To Buy or Not to Buy . . .

I generally avoid temptation unless I can avoid it.

-Mae West

Yes, I did disappear to be completely engulfed in the Internal Medicine wards for 2 weeks. Why do you ask? The good news is legion, however.

1. I am done being the duty ward resident. Done. Wow!
2. No more tire blow-outs.
3. Flowers are blooming everywhere.
4. I am immune to typhoid. Again. It never fails that every time I open my medical record, I am somehow due for one more vaccine. Love those shots!

Also in the good news category filed under "knitting" is a great deal of progress on several sweaters, and some upcoming sleeve surgery on my almost-done Fair Isle Yoke Sweater. Photos to follow, now that my busy Radiology schedule will allow me to take some daytime shots.

So, now I'm torn. Deeply torn. Wrestling with my inner angels and devils as well as any number of other miscellaneous demons. You all know that I have a bit of yarn at home. As of April 1, we're at approximately 504 skeins comprising 87,500+ yards of yarn. This is a significant reduction from prior, and the goal is still to get the stash a bit smaller, say to the 60,000 yd range.

But (there's always a but . . .) it's the Webs tent sale. On sale at very very good prices are Cascade 220, Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton as I recently used to very good effect in the cotton anniversary sweater, and Berocco Peruvia.

Let's ponder.

On the one hand . . . I have a queue full of projects for which I already have the yarn.
On the other hand . . . That same queue has many projects requiring yarns I do not have, that are on sale.
On the one hand . . . I'd like the stash to fit into a smaller space.
On the other hand . . . Yarn is squishy.
On the one hand . . . I could knit for a year without spending any more money.
On the other hand . . . I can get these yarns at close to 1/2 price, and I'll use them eventually.
On the one hand . . . These are great yarns.
On the other hand . . . Yup, definitely great yarns at a great price.
On the one hand . . . They'll probably go on sale again at some point.
On the other hand . . . That's never when I feel the urge to start the project.
On the one hand . . . I really do need a grey sweater. Cassidy, maybe? And the husband is thinking he wants a burgundy sweater, or maybe charcoal gray, and one in cotton, and one in wool . . . gosh he's demanding!
On the other hand . . . I've forgotten which hand is which . . .

All Those Smiles

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.
-Thich Nhat Hahn

It feels like I'm blogging more than I am. What happens is that every other time I go to work, I stay overnight for 30 hours. So what is really two days, feels like one. I finally had a somewhat-less-than-completely-crazy call night last night, which means that this afternoon post-call I was able to do useful things. Like go to the gym, read a delightfully trashy novel, and wind yarn.

I really do have a big NaKniSweMoDo post half-written to fill you in on all the sweaters I'm making. So many that I ran out of baskets to hold my Works-In-Progress and discovered that one of my many, many tote bags is actually perfect, and even color-coordinated.

But as I ramble, I know you all want to know who got lucky and won the yarn. Since my Peace Fleece good fortune was random, I went to the random number generator at random.org. Good fortune knows no boundaries.

The winner of the Briggs and Little was Cheryl:

Cheryl said...

Something that made me smile and laugh was the Valentine's card that I got from someone who I work with.It's the little day to day kindnesses and shared experiences along the way that mean the most to building friendships. And laughter, which I did when I first read the envelope.It did not have my name on it, it said, PUT THE KNITTING NEEDLES DOWN!!!!! Now, this is a friendship I hope will last a long time. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL.

And the winner of the Peace Fleece is KC.

KC said...

African violets made me smile.
My boyfriend loves African violets so I got him one last year for Valentines Day. Over the summer I rooted several cuttings so we now have them all over the house. This year for Valentines Day he took me to a garden center and we got three more so we can fill our house with color and little symbols of love. I smile every time I see one.

Aren't they lovely stories? Thanks to everyone for sharing their happy thoughts last week.

The winners should email me at knittingunderway AT gmail DOT com so we can work out minor details like mailing addresses, and Peace Fleece selections.

Smile, and Pass It On

If you only have one smile in you, give it to the people you love.

Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street

and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.
-Maya Angelou

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my new sweater. I keep meaning to post in more detail about my grand plans for NaKniSweMoDo, with sweaters #2 and possibly #3 nearing completion, and #4 just started (and having bought yarn for #5 and #6, of course), but I'm spending all my days and 1/3 of my nights in the ICU. Which can be surprisingly good for sweater knitting as I wait and watch. But I digress. I'm loving my new sweater, and the fact that this week it's been a delightfully cool 50s and rainy.

I mentioned in my last post that I thought making two sweaters in the same brilliant peacock blue (as gorgeous as it is) at the same time was overkill. So I cast about for a new yarn for Acer, and settled on Peace Fleece. It's the original, called-for yarn. It's reportedly soft and wooly. And I like the company - no one loves peace more than those of us in the military.

It came quickly, within a week or so. And it was as perfectly, delightfully, soft and wooly as I had hoped. I went with pink, for variety.

Inside was a delightful surprise:

You probably can't read that, but apparently my order was selected during their Tuesday staff meeting as the "Smile" order - it was sent free of charge. I say again, free. No charge for the yarn. No charge for shipping. Completely free.

I was amazed. Astounded. Tickled pink, if you excuse the pun.

So tickled pink, in fact, that I feel compelled to pass on this smile. . . . and, er, try to do some stash compensating at the same time. Ironically, a company like Peace Fleece that I feel good about patronizing, sent me my money back. So, let's try to send them more, shall we?

Comment on this post, and tell us something that made you smile today. The random-number generator and I will send you the sweater-quantity of Peace Fleece in the color of your choice. That way I can support a company I like, and not add to the stash.

In order to even out the stash a bit, and to add to the fun, here are five skeins - karmically, the same number as my Peace Fleece - of Briggs and Little 4-ply in a gorgeous charcoal gray that I bought on the way to PEI on a memorable yarn-shopping vacation a few years ago. The stash is getting upset that this lovely yarn sits unused in San Diego, so I will happily send it to yours full of the good memories of times when I lived in places where wooliness was so desirable.

Contest closes at midnight PDT on Sunday February 15, 2009. If your stash is as crushingly-huge as mine and you want no more yarn, feel free to mention that in your comment, but tell us something happy anyway.

One Down

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love;
the running across fields into your lover's arms
can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.
-Jonathan Carroll

Since my regular photographer is off serving our country, making the world safe for democracy, and getting himself rather beat up for the sake of wearing a different color belt (boys will be boys), I had to take my own finished object photos. (Do note the quotation above; taking my own photos here is akin to tripping.)

I tried . . . In spite of my bad hair day . . . Outdoors, indoors . . . Left, right, center . . . And then I called it good enough for a photo montage.Hopefully you can get a vague idea of just how great this sweater is.

Cable Down Raglan
Pattern: Stephanie Japel from Interweave Knits, best of, among others
Yarn: mystery wool bought off eBay circa 2001 - I believe this might be my oldest stash yarn!
Needles: US 7
Notes: Great pattern, fun to knit top down. No mods - just kept trying it on!
Best Thing About This Project: It's a toss-up between finally putting this albatross of the stash has been put to good use, and finally buying a scale to measure my yarn.

In fact, I was so happy with this, my first finished sweater of NaKniSweMoDo, that I immediately cast about on the interwebs for my next projects. I fell in love with Acer after seeing Margene's version and Sarah's version on the same day. So I bought some Beaverslide. Always wanted to try that. Then I saw that Fiddlesticks Knitting (some of my favorite Canadians) was having a special offer to celebrate the Blooming Cardigan on the cover of IK. Of course I had to celebrate with them. But then they arrived, and I immediately saw the problem: Am I predictable, or what? These colors are just a little too close. So I bought some Peace Fleece. And that's a story for another day . . . Stay tuned for a big give-away this week!

It's About Time

If you're walking down the right path
and you're willing to keep walking,
eventually you'll make progress.
-Barack Obama

I started 2009 in a flurry of good intentions, cast-on projects, and grand proclamations to knit, knit, knit. Twelve sweaters. 100 balls of yarn. Massive stash reduction.

So it's about time that I finished my first project of the month:
This is probably the worst possible photo of a gorgeous pair of socks - the Artichoke Socks in a gorgeous semi-solid Koigu. Stunning. And the first two balls of yarn knit in 2009. . . only 98 to go!

I find myself in the midst of a great many large projects, including a husband sweater in cotton. The Cable Down Raglan is rapidly nearing completion. Which will be the first sweater of NaKniSweMoDo, but only a single ball of yarn. So it goes . . .
In other promising news, my bread-baking life has been revolutionized thanks to a Christmas gift of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
Try it - it's amazing! And for all it's speediness, it's probably not the reason my productivity has been down, right?

Indecision

The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice.
- Abbe D'Allaniva

I had big plans to make 2009 a year of knitting by whim - whatever, whenever, just meandering my way through the stash. You know, rather than imposing rules on myself. Knitting is a hobby, after all. But it's not going as well as I would have hoped. I did finish one of the Artichoke Socks, and I'm happy to report that it went quite well. But when does Koigu go wrong? And then I spent almost all of a day off trying to decide what to knit next. I pulled out all sorts of yarn, and made the sort of crafty mess that one can when one's husband is away. I contemplated this Lopi. Two shades of pink, bought for a steal a number of years ago. Felted clogs? Or should I buy 12 more skeins of yarn to make Veronik Avery's Ski Jacket? If I were just trying to reduce the stash, and if I paid close attention to the state of my three-year-old felted clogs, the choice would be clear. But my lack of direction is enormously distressing to me. I need . . . something.

NaKniSweMoDo? It's seriously calling my name, although I might consider that my Dale baby sweater (2 yr old size) has more stitches than many adult sweaters and might count. I'm still pondering . . .

In the meantime, to help me ponder, I dug deep in the stash and pulled out a random worsted weight wool that I bought on Ebay back when I was in college and didn't know any better. It's a nice lavender color, and I think there's about one pound? But I really can't remember much. So, perhaps 1000 yards? If it is that, it should be enough for the Cable-Down Raglan. Just in case, I cast on. Although I'm not usually a fan of the top-down one-piece raglan, in this case it's working. My gauge is a little looser than the pattern, but knitting a size down it fits well at the sleeve division. And now I'm going to go knit as fast as I can to see if I run out of yarn. I'm not the only one who does this, am I?

A Whole New Year

I drink to the days that are.
-William Morris

I did it! Here's The State of the Stash:

December 31, 2008
Skeins: 499.75
Yards: 86,124

If we recall, my goal was to get under 500 skeins, and under 100,000 yards. I squeaked by, barely. But I also bought quite a bit of yarn this year, including the many skeins for two adult and one baby Dale sweater, and, uh other various yarns. Including these:Enter A Time Warp Phenomenon. Because if that was my stash at 23:59:59 on December 31, 2008, how is this my stash on January 1, 2009 at 24:00:01?

January 1, 2009
Skeins: 515.75
Yards: 92,269

That mass of lovely sock yarn I bought on a great Ravelry destash sale. 17 skeins of lovely yarn for about $100. You would have, too. So I used a little creative accounting and a stuck it in the stash on a time warp phenomenon.

So now that we've faced up to it all . . . where are we going this year?

• Knit 100 skeins
• Reduce the stash by 1/3 (30,756 yds)
  

The 100 skeins are easy. I knit much more than that this past year. And I did reduce my stash - barely. Because I kept buying more yarn, although mostly for specific projects. The Dales need what they need.

The 30,000+ yds? A little more difficult. Because this is net negative 30,000 yds in spite of any purchases for, you know, Dale sweaters. But I don't have to knit down all of this, because destashing will count. This will get me much closer to my imagined, presumed, sort of what I think is my "happy stash place." I'm guessing I'd like to have about 50,000 yds on hand. I want the ability to start pretty much any project I want at 2am, but the ability also to go and buy yarn for any reason at any time.

How does that sound? Would it sound even better if I told you that I already ordered the stockings from Judy's Colors? The Christmas spirit and all.

My So-Called Something

Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.
-Stephen Wright

And I was doing so well. With blogging. With stash reduction. And then I saw this post on Ravelry offering a phenomenal deal on sock yarn. Let's consider that my Christmas present to myself, shall we?

Believe it or not, I was actually (sort of kind of maybe in another universe) running low on sock yarn. Or at least it seemed that way since I copied Rebecca and bagged up all my yarn for Personal Sock Club 2009. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, blogging. I kept telling myself I had so much to blog about and then that seemed daunting, so I put it off. So we'll just pop in for fun here.

This was the project of the month from November. Or was it October? I finished it just in time for the 3 year anniversary of buying the yarn just for this project. I bought it at Churchhouse Yarns on Bainbridge Island on a delightfully chilly and blustery and rainy day in the Pacific Northwest when I was visiting the incomparable Kate D. Ah, memories.

My So-Called Scarf
Pattern: free, online
Yarn: Manos del Uraguay
Needles: US 9
Notes: No changes. Great pattern.
Best Thing About This Project: The memories, of course. And how it matches my winter coat. That I'll get to wear in Pennsylvania next week.

Is it just me or have scarves gotten fun lately? I've spent most of today captivated by a Noro Striped Scarf (but in Paton's Soy Wool Stripes), and I just started Besotted for my handknit-appreciating husband. He is always telling me to buy more yarn, after all. Right, honey? Right? Right? Hello? Are you there? You like me to buy yarn, right?

Planning Ahead

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.
-Benjamin Disraeli

It's the last day of NaBloPoMo, and I think we can safely say it's been a success. I've posted every day even if I did sort of forget my third blogiversary. Regardless, it's been fun to get back into the rhythm. And to start thinking ahead to what I want my knitting to do and be in 2009.

So fun, that I almost got sucked into the idea of NaKniSweMoDo. Almost. The idea of knitting 12 sweaters in as many months appeals to me. It's complicated, and my husband assures me that the more complicated something is, the more I like it.

But then I stopped and pondered. And realized that I have like two or three more Dales I want to make, including the adorable baby Dale I'm starting today.

So then I made my plans: I'm going to knit whatever I want in 2009, whenever I want to. So there. And in celebration, I'm about to have a little cast on party. Right now.

I'm also going to be reducing the stash quite a bit. Right now I'm at 501 skeins and 96,417 yards, with 26 balls of Mission Falls 1824 cotton in the mail (another 2,200+ yards). Assuming I buy no new yarn in 2008, that'll keep me well under my goal of <100,000 yards on December 31st. The goal of <500 skeins will be a little closer, but I think it's do-able based on the projects on the needles and in the wings for December.

Of the remaining stash, more than 20,000 yards is laceweight. Will have to ponder that. But this past year of attempting (and pretty much succeeding) to reduce the stash has made me decide that my ideal stash size is probably around 50,000 yards. Enough to cast on whatever I want whenever I want, but also to buy tweedy yarn for the new IK whenever I want. That would be about 50% less than I currently have, which would be a little extreme for a single year of stash reduction. So I'm thinking that my goal for Dec 31st 2009 will be to have reduced the stash by 1/3 compared to Dec 31st 2008.

Oh, and because I still can't resist a joint complicated goal, I'll be doing the Knit 100 Balls of Yarn in 2009 with the Ravelry Stash Knit Down 2009 group!

OK, off to cast on . . .

At A Loss

Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Oh, this would be so much easier if I wasn't color-blind!
-Donkey in Shrek

There are no stranded colorwork projects on my needles right now. I don't know how to handle it. I'm beginning to think that this is really my favorite kind of knitting, although as soon as I say that I feel the urge to knit some cables. Regardless, I do think that stranded knitting is an important part of my balanced knitting diet.

So, what to knit next (in the colorwork way)? For the moment, I'm limiting myself to projects I can make from my stash.

• Bondegard (Rav link)
  
• Three Tams (Knitty pattern here), to match the mittens here
• Northern Lights mittens (Rav link)
• any other hats or mittens from my Ravelry queue for the knitters out there
• any special requests from my non-knitting friends and family out there
  

Or should I just hold out until December 1st, when I'll be starting my Snowflake Socks (IK link) in a burgundy and cream?

Today I'll be holding off on casting on as I join JayJay for other crafty pursuits (like sewing! and playing with the baby!). Keep your fingers crossed for sewing in a straight line!

Something From Nothing

I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.

-Oscar Wilde

I talk about my stash occasionally on this blog (note to self: take some pictures). Today, let's talk about the non-stash. I know we all have one. I'm talking about the partial balls of yarn that even the most OCD of us don't list on our stash spreadsheets. In my case, I separate out the sock leftovers from the regular ones. And while the sock leftovers are quickly overflowing their basket, the regular leftovers fill an entire wicker laundry basket by themselves. Sure, they don't count in my yardage, but they sure do take up space.

Steathily, in the last few months, I took some promising skeins and matched them with some promising projects in my Ravelry queue. And there you have it - something from nothing.

Halley's Comet Hat
Pattern: by Marnie McLean, free online
Yarn: Cotton-Ease in red (not quite as orange as it appears on the screen), about 1/2 skein
Needles: US8
Notes: Speedy pattern. Looks a lot better on.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

Huckleberry Ascot
Pattern: from Interweave Knits, Holiday 2007
Yarn: (I think . . .) Lionbrand Wool-ease Sportweight in blue, about 1/2 skein
Needles: US 6
Notes: Great fun pattern, very clear, and intuitive once you get into it.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

And, last but not least (and please ignore the photo issues - I just learned that you can edit photos in iPhoto and while it made the colors much more true, I can't fix what I did with the border. . .), a kerchief.

Apres-Ski Kerchief
Pattern: from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Knit Picks Decadence (now discontinued, which is too bad, because it was a great yarn for quick Christmas gifts!)
Needles: US 9
Notes: Technically the reverse stockinette stitch is the right side, but it actually looks good both ways.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

Something from nothing doesn't just apply to knitting. Last week I stocked my freezer with homemade chicken stock.
The bones from a full chicken, and peelings from all my veggies that had been hanging out in the freezer waiting for this day. Gosh I feel industrious!

Hat Trick

Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third.
-Marge Piercy

Guess what I've been doing today? Wrapping Christmas presents! Before you think I'm crazy early, let me remind you that I have a December 1st mailing deadline to get to a certain someone in Iraq. And I like to be early. And don't you think he needs an Advent package, too? That should go out next week, most likely.

And once I got started . . . So let's look at a few of the presents for folks who don't really read the blog.
Tell me, since I seem not to be able to judge, are these suitable for men, or are they very feminine?

Welt Cap x2
Pattern: Welt Cap from the Green Mountain Spinnery Pattern Book
Yarn: Mountain Mohair remnants from their remnant bin, and leftover from earlier projects
Needles: US7 circs
Notes: I'm totally in love with this hat pattern. Easy. Way more entertaining than it should be. And great for leftovers.
Best Thing About This Project: Busting the stash.


Odessa
Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
Yarn: KnitPicks Ambrosia, sadly discontinued, a DK-weight blend of lovely softness
Needles: US5
Notes: I decided to try bead knitting for the first time, and it was fun! Great pattern.
Best Thing About This Project: The perfect use for this yarn!

More stash-busting projects coming this week!

Hi-Ho November!

Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.
-Swedish Proverb

Gosh I'm happy it's November! Let's think about the good things:

1. No one died last night at work. Yeah, that's always a good thing.
2. It was my last call for a while. I get to sleep at home every night for the next 24 days.
3. Except when I'm going to Santa Fe next week to experience the following - cold weather, sweaters, hats, mittens even?, visiting my parents, and some very good friends.
4. Rachel had her twins - how cute!
5. I'm halfway done my Christmas shopping.
6. Now if only I was halfway done my Christmas knitting . . .
7. It's NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. Get ready!

And, to start November off right, here's the very last knitting of October:I finished these socks at 11:30pm last night while waiting for a patient to get transferred up from the ER. I was unable, however, to kitchener the 16 sts and weave in 2 ends. So, it's either the last knit of October or the first of November.

What's the difference? The stash. The stash has recently suffered some major setbacks in that it is bigger than before. The 350 yards of Koigu in those socks take the revised stash total from 100,039 yards to a much nicer 99,689 yards. Remember how good it felt to get under 100,000 yards? I'm hoping to stay there.

So, executive decision made - since, through no fault of my own, the weaving in waited until today - these will be the last knit of November.

And so we start with 99,909 yards of yarn in 510.25 balls. Not counting partial oddballs. . . And about to order the yarn for the manly sweater. That executive decision will be coming tomorrow.

Falling Off the Wagon

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs;
it's jolted by every pebble in the road.
-Henry Ward Beecher

. . . The stash wagon, that is.
And so it begins. (Yup, there's more on the way.) The problem with developing a passion for colorwork is that it requires so many colors. Might seem obvious, but I just ordered the yarn for the Bondegard pullover, a baby sweater that requires 15 colors of Dale Baby Ull. Yes, that's right - One-five. And it requires 2 balls of a few of those. So you know that most of them only need about 30 yards of that color, but it's absolutely integral to the design.

Why did I order them now, you might ask? There were a lot of changes to the baby ull color line in the last year, and some of the colors were discontinued. I snapped them up while I could.

And that's not all . . . a sweater's worth of yarn for my husband's second anniversary sweater is coming. Let's just say I qualified for the Webs 25% discount . . .

The stash is there for knitting, right?

Sunday Best

Sir, Sunday morning, although occurring at regular and well forseen intervals, always seems to take this railway by surprise.
-William S. Gilbert

This post will consist of two parts. The first will be random observations about having my husband deployed. The second will consist of lots of knitting.

Observations about having my husband deployed

1. Random strangers can be very nice about helping you lift bookcases into the back of your car.
2. Why is it that I suddenly felt the compelling desire to go buy bookcases immediately after my husband left?
   
3. I've had them for 3 days and still not put them together.
4. The fraud prevention people from the credit card were going crazy.
5. If you or your spouse deploys, you might want to call them and let them know. Otherwise they will call hourly for 2 days straight.
6. Good to know that someone's paying attention.
7. A heated mattress pad was the best idea ever.
   
8. I don't eat half of what we when he's home; it's more like 1/3.
9. Guess I don't have to go grocery shopping again for a couple of weeks.
10. It's rather astounding how many cheesy romantic comedies and NCIS episodes the DVR can hold . . .
11. And, you can even send flowers from Iraq. Lucky me :)
    

Works-in-Progress (wahoo conference knitting!)

I took a big black bag with me to the conference, and alternated projects, roughly by lecture. Over 2 1/2 days, I knit

11 inches of sleeve for Park Citythe entire center part of the Swallowtail shawl (which is 1/2 the total, according to the handy-dandy shawl calculator here, which tells me that the border will be in a complementary color)
all but the toe of my second Socktoberfest pair of socks, Old Navy (yup, seemed appropriate)
And that's just what I took with me . . .

Building Barns

It will not always be summer; build barns.

-Hesiod

Sometimes, the amount of yarn I have is terrifying. Sometimes, it's delightful. Lately I've been doing a bit of stash-diving, including knitting great projects with odd balls so odd (and small and partial) they weren't even on the stash spreadsheet. (They were, however, taking up space.) Before we get into all those "somethings for nothing," here are two adorable sweaters from sometime back in the summer.
Stripey Baby Sweaters
Pattern: Super-Natural Stripes by fPea (available free here)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, conveniently found in the stash in complementary colors
Needles: US 6
Notes: Easy, fun, and super cute.
Best Thing About This Project: It'd be hard to separate these sweaters. Any twin boys out there?

This was a great project. So great, I almost contemplated making more (yup, I still have some Cotton Fleece out there), but two just about held my interest.

Dishcloths Galore

There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe;

when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets.

-Robert Ingersall

The Second Annual Dish Rag Tag is about to begin. Remember last year? The pain, the heartbreak, the troubles with the US Postal Service? Well, it's a whole new year. And I am ready.
Never fear, these aren't early entries for the Dish Rag Tag, these are just my two new favorite patterns, both free patterns from Abigail. Aren't they lovely in the varigated yarn?

There's no such thing as working ahead in this Dish Rag Tag - that would be cheating - but I have been refreshing my dish rag knitting skills. Last year I won the enviable title of Dish Rag Queen for admitting that I had some 30+ dishrags in their bin under the sink. As a prize, I got the world's most enormous ball of dishcloth cotton. Well, way back in June when my posting was sparse and my working was the stressful and time consuming Night Float, I took that ball to work, set it next to my computer, and knit the occasional row between phone calls, notes, and waiting for lab results.

So, just how many dish rags can you knit with a pound of dishcloth cotton?

Eight. Plus two Mason-Dixon baby bibs not pictured here, for variety in all that garter stitching.

Then, I turned my eyes to the rest of my cotton stash, and, feeling all Mason-Dixon-y, I made a log cabin out Mission Falls 1824 cotton scraps (last seen here as Christmas gifts).
I love using every last bit of leftovers, don't you? So I took the leftovers from the contrast color on my basketweave dishcloths, and made the cutest wash cloth ever.

Jen's already gotten this is the mail - hopefully it'll be a nice compliment to all that pink she's been knitting!

There were more, but perhaps we'll keep them a surprise until later in the exciting August dish rag races?

Seasonally Inappropriate

The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was

is so that we can tell them about our own weekend.

-Chuck Palahniuk

It may be wildly out of season, even for San Diego with its chilly nights, but better late than never. I finished my Bed and Breakfast pullover quite a few months ago, and even got a few chances to wear it before it got warmer.

What can I say? I love this sweater. This is everything I've ever wanted in cabled pullover. Thanks to the Year of Projects, I have it.

Bed and Breakfast Pullover
Pattern: IK Winter 2003
Yarn: Cascade 220 in French Blue and a dark brown for the contrast
Needles: US 7 Brittany Birch straights - the most delightful combination of yarn and needles!
Notes: I do think there was a slight error in the chart and that the cables should start closed and then open on the bottom (makes sense if you see the chart), but I didn't realize that until too late. It's not a crisis. Overall, a very fun, well-written, wearable pattern.
Best Thing About This Project: This is basically my dream sweater. Expect to see modeled shots pop up as the nights cool off and it comes out to play.

This project was one of many helping me knock down the stash. I'll update the sidebars soon, but as of August 1st I'm down to about 480-some balls of yarn and 103,000-some yards of yarn. Getting under 100,000 is rapidly approaching!

Independence

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending
too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-Thomas Jefferson

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first
come to pass in the heart of America.
-Dwight David Eisenhower

In the spirit of Independence Day, I'll share some photos (distant flag included) of a lovely beach spot across the country on my favorite Jersey shore.

My folks and many friends are there this weekend. In fact, this time last year we were there getting married on that very beach. I (almost) wish I could join them. Almost, because tomorrow my lovely husband and I are off for our honeymoon/first anniversary/vacation to a beach far off in the pacific. A little place called Hawaii.

I have my knitting for the plane, my beach reading, and a hat to keep my hair contained in the convertible. We'll see how much knitting gets done, but that's not quite the point.

Plus, I've been making great progress on my stash reduction - check out the sidebar!

See you in a week!

Weekend Roundup

Love is like a virus. It can happen to anyone at anytime.

-Maya Angelou

It's probably no coincidence that as soon as I started working nights (you try sleeping in San Diego in the middle of the day!), I got knocked down by a nasty summer cold. The kind of cold that fogs your brain and makes you think it's a good idea to stare at the wall and do nothing. In other words, the kind that makes me feel very much not like me. This means that sewing up last month's cardigan, starting my Nantucket Jacket, and really anything else that takes brain power is off limits. Good thing that June is Kitchen Accessories Month at A Loose Knit Group! I just happen to have an enormous ball of Sugar and Cream gifted to me some time ago, and a few of Abigail's dishcloth patterns in hand.

Two down, working on the third. Just how many do you think I can get from this huge ball?

On a related note, apparently the dishcloth bug is out there. Check out my sister-in-law's first cables - nice, huh? It looks like we'll be meeting up in Phoenix in a couple weeks, so I think we'll limit the knitting to cotton. Phoenix in June is hardly wool sweater weather.

There has been just a little bit of other knitting. Flitgirl and Toasty Joe came to town and cheered me up in the middle of that cold-of-which-we-shall-not-speak. If you've ever read Toasty's blog, you won't be surprised to hear that we went to the Padres-Mets game. A perfect opportunity for some knitting. My yarn of the month for June is some Morehouse Merino laceweight that a friend gave me quite some time ago - I think early in med school, but it mmight even have been college. Regardless, it's stash-marinated long enough and now it's happy to become the Lace Ribbons Scarf from the Spring (or was it Summer?) Knitty.

Now, if only my voice would come back . . .