I Messed up Already

I was doing so well! Knitting away at my cotton stash, making dishcloths, taking small bites at a time. I was even starting to organize a couple of the drawers.
Then yesterday, I went into Knit One Purl One with the intention of visiting with the owner, and knitting a few rows. But I started looking at the yarn. And that's when I started finding trouble.
Ultra Alpaca Fine caught my eye. There were a bunch of really nice colours. I was trying to find two of one colour so I'd have enough to make a shawl for myself. No big surprise there, to be honest. I have been on a crazy shawl kick lately. I have a whole bunch of patterns saved and bookmarked and planned. She looked in the back room, and could find two colours of every colour but the one I wanted. I was ready to give up, when I happened to look in a corner at another yarn, and I saw a little bit of dark blue shine at me. There was another skein of Blueberry Mix! I knew I had to take it home. And now, it sits next to me, awaiting the perfect pattern.
My Mom, who I went with, wasn't much help with keeping me on track. She bought 4 balls of CoolSpun Cotton for me to make her some dishcloths for their new camper. Two of the skeins match the interior, and the other two are super bright. I am hoping to get through these fairly quickly.

I also got the huge yarn donation bag from one of my mom's friends for LeeLee Hats. I am keeping just one of the skeins for myself to make hats. The rest, I am not going to bother counting, because they are not even allowed to enter the stash area. They are hiding in a closet at the opposite end of the apartment, so they can't try to sneak into my stash without me noticing.
I have, however, knit three more dishcloths. I am going to take photos of them after I knit a few more. I will probably start progressing to a few larger things after these. My mom needs a baby blanket for a shower gift, so I will do that. And I will do a bunch of hats to donate.

I think I will have enough of the stash cut down by Christmas to be able to fit it into storage. I am hoping that I can sell enough items so that my item stash doesn't get out of control.

Self Portrait Monday: June 27, 2011

It's that time again! Monday, Monday, Monday! I've already been pretty productive today. Went to the gym, did a couple errands on the way back, and I am going to make myself something to eat soon.

You are not seeing things... Part of my head is shaved. No, I did not have brain surgery, a brain scan or shock therapy, as I have told some of the whack jobs that questioned me. I just got bored and decided to get a nice summery hair cut.
I've been cranking out dishcloths pretty much constantly. I've finished a couple since my last post, but none of them have finished off a skein. I'll have to try and get a couple skeins knocked off so I can post about my stash killing effort again.
Life is pretty swell. I've been working a bit more which is great. I am working tonight, and the big annual fireworks show is tonight, so I'm hoping it will be busy before that starts.
How are things for all of you? What sort of summer knitting projects are you working on?

Progress!

As I said this morning, here is the first update of what I hope to be many in this quest.

Two dishcloths from a skein of cotton. I think I knit one more out of this skein before these two, but I can't remember.
That little bit of yarn on top is about 2 yards. Probably enough to make a little flower to put on one of the hats for LeeLee hats. Most of my leftovers will be going to that group. They are doing amazing work for the babies being born at Hutzel.

The cloths are actually sitting on a stack of library books I took out last week.
The top one is CowlGirls by Cathy Carron. There are some BEAUTIFUL cowls and other neckwear in there. I am taking bits from several patterns, and I plan on making a few pieces for the fall for my Etsy shop.

I am already starting on another pile of cloths. After I crank out a few more, I will probably work on the baby blanket I started a while back, but never got around to finishing.

Counting

As I said back in May, I want to organize my yarn stash. The main way for me to do this is to knit through it. The problem is, when I knit one or two balls or skeins at a time, I don't feel like I am making much progress. To remedy this, I think I am going to start counting what I knit.
I will keep a tally of how many balls of yarn I eliminate, either through giving away or using, how many items I've knit, and how many I have acquired. The exception to all of these numbers is yarn I spin. I don't foresee much usable yarn coming out of this habit just yet, so I will allow that to be my freebie.

You can follow my progress in the sidebar on the left.

I will post my first update later today.

Self Portrait Monday: June 20, 2011

It's Monday, once again, as it always happens right after Sunday is done. I had an appointment this morning, and then a lunch date with a friend, so this is coming a little later than usual.

I'm at work right now, working an evening shift, and it's quiet at the moment, so I figured I should get my blog post in for the day.
Air conditioning, fast internet, and yummy food at my leisure. I really love my job.
Don't get me wrong though, I don't spend my shifts playing around online. This is the first time I've brought my laptop with me, and I am actually doing some work for my other job.

I picked up quite a few knitting books from the library today. I've been getting books from there quite often, as I am looking to knit a few larger pieces for myself and some people close to me in the near future. One of these is definitely going to be a sweater.

I Made This Yarn Myself!!!

I just finished my very first mini skein of yarn!! I am so excited, I could blow up.
It's two ply, one brown, and one white. The white was very difficult to spin for a novice like me. It wasn't in nice, smooth roving like the brown was. It was kinky, and a little oily still. It broke a lot while I was drafting.
In any case, I think this yarn turned out pretty darn well for my first (sort of second) try. My first attempt with the brown was way less even than this one. So it is still sitting in the office, and I might ply it with what is left over of the brown, and see if that helps even it out a bit.
I am definitely loving this new hobby. I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to try new techniques and spin more!

Spin Spin, Spin Spin

On Tuesday, I went to visit the lovely Jodi Green for a spinning lesson.
I purchased two drop spindles a few months back, and had her order some amazing fibre for me. She gave me some mill end roving that she had to practice with. I think she got it here, in case you might be interested. Also leaving that link so I can find it when I am ready to acquire more.

I really wish I had my spinning with me so I could take some pictures.

I can't wait till I can spin a nice smooth, thin single. Right now, I'm quite a bit above worsted weight on average. My thicker areas are probably super bulky, and my thin areas are lace weight.

I love it all!!!

Self Portrait Monday: June 13, 2011

Happy Monday!

This past weekend has been crazy! We finally got our liquor license at work, so people have been coming in and getting fancy drinks all day, Saturday and Sunday. I didn't sleep well, so I look a little groggy. Yes, groggy, I guess that's the nice way of putting it. I did a bunch of laundry last night, and I still have more to do today.

I am going to cut to the chase here, and announce the winner of the contest. I had so many people who entered! I'd like to thank each and every one of you! To thank you, I have made a coupon code for 10% off. It's usable for everyone, and won't expire for a month or so. Just enter GIVEAWAY10 when you check out from my shop, and 10% will be automatically deducted.
So, drumroll, the winner is

Number 9!!! Congratulations B_ahoot aka Lauren!!! I am messaging you on twitter to make arrangements for you to collect your prize!

Into The Freezer it Goes!

I nearly had a panic attack this week. I am used to there being the occasional bug in homes and apartments, it's nothing new to me. But lately, there have been moths in ours. I don't know where they are coming from, or what they are doing here, but I am scared they want to eat my wool.

I put my new skeins of nicer wool into a bag in the freezer already.

Should I be totally terrified? Do all moths eat wool? Should I make room in the freezer chest for all of my wool? My acrylic, cotton and other non-animal fibre yarns should be ok, right?

Oh jeeze, please help me out!!

Self Portrait Monday: June 6, 2011

Happy Monday evening! Sorry this has taken so long to get posted. I don't usually work Mondays, but today was an exception. We had a few food critics/journalists in from various publications sampling our food. I was on my best behaviour, and they all seemed to enjoy their food.
Immediately after getting home, Rick and I had to leave for our massage and chiropractor appointments. We have three chiropractor appointments a week, as well as either one or two massages.
I went for a quick swim at Rick's parents after I had dinner. I was out there for all of 20 minutes, and was bit twice by mosquitoes. Welcome to Summer, I guess, right?
In other news, I purchased some amazing hand spun merino on the weekend. The first weekend of June, every year, Art in the Park happens. Artisans from all over come and sell their products. For the most part, the art available is not my taste, out of my price range or otherwise unappealing to me. Not a fault of the artist in any way. At the event last year, I saw some beautiful hand spun wool being produced by a lovely woman. This type of yarn didn't appeal to me as much at this time last year, but this year was different. I purchased two skeins which I will photograph when I get back home later in the week.

Don't forget about the giveaway! Still a few days to enter.

Trying Heartsy out Again

Thanks so much to everyone who has entered the giveaway already! Still lots of time to enter, so please go do that!

I tried to get on Heartsy a while back, and just missed the required number of votes. I am trying again. So if you could go vote for me, it would be greatly appreciated!

I've been so incredibly exhausted lately. We're finally getting chiropractic care for the car accident, and I am starting to feel a little bit better. The stress from all of this has been awful, and making it very difficult for me to sleep. I am trying to take it easy now so I don't hurt myself any more than I already am. I really hope Rick starts getting better as well. He has some pretty severe injuries that are making his life way harder. You could send him some get well wishes on his blog.
In any case, I am going to take a nap before I start my day.
Hope all of you are doing well!