A Little Yarn On The Side

Okay--I really, really, REALLY hoped I would be showing you finished WIP number two tonight, but I have reached the magic point in the beaded scarf:  no matter how much I knit, it doesn't get any longer or the skein get any smaller.  So, while I have achieved a rather interesting achievement in physics, I have nothing to show you................. Do you think one can win a Nobel Prize in yarn????????????

.....but to add just a bit of variety, and to potentially finish something in the near future, I have been working on the beaded Ostrich Plume scarf: One good thing about having a lot of WIPs is one does have a lot of variety on a WIP marathon.  My new physical therapist seems to be really helping, but she's doing some soft tissue work on me, and it's a bit tender to sit, so I have been finishing sugar cookie ornaments.  Now that my craft table has been raised, it's the perfect height for someone with a tender derriere.  Now there's a description one doesn't see in furniture catalogs very often........ Still,  it has allowed me to get a few more ornaments ahead today.  I may be cookied-out for a while, but this last one makes ornament 236 and today is the 221st day of the year, so IF I were foolish enough to say such things within the hearing of the Crafting Gods, I would be bragging about being 15 ornaments ahead.  However, long experienc...

 .............and my mitten enthusiasm might be waning just a bit.  However, I'm in love with sugar cookies again!  Really, a few more of these and I will have made more sugar cookie ornaments than actual sugar cookies, at least as an adult.  We used to make them every December when I was growing up, but I haven't made sweets very often as an adult, and things that involve both frosting AND a rolling pin are pretty low on my list.  Now if they involved beads.................

This: is a picture of the sewing room in December of 2007--right before I started my first year of Cold Sheeping.  It doesn't accurately show the yarn stash by any means, and I know there were at least a couple fabric tubs not shown here, but let's compare that to the sewing room today: The yarn bins:  the Christmas fabric bin,  the closet,  more yarn bins (and a huge mess),  and the fabric shelf: Even though I know the first picture doesn't show everything, I think it's pretty clear that my fabric stash has exploded while I've been Cold Sheeping yarn.  It could be worse, I suppose.  It could be both yarn AND fabric, but still...... Since I have less than 90 days left before being able to buy things, I have been working on my list.  After this little wake-up call, I will definitely be signing on for a second year of buying nothing, but there are some things I genuinely need.  If possible, I am going to find some black pe...

Even after so many of these, I still find them just adorable.  And relatively fast--also very important.  231 ornaments down, 134 to go..............

I realize it's early--and even saying this will probably prompt the Knitting Gods to do something really hideous--but I think I'll be making my goal of 365 ornaments for the year.  I know--it's truly daring to say so this early, but I am just a bit ahead, and I'm more than half-way there and if worst comes to worst, I think I could still get there with the mitten ornaments or the machine embroidered ones.  I also cut out some more felt sugar cookie ornaments today, and I could always make more beaded hearts.  So, I think I'll get there.  So............that leads me to think what sort of crazy goal I will be setting for myself for next year.  I enjoy crazy goals--they sort of takes the focus off of my crazy stash, and they push me in new directions.  Interestingly, I'm considering shooting for 100 finished projects again.  I know I've already done it, so I could bump it up and do 118 projects, which I haven't done.  Oddly, in both 2010 and 2011...

While I have taken time to make a few ornaments to keep on track, but have remained quite dedicated to the Alice Starmore sweater: It might have made more sense to start with a faster WIP, but this is a fun pattern, and it's interesting.  I now have 3 and a half pattern repeats done, and at 4 and a half the next step happens, so even though it will take a while, I think it will stay interesting.  Speaking of taking a while, it seams that the stress of Andy's absence brought on a relapse for my sidekick, so Theo and I made a quick trip to the vet yesterday for another pain shot.  He's sleepy, but isn't hurting and is able to urinate in small amounts, so we're making progress again.   They think he's just more susceptible to stress because it's still so soon after the extreme stress of boarding, but I had no idea how stressed this little guy's life actually is.  Honestly, I was surprised that creatures that sleep 18 out of every 24 hours actua...