A Little Yarn On The Side

After finishing the long-awaited ball of yarn on the cable-yoke sweater, did I join a new ball and finish the back like a good, dedicated knitter? Nope. I am now obsessed with this: Wanna know why? I'd like to say it's because it's a Christmas gift for a friend and the sheer delight of making a gift for someone I care about is driving me on, but no....I want the 440 yards in that ball. That's it. That is what is keeping me going on this thing--to be able to say I used up 440 yards of yarn!!! Even Theo is embarrassed by my childishness....

Well, more accurately, I got to change it, but thanks to this wonderful sweater, I have actually used up another ball of yarn from the stash!!!! Hallelujah!!! So, my goals for the year are to read 100 books, knit 150 balls of yarn, and use up 150 yards of fabric....and I'm pretty much behind on all of them. I blame the recent lack of knitting on spring fever--we've had a couple glorious days of sunshine, though that doesn't give me any excuse at all for today. We can blame that on the mind-numbingly large skeins of yarn I'm using for all of the current knitting projects. Really, how can someone who is trying to use up balls of yarn in her stash be dumb enough to be working on 3 lace projects simultaneously??? Really, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heaven help me, at this rate I'm going to be into that Fun Fur yet......

* Why can I cheerfully give away a lace shawl that has taken me months to knit, while I am completely unwilling to give away even a single skein of the yarn in my stash? * Why does buying yarn make me feel like I'm knitting faster? * If I know I don't like the results from knitting with variegated lace yarn, why do I have so much of it? * Why is knitting a gauge swatch such a big thing that I will knowingly risk having to rip out several inches of knitting rather than knitting the darn swatch? * How much fuzz torture will it take before I finally learn not to knit with chenille? * If everyone is knitting lace shawls, why don't I ever see anyone else wearing them? * How long until my husband figures out that I keep the house cold not to save money, but to make sweaters more useful? * Why was it a relief to figure out that I probably have a 6-year supply of yarn in my stash? * Why do men prefer cabled sweater pattern in dark blue, dark brown, or black? Do they find ...

It was a close thing, but thankfully there isn't a pink Fun Fur scarf anywhere in the house. I was saved by this which I actually started in December, but which has been pretty much neglected for the last 2 months. Bless it--it's on size 9 needles and 87 yards to the ball. It's now my new favorite sweater. Theo was mildly impressed or more likely, just waiting for tummy rubs. I am happy to report that he is doing well, though he does walk with a limp once in a while, and I still limit his outdoor time. His fur is still not completely grown back, which sort of surprised me. If I didn't shave my legs for 3 months not only would the hair be completely regrown, it would be ready for combing and braiding. I guess I shouldn't complain--it is spring and there is at least a small part of him that isn't shedding.....

I'm sure it has escaped no one's notice that the totals on the side of the screen haven't moved in a while. There has been knitting--lots of knitting, in fact--but do you know that dream where you're running & running & running and never get anywhere? I am stuck in the knitting equivalent. Oh sure, it looks totally innocent, but one single skein of this fingering weight--yep, fingering weight --yarn weighs 170 grams. More than 3 times the normal ball of yarn,which takes long enough. Add in the fact that I'm using 2 balls and alternating rows with the darn things, I have slogged through two inches of orange, and now that we've had two days in a row of spring I'm thinking longingly of cotton...........I think I might be starting to lose my knitting grip...... Wait, is that neon pink fluffy Fun Fur I see...........

Well, like I've ever had troubles finding new projects to start--but it is April and time for the April Project of the Month! Drum roll.......... A jacket made with home decorating fabric. I'm a bit nervous about the project as the fabric isn't washable to it's going to take some creative marking, and to be honest I was really hoping for socks. I know I put at least one sock project into the pile. Still, I've been wanting to make this for a while, and so far I've been really good about finishing my "Project of the Month" projects, so I'll hopefully have a cute new jacket. Just in time to not need it. There has been knitting--the moss stitch scarf is about half done and the Kauni cardigan is to the armholes, and more importantly.....I'M ALMOST DONE WITH THE ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I admit, I love how this looks in the picture, and I will love the finished cardigan, but I was raised in the 1970s when ugly colors were required in all things, and h...

1. Circulate a medical report linking prolonged wool exposure to a strange tropical disease known as Ovinus, which causes a bizarre eye twitch and a passion for hot pink eyelash yarn. 2. Take your knitting out in public and agree with everyone when they comment on your lovely crocheting. 3. At tonight's Stitch-n-Bitch, suggest forming a Knitting Mafia to take care of things, because those acrylic-only knitters are just getting out of hand. 4. Take a dead moth to your local yarn shop and plant it in the most expensive merino. 5. Write a blog entry saying that Elizabeth Zimmermann really didn't know that much about knitting, and you don't see what all the fuss was about. 6. Find someone with a garter-stitch fun-fur scarf and loudly accuse them of stealing your copyrighted design. 7. Sit down with your grandmother and browse the "naughty" patterns on Ravelry. 8. Dig out your nicest alpaca yarn to knit with and tell everyone it's spun raccoon...