More Self-Made Hoops to Jump Through

It seemed very serendipidous that I should receive my new copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac at the very end of October. This little gem reads like a novel or diary at times with monthly patterns thrown in. Very entertaining for knitters and non-knitters alike. Everyone wishes their grandmothers were like Elizabeth.

So of course this means I was reading along on November 1st when I got the idea to work through the projects! Not wanting to wait until January to start (especially since I need to deplete my stash by October next year), I'm bucking convention and starting in November!

I realize it doesn't look like anything now, but Elizabeth promises me that it will shortly become a Moccasin Sock. The interesting thing about this pattern is that it's worked from the leg, down across the instep and then curves around the toes to the sole which is worked from the outside perimeter to the center in a spiral. Very strange, but the benefit is that as the sole, heel, or toe wears out beyond the point of darning, the sole is replaceable! Simply rip back to the offending part and re-knit a new foot! Cool, huh? I just hope I can follow the directions.

And just to sneak in another FO - here's another scarf I whipped up while on the go. All these big sweater and shawl projects aren't travel friendly, so I've resorted to popping gloves and scarves into my purse for portable knitting.

Progress, One Hand at a Time

Here's the latest result from my knitting efforts. I finally got tired complaining about cold hands when knitting outside and started (and finished) my first glove! I simply left the thumb and index finger open so that I can more easily manipulate the needles. I can easily see a habit forming. I'm liking this glove thing. Small, yet detailed; quick, yet meaty.

I've only finished one, however, so we'll see how long it takes to finish its mate. I'm not sure about the yarn choice, but free is my favorite kind of yarn. Plus, there's plenty to make matching gloves for the whole family!

And a final picture of a checkerboard scarf I whipped up last week just to have a small travel project. The yarn is a tad scratchy, so it's only good outside a jacket, but I do like the colors.

3 Down, 123 to go!

Having cleaned up my yarn stash, my task now becomes to actually work through it all! Here's my latest finished projects.

Here's my latest love's labour - a spiral shawl from Meg Swansen's "A Gathering of Lace". Christened the 'Nautilus', this was for a dear friend with a deep love of the ocean and everything in it. The yarn is a lovely dark brown and teal green which always made me think of tidepools. She'll be wearing it at the ocean soon when she's in Mexico for a family wedding.
I changed the edging used in the book to one that seemed to fit the style of the internal spiral better. Everything about this shawl was wonderful and such fun to knit - the pattern, the edging (where I had to add some beads, just because), the yarn.
And no matter how many lace projects I make - whether shawls, scarves, bookmarks, or curtains - I'm still struck dumb with how transformed the objects become when they're blocked. A little bit of water, a tug here and there, a few pins, and lots of time to dry (making sure to keep the cat out of the bedroom), and W. O. W. Amazing.
This little neckwarming gem was whipped up yesterday during our regular Knit Night Out. A quick crocheted loop on one end, a big bulky button, and voila! One more skein down!!
This project jumped into my Works In Progress pile very unwittingly. I had noticed the stitch in a book earlier in the evening, and just wanted to try it out. Of course, once I had a couple inches completed, and confirmed that the stitch was pretty cool, I couldn't very well frog my work (not without a very good reason). Bing, bang, boom, a new scarf.

A new rule I've added to my promise of no new yarn purchases, is that I'd like to have less than 100 types of yarn by the end of the year. At that rate, I should be able to make our Ten Twenty Twenty Ten final deadline. Somehow, adding more hoops to jump through is making this entire insane project more workable.

Forward Progress

These two bags are the first round of sorting out the dross from my yarn stash. Over 100 skeins of yarns out! It took me a couple days to be in the proper mindset, but once I started, it was surprisingly easy. I did, however, have to knot the bags so that I didn't change my mind and sneak some skeins back into the stash.

And here are some of my newly organized stash shelves. I've even entered all of my stash into Ravelry. Down to 126 different yarns! Now I just have to hold myself back from starting 27 new projects.

My mother and I now have a new deadline for our stash disposal. 10/20/2010, as in October 20, 2010, which gives us exactly one year. A tight deadline, perhaps, but I like the memorable date and it would still allow us time to buy new yarn for holiday projects.

No time to think about new yarn just yet though. Must get back to the stuff I've got. A knitter's work is never done.

Smart, Yet Not Intelligent

While cleaning up the garage today, I made a drastic mistake - the memory of which will forever live in my brain. Now that I replay the outtakes in my head, I realize there may have been more than one mistake. The final count is hazy; I think I blacked out. One moment, I was cheerfully moving things from the Wrong Place (where they were dropped in a scurry of simply getting them out of the house) to the Right Place (where they actually lived on a semi-permanent basis).

Then there was a time warp of some sort because the very next moment, I remember coming to with a large crochet hook and the beginnings of a fleece rug (well, the first foot diameter) in my hands. I had to pause to attempt to recall what led me to this moment and only had a vague memory of thinking that if I could just empty some of the stash yarn cubbyholes along the wall, my stash wouldn't seem such a daunting obstacle. I did notice that one cubbyhole only had four balls of yarn in it which made it the top contender for elimination. These balls of yarn were fortunately very bulky fleece fringe (bought for pennies) I had previously tied into a continuous strand; unfortunately, they were also the size of basketballs.

Here's where I simultaneously learned two things: 1) it would not be reasonably feasible for me to clean the garage by actually working up my entire stash, and 2) I had just created another Current Project which was exactly opposite from my goal of finishing the projects I have started BEFORE beginning any new projects!

Stupid, right? Wait. There's more.

After I had sufficiently kicked myself for the fleece incident, I returned to the garage to continue the stash clean up which mostly consisted of cramming the bags of yarn into the cubbyholes in such a way that they did not fall out. Again, there was a fuzzy moment when a large number of bags fell out and my mind immediately started counting them as they landed. Let's skip the grusome details and focus on the final outcome.

I counted my stash. Each and every bag of yarn. I knew I couldn't count the actual skeins (what to do with partial skeins or oversized balls of yarn recycled from sweaters?) and only counting the bags would, I thought, give me a baseline to rate my progress. This would give me the total number of unique yarns I have in my stash. This must, I thought, be a workable number. After all, our house, and therefore our garage, is pretty small. It just can't hold that much stuff!

Well, including the 11 sweaters bought to be frogged in order to recycle the yarn and the 15 jersey knit tshirts and dresses bought to be spiral cut to make a crocheted rag rug, the final count was 240. It took me a while to fully process that number. At times throughout the day, it has seemed perfectly within the range of Normal. Other times, it seems to prove my insanity. At others, I think I must be woefully lacking in the stash department and will be judged accordingly. Maybe my mother and I were a bit hasty in our mutual pledge to forego any new stash purchases until our current stash was depleted.

When I actually did the math, however, it finally sunk in. At the rate of 10 yarns/projects a month (highly unlikely), it would take me two years to work through my stash. Two years - 730 days - 17,520 hours - with No. New. Yarn.

My first reaction was to cast on some new projects - fast, easy scarves or tiny bookmarks or something - to get a jump on the holiday season. Then I had my best thought all afternoon - something even faster and easier. This season, I could just give the gift of yarn!

So . . . how does your stash rate?

The Swan Has Landed

Today's Lesson: "It doesn't matter how long it takes to accomplish something as long as it's completed prior to the deadline."

I seem to have learned this lesson well, because I just finished a project I began over two years ago, yet I still completed it five weeks before the deadline!

The project was Mystery Stole #3 which was later revealed to be themed after Swan Lake. It's an asymetrical stole where the first half appears 'normal' (aka human) and the last half becomes feathered into a swan's wing. There was an option to add beads to the pattern, which I enjoyed so much I added even more than were called for. This picture is from when it was being blocked this morning.

This was my first major lace project and when I cast on, I thought it would be for me. However, once my niece announced her wedding, I knew I was now making it for her. I just hope she has a happier ending than Odette.

Finally, PROGRESS!

After almost, ahem, three years of effort, we have a actual sweater instead of four blocked pieces sitting forlornly in the knitting basket. Of course, this is just two shoulder seams kitchenered and one sleeve set in, but geez, that's something! I only have a couple weeks to go before I'll be handing this over to my sis which may be enough time for me to actually finish seaming it up and possibly dye it. Then again, she may want to do that herself.

This colorful art was sooo much fun to work on I'm almost sorry it's finished. I know I wasn't supposed to start any new projects before I finished all of the ones in progress, but this was for a really good cause and besides, what Mama doesn't know won't hurt her.

And just to prove I could, this project was finished in 19 days. Now I think I know why some knitters work on only one project at a time. It's pretty darn exciting to actually finish projects while you're still jacked up on the newness of them!

Here's the gleeful birthday recipient of my handiwork! She had picked out the colors from my stash and I had a good lesson in asymmetrical design. You'll notice I was even able to overcome my need for even stripes in a predictable color sequence. I'm breaking all the rules now!

And yes, even though I have projects that have been waiting their turn patiently for years, I had the gall to continue to ignore them in favor of finishing my silk lace socks in time for . . .

THE YARN HARLOT!! Of course, I won't mention that I was too skattlebrained to remember to actually bring my knitting to keep me calm OR any of her books for her to sign. I did remember to bring the socks I worked so hard to finish in time, but I didn't remember to actually show them to her.

I did, however, give her this photo of my son and his knitting. He wanted to come himself to show off his handiwork, but I vetoed that.

I do have a couple more projects started (shhh! Don't tell!), but I'm trying really hard to finish them on a first come, first served basis.

Cycles and Socks

This is one of the craziest things I've seen. When thumbing through a knitting magazine at the bookstore recently, I saw this and just had to snap a picture of it. Some genius knitted a pink motorcycle cozy. She (I can only assume it was a she) covered every inch of the bike, including the tires, with knitted wonderment!

Things like this always make me think I'm doing absolutely nothing with my life. I should be out there pushing the envelope, marking new territory like this gal!

Instead, I'm at the park knitting socks for the the Yarn Harlot's visit and the Sock Summit trip of a lifetime.

This is a silk/linen yarn I recycled from a sweater that I'm going to use for the leg and instep. My mom is sending me a wool/nylon yarn to use for the heel and foot for better wear. At first, I used the yarn as it came from the sweater (two-ply) to make the first (rather larger) sock. It still fit fine, but was very heavy and thick - a great boot sock, if we ever had boot-wearing weather here in Texas. So then I balled up the plies separately and knit up the other sock. This turned out much softer, much lacier, and much smaller, as you can see. It still fits perfectly because of the built-in stretch in the lacework.

I'm loving this!

After three years here, I think I've finally reversed the thirty-year habit of playing inside in winter and outside in summer. Here in Texas, you play outside in winter (all three weeks of it) and then hibernate inside the house the other 49 weeks of the year. And since I gave myself the gift of air conditioning this Mother's Day (sorry, Mother Gaia), I'm thinking this is a pretty cool arrangement!

It's In My Blood

Now, I'm a crafter. I don't mind admitting that because I come by it honestly. My sister's a crafter, my mother's a crafter, and her mother was a crafter.

The last couple years, my craft of choice has been knitting. I enjoy the magic of turning loops of string into useful and usually beautiful garments and household items. Crochet is good, too, but since it uses three times as much yarn as knitting does, I'll stick with the knitting. Beading and quilting are also quite entertaining, but "yarning" (as my daughter calls it) is my personal brand of heroin.

For the last couple of months, I've been scheming and planning an extended trip back home to the Pacific Northwest, not so much to see family and friends and avoid the nasty Texas summer weather (though those are all wonderful reasons in themselves), but mostly to attend the Sock Summit to be held in Portland, Oregon in early August.

Now most sane people, including my husband, question the desireability of attending a knitting convention unless you're a blue-haired member of AARP, much less a sock knitting convention, but I am looking forward to this with what is quickly becoming an unhealthy obsession. To be able to walk among my people, conversing fluently in knit-speak with other like-minded individuals, just makes me giggle.

Imagine my shock and surprise, therefore, when I noticed that one of the world's foremost knitting goddesses (with a wicked sense of humor to boot!) is coming to Austin on her latest book tour! The last time around she only got as close as Houston and I was unable to attend. No excuses now! I've already had hubby request the day off so that he can manage the munchkins that night.

The difficult part is that I've made it my intention to finish all current works-in-progress BEFORE I start any new projects. First, I was hoping to get out of this on a technicality, but my mother (the final moral judge in these kind of dilemas) says this includes ALL projects, not just knitting projects of which I've whittled down to two.

I have this custom sweater for my sister almost done. The pieces are blocked and ready to assemble. Since the first sleeve took me a year to finish, the second sleeve took another year to finish, and then the body of the sweater only took me six months to finish (once I figured out that staring at the yarn in my workbasket while reciting "oh yeah, I really need to finish that sweater", wasn't making any noticeable progress), I should have the sweater pieces assembled by the end of the year. Which is fine, really, since her birthday's in January, so it'll look like I had it planned all along.

My other project is a lace stole originally started back before the last Harry Potter book was released. I'm not showing a picture of that yet, since lace notoriously looks awful until it's been properly finished and blocked. This project, however, has a deadline (my niece's upcoming nuptials in October) which means that although I only have 20 rows left (out of about 800), I'll be knitting this on the flight and blocking it in our hotel room the evening before the wedding.

The only things I have standing between me and a raging case of startitis are:

a crocheted tiger with a knitted taekwondo jacket I'm designing

a beaded celtic knot magnet

a beaded basket

a quilted throw for my daughter (dated 2007) made from her great-grandmother's fabric scraps (one of a set of four - the other three were given as gifts in, yep, that's right, 2007)

a queen-size quilt for my mother-in-law for which my mother made about 24 quilt blocks a couple years ago for me to assemble (Sure would be nice to hand this off when we see her at the wedding in October)

a rag rug I plan to knit for my son's room as soon as I finish spiral cutting about twenty lumberjack-sized t-shirts I've saved for this project for, you've guessed it, a couple years

eleven sweaters to unravel for their luxury yarn

I realize that most people, when they see a pile of yarn like this, don't think "Gee, you need more yarn, don'tcha?"

But I'd like to think of myself as frugal (in the best sense of the word) and I don't mind one iota (or even two) taking the time to unravel an XXL cashmere sweater which I purchase for $1.25 when the same yarn would cost more than $100 in a yarn store. My family has one response to this kind of situation: "Duh!"

These yarn piles resulted recently from my attempt to re-sort my stash which quickly became a trip down memory lane when I was reacquainted with all those projects I was just about to start.

Once the above list of projects is done (I'm estimating around 2011), I'll be able to shop my stash like a yarn store since everything will be new to me! But that doesn't resolve my current dilema of:

What do I bring to show the Yarn Harlot? And what socks do I make to wear at the Sock Hop during the Summit?!

Well-Rounded Lunacy

Lest you think we live a strictly earthy existence 24/7 outside amongst the chickens, water barrels, and garden beds, I wanted to offer a peek inside our life and the wide range of activities in which we engage.

Here are the results of some downtime I had to create handles for the kids' new water bottles. Of course, my youngest wears his almost constantly, which is fine except when his taekwondo instructor objects.

This picture was taken at our Science Co-op when the kids were learning how to un-mix mixtures. That'll make you think!

My daughter's turned out great with the spiral stripes. She now calls it her watermelon bottle. Now I want to make her a hat to match, but that would break the rules. This year I'm attempting to finish ALL of my on-going, in-progress, started-with-no-end-in-sight projects BEFORE I start any new ones. I was down to two knitting, four quilting, and two beading projects when these two mini crochet projects just showed up out of nowhere. They're not my fault, really.

See how flexible I can be? This is the recent result of our daughter's hair highlighting session. We try to tread lightly on the earth, but it seems to get more difficult the older the kids become. Unfortunately, trying to talk a pre-teen (she wanted me to tell you she was 12, but she's really only 11 and 354/365ths years old) out of something that helps pollute the earth when all her friends are doing it is difficult indeed. And since we recycle our greywater (well, most of it) we had the hardest time admitting there was no useful way we could reuse her rinse water. Nasty stuff.

She had to earn school credits to pay for it, which wasn't difficult with such an incentive as this. These credits have been established because they're an easy way to trade schoolwork for "funwork" which usually translates into time on the computer, phone and/or watching television (realizing we don't have cable or even local channels - only VHS tapes and DVDs, mostly from the library). In this instance, she chose haircolor in, luckily for me, a very "natural" color which even Daddy can live with.

And here's one of the coolest things we've seen in a long time. We were the lucky guests of a friend as she celebrated her birthday at the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions show. What a special day. Very nice.