no knitting, incoming stash

I've hardly done any knitting this week, and it's been frustrating. Knit lots on Monday, but got to a section of my tank top where I really need to concentrate (i.e. no kids, not in the car, not when I'm sleepy, etc.), so it was on hold until the end of the week, except I didn't work on it at the end of the week, so now it's on hold again.

In my search for a project I can pick up easily, I thought I'd make a tank top out of some Caron Cotton Terry I have from my grandmother. I've never knit with the stuff, but it seemed like maybe it might make a decent top; nothing fancy, but good for the summer. First, I spent part of a day looking at patterns, finally found one I liked. Oh, but I didn't have the right length circular needle. Went to Michael's Thursday night; they didn't have it. Went to JoAnn's Friday, and they didn't have it either. Finally went to my LYS Friday afternoon, where I discovered they are having a 20% off everything sale this month. Wheeee!!! (And they had my needle!) Bought some needles, and a few skeins of yarn for good measure. Went home, reviewed my queue in Ravelry, and went back and bought 2 bags of yarn. Yum! One bag was full of Encore, for L's log cabin blanket. The rest is a mix of yarn for specific projects and yarn that just looked fun. In retrospect I realized I got back in my old habit of just buying one or two skeins of yarn because they look neat, when that's probably not going to be enough to do much with. We'll see what happens with it. Among my finds are some Crystal Palace Merino 5 (I bought 2 skeins in the first visit, then another 2 skeins in the second so I'd have more to play with), Noro Kureyon (bought 4 total, in 2 passes; might start Lizard Ridge with them), and Crystal Palace Panda Wool (one skein in 2 different colors, so not for socks).

So what became of my new tank top? I cast on last night, and hated the yarn. I absolutely couldn't knit with it. My cast on was uneven, and I could tell after a single knit stitch that this was going to be a painful project. The yarn is nubby, but they are small, hard nubs, that make it difficult to pull one loop through another. I immediately posted all of the yarn (9 skeins total in several colors) on YarnCycle, and I hope to get it in the mail next week.

Now it's been nearly an entire week with no knitting, but I've been wanting to knit. Finally tonight I cast on for a dog walking mitten for my dad's gf for Christmas. It's not using up stash (I bought the yarn for it yesterday), but it sure feels good to be knitting again.