A Little Yarn On The Side

The mohair scarf is done!!!!! It's the longest scarf I've ever made, but with the European scarf-tying look being so popular right now, I thought long might be best, though I'm now worried I made it too long.  Maybe I'll block it a bit wider to shrink the length just a bit.  BUT, 245 yards of yarn from my recent yarn order have been used up and won't have to be accounted for on my start-of-year yarn tally that I am going to make myself do.  Another 1000 yards by the end of the year, and it will be like that 1375-yard hank never happened............ I started to cast on the second sock for this pair because it's the closest to being a Finished Project in my huge pile of WIPS, but then I remembered:  I made it to 111 finished projects already.  Now I'm after yardage for the year.   (Knit just for fun?  What???)  So, I have dug out my birthday socks, because if you look really closely: this sock is really close to being done, and when it ...

 Andy and I generally pick "themes" to do for Christmas gifts, but after all the fun we had last year with gifts for each others' hobbies, we decided to do it again this year. For a while I had been planning to make Andy some fleece pajamas--probably more for lounging than sleeping, but something comfy and warm to change into after work, and since he started playing the mandolin this year.... I put a mandolin on them.  The design is a bit heavy for fleece, and his mandolin is actually a slightly different shape, but I did match the colors to his mandolin exactly, which was fun. And this, is the first project I made with my new yarn--I think the day after the yarn arrived.  I love to work with lace weight, but one does have to appreciate how fast bulky yarn can be knit up.  It's not exactly this vivid of a color, and it reports being happy in its new home--especially since there's a coat that matches it nicely. Now, on to those 2012 presents!!!!

Season's Greetings from Château Sutton-Goar! In case--after the year of the cat in a cast, the year of the broken toe, the year of bronchitis, or the year of the pantry moths--you were beginning to think that the holiday season is a bit eventful here at the Château, I can only say, "Why break such a perfect record?" Thus we are enjoying the holidays here during the Year of the Injured Back.. And let me just say, being rescued from the floor of the bathroom clad in crossword puzzle pajamas by eight paramedics really kicks off the holidays nicely. Since they brought along the ambulance AND the firetruck, it actually was a lot like our own personal Macy's parade. What could be more "holiday" than that? We are happy to report that the patient and her dignity are recovering nicely. Square Foot Gardening This year we decided to try the square-foot gardening method instead of whatever one would call my regular "shove plants in anywhere...

Even in my fantasy knitting world, having just discovered an additional 1375 yards of yarn, it didn't seem likely that I could knit up an additional 1375 yards by the end of the year to even things out, but I could knit up an additional skein of yarn, so.... Actually, this Mock Men's Aran hat used just about 130 yards, so I'm scaring myself with the mental discussion that if I could already have knit up one-tenth the amount of yarn I found, am I positive I couldn't knit up maybe half?  Two-thirds?  The entire stupid amount?  I am nothing if not stupidly optimistic.  So, meet the new scarf.  It's on size 8 needles, fairly simple design, and in some of the new mohair yarn.  If I get it done by perhaps the 27th, that will be another 245 yards, then I would only need 1000 yards in the last 4 days of the year to reach 1375, which seems completely reasonable to me as I'm currently on my third cup of coffee this morning.  What could possibly go wron...

So, I had the brilliant idea to get the rest of my yarn photographed so everything would have pictures.  None of the first laceweight yarn I bought had been photographed, so a little rummaging turned up this so I took a picture, pulled up my stash on Ravelry, and.......... It wasn't on there! This 1375-yard hank of cobweb yarn wasn't in my stash!  I have MORE yarn than I thought, and I'm not altogether positive there isn't another hank of this color somewhere.  I actually really like this yarn, and my very first shawl was made from this exact yarn, but my stash added 1375 yards and I didn't get the fun of buying anything!!!   Dang!  Maybe cleaning the sewing room isn't such a great idea after all........

Some days I just defeat myself with my own optimism.  For the last THREE days I have been waiting to update the blog because I was just positive that this was going to really be finished any minute, and then I could brag about using up another ball of yarn for the year.  That fingering weight yarn and size ONE needles could still strike me as "almost done" shortly after turning the heel probably explains a great deal.  SO, three days later, I have now used up almost 15,000 yards of yarn this year, making it my second-best year ever with 10 days left to go. So, it of course made sense to find a really, REALLY large ball of yarn that I can't possibly knit up in 10 days, and start on a toddler sweater that also can't be finished in 10 days.  In my defense, there is a bit of a baby boom happening around us, and my newest "honorary" nephew has already outgrown the sweater I thought I would be giving him for Christmas, and will be receiving a 4-year-old ...

So, I figured out what to do about the mohair, decided how to adapt the monster hat to work with my yarn, and... am working on the socks instead.  Part of it has been because I had a bit of a setback with back/hip problem after Tuesday's physical therapy and I don't care how experienced you may be at knitting--if you're taking pain pills or muscle relaxers, stockinette is your friend.  I'm happy to say that I have been yanked back into position and now just ache rather than hurt.  This is progress.  Speaking of progress, want to see how the musical stockings look now that they're up and being filled? I love how it all turned out! Well, except for the part where the cool "washable" music ribbon I found to make the stocking loops with faded almost completely when the stockings were washed.   That part irritates me to no end.  But the overall effect is still nice.  And I have learned to not waste my money on printed ribbon ever again, so there i...