o v e r b r e w e d

At least when it comes to knitting, that is.  I currently have 3 pairs of socks, 3 sweaters, 1 regular scarf, and 1 lace scarf on the needles.  Several of these are near completion.  One sweater only needs  15 more rows of garter stitch sleeve.  Yet, what have I been sitting here doing all morning?  Yup.  Looking for a new project.  I tried to defend this compulsion to myself by saying “but I just need something simple and mindless to work on at SnB!”,  but uh.  That doesn’t really hold up, even when I am rationalising to myself.  A garter stitch sleeve!  A sweater back that is  nothing but stockinette for another 13 inches!  Stockinette in the round for 4 inches, then 2 inches of 2×2 ribbing.  Self, it really doesn’t get more mindless than that.  Head, please introduce yourself to the desk, repeat until this fact sinks in.  Sigh.

I think part of the problem is the fact that I want new yarn, but Chris whines every time I buy new yarn without using something I have stashed first.  So then I go dig through my stash, find a single ball of insert whatever yumminess you like, then head to Ravelry to see what I can do with it.  And then, of course, I get sucked into the black hole of pattern browsing, forum reading, and queue building. Which, btw, I think I have cast on ONE single thing from my queue.  It’s an endless cycle, I swear.

And I haven’t even bought yarn for Christmas presents yet.  Yes, I am aware that I am going to be knitting 24/7 in order to get presents sent out on time.  No, this fact has not yet motivated me to get off my butt and get the yarn ordered.  I have more issues than just commitment, I know.

On the not sucky, awesome but scary, and uh, how did I get myself into this side of things, I’ve been asked to teach a drop spindle workshop at our library.  Uhm.  This is my own fault really.  I was talking to the director about knitting and that somehow turned into spinning.  I mentioned that I spin.  I did not mention that I am a mediocre spinner that doesn’t have the first clue how to teach someone else.  I think I thought (kinda hoped) she might forget about it.  However, she did not.  In fact, there was a Learn to Knit workshop at the library last weekend, which my knitting group attended in order to recruit more people, and she pretty much called me out and told everyone I was a spinner and that I would be teaching a workshop.  To make matters worse, I had to pick that day of all days to be knitting a hat out of my handspun, which, to someone just starting out, looks pretty impressive.  So.  Looks like I am stuck, and holycrapwhatdoIdonow.  Seriously.  I am not a teacher.  I don’t spin properly, I just do it and am generally happy with the result.  I mean, it would be awesome to get more people interested in the craft, i’m all for that.  But does the world really need a bunch of newbie spinners taught by someone that can’t even draft properly?  I still park and draft for Pete’s sake.  And what do I teach them to spin with?  CD spindles?  How much fiber for each person?  What kind of fiber?  Too much pressure, brain is going to explode now.

Enough whining!  Ok, on the completely awesome side of things, I will soon be an official indie dyer.  I’ve done a lot of math (blech!) and a lot of plotting, and Chris is convinced.  I’m going to start small…small investment, minimal amount of stock, just to make sure I like doing it full-time, and obviously seeing if my stuff will even sell.  I’m still ironing out details, but by the first of the year, possibly sooner, I will finally be selling some yarn.  Mostly sock and sport, since that seems to be what everyone wants, but i’m also planning some worsted to sell at the local Christmas festivals.  I’m ridiculously excited.

Oh dear.  I think i’ve blathered on enough.  I have more I could ramble about…FOs and dyeing, but i’ll save all that for another post on a sunnier day, so I can add some pictures.

Three yarn shops in 2 days, what was I thinking?  My wallet is still smoking.  (Also, be warned…I went a little picture happy.)

The results of my latest trip to the Woolie Ewe in Plano, plus an ebay win and Paradise Fibers order.   Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Kureyon, Lorna’s Laces in Flamingo, DB Cashmerino Baby for the Rainy Day Socks from Magknits, Artyarns Ultramerino, and Cascade 220 (Gryffindor colors for Warm Woolies, the other two are for a stripey hat/mitten set.)

Saturday I hit up The Knitting Nook and Simpatico Yarns (where I learned i’ve been saying Clapotis wrong.  I blame my southern roots.).  I picked up a swift(!!) and some Slytherin colors from the first, a ball winder(!!!), Claudia’s Hand Painted in Boot Camp, and Rowan Tapestry from the second.  Obviously, the swift and ball winder are already being put to use.  I predict an overload of tasty yarn cake pictures in the near future.  I also picked up Fitted Knits at Barnes & Noble…this book is gorgeous!  I already have several potential projects picked out.

I also managed to pick up a couple of new normal books, and get some knitting done.  I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do with the Kureyon, but in the end I caved and started on the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf  simply because it shows off the colors so perfectly.  Plus it doesn’t hurt that it’s a super fast knit.  The Rainy Day socks are also currently OTN, but no picture yet.  I was iffy on using the Cashmerino on them because it seems a little indulgent considering how fast I go through socks, but oh, so soft and warm and worth it.

And finally, because he’s been missing from the blog for awhile, some gratuitous Kimba spam.

Unfortunately though, I didn’t quite have the guts to tell my former (as of 1pm today!) employers just where they could shove their job.  I am not, however, unemployed.  I am now officially (instead of the unofficial busywork I was doing before this last job from hell) the office manager here at the mill.  (And for those of you that remember the whole office manager saga from way back on my LJ, yes, my office is finally finished.)  (Sorry for all the parenthesis, I promise i’ll stop.)  (Maybe.)

So on top of actually being at home and doing a job I like, i’ll finally be able to get all my craftyness back on track and spend more time online/updating the blog.  Which is definitely a good thing, as that dishcloth is the absolute only thing i’ve managed to have the time to finish in the past god knows how long.  I love the dishcloth though, so quick and easy to knit, and I can finally use up all the damn kitchen cotton I have somehow aquired over the past year or so.   The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which I finally caved in and bought this weekend.  I have no idea why I resisted it so long; it’s chock full of fun little projects and funny to boot.

Now, what’s next on my crafty agenda?  Who knows?  The only thing I know for sure is that some stash busting will be in order, along with getting my dye kitchen set up sometime in the next few months.  I’m absolutely dying to handpaint some yarn, and get some up on my as yet empty etsy shop.

This is just a very small sampling of my latest yarn splurges.  I couldn’t fit the whole basket in a  decent picture without dragging it outside.  AND, this is just the teeny basket that sits nexts to the couch.  I don’t even want to think about taking pictures of the real stash, it’s scary.  (That Nashua cotton?  To. Die. For.  It is so freaking soft, I want more more more so I can knit something big out of it.  And I lied about the parenthesis, obviously.)

So.  Yeah.  I’m back!

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.

Apparently, all one needs in order to successfully break through a knitting funk is a new project, a Harry Potter dvd, and an extra large cup of tea.

Witness the beginnings of Baby Cardigan #2, currently unnamed as I haven’t decided if i’m going to use any sort of cutesy motifs when I finish it. The pattern is just a super simple top down round yoke cardigan…the yoke and ribbing will be in that pink, with the body and sleeves in a  stripey pink-purple-white. I just finished the yoke, and will be splitting to start the body during my normal Thursday night tv. So yeah. I think i’ll be doing all my knitting in front of the tv from now on.

I forgot this picture was on my camera…Kimba spent an entire evening snoozing on my feet/practically under my legs while I worked on Baby Cardigan #1 last week. It was too cute not to post.

My KnitPicks order came in today!  Am very excited, of course.  I bought 13 skeins of Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin, 9 in Fern, and 1 each of Snickerdoodle and Maple Syrup; 3 skeins of Essential Tweed in Flint, 2 hanks of Memories in Redwood Forest, and 1 hank of Shimmer in Maple Leaf.  The Pumpkin was originally for Viveka, but now i’m not sure.  I’m ridiculously fickle about sweater patterns, obviously.  The Fern and Snickerdoodle are for the Spartan Pullover from IWK, Chris picked out the pattern and colors himself.  Essential Tweed is going to be socks for my grandfather, if I don’t steal them for myself first.  As for the Memories and Shimmer, I have no clue.  I just bought them because the colorways were gorgeous.  I got the Maple Syrup to see how it would work on a Ravenclaw scarf…way, way too dark under house lights, but we’ll see.  I actually think the Pumpkin would work quite well though, but i’ll need to look at it outside in natural light before I decide.  Now to just wait for my new needles to get here so I can get started.

First things first: I actually finished stuff!  I’m still suffering horribly from what Kay  so aptly called “startitis”, but as Christmas gets closer I figured I should at least try to see things through to completion.

I had some Sugar ‘N Cream kitchen cotton sitting in my yarn basket, so I decided to knit up that soap saver i’m planning to use for bath baskets just to make sure I liked the pattern.  It was super quick, super easy, and actually pretty cute.  I made a couple of alterations, namely going up to a US 8 needle and increasing the CO from 28 to around 40-something. My homemade soap is generally pretty large, and the original pattern would have been way too small.  I don’t think i’ll use this pattern for all of the ones I need to make, but it won’t be bad for one or two of them.  I’m in the process of working up a new pattern, i’ll post it once I decide on something I like.

Next up, I actually finished Fetching.  I went through so many fits and starts with this pattern, I just knew it would end up never being finished.  But, with the weather finally getting cooler here, I figured I should get some finished before my hands froze.  I originally started this pattern with a self striping Bernat acrylic, but the cables looked like ass.  I ended up using about a skein and a half of Lion Kool Wool I picked up a few months ago for about $.50 a skein, simply because it’s been discontinued and I won’t be able to buy more to make something bigger.  This yarn is bulkier, so I had to go up a needle size, drop my CO down to 40, and work fewer rounds of ribbing, but it still worked pretty well.  The yarn is a 50/50 merino/acrylic blend, and it’s actually quite soft.  These are most likely just going to be my around-the-house gloves, i’ll make another pair once I get the Berroco Ultra Alpaca I ordered.

I also decided I needed to try my hand at crochet again.  It baffles me that crochet is the one thing I can’t master…pretty much every female in my family is a whiz with a hook, my mother could practically crochet in her sleep.  Me?  I end up makiing things that look like this:

That’s supposed to be straight.  Head, meet Desk.  Obviously I need to stick with knitting and only pulling out the crochet hooks when I need a chain, or i’m working fringe.

Remember the Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed I posted about?  I went to cast on for a bag with it, since I can’t be bothered to order enough for something larger, and the damn yarn broke 3 times just while casting on.  This pisses me off because A.) The yarn is gorgeous and I want to use it badly,   B.) I just ordered another skein in a different color to use with the skeins I already have, and C.) I didn’t pay $42 for 330 yards of yarn just to have it fall apart on me.  I guess my only option, other than just glaring at it, is to knit very carefully and then felt it so it will actually hold up.  I had wanted to use some sort of cabling on the bag, but I suppose that’s right out now.  Maybe i’ll do some sort of intarsia instead.  Meh.  Very disappointed.

Just a quickie drive-by post while I wait for dinner to finish cooking, nothing to get excited about.  It’s been raining non-stop since Saturday night…everything is grey and gloopy and gross.  Bleh.  Also,  I think the rain is making my fibro act up.  I’ve been achey all day, and when I tried to knit earlier my hands kept cramping up.  Thank you, rain, for making me feel 80. At least we did manage to get some more work done on the house addition Saturday before it started, so that’s a good thing.  At this rate, I might actually get to move my craft supplies to their new room by my birthday.  Now, which birthday that will be, who knows.  We’re not so good with schedules around here.
I finally got most of my yarn ordered for Christmas projects, hopefully KnitPicks ships relatively quickly.  I still have a few more things to buy, but since I settled on bath sets for my aunts and grandmother,  i’ll only need to pick up some Sugar ‘N Cream cotton and some soap base on that front.  Cheap?  Me?  Nah.

I’m thinking about using this soap saver pattern to go with the homemade soap, along with whatever my brain comes up with for a face-cloth and handtowel.   I’ll probably also throw in a few candles, since i’m still up to my eyeballs in wax and oils.  Maybe I should add candles to every single gift I make this year, i’m sure it would make Chris happy to get rid of the stuff.

Am I the only person that feels like they’re going to poke their eye out every time they use DPNs?  Damn things are deadly.

Although I know two updates in one day would make you think I do.  Anywho, I got a chance to take a couple of pictures of my newest stuff.  Kimba even makes an appearance, suprisingly giving his approval to mommy’s new projects.

(more…)

Huh. Two months since my last update, like no one saw that coming. Sadly, not much of interest has happened in the past two months, but i’ll recap anyway.

1. Got lost in Garland because I missed my turnoff in Plano (shut up, i’m a small town girl that doesn’t have to deal with interstates on a regular basis) and had a minor wreck. The wreck wasn’t even the worst part…it was the other driver pulling off into a dark alley in a dodgy part of a dodgy town, rather than a well-lighted cheerful parking lot.

2. Have now visited two LYS. One was actually semi-local for me, the other was in Plano. The Woolie Ewe in Plano is pretty much awesome…I came away with 2 balls of the new Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky in a gorgeous rusty orange (must. order. more.), 4 balls of Berroco Soft Twist, and a ball of sock yarn with a name I can’t pronounce. The other store? Not so much with the awesome…some of their yarn still had the Hobby Lobby price tags. If I wanted crappy Hobby Lobby yarn, I would shop at Hobby Lobby.

3. In knitting news, you would think that I would actually have some FOs after two months, wouldn’t you? You would be wrong! I still haven’t finished the ghetto Ravenclaw scarf, i’m about halfway through now because I only pick it up when i’m extremely bored. Straight stockinette on circs is so freaking monotonous. Other than that, I have two capelets that just need the finishing on the sleeves, half of Fetching in a cheap ass Bernat acrylic on too small needles, and probably a few other things buried in my yarn box. The only thing I have managed to finish is a quickie headband I whipped up while watching The Biggest Loser last week. I also have 4 Goodwill sweaters i’m in the process of recycling, but tangled yarn has got to be the biggest pain the ass this side of an alien abduction.

4. In other crafty news, I do actually have a few FOs. I’ve made a couple of handbags…one tote in particular that i’m absolutely in love with (big enough to lug around a couple of balls of yarn and whatever I have on the needles, and a ribbon tie so the yarn doesn’t get caught on anything), a plaid puffy sleeve shirt that makes me feel like i’m a girly lumberjack, a PJ set (never again will I sew velour-ish sweatshirt material), a sewing tote and matching needle roll, a couple of quilt blocks, a random quilted bowl, and i’m 95% finished with a Hermione sock monkey…just need to knit her a teeny Gryffindor scarf. I also finished a set of stitch markers, which I haven’t actually used yet.

5. I’ve actually finalised my Christmas knitting list, and have all the yarn I need currently sitting in my shopping cart on KnitPicks just waiting for me to press the order button. I need to get it ordered soon, otherwise no one will hear from me until after the New Year because i’ll have attempted to off myself with a yard of WotA.

6. After not opening my blog in 2 months, I come back and realise just how damn hokey my layout was. I’m not sure what the hell I was smoking when I decided on minty green and hot pink, but it obviously wasn’t prime crack. I’ve now switched over to a much more suitable for me autumny colored layout complete with a 2-minute sketch of a strange little girl knitting. It gives me warm fuzzies.

That about wraps things up for this episode of my not so interesting life. Tune in next time for pictures, hopefully a few more FOs, a half-finished room addition, and tales of men in tights (aka, RenFest).