Already I have been thinking alot about continuing on my no-yarn-buying-total-stash-busting trend for 2011, but to be truthful, as happy as I am about having stuck to my goal for a whole year (that's nothing to sneeze at!) I know that I am weakening, and while I still have much in my stash, I am thinking to revise the goal slightly to allow for a small select amount of buying for 2011.
What I am talking about is something that was discussed in Knitters Review discussed back in 2008 - Slow Stashing. The idea appeals to me very seriously as a new way to continue to stash bust and yet enjoy the occassional foray into my LYS's without completely deprived and like I really had no right to be in there window shopping.
In some areas of my stash I am almost ready to do another purge as I am getting to colors or yarns (mostly gifted from other stash busters during my early knitting years) I just don't know what to do with. I feel like purging un-loved yarns from my stash earns me some yarn-buying credit. I'll be sending the yarn to a local school knitting club. More brownie points!
I have learned throughout this past year that I can control my yarn buying impulses, and not add yarns to my stash that I don't have an immediate purpose for, and so that keeps room in my stash to buy only yarn I know I can use.
I have been carrying about a huge guilt trip that I have not been supporting my LYS's this past year, and in such a bad economy this is an important concern of every knitter, if we want to have the quality and selection available to us that knitters are clammering for. But that doesn't mean I can abandon my own economic responsibilities to myself and my family budget and begin to buy willy-nilly again.I learned some great lessons in self restraint this past year, and that money not spent on OMG-I-love-this-even-though-I-have-know-idea-what-I-am-going-to-do-with-it yarn, means I have money in my pocket and space in my yarn storage for projects and yarn I know what I want to do with.
Instead I need to completely and fully adopt the Slow Stash Movement. And this is it, direct from Knitters Review: "At its core, slow stashing involves being mindful of every skein we own, and only bringing in new skeins that are truly deserving of our time, our attention, and our resources." Finally a stash management option I can really buy into (and use to resist the sale signs!).
I have the skills, I have the discipline, and I have the desire to have a well managed, well thought out, and well turned-over stash. This is exactly the right objective for me to embrace for 2011. Phew! And I thought making a new stash resolution was going to be very hard after the rocking success of 2010!
Knit on......
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Still here!
I am definitely still here! Apoligies for the lengthy absence. Life got a whole lot busier this last month. I had forgotten how much stuff there is to do when you can walk! Yes, I am walking around without my cane, finally, and that means I am back at the gym three times a week, along with the never ending physio (those people love their job way, way too much). It certainly makes for a busy week when you move as slowly as I still do!
And the G-man has been away on business for the past almost three weeks, so DD1 and I have had to fend for ourselves, which means..... I have been cooking. OMG, yes, I had to re-discover the stove. Interesting device. I still don`t like it very much but we managed, and I even lost 2 more pounds - when you have to make everything yourself you tend to be more moderate in your portions so you get two meals from every cooking session!!
In between I have been knitting and even started some Christmas knitting, using of course, stash yarn, in this case my leftover balls of baby bamboo yarns in various colors. I have been stash busting and working on other WIP`s in between.
Take a look at the gorgeous pashmina scarf from Scotland my dear friend Heather gave me for my birthday, and the great yarn that matched up and made a lovely beret (or Scottish Tam!) to match:
I also finshed several charity baby blankets - my latest method of speed knitting these little utility blankets is on the diagonal, adding a stich at each end until the blanket is about 36 inches on any one side, and then decreasing one stitch at each end, which allows me to crank these out while watching tv as well as use up my stash of less than desirable acrylic colors:
In more stash busting I whipped out another cowl from a skien of lovely handspun I won a year or two back at Guild - just the thing for Ottawa`s icey cold winter winds:
And these too, cosy wristlets from Taos yarn, to match a previously made beret and scarf - used the yarn to the last 6 inches!:
And last, but most importantly, can I tell you what wonderful friends knitters are I received this awesome skein from my friends Laurie of Nepean, found over here on Ravelry, and Lise, both from the Guild, who picked it up from a Janie H. Knits fieldtrip that I had been unable to mamage while still on my crutches. Just my colors, earthy, tweedy and simply lovely, and made even more so because of how it came to me! Talk about a pick-me-up! Thanks Laurie & Lise!:
And so you are now pretty much all caught up. Monday I begin the gradual transition back to the working world, having worked out a return to work plan for the next few weeks, and arranged some premium front door parking for the winter! i am ready, at least my head is ready - I hope my leg is too!
Knit on........
And the G-man has been away on business for the past almost three weeks, so DD1 and I have had to fend for ourselves, which means..... I have been cooking. OMG, yes, I had to re-discover the stove. Interesting device. I still don`t like it very much but we managed, and I even lost 2 more pounds - when you have to make everything yourself you tend to be more moderate in your portions so you get two meals from every cooking session!!
In between I have been knitting and even started some Christmas knitting, using of course, stash yarn, in this case my leftover balls of baby bamboo yarns in various colors. I have been stash busting and working on other WIP`s in between.
Take a look at the gorgeous pashmina scarf from Scotland my dear friend Heather gave me for my birthday, and the great yarn that matched up and made a lovely beret (or Scottish Tam!) to match:
I also finshed several charity baby blankets - my latest method of speed knitting these little utility blankets is on the diagonal, adding a stich at each end until the blanket is about 36 inches on any one side, and then decreasing one stitch at each end, which allows me to crank these out while watching tv as well as use up my stash of less than desirable acrylic colors:
In more stash busting I whipped out another cowl from a skien of lovely handspun I won a year or two back at Guild - just the thing for Ottawa`s icey cold winter winds:
And so you are now pretty much all caught up. Monday I begin the gradual transition back to the working world, having worked out a return to work plan for the next few weeks, and arranged some premium front door parking for the winter! i am ready, at least my head is ready - I hope my leg is too!
Knit on........
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Time flies....
On the eve of my 48th birthday I am am astonished at how much time has passed since the last time I really took note of my age! Seems to me the last time I looked I was in my early to mid 40's, a period in my life that I was really enjoying. I had learned to knit and was having a blast allowing my time to be consumed by anything and everything woolly!
But if I stop to think about the time, it was in the middle of my 40's that DD1 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, and that is where I think I was no longer concious of the passage of time. It is hard to believe that almost 3 years has passed since then - it screamed by like a freight train, running the rails flat out, with barely enough time to be cognizant of the ever changing view. There, and then gone, in a flash - like when you are stuck in your car at the railway tracks, staring out through your windsheild, and then the flash and roar of the train as it fills the view, and then its gone and the barriers lift, and your vision clears, you move forward. And that's how it is that I have come to the surprising realization that tomorrow, I will be 48, officially in my late 40's. It is very, very weird to be here.
But throughout, the knitting has stuck with me, constantly soothing, always within reach, a welcome and sometimes necessary distraction during the crazier moments, the yarn with comforting fimilarity, slipping through my fingers on an almost a daily basis. And with every finished project I could mark the time on the tracks like a railway station, where I have stopped to re-fuel, or load or un-load some cargo. The beauty of all that knitting is that I am able to look back at the time - the time that went by in a flash - well marked by the projects, the train stations, that I created as I sped along those tracks, and see that the time was, indeed, well spent.
Happy 48th to me! Knit on....
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Rip it, Rip it! WIP#5
Sigh - this one's gonna have to be a complete do over. I still like the pattern - the front is done and the back is 2/3rds of the way completed. The problem (for the completed knitting, and not for me) is that I am 32lbs lighter and many inches smaller around, than when I started this item two years ago (see what I mean - not a problem for me, per se!) and a quick check of the now much-to-big fit assured me that I am making the right decision.
So I need to frog it, and knit it again at least 2 sizes smaller. But it will be great over a long sleeved-T this winter. So I will be calling the frogging of WIP#5 complete when the yarn is back in to skeins. It will become a new project when I am ready to start again.
Knit on.......
Addendum: Jody asked me how I lost the weight - I wish I had a secret to pass on, but it was the old fashioned way. Watch what you eat: lots of veggies for lunch and dinner and snacks- I love most veggies with hummus, high protien to keep from getting hungry - but exercise portion control, low carb - but couldn't give up toast and peanut butter for breakfast, no booze Sunday through Thursday (hey - a girl's gotta have some fun!).
Mostly the Sunday to Thursday rule made the difference I think - as long as weekends weren't too strict I could get through the week just fine. And I stopped "treating" myself at Starbucks to the fancy coffees and just had coffee misto's - I found I was just as happy with a great cup of coffee with steamed soy without all the sweet calories. Slow and easy kept it coming off slowly but surely.
And even though I have spent the better part of this summer on my arse, if anything that arse has shrunk from lack of moving (lost some muscle mass which will undoubtably come back), and my eating habits have kept any probable weight gain a bay. Yippee for me!
Knit on.......
Addendum: Jody asked me how I lost the weight - I wish I had a secret to pass on, but it was the old fashioned way. Watch what you eat: lots of veggies for lunch and dinner and snacks- I love most veggies with hummus, high protien to keep from getting hungry - but exercise portion control, low carb - but couldn't give up toast and peanut butter for breakfast, no booze Sunday through Thursday (hey - a girl's gotta have some fun!).
Mostly the Sunday to Thursday rule made the difference I think - as long as weekends weren't too strict I could get through the week just fine. And I stopped "treating" myself at Starbucks to the fancy coffees and just had coffee misto's - I found I was just as happy with a great cup of coffee with steamed soy without all the sweet calories. Slow and easy kept it coming off slowly but surely.
And even though I have spent the better part of this summer on my arse, if anything that arse has shrunk from lack of moving (lost some muscle mass which will undoubtably come back), and my eating habits have kept any probable weight gain a bay. Yippee for me!
Saturday, 21 August 2010
WIP#4 complete!
Are you tired of socks yet? I hope not there are still two more after this pair to complete! DD1 is beginning to think I have a more serious illness than a broken leg - that there have been some brain damage, as is evidenced with all the sock knitting - I don't understand what she is talking about!
These were started when I arrived home from the hospital, and didn't have anything mindless or small enough to work on,already on the needles.so technically not WIP for long. Since I couldn't get upstairs to my stash (so still full-filling my second mandate to knit form stash) at the time, I road-mapped the G-man to my sock yarn stash cubbie, and I'll be dammed if he not only found it, but selected an excellent ball of sock yarn: Online Supersocke fancy color, colorway 940, 65 g .
I tried to find a link to this yarn but it would seem that the Fancy Color family is no longer available in the Online Supersocke line. None the less, there are lots of new color families at the Diamond Yarn site to choose from, and I can certainly recommend that you do. The yarn is sturdy, has a good hand, and works up easily. I was also able to easily match the color changes in the yarn so the second sock matched the first perfectly (i am a sucker for matchy matchy socks!) without any fiddling around.
Knit on.....
Addendum: Jody asked what pattern I am using. I am using my own generic 2x2 rib sock pattern, stolen from several other generic patterns,but mostly created from a German Sock chart of stitch counts for each foot size that I received with a sock kit for my first sock, with the addition of some techniques that I learned along the way, like wrap and turned heels which fit my narrow heel well. It is tailored to my foot, hence not to many others get socks from me unless, like the DD's, they are similar in siz,e just a bit longer! I cast on 60 to 64 stitches, depending on the yarn guage. I like to knit on 3 needles so the heel flap is simply the count of stitches on the needle with the most stitches- either 20 or 24. I do a wrap and turn heel, and simply decrease every other row for both the gusset and the toes.The result is a sturdy, utlitarian sock that hugs my foot without slouching or bagging, perfect for winter wearing inside my safety boots that I have to wear to work every day. I have yet to wear out a pair since I started knitting my own socks some 4 years ago, So I do indeed have a lovely drawer full! Lucky me!
These were started when I arrived home from the hospital, and didn't have anything mindless or small enough to work on,already on the needles.so technically not WIP for long. Since I couldn't get upstairs to my stash (so still full-filling my second mandate to knit form stash) at the time, I road-mapped the G-man to my sock yarn stash cubbie, and I'll be dammed if he not only found it, but selected an excellent ball of sock yarn: Online Supersocke fancy color, colorway 940, 65 g .
I tried to find a link to this yarn but it would seem that the Fancy Color family is no longer available in the Online Supersocke line. None the less, there are lots of new color families at the Diamond Yarn site to choose from, and I can certainly recommend that you do. The yarn is sturdy, has a good hand, and works up easily. I was also able to easily match the color changes in the yarn so the second sock matched the first perfectly (i am a sucker for matchy matchy socks!) without any fiddling around.
Addendum: Jody asked what pattern I am using. I am using my own generic 2x2 rib sock pattern, stolen from several other generic patterns,but mostly created from a German Sock chart of stitch counts for each foot size that I received with a sock kit for my first sock, with the addition of some techniques that I learned along the way, like wrap and turned heels which fit my narrow heel well. It is tailored to my foot, hence not to many others get socks from me unless, like the DD's, they are similar in siz,e just a bit longer! I cast on 60 to 64 stitches, depending on the yarn guage. I like to knit on 3 needles so the heel flap is simply the count of stitches on the needle with the most stitches- either 20 or 24. I do a wrap and turn heel, and simply decrease every other row for both the gusset and the toes.The result is a sturdy, utlitarian sock that hugs my foot without slouching or bagging, perfect for winter wearing inside my safety boots that I have to wear to work every day. I have yet to wear out a pair since I started knitting my own socks some 4 years ago, So I do indeed have a lovely drawer full! Lucky me!
Friday, 20 August 2010
A little treat!
Yesterday I talked the G-man into taking to Chapters and Starbucks for a coffee and a browse through the latest knititng books. This is not as easy as it sounds since for outings I still rely on my wheelchair, which requires a willing pusher, and I leave the crutches behind, as the standing around is still exhausting.
I hadn't really thought I would find anything to new, and my knitting book collection at home is very reasonable and I have to be careful that I don't already have something reasonably similar. But I stumbled across this lovely book by Wendy Bernard from Knit and Tonic:
Chapters must have just got it in 'cause I hadn't seen in before. It is terrific - there are more than 10 sweaters I really, really like, and several that will be able to be made from stash yarn! The book is very well laid out, and Wendy does an awesome job of detailing the potential alterations and variations that could be done to each of her patterns to customize the fit or change the look. It's like getting twice or even more, the patterns in one book. As well she has utilized either top down or bottom up in round for most of the patterns making seaming all but obsolete, and patterns faster and more streamlined knits. What's not to like? this time I decided not to wait for a sale or a coupon or whatever and went ahead and paid full price. I think I got a good deal considering what I am learning and all the different patterns I can make up from it. Highly recommended!
Knit on....
ps. This doesn't count as breaking my no yarn purchases and knitting only from stash self-imposed sentance, does it?? After all the intention is to knit a few of these patterns from the actual stash, right?
I hadn't really thought I would find anything to new, and my knitting book collection at home is very reasonable and I have to be careful that I don't already have something reasonably similar. But I stumbled across this lovely book by Wendy Bernard from Knit and Tonic:
Chapters must have just got it in 'cause I hadn't seen in before. It is terrific - there are more than 10 sweaters I really, really like, and several that will be able to be made from stash yarn! The book is very well laid out, and Wendy does an awesome job of detailing the potential alterations and variations that could be done to each of her patterns to customize the fit or change the look. It's like getting twice or even more, the patterns in one book. As well she has utilized either top down or bottom up in round for most of the patterns making seaming all but obsolete, and patterns faster and more streamlined knits. What's not to like? this time I decided not to wait for a sale or a coupon or whatever and went ahead and paid full price. I think I got a good deal considering what I am learning and all the different patterns I can make up from it. Highly recommended!
Knit on....
ps. This doesn't count as breaking my no yarn purchases and knitting only from stash self-imposed sentance, does it?? After all the intention is to knit a few of these patterns from the actual stash, right?
Saturday, 14 August 2010
WIP#3 C'est Fini!
WIP progress continues. WIP#3 is done!
I had completely forgotten that I actually enjoyed knitting this easy lace pattern , lace and I frequently not playing well together - looks a little like dainty cabling without all the work. I'm sorry but I couldn't seem to get a good picture of the lace work being confined to indoor lighting. But it is pretty, and the socks are very, very bright! They will be just the thing to brighten up the dull winter days!
Knit on.....
I had completely forgotten that I actually enjoyed knitting this easy lace pattern , lace and I frequently not playing well together - looks a little like dainty cabling without all the work. I'm sorry but I couldn't seem to get a good picture of the lace work being confined to indoor lighting. But it is pretty, and the socks are very, very bright! They will be just the thing to brighten up the dull winter days!
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