Binned

I’ve been working on the Peaks Island Hood and nothing else for the past few days.  I’m almost done too!  I’ve finished the long length of the scarf and the entire hood and have started the short length of the scarf and am on my last ball of yarn.  I have a feeling I may run out of yarn before the end so I’m going to knit and knit and knit on it today and see which one I finish first – the yarn or the pattern.  The shop is open today and early on Thursday so I can always run out tomorrow if I do run out of yarn first.  

I also organized the stash – took all of it out of my living/thinking space and put it in storage upstairs.  I have only one bin of yarn that I want to work on next and all my WIPs (which attacked me from every corner when I was organizing) in a space that is visible to me.  This has made life so much easier – no only is everything very decluttered but I find that I can knit far more easily now.  It seems weird I know but I think what was happening is when I could see all the yarn I have all the time, I was starting to build up guilt over it and it would actually make me not want to knit.  Now that I have one small bin of yarn and some WIPs, I can just focus one or two projects and a time and get them done.  It is even more relaxing as a hobby now. 

[Pictures of bin pending]

Need for simple project

I haven't had anything to knit in the car with me since I finished the HWL scarf (remember the red neon?); the reason being the two projects i'm focusing on now are my grandma's blanket and the handspun socks.  Both are in stages not conducive to car knitting (not while driving, of course!).  The blanket is too big and the socks are too high maintenance with the delicate Lantern Moon DPNs.

I need another simple project to work on in my car during lunch breaks.  I've been looking through my stash and i don't have any yarn that i have as yet designated to be another simple donation scarf.  But I do have a bunch of that Rumor yarn for the blanket from this past weekend splurge.  I threw a ball of it and some needles in my bag before running out the door for swatching purposes.  I've been having trouble coming up with a good pattern for the yarn partly because an adult size blanket has the issue that a simple garter stitch will start to fall apart on you (as I discovered with that Homespun blanket I knit many years ago).  there are adult sized blankets i do like, like the sock yarn blanket, barn raising blanket and such but these do not look good with just one color yarn.  they need variety in color.

Lois is knitting a lovely afghan right now and it is a seed stitch design - i like the look of that.  I'm not sure if that is a stitch that will fall apart or not - maybe the knits and purls will give it more stability.  I'll swatch when i go out to my car today - maybe both seed stitch and stockinette.

Last night's adventures

I gave Ruth the handspun and she absolutely loved it!  we were brainstorming ideas of what she could knit with it and I suggested a small triangular shawl…you know, like the kind I want to make when I end up plying that orange handspun (both bobbins are now full so only the plying remains).  So at some point I’ll be going over to her house so we can go on ravelry and find a pattern she likes.  

Winter brought some more of her handspun fresh off the niddy noddy and omg, she is turning into an amazing spinner!  Her third skein ever is so beautiful – even I can’t spin that well yet!  If she posts pics of it to her blog I’ll link it here so you can all admire the pretty!

The next thing I’m spinning is that beautiful chocolate brown alpaca blend I got from Rhinebeck.  As you can see, it is a floofy bag so spinning it up will free up a lot of space!

I also finished something yesterday with Ruth’s help:

 

This scarf was supposed to be for the OFA charity but I love it so much that I decided to keep it for myself.  I cast on another scarf last night using some more rejects from their originally intended projects but after knitting about 4 inches, I fell in love with that one too! ::sigh:: so I had to put that one aside as well and will finish it later when I have more time.  

 

I started a second scarf last night and this one I’m determined not to like!  Though I may have to rip out the 1.5 inches I accomplished last night to switch to a bigger needle.  I’m very happy for all the stashbusting happening though!

Lastly, I bought Heather dinner last night so she would sew in ends on all the washcloths for me! Yay!  So now I’ve got a large stack of squares ready to go.  WOOT!  Thank you Heather!

WIPs Planning and Goals Update

The blanket is finished!  I will put up pictures as soon as I've washed and blocked the blanket (so probably later in the week).

I've been thinking about the number of WIPs I have and how that keeps me from focusing and more importantly finishing the projects.  So i was considering the idea of using slots for WIPs:

Sample knitting: Basketweave sock
Sock: nothing at the moment (using the slot for OFA scarf)
Whatever: Aeolian shawl
Long-term: should be the barn raising blanket (using the slot for the cashmere scarf)

I don't know how practical this method is or how much it will help me focus but I'm going to try it out at least for this month.  BTW, that Whatever slot may get changed to the Aram sweater in case i want to try for NaKniSweMo still but since its already 10 days into the month and I don't see myself having to time to even attempt to cast on the sweater until the weekend, this may not happen.  I may just stick to my original goal of at least casting on the sweater this month.  Speaking of which, here's an update on my goals:

1) Spin up 1 skein of yarn (Gift) - finished one bobbin and about half way through on the second bobbin
2) Finish the granny squares blanket - FINISHED!!!!!
3) Finish OFA Scarf  - working
4) Finish the Edging Setup chart on Aeolian Shawl

Bonus Goals:
1) Start the Aran Sweater
2) Finish Cashmere Leaves Scarf - working
3) Finish 1 skein of the meriboo fiber

Edging Started!!!!!

The edging on the blanket has officially begun!!! I'm so excited!  I would post pictures but you can't really see much right now.  I have a feeling that i'm going to be okay with my brown yarn and will definitely have enough orange to at least do the first round of orange edging.

Spinning Tuesday

The Yarn Harlot, an absolutely hilarious woman and quite a celebrity in our knitting world, has Tuesday's set aside for spinning only.  I thought this was a great idea - having 1 specific day for just one craft, especially since my spinning often gets ignored for several weeks at a time.  I've been thinking about implementing this rule but never actually got around to it.  By coincidence though, I ended up ignoring the blanket yesterday (Tuesday) and spinning, spinning, spinning!  I finished an entire bobbin-full which is about half of the roving.  I'll see if i want to start the second half of the roving today or wait until another day (like next Tuesday).

Here's the finished bobbin:

And here's a picture of the blanket as it currently stands:

It is wonderfully warm and comforting despite having all the holes in it.  I was surprised by this but am glad because I love this blanket already!

Projects Update

I sewed two more strips on the blanket yesterday so now it is an 8x8 giant square.  I laid it out on the bed and it was just 2 strips short lengthwise.  Ruth and I estimated it perfectly!  She was so sweet last night saying that she'd only done a little bit of work on it and it was really my blanket but I know that isn't true.  She did so many squares and at least 3 strips and showed me how to do the squares and the seams in the first place!  I am definitely giving her at least one skein of my handspun - the blue and brown one, as soon as it is finished.  i'm sure i'll be giving her more yarns as soon as they are spun up but I also have to spin more yarn for Jenna.

Speaking of which, i've already got the two skeins of yarn spun up for Jenna and I thought instead of spinning more yarn for her, I may give her cash for her to buy yarn at the Smiley's yarn sale.  I just wish they did gift cards because giving cash seems a bit tacky. 

I haven't started my NaKniSweMo sweater yet - I've decided not to start it until I've either finished the blanket or have run out of yarn and am waiting for more to be delivered.  The blanket is taking top priority. It seems that my tolerance for seaming is about 2 strips a day so since i only have 2 strips left, I will probably be starting the edging tonight.  YAY!!!

NaKniSweMo?

Inspired by the NaNoWriMo, the knitting community has created the NaKniSweMo KAL - National Knit a Sweater Month.  I found the group this morning while just browsing on Ravelry as an attempt to wake up.  Since today is the first of the month, I would be playing catch up but it would be a good way to get some work done on that Aran sweater that has been hanging over me forever!  I haven't decided yet because I definitely want to get the blanket finished this month and the OFA scarf needs to be finished this month so it can be mailed out in time.  Perhaps I will consider at least starting the sweater this month and if the blanket gets finished in enough time then I'll aim for attempting to finish the sweater.

If I recall correctly, the other sweater I knit up took a long time because I put it aside for several weeks but the actual knitting didn't take as long - I had a full long weekend of nothing but sweater knitting and I remember getting about 60% of it done in that time.  I've got the trip to Key West this month so that's a lot of plane and car ride knitting time.  I'll also have the Thanksgiving break (after the Key West trip) for much knitting time since I don't celebrate the holiday and Jenna is probably not going to be around to do a dinner.  Even as i'm typing, this project seems more and more likely as doable in November.  I will continue working vigorously on the blanket but start swatching and such for the sweater and it won't be like casting on a new project since I already consider the sweater to be a current WIP.

Spinning WIP's

What am I spinning at the moment?

Meriboo - 70% Merino, 30% Bamboo, 8 oz, spinning cobweb weight for a shawl.

Superfine Merino - 4 oz, spinning light-fingering weight, possibly for a gift

 

Projects past and next

I am sitting in training today and as usual we began late - about 1/2 hour late.  So, I was killing time on Ravelry and when I went to see what I'd finished in October, I realized I haven't finished a single thing this month!  NOT ONE!!!  I think that explains the BLAH I've been feeling. 

I did finished spinning two skeins of yarn though so that's something. Here they are:

4 oz Tencel/Wool blend by Creatively Dyed, 94 yards, Navajo plied:

 

4 oz Wool/Silk blend, 100 yards thick-thin, andean plied:

 

Here's another skein (finished earlier in the year), 4 oz superwash merino, 400 yards, andean plied:

I was also thinking about the reward system some more and the only things I can think of that I'm "denying" myself are a drum carder and fabric for the flannel pjs.  I can't imagine getting a drum carder even as a reward though because of the space issues.  I would consider renting a carder or borrowing someone's carder so I'll have to explore that some more when I'm ready to start working with the fleeces.  So fabric is looking to be more and more likely as a reward.

Since my post a few days ago about my spinning stash, I've been thinking of all the sweater's worth quantities i have.  I think i should start spinning with the yak roving since that is professionally processed and would be a better way to learn to spin for a sweater.  Spinning from a scoured fleece comes with it's own challenges and I would prefer to tackle one new thing at a time. 

I am thinking of making a cabled yarn for the sweaters.  A cable yarn is a 4 ply yarn (nice and sturdy for sweaters) where you spin a single, 2 ply it, and then 2 ply the 2 ply.  I also think this would be an appropriate yarn because my preference while spinning singles on the wheel is something that turns into fingering weight or heavy fingering weight when 2 plied so when cabled, I think I should get a sport to dk weight yarn which should work out well.

Reward System

I'm a fairly active participant on the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry which is, as the name may indicate, a group of crafters who are choosing (or attempting) to stash dive as much as possible into their many different stashes (yarn, fiber, fabric, beads, etc.).  I've joined the "100 Skeins in 2009" challenge on this group which I've discussed in the past and am currently tracking on the sidebar of this blog. 

Well, I also like to read threads other than the challenges I'm involved in and have been reading the fabric stash down thread; one of the most recent things being discussed is a reward system.  Now this is certainly not some new system that I've never read about but this particular post struck me because the writer said that she would reward herself after she finished "6 or maybe 10 projects".  Whenever I've read about reward systems its always been an amount of accomplishment that I never felt was sufficient so I would dismiss the whole system or wouldn't stick to it.  DUH!  How obvious is it that you can set how much you would like to accomplish before allowing yourself the reward!  I have no idea why this never clicked in my brain before but it has this time!

I think that at the rate I'm going with my projects, if I tell myself that I will give myself a treat after 10 projects - that's a huge accomplishment!  I can use the Rhinebeck trip as a starting point but I have no idea what my reward would be.  Considering the severe storage space issues I'm running into, I've actually LOST the desire to buy yarn or fiber!  My shopping mojo is gone.  I need Yarn-Viagra!  I suppose though, my reward does not have to a crafting thing, it could be something entirely different.  I'll think about it though and in the mean time, i'll let the reward system motivate my to finish projects.

Speaking of finishing...does this look like two strips of the blanket sewn together?!?  :::gasp:::

WIP Control

Oooh the WIPs are getting extremely out of hand! I've got way to many things going and nothing finishing!

The oldest WIP of all is, of course, the blanket which is going to be about a year old soon. It is almost done, 6 out of 10 strips have been sewn. Once the strips are done, they will have to be sewn to each other and finally the border. I'm concerned about running out of yarn for the edge; fortunately, I received a very generous gift certificate to Knitpicks for my birthday so I can order more if need be.



A couple of the newer WIPs are the recently started scarves:

Cashmere Leaves - being knit with the cashmere I purchased at Rhinebeck.



OFA Scarf - this is stash yarn, the bamboo yarn that i'd gotten in hopes of knitting an accessory scarf but honestly, who knits accessories in such a drab color! I'm also holding a strand of some sock yarn from Sunshine Yarns along with it to give it a beautiful splash of color.



Then there is of course the Aeolian Shawl, such a beautiful shawl but it has taken a back seat lately because of the blanket and all the spinning.



There is also the Aran sweater which has gone through a couple of transformations. First I was going to do the St. Brigid pattern by Alice Starmore but decided against it after MANY iterations of it failed. Then the yarn was stashed out of spite. I found an Aran Sweater pattern on the Lion Brand site and am considering it. The other option is to do the Wash's Sweater with this yarn but I need to check the yarn requirements and such for that pattern.

There is also the sample sock for the shop which I've actually made a bit of progress on. Though, I don't think i want to be devoting a majority of my crafting time to the sample knitting as I've got the overwhelming stash/lack of space issue to be worrying about.