kfys

Well, maybe not. But when you add in the absolutely horrid weather we’ve been having, it’s definitely close. Saturday, my aunt had an appointment at the salon, and wanted me to go with her. No problem, I said…we can hit a few stores and drive over to Rose Path Weaving because I need some more roving. Well. I did buy some roving…5oz of the softest superwash merino ever, but of course I didn’t stop there. I also picked up a pound of Licorice Twist, which does fall under my KFYS rules, as its for dyeing. BUT. The 450 yards of Shepherd Worsted in Gold Hill, unfortunately, does not. Unless of course we truly believe that an hour and a half drive in rain so heavy you can’t see 5 feet in front of your car counts. Which I do, or at least i’m pretending I do, just so can justify my spending habits. I also picked up the Fiber Trends Felt Clogs pattern, because my feet are always cold, and even the thickest socks don’t really work on natural slate floors. I’ll most likely be using up some Wool of the Andes on these, mainly because if the pattern flops, I won’t be out any super nice yarn.

I’m actually somewhat back in a knitting funk right now…or maybe its just a general funk, I haven’t decided. I’ve done a little more work on the Spartan Pullover; I only have about 4 or 5 more rounds until the stranded work is done and I can start the miles and miles of plain stockinette. I started working on a slightly oversized, deep-v, short sleeved, cabled thing, got halfway through the first cable repeat and decided it sucked, ripped back to the beginning of the body work, and now it’s just plain old boring stockinette. I might put some cables in on the neck trim, who knows. I also have a couple of socks otn right now, Jaywalkers and one of the ribbed patterns from Vintage Socks. Hopefully I can get over this funk and finish sometime in the next century.

And finally, I dyed more roving last week so I could play with the techniques in the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. I used Kool Aid once again, as I still haven’t gotten around to buying any acid dyes. I walked into the bathroom to check the drying progress, and found this:

He said he couldn’t help himself, because it smelled like cotton candy. And people wonder why i’m crazy. Now you know: it’s because I live with a wool sniffing man, purse stealing cats, and a dog that thinks he’s a gay cat.

First up, my own personalised Knit From Your Stash exceptions:

1.) Sock yarn.

2.) Yarn for patterns I have already purchased…namely Rogue, Simple Knitted Bodice, and Sahara.

3.) Major “you’d be an idiot to pass this up” sales.

4.) Yarn stores I may encounter while travelling.

5.) Yarn for gifts.

6.) Yarn for dyeing. I can’t help myself.

7.) Yarn to finish projects.

8.) As stated in the original rules, spinning stuff does not count.

My main reason for doing KFYS is simply so I will get off my ass and get WIPs finished. I’m pretty much not allowing myself ANY yarn until I get a few done…at least the Spartan pullover, Tubey, and Jaywalkers. I know how bad I am about starting projects and then letting them fester for ages in a corner, completely ignored, and I need to stop that.

Next up, New Years Resolutions:

1.) Spend time on design work. I have millions of ideas floating around in my brain, and I need to get them on paper. It’s way past time for the “coming soon!” on my free patterns page to go far, far away.

2.) Devote a little time to other crafts. I pitched a fit to get my sewing machine back, and now the poor thing is never used.

3.) Crochet something. I’ve finally got the basics down, now it’s time to actually do something.

4.) Comment more on other blogs. I’m horrid about this. People that know me from Live Journal can attest to this fact. I need to get over my fear of saying something utterly useless, because otherwise i’m going to keep drifting along, completely invisible.

And finally, a little teaser for what I started working on last night:

A lacey scarf-thing in KnitPicks Shimmer, Maple Leaf colourway, US7 needles. No real pattern…just using the Madeira Cascade lace from Vogue Dictionary of Stitches (My local library seriously needs to update their knitting books); two repeats across of the lace pattern, and I have no idea how long it’s going to be; that will depend entirely on how long this one ball of yarn lasts. The actual knitting is slow right now…this is my first time with lace, and Chris kept interrupting my counts last night. I love this yarn though…it may be cheap, but it has a nice soft feel, and the colours are gorgeous.