Moving Along….

Last week at our TAFK (Tuesdays Are For Knitting) evening get-together, I pulled Susan aside from the chatter to give me her expert opinion of my giant short row heel, and after some discussion she has convinced me that a) it was done correctly, thank the gods, and b) the heel will not have the same bulky look when the Citrine Sock is knitted up in the pretty golden Hailuoto wool from Sanna. So I am moving forward with these little socklets as I am enjoying the cabling, and getting better with each row at following the pattern chart.

My downward spiral into the deep dark stash diet abyss continues. I have ordered from KnitPicks a needle case for my cable needles and some extra inserts, and magnet chart board (to assist with the issues I have with keeping my place on the chart rows) and, managed to restrain myself slightly and only allowed 2 skeins of lovely Essential Sock Yarn in Meadow Multi to get into (ok – actually stay in) my shopping basket. It should be arriving any day now!!

And speaking of my poor stash dieting, I recently read an article about having pride in your stash, and about not apologizing or lamenting about the size of the stash, as I, and many others in blogdom, often do. The article talks about seeing a stash for what it is, a collection of memories of places we’ve been and people have met, the potential to try something new and step out of our comfort zone, and a major source of inspiration for our next project. Now that is something I definitely do. I love to dig through my stash bins and find what I’ve forgotten, and think of the reasons that caused me to purchase the yarn in the first place. Often I have seen or dreamed something that I would like to make, and being impatient, I need to head straight for my stash to see what I have to make it come to fruition as soon as possible. Both my fabric and yarn stash are a valuable part of my creative spirit, and I need to learn not to be so hard on myself for having and enjoying them so very much. Naturally this type of thinking does nothing to impede the growth process of my stash, and I feel I will always have to “diet” now and again, just like I have to frequently remind myself that cookies to not HAVE to come in pairs! However, I will also remember that a little self-restraint can be a good thing, and that using up yarn makes way for new acquisitions.

In the spirit of continuing to catch up with myself, I have finished these:

An exercise in reinforcing the heel flaps where I have a tendency to wear sock thins, so I added a second strand of one of the colors from the striping that I had leftover in a solid – I should have picked a darker stripe to match to the reinforcing yarn too – it is a very obvious bright heel, and looks a bit strange, but since they are for me, I can live with them.

Knit on…………