A Little Yarn On The Side

Two--count 'em, TWO--WIPS done, leaving me with....... ONLY TEN WIPS LEFT!!!!!!! (I realize that for some, having 10 WIPS would be a reason to start a WIP marathon, not the conclusion of one, but I've chosen to be realistic) I have met the Double Dog Dare Challenge!!!!  I'm down to 10!!!!!!  And I'm off to cast on something new........

In the past, I haven't liked mittens because one can't really DO things when wearing mittens, and as a slightly hyperactive child (* cough cough *) the restriction drove me crazy.  However, as we woke up to NEGATIVE 3 degrees this morning, I think I can get over this problem.  The cats won't even go outside this morning.  Now I grew up about 2 hours north of where I'm at now, and we did get lots of snow and subzero temperatures, which has quite a bit to do with why I don't live there now.  Normally we here in Boise get to whine about it being cold when it's in the 30s.  This week our high temperatures won't even REACH the 30s.  What happened?????? The one bright side--Andy and I each have lovely alpaca sweaters that are so dang warm that we rarely wear them in normal circumstances.  Today I would be wearing alpaca underwear if I had it (sorry for that visual).  And I'm feeling better about the 3 or 4 sweaters' worth of alpaca I still have in...

If I were not on a WIP marathon, I would be casting on 387 pairs of mittens right now.  Normally, I hate mittens and have never bothered to knit any, but it's currently 8 degrees (Fahrenheit, or NEGATIVE 13 degrees Celsius) and frankly, it's time to rethink my mitten stance.  Of course, I really shouldn't complain because according to Accuweather, while it is truly 8 degrees, the "real feel" is NINE degrees.  Well, break out the bikini!  Why even bother to say that?  ( Wow, Martha, I wasn't going to go for that walk if it was 8 degrees, but since it really feels like 9, I just can't pass it up!)  How can it really feel one degree warmer?  I just shoveled 3 inches of snow off our driveway & sidewalk, and I'm pretty sure it feels like 8 degrees.  Maybe 5.  When I regain feeling in my cheeks I'll let you know.

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 ...