A Little Yarn On The Side

Last night, in the sheer ecstasy of having new yarn, I pulled out the shawl, sat down with the new yarn and I honestly forgot it would need to be wound. Obviously the shock of A.) being able to buy anything at all after the 90-day spending ban and B.) getting to buy yarn at ALL addled my brain entirely. Good thing it wasn't a 6-month spending ban. I'd be a talking monkey by now. So tonight I came home and wound the new yarn (the thrill does have to last me another 4 months, remember) and ended up back with Andy's sweater because that little ball of yarn on the side is almost used up and might even be able to be added to the tally tonight. Entering the 9th month of The Year of the Stash, that little tally is the only thing keeping me going at this point--especially since there really is no visible dent in the stash. Maybe a dimple, but definitely no dent. Back to that ball!!!!!

I. GOT. YARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a date with destiny wool.

With Andy camping and a solo weekend yawning before me, I grabbed the yarn I bought specifically to finish the poncho only to discover, it was the right color but the wrong yarn. It wasn't even a yarn that would "get by" as the recipient is bound to be machine washing the poncho and a feltable yarn would be a disaster. Discouraged, I went to bed and read of knitters who checked the labels before leaving the store. Saturday morning I made a half-hearted stab at cleaning the sewing room--a feat only to be attempted by the truly brave at heart--and found Remnants!!!!!! I have kicked myself over and over for being silly enough to keep little tiny balls of leftover yarn and for once I have been truly, TRULY thankful for this obsession. The poncho is done done done done done done done done done done done done done done.... and I, flakiest of knitters, have finished 8 WIPs in a row!!!!!! And people say miracles never happen!!! I also spent some quality time with the sewing m...

* I have sent a desperate, begging email to the Craft Warehouse corporate headquarters to see if they can send me the correct beads from ANY store. I would have sent them a picture of how much knitting I will have to rip out if I can't match the beads, but their form wouldn't let me. * The birthday poncho is finished (FINALLY) but missed the Ravelympics deadline by a few hours. Still, WIP #8 is done! * I did some sewing on Saturday, and Sunday was taken up with canning tomatoes and pasta sauce using tomatoes. I'm not ready to discuss it just yet. * The yarn I ordered to finish the shawl has indeed made it out of Colorado, reaching Salt Lake City on the 21st--and hasn't been heard from since. I am still hopeful, but why invest in a tracking system if you're only going to use it some of the time? Rats, now it's back to that pesky "work" thing. It interferes so much with my knitting time!

CRAFT WAREHOUSE IS NO LONGER CARRYING THE BEADS I NEED!!!! I have almost a full yard of the beaded trim done and I'm going to have to rip it all out if I can't find these #*(@*$%&@! beads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess after the pajama episode , I should maybe have seen this one coming, but those little tubes really look like they hold a whole bunch of beads, and I haven't even been projectiling these around the house. So tonight I have been frantically emailing internet bead stores looking for the following: Toho 8 Round #166 Transparent Lt Amethyst AB Anyone live near Craft Warehouse????? I did at least find the yarn I need for the birthday poncho, but haven't gotten around to it yet this evening as Andy's sweater was really close to using up a second ball of yarn & we all know what kind of a sucker I am for adding to the tally. Whoo hoo!!!!! 83 balls of yarn used so far this year! OK, now I'm off to start a new audio book (Jane Eyre--...

While not mentioning any names, there has recently been a little smugness on this blog--using up stash (perhaps a tiny victory dance at passing 13,000 yards--but just a teeny, tiny one), finishing WIPs, finishing a birthday present early. This sort of behavior is rarely tolerated by the Knitting Fates and today was their day to smite me the offending knitter. * I started to finish WIP number 8--the very late birthday poncho--only to discover I am out of yarn for that project as well. It wasn't discovered until I--I mean "The Knitter"--was already in pajamas for the evening and not about to venture out again. * I picked up two tubes of beads to finish Fleur. Unfortunately, they are the wrong color. When I went back to Craft Warehouse to get the right color, they didn't have them. I--I mean "she"--will try again next week. * The yarn to finish Fir Cone is en route , but only in Denver as of tonight. The Denver US Postal Facility is the only place I...

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!