A Little Yarn On The Side

If mistakes are learning experiences, I am on track to become the smartest person on the whole dang planet. So, today was finishing Friday, and one of the things I hoped to bribe encourage myself to do with the 100-project challenge was to tackle the bin of sewing WIPs (for purposes of this story, we're currently ignoring the bin of knitting WIPs), so today I dug out this: with the accompanying shirt I started at least 5 years ago.  I had the material cut out, a couple seams sewn, but as it was my first attempt at sewing microsuede (and that there were ever subsequent attempts is testimony to my stubbornness/optimism/foolishness or the fact that I bought a bunch before realizing that it was second only to those bizarre fake-fur things on the "worst possible fabrics to sew with" scale), it was soon banished to the Bin of Bad Projects and I probably spent a night or two curled up in bed in a fetal position to recover. While I had learned to sew through sewing 4-H at ar...

Well, as anyone who has had a near-cross stitch experience can tell you, it was quite a harrowing ordeal.  My future blogging life flashed before my eyes with such titles as "Maybe going to finish TWO projects this year" and "I gained another inch today."  I would have to start handing out "I.O.U." cards instead of gifts....er, that is, more often than I do now.  If THAT isn't enough to set a knitter quivering down to the very bottom of her WIP pile, I don't know what is. Taking a page from the vaccination idea, tonight I dug out this and worked on it for 20 minutes.  I think this is an "after" picture, though it hardly matters.  I'm not doing the best job in the world on this as I've gone all sorts of directions & the threads are crossing every which way, but I'm 40 now, and by the time I finish this sucker no one I know will have the eye sight to notice its flaws. Just in case this was not a thorough enough inoculat...

Since I was out running errands today, I ran by Joanns to pick up black buttons (exactly 4 buttons), one square of orange felt (for the next round of snowmen, not the current ones), and black embroidery thread.  I was really good.  I didn't even LOOK at fabric or yarn, but obviously the stress of a severe stash diet might have weakened my brain.  While trying to figure out if the 5-, 8- or 12-sized balls of black thread meant "embroidery" thread, and whether or not it was more economical as balls or the little floss skeins (no idea), when I was viciously assaulted by a display of half-priced cross stitch kits.  It took 20 minutes to extricate myself from the wily little pouches without having to bring one home with me, but I positively FLED the store before they could rally for a second attempt. Obviously, my brain has snapped.  For one thing, I have a cross stitch kit here at home that I started at least 5 years ago, and which I do occasionally drag out to wo...

He doesn't get one: Truth be told, I almost never give snowmen noses anyway.  Of course, this decision was helped along by the fact that I didn't have any feltable orange yarn either (can you tell orange is my absolute LEAST favorite color in the world?)  I may eventually add a pompom to his hat, or the pattern calls for earmuffs made from a 2-inch pompom and a pipe cleaner (at least I have the pipe cleaner), but I thought he was pretty adorable as-is, so he's now on the shelf in our stairway.  In the future, I'll be doing something different for snowmen scarves.  The scarf Frosty has is actually two bands--one going around his neck, and one draped over, then gathered to look like it was tied.  It would have been far, far, FAR easier to just have one band and actually tie the thing than to fuss around with making this one look tied, so his buddy with the red buttons will get a real scarf.  Maybe even a knitted one? And we finally have a picture of t...

Yesterday I finished the neutral chemo cap and a secret surprise project, and today I came really, really close to finishing one of these: which are snowmen-to-be, just in case it isn't obvious.  They are from this pattern: and Theo was so excited to be sewing again that he didn't even let me get the pattern pieces cut out before "helping." I might have actually finished at least one of them today had the unthinkable happened:  I didn't have all the materials the pattern called for.  Now those of you who have seen my sewing room realize how amazing this is.  I have stashes of beads, felt, zippers, buttons, elastic, braid, thread--all the things that I need to complete projects in one sitting.  They aren't HUGE stashes (unlike, you know, the yarn one), but they do usually meet the needs of any project I attempt.  Until now, of course.  It started with black buttons.  I have a large stash of craft buttons, "real" buttons, and just cleaned up on...

Day 6 and the third project is done: leaving me with 108 left to go.  I admit, it is seriously daunting to have to work my way down to 100, rather than just starting there.  I'm hoping to at least get below the 100-left-to-go mark by the end of the month.  That would help, I think. I finished the scarf in the morning, then actually caught myself reading without a knitting project later this afternoon, so I immediately cast on another chemo cap: As my old Lutheran great grandmother probably would have said, "Idle hands aren't going to read 25,000 yards for the year."  Okay, I never met the woman, so I'm not sure she would have said anything of the kind, and even if she had, it would have been in Norwegian so I wouldn't have understood it anyway, but as a strict teetotaler and a woman who never allowed card games of any kind, I'm guessing there would have been SOME remark about idle hands somewhere in her arsenal.  At any rate, I've used up 424 yard...

So, I have approximately 149,000 yards of yarn in my stash.  At the rate I have averaged, that's about 10 years of yarn.  BUT IF I COULD MANAGE TO KNIT 25,000 YARDS A YEAR, IT'S LESS THAN A 6 YEAR STASH! Okay, so I actually haven't ever managed 25,000 yards in one year, but until last year, I hadn't managed 100 projects in one year either.  Incredibly silly crafting goals do tend to motivate me, so there IS a chance.......