A Little Yarn On The Side

So I had planned to work on the Christmas quilt today, but I struggle with quilting on the best of days. On days like today when I am seriously short on sleep it is best to just step away from the quilt. Why, might you ask, am I short on sleep? Why else? Ever since the kitty water torture therapy, Theo has been coughing pretty regularly. Initially I assumed this was due to hairballs caused by his continual licking inbetween water sessions. So, we regularly smeared him with a hairball goo that he absolutely hates and which he managed to fling onto every surface in the house. A tube and a half of goo and a lot of scrubbing later, we concluded it wasn't hairballs. The last trip to the vet revealed that my little sidekick had gained 3 pounds since his surgery and the vet really seemed to peg me as a big sap and sold me some pain killers and arthritis medicine to see if he could become more active which might theoretically help his breathing. One day of the pain killers gave ...

Okay--I think this is my favorite BSJ ever! I don't know--maybe it's the color or the variation in stripes...or maybe because I've finished so few projects this year.....

I love the Baby Surprise Jacket! It is so clever and such a leap of faith. Who would ever believe that this: is actually a sweater? For those who are BSJ veterans, I'm on the 10-ridge insert, so I'm ALMOST done! I decided to shake up the stripe pattern just a little--which coincided nicely with the cast off for the neck shaping which would lead to the need to weave in ends for stripes (funny how these things work out)--but I picked up the stripes again in the inset. The great thing about the BSJ is you can pretty much do anything you want to with the stripes because it's automatically happening on both sides. You can just throw in a few stripes here or there, make an actual pattern--whatever. And babies aren't going to complain about stripes making their butt look big, so it's a win-win all the way around.

So I am knitting less and less all the time as I find more & more stuff to do around the house, so today I made a date with wool. After canning & before going to the gym I promised myself one hour of uninterrupted knitting time. It was tough, and I almost got distracted by a bed that needed sheets changed, but I actually did it and this poor little shawl: which was started on June 2 and promptly abandoned, now has 9 more rows! It's really more hunter green than blue-grey, and there isn't a full pattern repeat there yet, but I am quite proud of myself. Really, I wanted to cast on something new to work on--and had even flirted with the idea--but when I finally sat down I didn't want to be bothered with gauge or size or anything new, so a WIP WON OUT!!!!! Whoo hoo!!! Call Ripley's! I have a new theory--if I can manage one hour of uninterrupted knitting time per day that would pretty much double my knitting output for this year as it's been a bit patheti...

There's just a little over 4 months left in my second Year of the Stash, and I'm not even halfway to my goals. I'm not even halfway to where I was last year. How is this possible? I'm not working this year, I had a 6-week surgery recovery period where almost all I could do was knit--and I have used about 45 skeins of yarn. Do you realize I could replace that in 1.2 minutes if left alone with the internet and my credit card????? Sigh...... I had it figured up last year that if I knit approximately 20,000 yards per year (last year I managed 19,000 but I'm taking advantage of my knitterly optimism) I could use up my stash in about 9-10 years. And be able to get the sewing room closet doors closed in about 3. HOWEVER, if I'm currently on target to only do 15,000 yards then I might have a 15-year stash which is a bit depressing as I had visions of going on a yarn-shopping bender in 2018 that would leave my credit card whimpering in pain. I have 4 months left--w...

In the garage, I have a big Rubbermade tub where I stockpile knitted baby gifts. I used to try to go baby by baby, but then a few of my friends had TWINS, and that just destroyed that theory and put me behind for about 2 years. So, I started making them ahead of time--generally going with 2-year-old sweaters as it's too hard to figure out what size & at what time of year to intercept a baby. Sure the 3-month or 6-month sweaters are cute, but what if it's a big baby and instead of being the right size in the fall, that puts it into the right size smack in July? Occasionally I still do 12 month & 18 month sweaters, but rarely anything younger. My Grandmother called me to see if I had a sweater for an upcoming baby boy. She has been a crafter all her life, but now her eyesight has almost gone, so now she only quilts, but she loves homemade things and gifts, so for the price of the yarn, I can provide her with baby sweaters. Works great on both ends, and it's a rat...

So, I've been enjoying my new reputation as the Queen of Productivity , but thought it only fair to admit the truth: The embroidery machine can work all by itself. I program the machine, hoop the towel, thread the machine, press start AND I CAN WALK AWAY. When it wants a new thread color, it stops and waits for me. So....while the machine was merrily spitting out towels, I was doing other things. So....not quite as impressive, but at least I didn't get part of the towel accidentally folded underneath the hoop and embroider a towel sleeve around the hoop that would have to be cut away in order to get it off the hoop--an achievement I mercifully did BEFORE starting this blog. There are always reasons to be thankful for being slow on the technology front.