Today Was A Good Day

And I didn't even have to use my A.K.*

Seriously.

• I had dinner in the crock pot by 9:30 AM.
• I cleaned out my spice shelf.
• I made plans with a friend to clean out my Hoarding Room over Spring Break. My old PhD office will now officially become a yarn and reading room.
• The weather is beautiful!

I finally finished my Ishbel, in some Sundara that Michelle gave me a long time ago. After several failed attempts to make this years ago, the shawl almost flew off the needles this time. Yvonne blocked it severely, and I think she made it look terrific.

* With apologies to Ice Cube and Jimmy Fallon.

Spring Cleaning

I posted a little about this on the store blog, but I am taking April to finish projects. As of today, I have eleven WIPs in my Ravelry projects and um, a lot of projects in hibernation.  My two main goals are to finish the Tappan Zee Cardigan I started the other day from the new Knitty in time to wear to Maryland Sheep and Wool and to finish the Baby Moderne blanket I started over a year ago. How many projects can I finish before MDSW?

Thanksgiving Plan of Action

Today:

1. Clean up yarn
2. Make Pioneer Woman Butternut Squash
3. Make cranberry sauce
4. Clean up yarn
5. Go to work at yarn store where there is always the danger of buying more yarn

Tomorrow:

1. Clean up the rest of the yarn
2. Make Barefoot Contessa sausage stuffing
3. Clean up for cleaning ladies (wtf, I know)
4. Panic

What's your plan of action? If you don't have a craft room, what do you do with your yarn if you're having a lot of company?

Say Cheese!

I have three somewhat substantial blog subjects floating around in my head, but for now, I'll condense them into three brief talking points. (Have I been watching too much cable news this election season? I just used talking points in a sentence.)

1. I finished the Big Boy version of the Super Natural Stripes sweater for The Toddler. He learned from Elmo's World that the thing to do when you see a camera is to say "CHEESE," so that's the only pose I can get him in these days. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic and Dyed Cotton.


2. Here we go again with the MDK Crack. I am still very, very, very bitter that the moths got, of all things, my huge stash of dishcloth cotton, but I managed to salvage some of it. I'm feeling my loss in a big way, though, now that the new Mason-Dixon Knitting book is out, but I was able to come up with this. Miters and dishcloth cotton all in the same project! Woohoo!


3. I Tim Gunned my knitting basket. Did a lot of ripping and frogging. Looks like I'll be reknitting a lot of my sweater projects in a smaller size.

I can haz Ravelry bag?

It's official. I am a knitting bag whore. I've been waiting for months to be at the right place at the right time to score a Ravelry Knitting bag (to the point where Lisabee and I were stalking Very Important Founders of Ravelry last May at Md Sheep and Wool to find out how to get them) and mine finally arrived this morning.

This makes

• one prized Jordana Paige bag
• one floral bag purchased at Handmade Arcade last year
• one huge Md Sheep and Wool bag
• one bag from the old Pittsburgh Knit and Bead
• one sock monkey bag from the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special Club
  
• one plain old tote from Target that was supposed to be The Toddler's beach bag

And despite those seven bags, I still coveted and desired a customer's beautiful Namaste bag at the store last week. I need help.

I P-Touched my child

Somehow I made it through a whole lot of graduate school with people thinking I was super-organized and efficient. Those of you who have been to my house know what a big joke that is. I am a "cluttery" person who uses the "big piles and stacks of stuff" method of organization.

Yet when I saw this P-Touch was $10 off at Costco yesterday, I felt that was a sign from God and Martha Stewart herself that I was meant to have it. I rationalized it by telling myself I would use it to organize my knitting; and I did, I used it to label my growing stack of three-ring binders that house my patterns. I also plan to use it to organize my Christmas knitting (that's Christmas '08, even though, yes, I still have outstanding projects from Christmas '07) by wrapping the finished objects in tissue paper and labeling them.

But I couldn't help myself. A toddler cries out to be labeled with a P-Touch, don't you think?

This is not a yarn diet, but....

I have been thinking an awful lot about my stash since Ravelry

• Forced me/gave me a place to organize and catalog what I have.
• Enabled me to buy more by showing me new yarns, new projects, and lovely links and discounts to new retailers.
• Hosted discussions about materialism and stash, stash-busting, and yarn diets.

If you’ve read any knit blogs at all, I’m sure you’ve seen this by now: The World’s Biggest Stash. When the pictures were posted on Ravelry, I thought a person could write a sociological study on the reactions knitters had to it. Some thought it was the greatest thing ever and wished she could aspire to such a stash. Some thought the Stash Owner was a mentally ill hoarder on the level of that poor woman on Oprah who hoarded 10,000 square feet of stuff into a 3000 square foot house. And some used the picture to spin off threads about how “excessive” stash was yet another product of the materialism that runs rampant in this country. All very interesting stuff that made me examine how I felt about my own stash.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the very idea that someone else gets to pronounce judgment on how much yarn someone has is disconcerting. If I feel comfortable with my stash, it’s no one else’s business but mine and the person I share my home and my finances with. I actually think that woman's stash is awesome, a true artist's studio. And yet as we get to the time of year where we make all kinds of good-intentioned resolutions, I am going to closely examine my stash and where my yarn money goes. I don’t feel comfortable with how many posts in this blog have received the label of “yarn shopping” this year. This is not a diet. This is not exactly a year of stash-busting either. But for now, here are the rules.

I may purchase yarn if

• I have a gift card (which I do, both for Natural Stitches and Jimmy Beans Wool, go me).
• It is needed for a gift and I have looked in my stash first.
• It is something I am totally and completely sure I will not be able to get at a later date and I absolutely love it (keeping in mind that I am a member of the 2008 Rockin Sock Club and the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special and if that doesn’t satisfy my jonesing for “new and exclusive” I don’t know what will).
• It is a special occasion, like the Pittsburgh Knitting Festival.
  
• It is Malabrigo (sorry, I can’t stay away from this crack. I will try, though).

I will try to stash-bust in the following ways

• I will haul out the stash and put it where I can see and access it, not stuffed in one cabinet, thus preventing me from throwing up my hands and saying “I have no suitable hat yarn” and running off to the store. I will also be honest about the projects I plan to complete and put all the yarn I have for them into my Ravelry stash.
• I will knit from stash throughout the year, interspersing large projects with small, and putting projects away into a “Long Term Planning Box” ala The Yarn Harlot, thus preventing a yarn binge in October and November and subsequent frantic knitting for Christmas 2008 (because, dude, I still haven’t finished Christmas 2007).
• I will embark on some charity knitting such as the Dulaan Project.

Okay, so I’m posting this on my blog to keep myself honest. Let’s see how long I can go.

PS: I want a new knitting bag, one that does not scream "Here is my cheap knitting bag from Joann's!" (okay, I actually like my cheap Joann's bag, but I want something I can use in all grownup, professional situations and still have some knitting on hand). Jordana Paige? Namaste? Everything is getting mixed reviews on Ravelry and I don't know what to do.

Raaaavelryyyyyy......

Braaaaaaains. I feel like a zombie. Must. Play. With. Ravelry. It's wonderful. It's addictive. And best of all, I have told my husband that it will help me organize my yarn. He's been on me to clean out my yarn cupboards and other hidey-holes for months. I seem to have him thinking that this Ravelry thing is good and he's let me play on it for the past day and a half while he takes care of Henry. Ha! Can I also say that my favorite part of Ravelry so far is the UGH! section? It makes me feel better that other people have disastrous projects sometimes.



Speaking of disastrous projects, yesterday at the Knit and Stitch, Erin asked me if I brought my sock. Well, I had, but I was too embarrassed to bring it out. So instead, I will show it to the entire internets. I have no idea what I am doing wrong except that the needles feel too clunky and the tension is terrible - very loose and shapeless. Is this something that will shake out as I continue, or have I screwed it all up?


In happier news, I'm making a scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for my husband for our anniversary. Not exactly cotton, but it'll do.

In which I attempt to get organized...

...and fail miserably.

Every so often, I think I ought to clean up my yarn cupboard. I virtuously got out my ziplock bags in assorted sizes and put yarn I'd bought specifically for projects into bags, labelled the bags with the name of the project, what book or website the pattern was from, and if I had them handy, put the correct needles in the bag. This worked well for about five minutes. Then I got overwhelmed with all the random crap I have: dishcloth cotton, remnants of past projects, and a surprising amount of stash yarn from the closing sales of the Pittsburgh Knit and Bead. It's a disaster in there. I stuffed everything back in the cupboard and ran away.

I have a project that I need to brainstorm. My husband and I follow the traditional list for anniversary gifts. This year is our second, so the gift is "cotton." He suggested that I knit him something. But what? I don't have time to finish the Manly Sweater from Stitch 'n Bitch. He has two scarves. What can I make for a man that I can finish in a month?

Finally, you know what is really entertaining for a thirteen month old? Watching yarn being wound from a swift. It's enough to make me want to haul out my entire stash and wind it up.