Falling in love...all over again...

with my stash.

It is a beautiful thing.

While not big on New Year's resolutions (because, really, how many of those do we actually keep long-term?), I have been thinking about setting forth a little challenge to myself.

By far, most of the yarn I have is sock yarn, both fingering weight and sport.

Out of the forty-five or so projects I completed last year, twelve of them were actually complete pairs of socks.

Can you see where I am going with this?

A pair of socks a month is entirely doable.

And, I have (Holy Crap!) enough yarn for sixty-plus pairs of socks. Now hold on, not all of it was purchased with the intention of making socks, a fair bit, particularly the nicer stuff from Miss Babs (which were actually payment skeins for test knitting - Yay!), Madelinetosh, and The Plucky Knitter have some lace patterns written on them.

The bonus here, of course, is how much I adore wearing knitted socks, of which I only have two pair.

So, with whatever else I may be doing, at least one pair of socks will be completed every month.

I am even thinking of being selfish about it. I may make them all for me!

Aside from sock yarn, my stash has dwindled considerably. I had four skeins each of two different Dream in Color Classy colorways: Black Parade and In Vino Veritas. The husband gave me a gift certificate to woolgirl.com either for my birthday or our anniversary and I bought the yarn then.

Originally, I was planning to knit a skirt with the Black Parade and wanted to knit a wrap with Vino; however, I was dreaming. I no longer have the figure to wear knit skirts. Seriously.

And while I love red, I rarely wear it. I have always bought red to wear, but never wear it because I have never been one to draw attention to myself. Hard to believe, I know, but true. So, the red wrap was really not going to happen.

Enter Mom.

There is a long and winding tale, but suffice it to say my darling mother has called both sets of yarn for sweaters for her.

Yay!

That means no more guilt over what to do with the beautiful yarns.

Worsted-weight-wise, the only other major purchase that is inflicting pangs of guilt are four skeins of the same colorway, but two each from different color lots, of Lorna's Laces in Amy's Vintage Office.



I love the yarn and it is super soft, not to mention superwash, despite being 100% wool.

There are 900 yards of it.

Not enough to make a sweater for me, but plenty for a wrap.

But, there is another but, the yarn is variegated (and from two different lots) and I just do not think I will wear something with that much color.

So, I could make a hat, a scarf, and a pair of gloves with a good bit of yarn left over. I just do not know.

The guilt, of course, will continue until I have dedicated the yarn to a project, not actually cast on for it.

The good news is that I have time. There will be plenty to keep me busy while I search for that perfect project.

In the meantime, I will keep knitting away and showering great affection on my stash.

Merry Christmas and Happy Knitting!

Magazine giveaway

Hey Feisty Knitters,
My mother has generously given me a subscription for Interweave Knits for Christmas. The first issue came last week and it was the Fall 2008 issue which I already had. If anyone would like my extra copy, be the first to reply and I will send it to you! It has a lot of great patterns in it, check it out on Ravelry.

Toys!

The Boy likes to sit with me in my chair as I knit. He helps. I'll knit a few stitches and he knits a few stitches and so on . . .

The other day, we were at Michaels and he saw a "Knit kit" for a teddy bear. He wanted to knit it for our friend's baby who he absolutely adores. So I bought it (it was $4.50). I cast on the first leg so he could knit it. After some issues, we frogged it back and started again. He lost interest after the third row. So, it seems, I am knitting a teddy bear. It is supremely easy and I will likely repeat it later . . . but for now, it is a "mommy knits 8 rows, Boy knits 1 row" project until it is finished. At this rate, it will be done this time, next year. . . *snicker*

I will post when it is finished!

Method Madness

It does not appear I am capable of having just one project on the needles at a time. While it is sometimes overwhelming to have so many unfinished projects, when I hit a roll, it is a very nice roll, indeed.

On Sunday I was able to complete a pair of mittens.

On Monday, I finished a cabled scarf.

Today, I am on tap to finish a pair of socks for the fifteen-year-old daughter.

All three of these are Christmas gifts!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Next up with be the seven-year-old daughter's Monkey socks.

I thought these socks would go nicely in their stockings.

So, how goes your Christmas knitting?

Oh, YAY!

This morning it was in the 30s, so I was able to pull out my entrelac stole and a pair of knitted socks to wear.

I do know yet own a shawl pin, but found a gold-colored kilt pin to wrap the stole around me and hold it in place.

Today I brought two batches of Gooey Cake cookies to share, one chocolate and the other butter. Yum!

Thus, when I walked into the office I was the pied piper with a merry little following right into the break room. Once everyone had sampled the cookies, my knitting was noticed and before I knew it several of the ladies were chiming up: "I know how to crochet, but would love to learn how to knit" and "I can knit, but not like that." I told them how easy this pattern was and offered to show them.

Then, I showed them my socks.

There was much excitement and interest over the socks.

One lady said: "I would LOVE to know how to do that, but I just don't have the time."

I told her I typically bring my lunch, then sit in my office and knit for almost an hour before going back to work. I added that I sleep much better if I have a chance to knit for even thirty minutes before going to bed.

A couple promised to bring their needles to work with me at lunch.

We shall see if they do.

So far, it has been a pretty good day!

Warped Book Wrap

Well, here it is.





I think the felted fabric is great, I am just not happy with how skewed the flap is on the body of the bag. No amount of blocking will correct it, it has a perpetual twist.

I think I will either try to modify it into a purse by nipping and tucking the sides, cutting off the wrap tie, and curving out the end of the flap with a pair of scissors, as well as gathering in the front it will look cute. Oh, let me not forget to buy a leather strap...

A lot of extra work for something that was supposed to be so simple.

sigh.

In Search of...

my knitting groove.

Yes, yes, there are plenty of projects underway and on the needles, as well as that needlepoint canvas, but I just cannot seem to find that one project that inspires me.

However, I may be close.

My first big knitting pattern purchase was Rowan 42 sometime around Christmas last year. In it was this Hap Shawl called Bressay.



While lovely, I thought it way out of my talent league.

Then, over the summer Gudrun, The Shetland Trader, posted pictures of her beautiful version.

As fate would have it, Jimmy Beans had Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply on wicked clearance sale in a dark blue. While not exactly the same as the Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 Ply, it was the same weight. (AND, it was Rowan by God!) Then, I found more Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply on another wicked clearance sale at Yarnzilla in different colors. I actually began to think it was meant to be.

Unfortunately, I then sat down to read through the pattern instructions in Rowan 42.

Hmmmmm.

It appeared as though "Expert" really meant "Expert" in level of difficulty.

I put it aside for a time and began looking for other, easier patterns for a hap shawl.

I studied Gudrun's post and pictures and noticed she referenced a book: Sharon Miller's Hap Shawl book. Unfortunately, it was not available through Amazon. After much hemming and hawing, particularly because I already had the yarn, I made the executive decision to order the book directly from Sharon Miller.

Despite my apprehension, it was not at all costly and arrived promptly.

Ha!

Take that, Amazon!

The last couple of months I have poured over the well-referenced book and finally felt somewhat confidant about starting, after all, the first step is to basically cast on 85 stitches and knit in the garter stitch for 170 rows. I can do that!

Of course, everything after that remains to be seen.

For once, I surely wish there were a knit-along for this.

Rectangles

On Saturday I knocked out one of my Christmas gift items. It was supposed to be a felted book cover called Wanderlust Book Wrap.

It knitted up easily and quickly. By early afternoon I was already finished with the knitting part. I ran it through the washer on hot/cold quick wash cycle and it felted beautifully. I had a puzzle box the correct size, placed the box in a plastic Target bag, then pulled the felted piece over both to block as it dried.

Despite the blocking, the piece is twisted and the flap does not square up with the bag.

Now I know handmade items are supposed to be unique and a bit rustic at times. I get "the nature of the beast" and all that; however, in its present condition, it is not something that I would gift to another.

Because the fabric created by the felting is nice, particulary with the striping I painstakingly added with many ends to weave, I could cut it apart and sew it back together for a slightly smaller version of what I had in mind. I could also fashion a nice little handbag out of it, assuming I could find a nice leather strap to sew onto it.

Notwithstanding all I *could* do with it, it did not turn out as I had originally intended and I find that disappointing.

Fortunately, it was a quick, less than a day, project with minimal effort and expense.

I just really do not deal well with disappointment.

I think that is one of the reasons I do not knit more for myself. I have a vision of exactly how I want/expect something to be. To get the perfect sweater for me, it would be costly in both time and resource, not to mention effort. While I have a cardigan on the needles, I tend to err on the side of roomy comfort than well-fitted for fear something will be too small, especially in the bust area, and I will be cast into the throes a deep depression over my far from perfect self-image.

Instead, I knit socks and wraps for myself, rectangular wraps.

A dear friend of mine is new to knitting and she has made great fun of the garter-stitch rectangles she has been making.

I actually think she is onto something.

Rectangles are seldom disappointing and you have a damned good idea of exactly how it will look well before you are finished.

Yeah, rectangles may well be the way to go. . .