So Knitpicks has this contest....

Load up your wishlist, share it, Facebook it and blog it. Seeing as how I got my first pair of interchangeables in a RAFFLE (yeah, babv, yeah!!) I figured what the heck. I'll enter the contest, email my husband my desires, post to Facebook and completely humiliate myself because pretty much no one on there knits, or gives a shit about yarn, but oh well. And now I'm blogging it. If you are reading this (it's the internet...someone reads this stuff right?? ) go enter this contest too because someone has to win! Might as well be you....or me....(Guess who I'm rooting for...yeah...me...sorry!)

Without further ado:

http://www.knitpicks.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=8DE80049-CAEA-D581-7BE565FC22586D90&media=WLBL

Seriously....May?

I completely suck. I mean, MAY? My last post was in MAY??? This is so not good.

So I started my yarn diet on April 1st and it lasted until.....October 17th, when I officially ordered NEW YARN from Knit Picks. Now, that being said, I truly did not have any yarn for the projects I wanted to cast on. I am making the Liesl cardigan for any girl in my life I've known for more than five minutes because it's fun, fast and impressive once finished. I made three for my girls, then started working on four more for a good friends' daughters. So at least the first yarn purchase had a goal.

I won't talk about the recent aquisitions.....yet.

But let's see how long I went. That's April, May, June, July, August, September and 17 days in October so 6.5 months with no new yarn.

I'm impressed. I'm not even sorry that about 75 skeins of yarn will soon be delivered for my Christmas present. That I won't open until Christmas, which in all honesty, as much as I knit, I may even knock out at least half that amount (in existing yarn) before then. Winning!! :)

Effin FO's

So something magical happens when you stop buying yarn and I really didn’t anticipate the giddiness it would invoke. This magical thing is: Finished Objects. Yeah, baby, yeah!! Casting off! Who knew what a thrill it would be bring! Since starting this blog, I have cast OFF a swing top, a lacy cardigan, and a big camo rug and cast ON another lacy cardigan, another swing top, another blanket,and a wool monstrosity that will become a felted rug. And I am actually making PROGRESS! Like as in using up at least one skein of yarn a day. It feels fabulous! Other projects have had there fair share of time put in (even if just to look in the bag and say “yep, you still bore me, maybe another day!!”)

It’s almost June, so I really have no hope of getting every strand knit before the end of the year BUT, I may get down to two bins if I keep trucking (cheating) on the multistrand projects. And I am wondering if vacation yarn counts as yarn or as a souvenir. We’ll see ;)

It Has Been Several Days Since My Last Confession

It’s been a while since my last fix and boy do I feel it. So I’ve been sort of tracking the when and why I feel the need to purchase yarn. When? Always, but particularly when I am experiencing stress and especially so when I finish a project. It’s almost like I feel justified in that I really did knit something out of the stash accumulation so I more than a mere collector; I am a KNITTER! And why? Well, shiz, that’s easy. Because I like yarn! I love yarn and it makes me happy. I shall remain vigilant in this pursuit and I shall reward myself with a gob of yarn when this is all done. Even though I am no where close to my goal, I am already dreaming up where and what I shall purchase as a reward for knocking the stash out.

For now, when I feel the need to feel a new yarn or start a new project, I do what I can. I just go to the stash boxes and pull something out regardless of how many other projects are waiting for their turn in my hands. So far, so good. Since my last posting I have finished a lacy cardigan, a cotton swing top, a magic yarn ball (two balls of yarn actually) AND I’ve spent some time with older projects that bore me to tears if I pay too much attention to them (a hat, and a rug for the boys)

Tonight, I am working on a new blanket (Red Heart Hula, held double with Plymouth Dream Baby DK on 10 inch Turbos, pattern is something I found online that has boxed in squares of stockinette, framed with garter ridges!), one with some actual definition and I am loving the new yarn and the new challenge. But don’t get too excited. I imagine after the first repeat, it’ll go into a project back and move further down the queue until I am ready to play again!

It Burnz Us!

Alright. I am having my first very serious challenge since this whole thing began. I need a yarn I don’t have because I want to make something for my daughter. I *want* a black DK weight to make a dress for our recently decided trip to NYC next May. It would be the absolute perfect thing for a nice dinner out, which we plan to partake in. But, the challenge is no new yarn. I can SWAP, and I can SELL but I cannot buy. Oh dear Lord help. I currently have, in my stash, a beautiful charcoal grey in the right weight, but it was earmarked for a ME project. And I have enough for a ME project, which is significantly more than is needed for a daughter sized project. Oh the agony. I am pondering this and thinking that to remain true to my challenge, I need to either find someone to swap with, or get over my picture perfect version of the dress and just use the grey. And she likes the grey, but I like it too (sniff, sniff, please pass me a tissue) On the bright side, it would give me a chance to see the yarn worked up with less commitment, time wise, than a me sized garment. On the dark side, I wouldn’t be able to make a me sized garment until the challenge was over. I am still on the fence. Let’s see what happens ;)

17 WIPS. Ouch!

For some odd (ha! Odd, get it?) reason I use the number 17 a lot. “Dude, quit jumping on the couch. I’ve already told you like 17 times to quit”…or “It took me 17 hours to check out at Walmart the other day” (which is actually being generous I think…) And so it is with my knitting projects. I am always saying “I have like 17 projects on my needles” and this got me thinking. How many projects do I really have in progress. I decided to be brave and make a detailed list. It will give others reading this blog (as if…) a smug feeling of “At least I am not as crazy as that 17 Knitting Projects Lady.”

So here we go:
1. Swing top for Miss Maam. Waiting on more yarn to finish. Love it. Shades of Summer by Elena Nodel in Fibrenatura Links and Red Heart Tiki yarn.
2. Swing top for Miss Sassy. I just cast it on so I could be all “See, I am making you one too, since the mock up, which was for you, didn’t count. Same pattern. I was also sort of joneing to get this new yarn on the needles. Glad I did. It’s really soft and purty. Using Knit Picks Comfy as the main yarn and Trendsetter Flora as the carry along.
3. Random hat to play with stitches. I always like having a hat on the needles. Why not??  I love my circles. I am doing a basic hat and adding in different stitch patterns for texture as I go along. I am using Rowan Cashsoft 4 ply, doubled. One strand light grey and one strand light blue.
4. Camo rug. This is a stash buster for my boys room. I put four strands of worsted weight acrylic together and am knitting it on size 15 Addi Turbos. I have one stand of Caron One Pound, one stand of some kind of Woolease, one strand of Bernat Soft and Cozy (vintage woo!) and one strand of Caron Simply Soft in black. This sucker is huge and in a bag right now because it made me yawn. Are you yawing now?? Y-A-W-N. Once I feel guilty enough about not getting it done, I’ll pull it out and work on it a bit again!!
5. Garter Yoke Cardi. I got this bulky acrylic in a beautiful color and had to cast on this gorgeous cardigan. But the yarn isn’t very pleasant to knit with. I have enough of it that I will see the project through, but for now, it’s in hibernation.
6. February Lady Sweater. Wellll….I got the done all the way to one sleeve, finished the one sleeve and put it up. Then I forgot if I added stitches under the arm or not, and was all freaked out about trying to figure it out. I just figured it out a couple nights ago, and am now itching to pick it back up! I did it with I Love This Yarn in a pretty blue. I know, it’s acrylic, but it’s a nice color and a good price to practice my very first adult size garment.
7. Speaking of adult garments. My husband’s sweater. Bang head on desk. GRRR. So I am knitting this gorgeous top down sweater. Basic pattern, but gorgeous wool/alpaca yarn (Berroco Ultra Alpaca) that I hand dyed myself to be “Mossy Oak.” I was knitting along and just about to put the sleeves stitches on hold, when the unthinkable happened. My KP interchangeable cord snapped. The whole sweater was in jeopardy. I very quickly and with much stress, threaded all the live stitches onto a length of yarn, cursing Knit Picks the whole time. I was a little bit mad. Just a little (yeah..) Then I noticed I screwed up the increase on one of the sleeves. Noticeably. The increase is a stitch over from where it should be and it looks really wonky. Now I have to wait until I am a. really calm b. not too calm c. have an hour without a child that will crawl on me, so I can go and fix this mistake without ripping back all the rows I so painstakingly knit. Yeah it’s just stockinete, but for a big dude sweater, stockinette IS painstaking.
8. The garish rainbow blanket. Ripple pattern in knit. Easy peasy. Looking at the colors as I knit it. Not so much. This is a labor of love for a little girl who thought the colors looked GREAT together. I pick it up every now and again. Picking it up is a “guilt buster..” Had a bad Mommy day? Great go pick up clown barf blanket and you can remind yourself that this is love. Real love. The Mommy Kind.
9. Camo glow in the dark blanket monstrosity. Another kid blanket. But with Camo and glow in the dark yarn. Weird combo but the boy loves it. Just garter all the way. Whoop-do-doo!!
10. Liesl cardigan. I just cast this one on and am on my third start. Apparently you can’t watch an intense movie and keep your stitch count right. Who knew? No biggie. The yarn is fantastic and I am still loving the pattern. Challenging, but not scary!
11. Tunisian Crochet (is awesome) throw. I am just knitting a big old strip, tying off, doing another one and single crocheting together. Wow. That makes it sound like I can actually crochet. Don’t be fooled. My granny squares look like…..shit. I can’t think of anything witty to say about the disaster all my attempts have been.
12. The Novelty Throw. Oh my gawd. I took these fuzzy, crazy yarns, put four strands together and had a little cartoon knit session with my size 50 needles. Wow. Too funny. I have technically bound this off BUT I am picking up stitches on the edges and doing some detailing with smaller needles. This is free form knitting I guess. It’s fun, I do know that!
13. Another swing top. And this is technically off the needles too, but I still have to weave in the ends and then do a crochet edge to help with the stretchiness. It’s awesome! I used King Tut by Knitting Fever and the carry along was some weird yarn by Target called Funky Fringe.
14. Baby boy cardigan. I love the patterns by Diane Soucy, and so I had to cast one on with a bulky green yarn that arrived a bit ago via Karma Yarn Swap. I knit the collar and got around almost to the sleeves and got a bit bored. It’s in my basket waiting to be fondled again. We’ll see.
15. Crossing over from cross stitch? What to do with all that thread? Knit it. I am doing more free form knitting ala log cabin style. I hold three strands together, in all different colors and just play with the knitting. It’s kind of funky and cool. Not really a project, but it’s “on the needles” so I am counting it nonetheless.
16. Tshirt yarn rug. Yeah, whatever. It’s hard to knit with this shiz and at one point I ended up with this basket looking thing because I guess I wasn’t increasing enough. So then I tried….
17. To replicate the tshirt yarn project, I started crocheting a circle thing to be a cat bad. Figured if I repeated my mistake, I would end up with something with walls. Nope. Just ruffles. Crochet freakin sucks. Or I just suck at it. I prefer to think it’s the art of crochet and not me. I feel better about myself that way

And seriously, those are all I can remember right at the moment. I am pretty sure that is all I have “on the needles..” And. Holy. Crap. Look at the number. Maybe my love of 17 isn’t some random thing. Maybe I subconsciously use this number in every other area of my life because of it’s connection to my love of all things yarny and good. Hmmm…

And we won’t talk about how many yarns are pulled out right now for “Things I Want to Make, (errrr…Start…) soon!

And now, I have like 17 minutes until I have to do something else. Knit? Maybe.

Lead Me Not Into Temptation

Ravelry. One word. Such impact. This one wee little (ha ha ha!!) website was the beginning of my yarn hoard, but that's a story for another day. Today I will talk about the tempation that is Raverly.

The yarn tab. Yeah. Just click it. Pull up any yarn you love or think you might love or don't even give a damn about, and you'll find gobs of that yarn...for sale. You don't even have to go to the destashing group, or the swapping group. Nope. You can pretty much find any yarn you want...for sale. (Get that....for SALE, meaning you can BUY it....) Sigh. Seriously. You might just be looking for some projects for those two cool skeins you forgot you had. You click around. Ohhhhh look what that gal made with FIVE skeins. So you check on the stashes and yup, three more can be had for less than retail. GAH!! How can a girl trying to knit her way out of the mondo stash function in a place like this???

And yet, pretty much on a daily basis, you can find me on Raverly, not only in the ISO/Destash Group, but just looking at things via the "YARRRRNNNNN" tab. So far, I've only wanted to buy once. Well, you know, I could count the yarns that made me go "Oh...do I really want to do this yarn knit down thing..???" but I don't. There was only ONE that I was really upset was sold before I got to it and to be fair to myself, this yarn is actually listed on my profile as my MOST favorite yarn ever and it was super cheap. Just typing that out makes me all weepy. Best yarn ever. Cheapest I've ever seen it for sale. Damn. I am taking a mental note of that little victory for when reward time for this stupid challenge I've put on myself is over.

For now, I'll keep builiding resistance to yarn by looking at it daily and not buying it, but wishing I did...or could....I'm thinking perhaps it's something akin to yarn vaccination. Ha!