Monday, January 25, 2010

Must not buy yarn...must not buy yarn...must not buy yarn

I guess I'll be the first to admit that I probably have more than my share of yarn. I never intended the stash to get so out of control but when I see the lovely stuff I just have to have it. When I first started knitting I only bought yarn for projects. Now keep in mind that I would frequently have several waiting projects but still, the yarn had a purpose when it was purchased.

Then I started buying souvenir yarn when I went on vacation and visited LYS. Then it got really bad when I went to Sock camp in 2008 and brought home not only lots of souvenir yarn from the various shops I had stopped at on a pre-camp yarn crawl but also a giant bag of Blue Moon yarn. Then there was camp in 2009 and a smaller (but still significant amount) of yarn came home with me. And let's not even talk about what followed me home from Sock Summit 2009.

Then I have the sock clubs. The BMFA Rockin' Sock Club was the gateway club. Then there was WoolGirl and Yarn Pirate (who thankfully has put the club on hold for awhile), and Sock Yarn Cinema. Those are just to name a few. I think there were others. It's hard to keep track.

But, since I am going to Sock Camp again this year (Week 2 here I come) and in just a few short weeks I'll be headed to Madrona I am feeling like I must STOP buying any yarn for some time. The stash doesn't fit under the bed and in the closet anymore. Although you can still get in the room...I mean, it's not like I'm this woman. But as I looked at those pictures this time (I've seen this blog post several times since becoming a knitter in 2001...it's kind of passed around via email like an urban legend) I started to realize that's the road I'm on. Soon the yarn will overtake the room. Okay, maybe not today or tomorrow but at the rate I'm going (and not knitting it up very quickly) it could happen.

So, for now, no more yarn. (well, except for the sock clubs I'm already signed up for. I mean, it's not like I can cancel them). And, I've taught my little sister how to knit so I'll be the most awesome of awesome-ist big sisters and share my yarn with her.

Must avoid updates from The Sanguine Gryphon and The Loopy Ewe. Perhaps I need to block the websites.

Help me be strong!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Oh weekend where are you?

I see you right around the corner. TGIF! Except that means I've got a ton of stuff to do in the next few days. Before you know it January will be gone.

I went to my Stitch N' Bitch group last night...first time in a long time I was actually able to make it. We had to move locations and are now in the coffee shop area of Borders which is actually better than the coffee shop we were meeting in before. I was planning on working on an afghan square but it seemed to complicated to work on and talk so I worked on the second yoga sock. Here's the first one:
See my little dolphin tattoo peeking out?

I cast these on for the Eclipsing Blue Moon Cast On and actually finished the first one that night (well, it was around 2am when #1 was done). It's pretty quick when they don't have a heel or toe. Maybe I'll start making all my socks this way. The yarn is one that I dyed myself at Sock Camp last year. It was my "uncomfortable colors" and I thought that would be fitting to use for yoga socks since yoga is rather "uncomfortable" for me. I should have plenty left after the socks so maybe I'll do some wrist warmers too. I really like the way the colors look as they are knitted up...such pretty stripes.

I still haven't rounded up the UFOs lurking in the spare room (aka the yarn room). That's on the list for this weekend.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

The cats are not helping


I realized I hadn't been very specific with a lot of my New Year's Resolutions. Saying things like "I will blog more" wasn't very helpful so I have revised it to say "I will blog at least every third day, possibly more but not less".

I also wasn't very specific about what I was going to do with my UFOs. The first step is going to be to seriously count them. I think I have 18 in Ravelry but I know there are more of the little monsters hiding upstairs that never even made it to the Ravelry project page. Once I get a handle on how many I have, I think I'll be able to make a real "resolution". But, in the spirit of things I went to my LYS on Saturday for a UFO breakfast and ended up staying the whole day to work on one of my missing 6 squares for the 20 month Afghan I have been working on since May 2008. And I'm happy to report I finished the December square this morning. Here are the squares so far:

That white thing in the bottom right hand corner is the pattern for some of the squares, not some freakish white square (in case you thought I had lost my mind). The nice thing about this UFO project is I have a real deadline...Feb. 7th. That's the day we are all going to get together to sew it together and make a border. So I have 5 squares left, plus tucking in ends, stitching on the trees, little sweater (which still needs it's stupid little sleeves) and any final blocking.

I really thought during these 4 days off I would get a lot more accomplished but alas, I am far too optimistic. I realize I frequently underestimate how long it will take to do things. Something I think will take an hour ends up taking 4 hours and puts me behind schedule. I've got to get better at that.

But I did manage to buy my plane ticket to Madrona this morning! Excellent price on Southwest so I don't have to worry about paying extra to check my bags! Yipee! Maybe I can start thinking about which projects to pack...hmmmmmm.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy 2010!

I can NOT believe it's 2010? Where is my flying car? Where is my paperless society? Okay, I'll admit we do have some pretty cool stuff now...like cell phones with texting and sending pictures and surfing the web. I just saw an ad last night for a projector cell phone (but it's still not a flying car).

So, New Year's Resolutions...do you have some? I've got a few. One is to blog on a regular basis. I compose all these awesome blog posts in my head but for some reason I never get them typed up and posted. For example, I have neglected to introduce you to our second kitty, Rtu. (it's short for Rahry two since she looks like our previous cat who passed away in May 09). Rtu certainly does her best to live up to her name and is extremely chatty! Here she is perched on hubby's shoulder.


And here she is giving me a kiss.


Speaking of meowing, she is doing that now. I think she wants some breakfast or something. Crazy cat.

In upcoming posts I'll be talking about my UFO problem (and with the help of some friends and the UFOsmackdown on twitter I may get it under control this year). And maybe I'll dust off some of those draft posts and let you know about stuff from years ago.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! I'm hoping for a super great 2010.