A Little Yarn On The Side

I know I have raved about their yarn & customer service before, but yesterday I received an email from Elann.com saying they had credited my account for the skein of yarn--bought TWO years ago--that I just sent back.  In my letter, I had even told them that I could completely understand if it was outside their time limit for returns and that it really was more about letting them know about a problem, but one of the reasons I am a devoted fan & loyal customer is their commitment to customers, and it's nice to see a company that recognizes that little things can go a long way.  In reality, it was only about $5, but they could have stuck to a "policy" and said it was too late.  Instead, they chose to spend $5 to make a loyal customer happy--how many companies do you know that would make that choice? Of course, now I get to go through an entire year of Cold Sheeping knowing that I have a credit at my favorite yarn source........uh oh.......

Tonight is our Christmas party.  ORIGINALLY, I had planned to make little mitten ornaments out of felt for all the guests.  HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Thankfully, foolish optimism seems to be a character trait most people find rather endearing.  Or they're just waiting to see what crazy thing I'll do next......

Gift bags!  Or, more accurately, gift bags to be!  This is some home decorating fabric I found on sale one day, and I actually did buy it to make gift bags (since I buy so much fabric without ANY idea what I'm going to do with it, I'm always rather amazed when something DOES have a purpose......and downright shocked when I eventually remember what that purpose was ), which it should work really well for.  I haven't decided how many bags I'll be making, but considering how many gift bags I give away, the more the better.  Of course, I'll need to fit it in with making more of these which I just love.  Two have now found new homes, and I think we're going to need the other 3 for Christmas gifts (have to go back to my spreadsheet to check), so thankfully I bought enough material to make 10 more, as it looks like WE won't get one otherwise.  I have decided to alter the pattern slightly--namely to leave a hole in the bottom lining so I can stick the trim ends...

I'm down to 12 WIPS. The bad news is.... the green shawl is no longer with us.  See all those little bits of yarn that don't seem to be attached to each other?  Well, they aren't.  After my boasting about the first finished repeat last night, I noticed that the yarn had broken off.  No problem--sometimes that can happen when one isn't paying attention.  So I spliced and went on for another row....then there was another break in the yarn, and this one I was positive I hadn't done.  Unwinding, I found another--and there were ends sticking out of the skein in odd places. When I made the retirement shawl for my mother this summer, I wound the ball too tightly with the ball winder, so I had breakage everywhere--which was totally my own fault, so though I whined a great deal, I was willing to splice over and over to get the project done.  This yarn, however, was in the original skein and call me grouchy, but I just don't enjoy playing "knit the crappy ...

As many of you know, my goal for next year is to FINISH 100 projects during the year.  Anyone who is quick with math will note that I will need to average 2 projects a week....which I have probably never really even come close to doing.  But, it is time to unveil my secret weapon...... A freakin' huge number of started projects I have never finished Yes, there really HAS been a method to my madness all along!  I'm not just a flaky knitter with ADD who can be distracted by beads/new lace/basically anything except what I'm working on.  I have been stockpiling for the point when I would get so frustrated with trying to find yet MORE room for unfinished projects that I would strike out with a mad resolution! As I write, I can look around at all my well=planned preparations:  Two Rubbermade tubs FULL of sewing projects that have kicked by arse yet to motivate me to complete them, a third tub containing long-languishing knitting WIPS that may date back to the f...

*  Moths *  The moment your husband finds out you've been storing yarn in the sleeves of one of his unused jackets.... *  Knitting a sweater as a surprise gift and mailing it off in time for a birthday, only to hear "Oh, I didn't like it" from the recipient *  Moths *  A rash fit of optimism that persuaded you to cast on a shawl on size ZERO needles *  Really fabulous clearance yarn when one is "Cold Sheeping" *  Discovering that the two sweater patterns that have given you the most trouble are from the same designer and you weren't paying enough attention after the FIRST attempt at her psychotic designs to avoid the SECOND attempt *  Frogging anything made of mohair *  Frogging in general *  Moths *  Forgetting that your purse has velcro until AFTER you have put your nice cashmere-blend knitting project inside the purse *  Managing to lose your favorite cable needle in a freak lawn mowing incident *...

*  Express shipping *  Circular needles.  Not that I don't prefer dpns for socks and such, but could you imagine doing a pi shawl with 15 pointy sticks?  *** shudder*** *  Ravelry--bless them! *  The squashability of yarn, which makes one's stash easier to hide in say, the arms of a jacket that your husband never wears anyway.  Not that I would ever do that, of course..... *  Knitting friends who completely understand that one could talk all day every day about knitting *  Tetanus shots--those of us who have managed to impale ourselves with small knitting needles understand this one *  That airlines have finally realized that a knitter allowed her knitting needles on a flight is much less dangerous than a knitter denied knitting for 6 straight hours *  Husbands who like handknit sweaters, especially if they are relatively small in circumference.  If you ever see a large man wearing a hand-knit cabled sweater, the...