A Little Yarn On The Side

I love Ravelry --adore it--spend WAY too much time on it. But, is it just me, or has it made knitting "hard?" Knitting has been going on for a very, VERY long time, quite often by people who could neither read nor write. All the techniques we have--lace patterns, turning heels, steeks, buttonholes, spit joins, casting off--all of these were thought out by someone. Probably many someones as communications were rather limited at that time and it's highly doubtful than conches or tribal drums lent themselves to podcasts. I learned to knit as a young enough child that my Barbie and her friends were the recipients of my earliest knitting endeavors and those "blankets" (term applied loosely as there wasn't a straight side in the lot) had all sorts of funny spots where I tried out different things JUST TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. What does happen when you purl instead of knit? When you mix them up? Knit from the back loop instead of the front? They are supreme...

1. You are less likely to become known to the moth community as THE place to be. 2. All those rubber tubs and boxes could be used for something else. 3. It's like living in your own private yarn store where shoplifting is allowed 4. Other knitters will admire and fear you 5. It will shock your spouse 6. You can use all that shopping time as extra knitting time 7. We are no longer artificially inflating the demand in the yarn market. Look what happened to real estate, after all. 8. Think of the liability if your stash fell on someone and smothered her. 9. The longer you put off facing those 80s fluorescent acrylic yarns the worse it will get 10. It's too hard to catalog it all for homeowner's insurance 11. Some people have closets that hold things BESIDES yarn. (I know! Go figure...)

The first yarn to arrive from my one-day yarn-buying windows was the Knitpicks order. For her retirement gift, my mother picked a shawl in white/cream/natural, and wouldn't you believe it--in that big pile of lace yarn, I didn't have any appropriate yarn. So..... I ordered 3 hanks of Bare laceweight, which is probably about an entire hank more than I need, but I'm so frustrated over running out of yarn and/or fabric that I was being cautious. Then, before I could make it safely off their website, I was blindsided by This is my favorite colorway, and it's being discontinued. Count 'em. 10 skeins--4,400 yards added to the stash. Oops. Thank heavens it wasn't a two-day window--I'd have been in serious trouble. A friend is giving us her condo in McCall for a week, and she won't let us pay her anything for it, so I thought a scarf would be nice. I dug through my laceweight--which is really fun to do if you want to know the truth, and came up with Elan...

YARN HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!! YARN HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!! After one YEAR of not buying new yarn and 16 days of waiting on shipping issues, I HAVE NEW YARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a HUGE fan of New Year's Resolutions. Not the sort most people make--lose weight, eat healthy, quit smoking--but of realistic ones (trying a new recipe every week, a year without processed foods, making 6 new desserts, etc.). I'm running a bit late this year, but I finally have mine: 1. Read or listen to 100 books (tally on the main blog) 2. Use up 150 skeins of yarn 3. Use up 150 yards of fabric 4. Complete the 12 "Project of the Month" projects 5. The Year of No Processed Foods (see the main blog for that one) 6. Finish the bridesmaid's quilts (there's a long story) 7. Buy no new yarn or fabric 8. Have Christmas gifts completed by the end of October. (OK, only sort of realistic) The yarn and fabric goals are significantly higher than I accomplished last year, but since I'm taking some time off, I should be able to do more sewing & knitting--right? Provided full time kitty-tending comes to a stop in the near future. (Incidentally--Th...

So, I was pretty much trying to ignore the whole Pajama Incident (first having been 1/2 a yard short of material to finish the top of Andy's 2007 Christmas pajamas, then losing the in-progress pajama top because I "hid" it somewhere), but since you asked...... I still can't find that darn pajama top!!!!!!! Oh, and it gets better. I recently bought some brown flannel to make him a coordinating shirt to go with the pants. I've been "cleaning" the sewing room and, you guessed it......I CAN'T FIND THE BROWN FLANNEL NOW, EITHER!!!! I don't have a sewing room. I have a sewing black hole......

Even though Theo is feeling better and the therapy (they have promised to take pictures for me this week) is working, he's not supposed to be running, jumping, pouncing or twisting his leg. What Theo wants to be doing is running, jumping, pouncing, and twisting his leg as much as possible. I am really looking forward to him going to therapy on Thursday. The additional kitty watching has given me a chance to get a few more rows in on EZ's January aran: and on Ice Queen : and while Theo took a nap today, I finished the edging on two more blankets for Christmas 09 . I would tell you that I'm astounding myself, but that would be tempting the gods and my sewing machine would probably blow up. Theo didn't really help much, but...... he's putting weight on the leg, he can bend it, and he has finally been able to scratch his ear! We have small victories around here lately.....