A Little Yarn On The Side

Ta da!!! And you know why this is especially impressive? Because I kitchenered the toe together! (Which, incidentally wasn't named for the room with all the dirty dishes but for someone presumably named "Kitchener," which doesn't make it one iota more fun) In general, I despise grafting in any knitting, and in specific, I REALLY hate grafting toes together. Oh sure, it looks nice, but so does a bikini wax and I'm not ABOUT to do that.

I have 19 WIPs. Granted, that's slightly less than the 24 I had at this time last year, but not by much. I think it's time for an intervention. I am joining Ravelry's WIP Wrestlemania , set to kick off on July 1. Basically each team tries to finish as many existing projects as they can during the month of July. No prizes, really, except that my knitting might once again fit into my knitting bag--always a good sign. My first entry: the blanket for my youngest nephew, which will just need a few rows & I think I'll crochet a blue edging around it. It could really be done this month, but my Project of the Month is perhaps going to need a bit more attention to actually be finished this month, which is really the whole idea of a "project of the month." The first sock is now at the foot, and this picture shows the stitch pattern: but this one shows the actual color: I'll honestly be quite glad when they're done--not just because I'm not impresse...

Yes, there is a new project on the needles, and No, I haven't finished any of the WIPs yet.... I can't even come up with a good excuse for this, except that it's a one-skein lace shawl that will use up 250 yards and it's going pretty fast....and I have the willpower of a child.....

So the sock "Project of the Month" is progressing, and some might be wondering why I put a sock in a "Project of the Month" bag, as I have generally made the projects things I might not get around to doing otherwise and I am almost always up for knitting socks. These socks I decided I wanted to use and actual sock pattern --something I haven't done in years. When I make socks, I generally use a basic toe-up pattern and make a plain foot, a short-row heel, them pick a pattern for the leg. Works brilliantly, but there is a lot to be said for branching out, so I am using a pattern from this book which I've had for a while but never used. I have to say, I'm rather disappointed in the book. I think it's confusing, and would confuse a novice sock knitter--possibly to the point of driving them to crochet. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) The author asserts that you can't have an odd number of repeats in a pattern for a sock, assert...

OK, yes, there are several projects still on the needles, and it might look bad to be starting two NEW projects, and this is indeed a new lace stole, but since I did finish the retirement shawl, this isn't so much a NEW project as a REPLACEMENT project. And this is the June Project of the Month, which I really needed to cast on, so that's fair. So really, I haven't dived off the cliff into the great WIP abyss again, but it might not be too distant from the great state of Denial.....

I decided my nephew's blanket is large enough, so I've started the decreases, and I'm about 4 rows away from using up my 35th skein of yarn for the year, which is the most excitement garter stitch projects can offer. Even though he prefers sewing, Theo did consent to being my knitting sidekick for a couple hours yesterday: He's such a gracious little animal.....

Formerly on this blog, I have accepted personal responsibility for the outrageous size of my stash, and it has occurred to me that this is really not the American way. Here, we blame McDonalds for being fat, banks for the mortgages we can't afford, and the government or our parents for just about everything else. What a fool I have been! So, to clear things up once and for all, here are my NEW reasons for my overly-large stash: 1. Red Heart, for their horrible scratchy acrylic yarn that was all I could find during my formative knitting years. I was permanently scarred and hoard natural fibers out of the fear of returning to those Red Heart days. 2. My parents for not planning our family vacations around a 500-mile trek to find natural yarns in the acrylic-dominated 70's and early 80's 3. Sunspots 4. Visa - if they hadn't given me a large credit line, I wouldn't have felt required to use it. 5. Juan Valdez. Coffee should come with a label warning the drinke...