A Little Yarn On The Side

In the high-excitement world of post-operative recovery, I was finally a little tired of knitting today (something I truly never thought I would say), so I read. Normally I knit while reading, but I'm still a bit fuzzy, so multi-tasking is a bit above my head right now. I wonder if this is what it's like to be a guy? I almost cast on a celebratory pair of socks today, but the sock yarn would require some major moving of boxes in the sewing room, and I can't lift things for another 5 weeks. Of course Andy would have helped if I asked him, but if there's one cardinal rule amongst yarn hoarders, it's: Never let your spouse know the true size of your stash. I might be a bit addled on pain killers, but I haven't lost sight of the important things.....

9 days and 7 washcloths later, I was a bit tempted to order yarn today. Not that I need any--or was even tempted by any particular yarn--but I'm already bored with my recovery & have 5 more weeks stretching in front of me. Not that I don't have a basket FULL of knitting projects, a bin full of half-finished knitting projects, and a 6 YEAR SUPPLY of yarn, but I think I was looking for something to do. Luckily, shopping for yarn takes about the same amount of time whether you buy or not, so I browsed for a while today. BUT, I did not give in! However, I'm thinking I might move past dish cloths. 7 qualifies for a completed Project of the Month don't you think?????

So last Tuesday, I had surgery--nothing major--and while it seems odd to wait until now to say that, we still have the hostile ex wife obsessing about us & she seems to read my other blog almost daily and I didn't want to give her a chance to do something vile while we were either not home or just under a lot of stress. I am happy to report that everything went well & it was really nothing serious and I got to come home Thursday. My sidekick has taken upon himself to nurse me back to health --even diligently waking me up every 4 hours for my pain medication--and I was even able to do a little knitting the day OF the surgery, though I was too groggy to correct people when they asked about my lovely crocheting. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked because it's sort of hard to knit with an IV in your arm, but the new shawl is looking great and the dish cloths are piling up: The pain killers are making me a bit too nauseous & dizzy to sew, but I'll...

After the complete failure to complete April's project, I felt obligated to start May's project early. After all the big, involved projects I have been working on, quick stash-burning projects are QUITE a novelty. Of course, I'm actually having to add the kitchen cotton yarns to my stash on Ravelry before I can say they have been "used up," so it looks like I'm going the completely wrong direction on the stash, but there will be fewer yards & yarn!!!! And the fact that I had completely forgotten about these yarns in my stash tally is going to be largely ignored......

And time for the next Project of the Month bag. This month will be......... Cotton washcloths!!! Years ago, I made tons of these things, but got discouraged when I discovered how badly they faded when one actually used them in hot soapy dishwater, and haven't made any since. However, the faded cotton washcloths are STILL my favorite ones to use, and one of my friends recently commented on how much she loves the ones I gave her several years ago, so I have actually been looking forward to this bag. Isn't it funny--it's only May, and I can't remember all the projects I picked to put into bags, but there are a few I remember & have looked forward to. If course the really fun thing about dishcloths is that one can make up any pattern at all--there's only going to be one dishcloth and it doesn't have to match a darn thing. Great chance to play with designs. And on the sewing front.......no quilt activity. We're still in the "needing time apart...

The moment of weakness has passed. I can now accept the fact that there will be discounted sock yarn available on Monday and that it is okay if other people end up with it. This is a growing opportunity. And the fact that the "fingering yarn" tub is completely full and couldn't hold even one more skein doesn't hurt. Today my "helpers" and I finished the blocks for the green quilt. Two strips are even sewn together, but I had to stop there. As relaxing as the cats find quilting I was about to blow a gasket. I ripped out & redid one seam 4 times trying to get the seams to match up. At that point, with the seams still not matched up, I decided it would be best if we spent some time apart before ONE of us ended up in a bonfire in the backyard. But it did take my mind completely off sock yarn.....

So, I've almost made it 4 months without buying any yarn, and yet because I am either stupid or a masochist, I check Elann's website daily for what yarns are new, and what's coming in....all so I can know what great discount yarns I'm missing out on. I guess maybe it was just too easy to not buy yarn without facing temptation daily, I don't know, but today it just got a lot worse. Self-patterning sock yarn is coming. One of the things that got me hooked on knitting socks in the first place were the clever yarns that made fair isle & all sorts of patterns all by themselves. Stripes are okay, and I've had some fun with randomly variegated sock yarn, but I love the self-patterning yarns and hadn't seen them around in a while. In fact, there may have been a little hoarding of the self-patterning yarns still in my stash "just in case," though that's pure speculation. What is not to love? (I'd show you more, but while I might fiercely h...