects) will receive a new personalized knitting bag. There will be an additional prize for anyone who finishes 20 in a row, though I think I might be the only one who had over 20 to begin with. Still, if I finish at least 20 before casting on, I'll be rewarding myself as well--and reviving those who have fainted in surprise. Onward fellow WIPpers!!!!!!

* You'll locate all those missing knitting needles. * Your knitting bags will be less likely to explode under pressure * Winter is coming, and it's a whole lot easier to stay warm with a finished sweater than half a scarf. * Putting a bad project in the very back of the closet doesn't actually make it go away. * Is there a better reason to justify buying more yarn than just having finished a project? * It would be really embarrassing to give someone a baby sweater for her firstborn when you had actually started it for her as a baby. * You'll just have to memorize that stitch pattern all over again if you set it aside * People will notice if projects keep disappearing off your knitting blog and never reappearing. * If you've been knitting for a long time, it might surprise people if you start finishing a whole bunch of projects at once. You can torture them by saying you've finally figured out how to knit in your sleep, but you won't give any detail...

With the Ravelympics going on, it's a bit hard to keep track of who is competing the WIP Marathon & who is in WIP Wrestling, but the updates I have right now: Jennifer leads us having finished her 8th WIP in a row, I am still holding firm at 7, and Janet has 5 but two baby sweaters just need seams so they could be finished at any time which would catapult her into contending for first place. I need to check in with everyone else--I know Patti is cruising along on the WIP Wrestling (Go Team Stashdown), and I know everyone else is busy knitting. It's gotten a bit challenging--everyone is trying to support each other and keep track of each other's projects, so daily each knitter is confronted by pictures of new potential projects that she could knit, and it's really REALLY tempting......or there's some great yarn...... Knitting contests can be very, very dangerous.....

AAAAAUUURRRGGGHHHHH!!!! It's the Ravelympics and instead of getting in some quality knitting time tonight, I worked late, had dinner with my very patient husband, cleaned what we hope is the last trace of this weekend's pumpkin butter incident off the counters and stove (turns out hot soapy water and one of those plastic scratchy things will remove darn near anything), and now it's 9:00 PM. Blast--real life has no respect for my knitting!!!!

Late last night I was awarded a gold medal by Bobicus Maximus for my first Ravelympics WIP which is my 7th WIP in a row. Yay!!! Tonight I've spent some time with my second entry, then rewarded myself with a little lace: And the cheering section is waving me on!