Knitting Therapy

Mood: bored
Listening to: Doris Day and Les Brown Orchestra

Daughter's boyfriend has two younger sisters ... they have requested handmade scarves!  They saw Mercedes in one last week and thrilled at having one of their own.

So we sat in bed last night watching the new "NightStalker" and knitted little girl scarves in fun fur.  UGH - - it was a trial ... kept slipping off the needles even though we used bamboo! 

Poncho is progressing slowly and today would be the first cooler day where it might be worn for a little while. The homespun is VERY warm so I'm thinking this is going to carry over into winter. It's never really cold in Kentucky in the winter -- but you need more than a sweatshirt on some days.  As much as I hate wearing a coat - this might work out well.

I meandered into the LYS recently and jumped on some creamy wool for my Secret Pal ... it's such a pretty shade of purple/violet I think I might go back and get myself some of it!  I'm still in project limbo -- still looking at lots of patterns and the library has a NEW copy of this book

 

and there are a couple of projects I think I would like to try .... most are intermediate projects or have STRANGE, Alien-type instructions and I just haven't had time to sit down and figure out how the hell they are put together.  So for now?  I'm just knitting row after row on this boring poncho that might be finished sometime before the end of the year.

I found a cute poncho pattern I like and started that with some cheap LB Homespun I had laying around... I'm not FEELING any one particular project and it's frustrating me.

I did several searches online for patterns - hoping to have inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightening... but nothing came.  Oh - I found some cute things and a couple of times I'd say to myself Oh - I could make that for S0-and-So but then it wouldn't GEL beyond that.

I think one main trouble is my stash ... it has gotten a bit out of hand! I have so much JUNK -- and every time I clean a closet or bin or underbed box I find more yarn. Sadly, most of it is remnants or crappy acrylic or not enough of one "thing" to be anything at all. I have considered sitting down and figuring out a 'patchwork' sort of afghan maybe just to use up the bits of wool, cotton, acrylic -- ugly colors -- etc.... but I'm just not FEELING IT right now.

Maybe when winter sets in?

I just can't justify buying more yarn now ... I keep thinking that if I had the 'right' yarn for a project - I would get excited about starting something new. But I have SO MUCH that the dresser drawer won't close anymore and I've had to move a whole wicker basket full of yarns out of the dresser!  I love having all this yarn around -- I just wish it was pretty yarn ... pretty colors ... pretty textures ... but it's mainly crappy sportweight and acrylic junk.  I can't justify tossing it out - I can't justify buying the pretty stuff I do want to work with - I can't get excited about using it up....

The sock yarn I got from KnitPicks is just too small ... the sock needles are too small ... I can't work with them! UGH - frustrated! It means I have to get my eyes checked again and I KNOW they are going to force me (kicking and screaming) into a pair of tri-focals again!  Even the reading glasses I got last year aren't enough for me to see -- my eyes have really gone downhill lately ... But socks? I'm just not even jonesing for socks right now ... it's very sad.

I still salivate over yarns and needles and patterns .. I just can't seem to focus my mind on any one project I'm in love with. I either don't have the right yarn, or don't have enough of it, or have the wrong set of needles. I can't figure out the "gauge" thing so unless I get specific substitutions I'm at a loss as to what yarn to buy.

One thing I do like about the Homespun is that it is soft.  I don't mind working with it.  It's almost mindless - in fact.

Mindless knitting ... yes, I like that! The best kind of Knitting Therapy, I suppose.

 

Got my first package from my AWESOME secret pal today ... I'm giddy with delight. SO MUCH to love and adore.

Lots of "pretty stuff" in yarn ... delicate fun fur and Molash -- may have to beat off darling daughter since she squealed when she saw that!  Dark chocolate .. ALWAYS a good thing ... and an intriguing little book on knitting socks with one circular needle -- WTF??-- Can't wait to dive into that tonight.  Several patterns for using the Pretty Stuff and an awesome pair of no.5 Susan Bates circulars just right for working that sock on one circular.

Does my secret pal rock, or what?!?

In other news - I finally settled on a semi-pattern for the latest felted bag. Actually I ended up coming up with some math of my own and I'm playing it by ear. I want to end up with a barrel-bag of sorts but hey - once it goes into the washer, it's a crap shoot! You never know what you'll get out of it.  Very much likened to working in the pottery studio. You can work for weeks on a peice of clay to get it just right and when you put it in the kiln, you hand it over to the clay gods. What you get out isn't always what you expect ... but it IS art.

 

Got talked into taking son Jared to the Game Stop so he could spend his allowance money ... happy for me, it is next door to a Tuesday Morning and around the corner from JoAnne's...

I always check Tuesday Morning for their yarn closeouts ... I have hooked up on some CHEAP sportweight yarn in the past but am always on the look out for some Chunky something so I can get enough to attempt a regular sweater.  Regardless ... I was stunned for find this STUFF I bought immediately and now ponder what to do with it.

The label says it is 100% Polyamide but it feels like a dream!  It is so light and soft ... I bought two skeins for a total of 10 dollars.  Once the TM label was peeled off,  the original price was marked as 10 dollars EACH.  So whatever it is, and whatever I will use it for, it was a bargain!

In JoAnne's I was just messing around while Jared finished his shopping and it occured to me that I have this lovely Essentials sock yarn from KnitPicks and it's too fine to knit on my DPNs. The smallest I have are 3.25  -- so I went in search of needles.  Lo-And-Behold I found a pair of 2.75 for only three bucks/fifty cents but upon more digging I found a SET of 5 each size from 1.5 to 2.25 for only 9 dollars.

oh....my....gosh!

I think I did pretty good for a Sunday afternoon of shopping when I didn't intend on shopping for anything!  I'm ready to get my knit on, now!

Since watching My Fair Lady again last weekend I've been brushing up on my cockney while I knit.  I know ... I'm such a wanker.

Got my knitpicks order in and am stunned by the Essential sock yarn ... who knew it was so TINY?  Okay - so knitting socks is new to me and I did knit my first ever pair with worsted wool ... but does sock yarn have to be so tiny?  I'm thinking maybe my 3.25mm needles are just too big now. I know I hear of people whipping up socks on "0" and "1" size needles and the thought just blows me away.

Maybe I can pull together some socks with two strands of the yarn?

Also got some 100% wool to finish the felting project I've had on the back burner for a while. Now I just have to settle on the pattern. I have an IDEA of what I want to do but instead of sitting down and doing the math I'm trying to FIND a pattern for what I want. Again ... I'm such a wanker.

DD finished her funfur scarf and while funfur isn't my favorite textile in the universe -- this is really cute! She used the Fireworks scarf pattern from SnB and this really funky "confetti" funfur ... I gotta admit - that girl is really getting an eye for color and texture.  What happens if the Pupil surpasses the Master?!  Egad! Perish the thought!