A Little Yarn On The Side

So, I'm only half participating because as my back allows, I'm catching up on all the things I didn't get done over the past week, but when my back does NOT allow, my projects for the knitting retreat are: Andy's birthday sweater.  The one for 2010.  As he is about to finish my birthday gift for 2010, I thought it only fair. and I even have the sense to NOT try knitting him anything for this year's birthday.  I'll also hopefully get the baby sweater sewn together: but the latest chemo cap was finished last night, so it doesn't really count for the retreat.   Yesterday I also finished my monthly thread on the cross stitch  so I think I'm closing in on the 10-year plan for the thing.  The shawl has also received some attention this week and is actually moving slightly faster as I'm working on one of the "arms" so have fewer stitches to contend with.  Of course, I'd be much farther along if it hadn't been for this A new project...

I think it will come as no great surprise to anyone who has ever visited this blog in the past that I can think up projects faster than I can complete them.  (Hello...146,160 yards of yarn in the stash as of this morning). Not that I don't complete projects--I do--but my "projects to make" list can get a bit daunting, and I keep inventing ways to keep myself slightly balanced.  Well, balanced for me.  The 3 1/2 years of Cold Sheeping has helped, and I have high hopes for this year's fabric ban.  Last year's 100 project challenge also helped, and hopefully this years 111 project challenge will also help carve down the number.  My biggest ace in the hole, however, might be my personal allowance. When we got married, knowing that money was the number one source of marital fights, we set up personal accounts for each of us, and we each get a personal allowance every month.  This money we can spend without any input from the other.  We both have hobbies t...

 There have also been some pain pills. Last Wednesday while pulling weeds in a flower bed, I managed to throw my back out.  Obviously, my body has taken the turning-40-means-old thing rather seriously. Some days have been better than others--meaning I didn't hurt much but couldn't sit, so I made a lot of progress on the socks and am just about to turn the heel, which I thought should be left for a day without pain pills, so there has been some chemo cap knitting and the new baby sweater is all knit up and being sewn together (number 35 in the "all used up" tab) Theo, of course, has been thrilled with my lifestyle this week:  Normally, I don't sleep on my back much, but lately that's almost all I've been doing, which means Theo can stretch out on top of me for a cuddle & to suck his toe (or back of his paw, actually).  He's not a lap cat--possibly because neither of us have laps big enough for a cat that we think is part Main Coon--but he does ...

Okay, so I didn't get either the shawl OR the socks finished, so the month didn't finish that strong in any category: Projects finished:  8 Yards of yarn used:  1057 Balls of yarn used: 9 Yards of fabric used:  6.75 Doesn't that make you wonder what exactly I was doing with myself last month?

For those of you who are interested in the Ravelry "increase your stash" group, it seems to be my Cold Sheeping thread in the Stashdown group on Ravelry.  I've actually had a member of the group respond to a new Cold Sheeper that she thought the total ban on yarn purchasing was much too harsh.  On the Cold Sheeping  thread.  So it may be possible after all that I am leading a group that is advocating refrigerating one's pet ewes. :)

*  Announce in a sock knitting forum that kitchenering the toes is passe , and that you prefer to dining room yours. *  Tell everyone that you aren't actually knitting, but doing a lesser-known two-handed method of crochet. *  Email your favorite lace designer and ask if there are any instructions for adding a few pom poms to her most popular shawl design. *  Announce to your local stitch and bitch that you don't really have much of a problem with Second Sock Syndrome, but that third sock really gets to you sometimes. *  When you hear a fellow knitter say, "Oh, I could never do that," agree with her wholeheartedly and suggest that she stick to garter stitch scarves. *  Start a group on Ravelry solely devoted to INCREASING one's yarn stash.  Adopt such slogans as "Global Warming affects sheep too," "Sharing is Stupid," and "Get it before someone else does."

My goal--well, one of them--is to knit 25,000 yards of yarn before the end of the year.  To be on track, I need to be at 6249.999999999999999999999999999 yards by the end of March.  Currently, I'm just below 4000 yards for the year.  Impossible, you say? Well.........I have two more days, and the latest lace shawl is closing in on the end of an 880-yard skein, the new baby sweater is finishing up the last of a 115 yard skein, and I've picked up the red socks  that were languishing because I couldn't remember where I'd put the pattern book, but are full into the second sock and the second half of a 440-yard skein (or 462 yards as Ravelry insists), so there could be a fighting chance that I could at least end the month a bit closer to target.  Of course, if I finished all three in the next two days I could actually BE on target, but amazingly, even I  am not that delusional--which is quite possibly a first for me.   Do you think there are people who ...