Knitting Therapy

Oct 7, 2005 at 15:45 o\clock

playing

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.

Oct 1, 2005 at 03:28 o\clock

Pondering Pending Projects

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.