A Little Yarn On The Side

So, I suppose you might be wondering how the April "Project of the Month" is progressing. It would be here which would make it "none." Now that it's already the 16th, I think I'm a little behind. I had a free day today and had originally planned to cut out the pattern, but when I started clearing off the table in the sewing room, I thought it best to finish the last Christmas gift bag, then there was a gift that was 99% done that was just waiting around for a zipper, so I finished that and can now add another 2 3/8 yards of fabric to the tally--though no pictures since it's a surprise. I'd like to pretend that finishing those two projects left me with a clean project table, but that just removed the layers down to the green quilt, and since it seemed silly to pack away that stuff while it still needed to be worked on, I cut out several more blocks and I'll hope that I'm getting the new blocks in the places I need them, then when I needed ...

Andy has a cousin getting married in June, and I would like to make them a gift. She made us the most marvelous ceramic owl candle-holder & is quite the artist in general, so she would appreciate handmade gifts, and she & the husband are just really nice people in general, so I want to make them something. I used to knit Christmas stockings-- usually in red & green with candles or wreaths on the leg-- but then I got tired of that design & modified the pattern to make this which I really like. The problem is, there are also 2 children so we're talking about 4 stockings by June (or later--let's be honest, not a lot of my handmade gifts are delivered on time....) not to mention all the other knitting projects going on right now..... I could sew Christmas stockings, or maybe finish one of the Christmas quilts since they might already have Christmas stockings....What would be a good wedding gift?

The green scarf is done! (ok, same picture as last time, but just imagine it longer & without the needles) And the soothing effect of the moss stitch pretty much evaporated on the second half of the scarf because I was so obsessed with excited about finishing it. That puts me over 5000 yards for the year. Whoo hoo!!!! And I would like you to meet my new best friend: Ever since Theo's water torture/therapy, he's had a lot of problems with hairballs--which probably makes sense given how much he licked himself during the whole ordeal. I tried all sorts of "natural" remedies--like adding pureed pumpkin to his food, which being a cat he wouldn't eat. Then I found this stuff: It's supposed to be tuna-flavored, and they suggest putting a one-inch ribbon of this stuff on your finger & having your cat lick it off--a suggestion obviously written by a dog owner. The second suggestion is to smear the gunk onto the cat's front paw & have the cat lick ...

Our regularly scheduled knitting blog will not appear tonight, due to the combination of a sunny day, garden beds, shovels, and a pickup load of horse manure. This knitting blog will return as scheduled tomorrow....after a long soapy shower.....

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 ...