count down to Stitches

Less than 2 weeks to go! Avlynn and I are going to go together, probably on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing the Ravelry booth and (hopefully) meeting Casey and Jess. And playing the Ravelry passport game, if there are any passports left.

There's nothing in particular that I want to buy this year, except maybe some patterns to use up the yarn I've already got. I need to print out a list of my stash and my needle collection, and probably my book collection, too, so I don't buy duplicates.

curtains

No, I didn't knit them. I didn't even sew them, really. I bought some curtains for E's room from Ikea last year, but they're really long. Super long. Like 10 feet long. They came with some iron-on fusible stuff, but I never used it, then lost it. So the curtains have been up for over a year, much too long for the window. Hemming them has been on my to-do list this whole time, so this afternoon, while L is at daycare and E is up visiting Grandpa, I thought I would finally get it done. And I did! The curtains don't quite match in length, I think because I cut them slightly crooked (I had them on the floor to compare length and they matched, but the ends that are next to each other at the window don't). It's close enough, though, so I'm not going to do them again.

Next in the sewing queue is finishing the curtains for the main bedroom. I have one finished (and up), I just need to do 2 more. I need to get Avlynn over here to help me. :)

Apparently I am the Early Morning

You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy – it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.


While I like the early morning, I can't say that this really describes me. Relaxed? Moving slowly? Maybe in the early morning I'm like that; I love being up at 6, when it's quiet and every else is still asleep. I do some dishes or laundry, check email, maybe knit or make a to-do list for the day. But after the family wakes up and the day starts for the rest of the world, I'm a lot more like a twitchy cat, wanting to get things done and being generally peripatetic.

February is for Finishing

I got my step-mother's Odessa hat in the mail on Thursday, hurray! And I finished E's Mario hat later that afternoon, more hurrays! He was thrilled with it, despite not being the fan of Mario that he was 6 months ago. This leaves me with just a few things to finish for February:

• felted bear
• wrist warmers
• small afghan

The wrist warmers I should have finished last week. Come on, just sew those darn ends in! (It's not like I don't wear them, either, I just let the 2 ends dangle about.) The felted bear seems doomed to languish in a box, and I've thought about why I haven't finished it. I think I'm worried it won't come out very cute. I see lots of knitted toys on Rav and think how adorable the knitter has made the eyes, the perfect placement of the nose, a terrifically shaped mouth. I'm just not confident that mine will look that good, so I've been putting it off. Also, it's not a good project to do at my knitting group, or when I'm watching L, or in the car, or when I only have a few minutes, or, well, you get the idea. :)

I started a cabled hot water bottle cover yesterday during L's unfortunately short nap. I literally got as far as casting on and knitting about 20 stitches before she erupted into a full out cry. Phooey! I'm using up a skein on Lamb's Pride Worsted from my stash, originally bought several years ago at the wonderful, and now sadly gone, Straw into Gold. I bought 10 skeins of it at the time, 2 in each of 5 colors. 3 of the skeins went into Christmas stockings for the family, so the cover is using the orphan green yarn. If I can finish it soon it might be a late birthday gift for my sister, who is now living up in Canada. Brrrr!

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.