stash accomplished

I finished organizing my stash this weekend. I wound up with 10 office file boxes (organized), 2 plastic boxes (small and medium, also both organized), and 3 file boxes and a medium plastic box that I haven't entered into Ravelry yet.

• 4 boxes of 100% wool
• 1 box of wool content (>= 50%)
• 1 box of wool content (<50%)
• 1 box of cotton and mostly-cotton
• 1 box of acrylic
• 1 box of "other" (not wool, acrylic, or cotton, so mostly mohair and rayon)
• 1 box of dishcloth cotton
• 1 box of sock yarn
• 1 box of roving (aka pre-yarn)

My knitting group is having a swap in a couple of weeks, and I can't honestly think of anything I'd like to swap. Except maybe some of the roving, if anyone there spins. I do have some partial balls that I'm unlikely to ever use, but now that I have everything in Ravelry it should be a lot easier to use them up. For example, I am almost finished with a red Mario hat for E. If I had checked my stash first I would have seen that I have 2 partial skeins of red yarn that would have been perfect. Instead I wound up buying 2 new balls of yarn (I only needed part of one, but I debated wool vs acrylic at the store and got one of each).

The 3 unorganized boxes are a jumble. There are a few good things in there that I just need to fish out, but the rest is mostly mystery yarn from my grandmother's stash. I will probably give some of it to my son's daycare provider and donate the rest or use it for toy stuffing.

It feels good to have the boxes put away and labelled. The next step is to organize the wool better (maybe sort out the superwash, or divide it by weight), but I'm in no hurry to start that.

What kind of knitter are you?

I just took this knitting personality test, where I was described as a contented knitter. And reading the description (happy to do the same stuff over and over again), I'd have to agree. What kind of knitter are you?

starting before I finish

I still have to finish J's Odessa hat. I just need to sew in 2 ends, wash and block it, and send it off. Maybe tomorrow if the kids are healthy and give me the afternoon off.

In other news, I started and almost finished a wrist warmer (need to sew in the ends to that, too!) And I started a larger project: a cabled afghan. Not a large one, more like a lap blanket or something like that. I'm using yarn I got from a swap with someone in my knitting group last year. It's 100% acrylic, maybe not the best fiber for a blanket, but it might be good for the kids for the car. Which would be funny, because for the past 2 days I've done a fair amount of knitting in the car while the kids napped.

I joined a new group on Ravelry: February is for Finishing. If I don't count the afghan (which I don't because I just started it with no expectations for finishing it quickly), I only have 4 projects to finish:
-J's hat (better be out the door before February)
-wrist warmers (come on, how long does it take to sew in ends?)
-E's Mario hat (need to add Mario emblem and maybe sew ends)
-felted bear (need to embroider face, stuff, and sew up front)

Totally doable! As long as I actually do them and don't start a lot of new projects. I think part of the problem is that most of what I need to do I need to do at home (i.e. not at my knitting group), and the time I am home both without children and awake is somewhat limited. So it seems easier to start new projects that I can take with me.

the stash

(added much later this evening: I remembered that I have two baskets worth of yarn I didn't take out, plus some miscellaneous bits of yarn floating around the house. lol)

flashing the stash

I pulled out most of my stash this afternoon. I've got 11 office boxes, several miscellaneous bags, and a couple of plastic boxes (that I currently can't get to because E is in that room napping). One of the office boxes just has roving, no yarn. The rest is yarn. A lot of yarn. Most of it is in Ravelry already, but I keep finding stuff that isn't. My goal is to organize it better so I can find stuff when I want it. The boxes are labeled, but not everything is in the correct box, and some types of yarn, like cotton, doesn't have a proper home.

I started a second wrist warmer yesterday. I made one a few years ago (2003?), and I finally decided it needed a mate. It's a simple 2x2 ribbed tube, knit in the round. Should be done later today.

Two FOs this week!

I finished J's Odessa hat and E's sweater this week! Yay!

The hat was knit, by accident, on size 9 needles instead of size 6. I realized yesterday why this was. It was in the same knitting bag as E's sweater, which I did on size 9 circulars. I *did* put size 6 circulars in the bag, but when I went to fetch them out I grabbed the larger ones by mistake. Oops! I like the way it turned out, though, and I'm hoping J will like it, too.

E's sweater I finished last night and he wore it to daycare today. I am so proud! He was really happy I finally finished it, although it took some coaxing to get it on him. I am not thrilled with the way the neck turned out; next time I knit a top-down raglan I want to do something more finished looking then just a stockinette stitch CO border (like a real collar or something). But for a little kid it works, since I know it'll be stretchy enough to go over his big head. And I love the color, it looks great with blue denim.

frog or finish

There's nothing like making a big mistake for putting me off knitting. I am working on an Odessa hat for my step-mother, now a very late Christmas gift. For some unknown reason, instead of switching to size 6 needles after the ribbing, I started using size 9. And I didn't realize it until yesterday, when I pulled out the size 6 DPNs to use when the diameter got too small for circulars. Gee, I thought, these DPNs seem a lot thinner than the circular needle I'm using right now. And indeed, they were. Hmph.

So, do I finish the hat as is, or rip it out? It's a little big and floppy, but not unusually so. I do have one more skein of the same yarn, so I can re-knit the hat with the correct needles, but it will take me another week. I am completely down on this hat, though, and even finishing what I've got (another 6 rows) seems to be a challenge right now. It wouldn't be so bad except it's a gift that was due a month ago, so I don't feel that I have the luxury of sitting on it for a couple of months.

more sweater progress

I finished the first sleeve of E's sweater last night at my knitting group. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the last ball of yarn, so I didn't make any more progress. I had E try on the sweater to make sure I got the sleeve length right. The sleeve looks ok, although next time I would do the arm decreases a bit differently (more rows between decrease rows to spread them out). I tried a stretchy bind-off for the sleeve, found here. It looks alright; it's definitely stretchier than what I would normally do, but I suspect something like a sewn bind-off would be better. I couldn't find the book that supposedly has the instructions for that, though, so I went with a simple BO.

slow sweater progress

I put E's sweater aside for a couple of months while I worked on some Christmas knitting. I still have Christmas knitting left to do, but that involves starting something, which I didn't feel like doing tonight. Instead I tried to figure out how I was decreasing the sleeve so I could write it down, continue the pattern, and be able to replicate it for the second sleeve. I think I've got it. The sweater is a top-down raglan knitted in the round. For each sleeve I started with 41 stitches + 4 picked up under the arm. I decrease 2 in a round, then knit 2 rounds plain, until I have 33 stitches. Now I will just knit to get a good arm length (must measure!), then do a bunch of decreases in one round to get down to 20-24 stitches, then 2x2 ribbing. Simple. In retrospect I wish I had more rounds between decrease rounds, but since I had already done a bunch of decreases, and I didn't feel like frogging, I left it. Overall I'm not super thrilled with the sweater, but I want to finish it before making a final judgment.

Resolutions for 2008

In no particular order:

1. Rip out the 3 sweaters I know I won't finish
2. Finish or frog any WIP started before 2008
3. Knit a pair of socks for each family member
4. Knit a sweater for each kid
5. Start AND finish L's baby blanket
6. Sort through old magazines and destash any that aren't interesting
7. Destash at swap or use up more stash
8. Organize existing stash and needles

#1 will be hard, because it means having to admit that the sweaters were mistakes, or that I just don't have the skills/desire/patience to fix or finish them. One is a sweater I designed myself using the Sweater Workshop; it is in 2 shades of purple that really don't go together. One is a kit I bought at Stitches; I find the yarn very scratchy and I don't like doing the color work. The third sweater is Haiku that I started for E nearly 2 years ago. The cast-on was wonky and it was doomed from the start, but instead of re-doing it right away, I knit the entire body before deciding it was unworkable. Plus now it won't fit him anyway.

#2 shouldn't be too bad. I've got a hat to knit for my step-mother for Christmas; technically not a WIP since I haven't started it yet, but it would be nice to get her gift to her this year. I have a hat for E that needs some embroidery, a sweater for E that needs sleeves, and a felted bear that needs embroidery, stuffing, and stitching. I also nearly finished a Harry Potter bookscarf for my mom for her birthday, but it looks awful, so it'll get frogged or tossed soon.

#3, well, I'll think about that later. At least the kids' socks are small.

#4 works well with #2, since I have a sweater in the works for E. I might try to redo Haiku for L with the same yarn after I frog it (#1). Just need to work on the cast-on.

#5 is a bear. I bought the yarn for L's blanket last year, thinking I would start on it right after finishing L's blanket (and before she was born). But I was so burned out on the first blanket that I knit a bunch of washcloths instead and haven't gone back to the blanket. I have the pattern and yarn, I just need to wind it into balls, swatch, and get started. I'll be thrilled if I can get it finished before the end of the year, but just getting it started will be a terrific first step.

#6 I have already started! I've gone through half of one magazine box of Knitters and found a few that I can part with. My knitting group is having a swap later this winter, so my goal is to go through all the magazines before then. I don't have that many, maybe about 100. I'll be happy if I can get rid of 20. While I'm reading through them I am also marking patterns I'd like to try and articles that look useful.

#7 also needs to happen, at least in part, before the winter swap. In theory I have no problem parting with yarn, but when it actually comes time to give it away, I balk and think of some reason why I may need it. Using it up myself would be easier, definitely!

#8 needs to happen before Stitches, so I know what I have before shopping for more stuff. I find needles all over the house, in the oddest places. My hope is that if all the needles are in one place it'll be faster to start projects. Right now I sometimes avoid starting something because I know hunting for the right size needle will take a long time. And using up the existing stash, #7, will be much easier if it's organized.