Sunday, July 29, 2007

Wow, its amazing how little I got done knitting-wise this week!

So I was home all week while a bunch of work was being done around the house - painting about 1/2 the interior, new heating/ac system, new hot water heater (tankless!), and then repair work for the holes they had to cut for the new vents/pipes for these. I had been hoping that I would do a little more sorting/de-cluttering of the house myself. But I honestly thought I'd have time for lots of knitting.

Well I didn't! First, it was just so hectic here I quickly realized there was no work happening on the Mystery Stole. Luckily there was no new clue this past Friday, but since it is Sunday afternoon and I go back to work next week, and I haven't knit one stitch on clue 4, I think its very doubtful I'll get that clue done before the clue 5 comes out next Friday. Oh well, I'm still way ahead of when I normally lose pace with these things.

And I didn't even really get any easy knitting done. I had thought I'd finish Kiri this week. And I'm on 7 of 12 rows in the edging. But I'm going to start adding beads now, which means its no longer a carry-along project. Which also means it will be competing with Mystery Stole for at-home knitting time. Oh well.

But I did get rid of some yarn this week. My friend Melodye stopped by one evening and took the last of the sock yarn I've been meaning to put on ebay. So that's a reduction of 3472.2 yards of yarn. Which as you'll see just barely exceeds the incoming yarn from last week, and not that from this week.

First, I never gave you a total on last week's incoming. I know the yardage for the kit, so that can go on the yarn inventory rather than the kit inventory. So the total was 3124.73 yards.

And this week:



Starting on the top row left, 2 skeins of "Buckwheat Honey" from Wooly Wonka for the Bee Fields shawl and 4 skeins for "The Iceman Cometh" sock. Last in the top row is a skein of sock yarn from Two Waters Fiberworks in the color Fleur. Bottom row, again left to right, we have Urban Gypz Hand Painted Sock yarn in "Yam, I Am;" Madelinetosh Highland Sock in "Ocean;" Dream in Color Smooshy Sock in "Wisterious" and "Beach Fog;" Knotty Sheep Painted Ladies Lace in "Dragon Ladies & Dragon Knights" (2 skeins); and Trekking pro natura in color 1508 (a denim tweed). The 2 kits have to go on that list, the yardage on the remainder - 4441!

Its really too bad I mostly buy lace and sock yarns - bulky would have much less yardage!

And I started a Clapotis to use up some yarn I've never been happy with in any other pattern. It will be easy enough to be a carry-along project. I think I have enough yardage for a scarf-size. And I'll put it in the gifts pile when I'm done.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Quick confession

Stash still increasing.

No decrease on WIPs.

But I am home this week while I have a bunch of work done at the house. I'm hoping I'll have at least one WIP to report next week.

So, mail orders that arrived this week are the Lily of the Valley smoke ring kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers and 3 skeins of Trekking XXL.

And I went shopping in Richmond on Saturday. I was worse than I hoped, but better than I normally am under the circumstances. The damage - one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Suri Lace (a new yarn I had to try) and two skeins of Sea Silk in Ivory.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

I think startitis might really be a disease!

I stopped in at Stitch DC yesterday on the way back from lunch and they had a few of Susanne's ebony circulars. Having heard a lot of these, and finding one in a popular lace needle size for me (US4), I picked them up. Now I have the crazy urge to cast on a new shawl, despite having recently tallied just how many of those WIPs are shawls! So far I'm fighting it off, but I am thinking about it a lot.

On the good news front, no yarn walked out the door with me!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Still working in the wrong direction

First the sock yarn from Carodan Farm came - Tofutsies June Limited Edition w/ pattern and Claudia's Handpaint in Blue Skies.



Then the Posh Yarn came - from left to right, Allegra laceweight (20% silk, 20% cashmere, & 60% cotton), Emily sock yarn (80% wool, 10% cashmere, & 10% angora), and Eva laceweight (55% silk & 45% cashmere). Only the last was bought with a specific project in mind, the rest were a whim. And until I received the pattern I didn't realize I may have moved on to a new color trend!



But I did finish my first toe-up sock using a short row toe and heel:



So the finally tally?

Increase of 3519.95 yards and decrease of 462 yards this week. Net change since July 1st - increase of 3975.33 yards. Current yardage in stash - 379484.47 yards.

Decrease of 1 WIP, to a current total of 28.

Clue 3 finished also!



Yep, finished clue 3 early this morning. This clue seemed a lot easier to me, I think because there were less beads.

I'm beginning to this this is the summer of the shawl - I finished the one skein shawl a week or so ago, and I have 4 shawls on the needles right now - Kiri, Leaf Lace, Nina and Mystery Shawl 4 (which I more typically didn't finish with the group!). I'm actively working on Kiri right now.

Plus I just purchase a kit for the bee shawl that is all the buzz right now (plus a few other kits from Willy Wonka).

Friday, July 13, 2007

Mystery Stole 3, Clue 2



Well I finished clue two Thursday morning, meaning that for the first time ever I have managed to keep pace with a KAL for more than one step! I'm so puffed up with pride its embarassing.

I've mentally started calling this "plain vanilla" because some of the dark ones are so gorgeous. But Melanie's pattern is so stunning that it really isn't plain!

Sunday, July 08, 2007

One week in, almost 1000 yards up!

Yep, that resolution didn't really take so well. It didn't help that I found a picture on the internet of someone's stash that made mine look like small potatoes!

First, the Earthfaire order came - a merging colors kit in "Cape Cod." No details on the yarn, so this just adds one to the kit list:



Then I went to the Knitter's Cottage yesterday. They were having a "Christmas in July" sale and I couldn't resist a few things. Two skeins of Colinette Parisienne that were 50% off, 3 skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille that were 30% off, plus the new Interweave Felt special magazine and a Rowan Classic book.



I had missed a "staff" dinner last week, and the owner gave me the very generous goodie "bag" she had given everyone. Yep, that's some more sock yarn in the mix - Misty Mountain Farm Jubilee:



But I did finish a shawl made with one skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody:



I also ripped out the Genevieve shrug and started a Kiri shawl with the yarn on the Fourth. Its moving right along, and in fact looks like a project that will work as a train project. So hopefully it will be finished pretty promptly.

So, the net change on the count - 1 kit up, 917.38 yards up, 1 WIP down.

Oh, and I did order some other sock yarn this week and pulled off a few things from today's Posh Yarn posting! So another increase is on the horizon!

Now I should get back to clue 2 of the Mystery Stole 3!

Monday, July 02, 2007

Mid-year resolutions

Well between my post about the yarn-shopping blackouts and now life got really crazy. I decided that since July 1 was mid-way through the year I'd treat it like a New Year's Day and recommit to this destashing thing. I did mean to post this yesterday, but time got away from me.

So, yardage in the stash yesterday - 375509.14.

Kits not counted in the yardage - 1 cardigan, 2 dolls, 2 hats, 1 mitten, 4 novelties, 4 purses, 1 shawl, 4 socks, and 1 vest.

On the needles:

Robert the Bruce (aran sweater)
Mitered Vest
Danish Skra-troje sample
Soft Cables mobium
Mini Lace & Beaded Flag
Yummy mittens
Travelers socks
Trellis Stitch scarf
Simple socks
Bonkers hat
Noro 73 mittens
Flora (fair isle vest)
Finola (sleeveless sweater)
Bronte (lace scarf)
Leaf Lace Shawl
Lace scarf
Beaded pouch
Loopy & Luscious scarf
Philosopher's Wool cardigan
Log Cabin afghan
Twined Wristers
Mystery Shawl-a-long 4
Nina Shawl
Genevieve (shrug)
Angel Pearls (scarf)
Wendy's Toe-Up socks
Arctic Diamonds Scarf
Wendy's Toe-Up socks
One Skein Shawl
Mystery Stole 3

I have two outstanding yarn orders - one from Naturesong Yarns and one from Earthfaire - and I'm still in the Flock Sock club. But hopefully this time I won't go negative on the destashing!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Mystery Stole 3

Well I joined the Mystery Stole 3 KAL, along with thousands of other knitters from all around the world. I'm using vanilla Zephyr just like Melanie, but different beads. Below is my swatch (if you click on it you can actually see the detail). I put the beads I used around the swatch as I was amazed at how they looked so different in the bottle and so similar on the yarn. Starting from the bottom:

no beads
with Beadwrangler #111 crystal rainbow (lower left in bottle)
with Beadwrangler # 107 (lower right in bottle)
with Beadwrangler #212 (upper right in bottle)
with Beadwrangler #264 (upper right in bottle)



And here is my finished clue one:



Melanie's patterns are amazing! Now I'm twitching for the next clue. But its not like I don't have a bunch of other things I could be working on!