A Little Yarn On The Side

You may have noticed a distinct lack of blogging over the holiday weekend.  That's because on the one nice, sunny day I was gardening like a maniac, and on the rainy cold rest of the weekend, my sidekick and I were sewing.  I know I'm usually not this dedicated to any one hobby, but since I really, really, really think we might get nice weather at some point in the not-so-distant future, I've been making summer clothes with hope in my heart and two bored kitty cats underfoot. Project 43: which you would not be meeting AT ALL if it weren't for this insane 100-projects idea as I had to redo the zipper THREE times to get it to fit like it should.  Projects have been sent to the blender for far less than that. I finished it yesterday afternoon, then--possibly because redoing zippers had completely obliterated my ideas of what constitutes "fun"--I started doing a little math, and realized I had used up over 17 yards of fabric in one month, and was within str...

The fabric stash is massive and frankly, out of control. The only solution:  complete and utter taming.  The mission, should I choose to except it: Use up 20 or more yards of fabric by the end of May. Should I or any of my Impossible Knitting Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of my actions. Good luck, Toni. This blog will probably self-destruct in 5 seconds, because, quite frankly, the Knitting Gods are getting a little sick of the utter cheekiness of this blog lately......

The monkey socks are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still not wild about the pattern, but I don't care!  I needed to be at 41.666667 projects by the end of May, and the socks are project 42!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Granted, I'm only 0.3333333 projects ahead, but this is ME we're talking about--I would be excited even if I were only 0.00000000000001 projects ahead. Of course, I REALLY wanted to cast on something new, but persuaded myself to work on a dress I cut out last week but hadn't started but haven't gotten very far.  There was * ahem* a bit of browsing patterns on Ravelry, though nothing new actually on the needles.  However, it's only 5:40 PM and the knitting night is young...........

Yesterday this arrived in the mail, complete with a bill thanking me for my recent subscription.  OK. I swear I had put somewhere on the blog that I was NOT going to subscribe to any knitting magazines this year--though I have to admit, I can't actually find the post.  STILL, that was my intent.  AND it's what I thought I was doing.  But I have a new magazine subscription here in my hands.  So today's big question is: Am I sleep-shopping now and is there perhaps a large bag of merino on it's way to me now???????? (And will it be wrong of me to be just a wee bit hopeful every time the mailman comes.....?)

5 days left in the month and I'm working with size 2 needles and fingering weight yarn.    WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE???????????????????????????

I have just started working on the heel of the second monkey sock, and if I can finish the rest of the sock within 6 days, I will not only have my May project of the month done--I will be ahead for the year!!!!!!!! Now if I can just finish the sock before the Knitting Gods hear such bragging and blow up my sock or something.....

Last night--and I can't imagine why this seemed like a good idea even after a martini--I decided to watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie to "unwind" before bed.  Two hours later I was wide awake, shaking like our washer on "fast spin," and squealing "Eke!" at every noise in the house.  So, while there wasn't much sleep, there WAS a fair bit of frightened, neurotic knitting (which works best for lace because you later block the daylights out of it anyway), so.... I have finally finished that monstrous 600-yard skein of laceweight and am about 5 rows into the second.  Thank heaven & all the little knitting gods, this shawl will not take all 600 yards of this skein.  I don't think I have the strength.  I don't think Theo does either. The ham. And today's exciting news.....Andy finished the dowel & finials (little end things) for the tapestry, so we hung it in the guest room. I think it's the picture that is crooked and not the...