flyinmysoup

i don't know about you, but each New Year brings with it a slight feeling of guilt in the department of knitting. i look at my stash, UFO's, and FWIP's, and i can't help but hear that little naggy voice in the back of my head, telling me to shape up. thus far, the voice hasn't been able to quell my love of new yarn or my chronic PI (project infidelity). i've tried many things--mostly bribing myself with the promise of some fabulously lovely yarn--but to no avail. i thought that i'd take a stab at public disclosure and see how that goes. First, the list of UFO's and FWIP's.

*Sahara Sweater
*Venezia Pullover
*Garden Shawl
*Fir Cone Shawl from Folk Shawls
*Via Diagonale bag
*Shedir from theFall 04 Knitty Suprise
*Fetching
*Chicknit's Ribby Cardi
*DNA tank (a hybrid design)
*Pretty Comfy Socks
*Cat Bordhi's Flow Motion Socks from the Fall 06 VK
*Entrelac Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks
*Fibonacci Socks (my own design)
*Twisted Travelling Socks (my own design)
*Log Cabin-inspired blanket from acrylic stash yarn

at least these were the only one's that i could find...there may be more that i didn't uncover in my search. alright, that parts done. now, onto the flashing of the stashing.....

Sock and lace yarns. i have projects in mind for most of the lace weight. the sock yarn stash however, did get a bit away from me. it was all the dyeing that i had been doing, i think. that and the fact that, with sock yarn and lace weight, you can get an entire projects worth of yarn fairly inexpensively (most of the time anyhow).

worsted weight and heavier yarns. i have enough for at least a couple of tops or bigger projects, but i do have a fair amount of one or two skiens of misc. yarns. meh. i forsee a really hideous afgahn in my future...*sob* or maybe one of the One Skien Project books--which is way more uplifting!

a motley assortment of left over yarn bits. mostly sock yarn (cause of my wee feet and short attention span). really, i think that i must secretly be planning some gut-wrentching fair isle creation.

and now, the most mortifying part of my stash--the stuff that i collected when i first started out knitting and didn't know of the wonders of natural fibers...the acrylic stash:
it's in a cedar chest, people. a giant cedar chest full of craptastic, plastic-y red heart, eyelash yarns, fur shit, and the odd skien of something half way decent (ie. the Cotton Ease). i'm so embarrassed by it that i couldn't even take a decent picture. i don't know why i don't donate the bulk of it to Good Will or something. i do have a fair amount of Caron Simply Soft that makes a nice, washable blanket--the Log Cabinish one i'm working on is going to be made of it. i'd burn the rest if not for the toxic fumes.

i am proud to say that i reduced my stash by one skien with the first FO of 2007.
i made myself a new dice bag (told you i wasn't only a knitting geek) out of some Rowan Denim yarn i had gotten a while back to make a pair of baby "jeans" (said baby is now about two...i suck). i made up the pattern as i went and used something called a Woven Stitch out of Barbara Walker's 2nd Stitch Dictionary. i wish the yarn wasn't evil, hand cramping cotton cause i sure would love to make a kick-around sweater out of it--it's marvelous after a run through the washer and dryer.

well, i can mark one of the 15 projects off of the UFO/ FWIP's list. i have completed the pair of Fibonacci sequence socks. wanna see a picture?

these babies were constructed toe-up, using the Magic Loop and size 3.0 mm addis. i knit them out of some leftover Calmer i had about. the stripe pattern, as previously stated, uses a Fibonacci sequence. i used an afterthougt (aka. peasent) heel on 60% of the stitches rather than 50%. i really like the fit of the heel, not to mention the pleasant look of the decreases. the pattern is dead easy, and if anyone shows any interest, i'll make it available.

the Sahara Sweater is in the home stretch, with only one sleeve to go. ahh...look at all the UFO's flying off to FO land here!

it's been a week for FO here! i finished up the Sahara sweater today! whoo hooo!

and because i had troubles with the framing of the pic, here's one of what the bottom hem looks like:

Details:
Pattern: Sahara Sweater by Wendy Bernard
Needles: 4.5mm for body, 3.75mm for ribbing; Boye Needlemaster
Yarn: Berrocco Softwist, colorway 9463 (midnight blue)
Start/Finish: 19 dec (approx)/ 18 jan
Notes: there are three sleeve options(sleeveless, cap sleeves, long sleeves) presented in the pattern, and i decided to not use any of them! instead, i opted for an almost 3/4 sleeve, and i'm pretty pleased with how it looks. the top of the sweater has a tighter gauge than the bottom--a reminder that i should lay off the stockinette when i'm pissed off. i don't think that the difference is that huge, and it should block out just fine. i chose the Softwist as a replacement for the suggested yarn (Tilli Thomas Pure & Simple) cause 1) it still had a lovely sheen, 2) the drape was great, and, most importantly 3) the finished sweater cost me around $40 instead of over $100. that said, i don't know that i actually like the yarn. it's super-splitty...to a fault. and i think that it may be a bit itchy. i won't be able to judge the itch factor until after the top has been washed and blocked, however. the arms seem a little wonky, like they are too big for the armsythe. this could be a result of the aforementioned pissed-off knitting on the back vs. cool, calm, and collected knitting on the arms. i'm putting a lot of eggs into the blocking basket.
the fit of the sweater might be a titch close for my tastes, but it's definetly sexy. i did some tweaking of the waist decreases/increases to try and compensate for my curviness. i do like it enough that i would consider making it again sometime. maybe in a silk blend next time.

three FO's in one week??? holy crap. the Stash and UFO bust-along has certainly been great motivation for me!

Details
Pattern: Pretty Comfy Socks by Debbie Young
Needles: 3.25 mm
Yarn: Cascade Fixation in burn-your-eyes fuschia
Start/Finish: 18 feb 2006/ 18 jan 2007
Notes: almost a year to finish what is a really really simple pattern...sheesh. what a slacker. these socks are pretty and comfy, so i suppose they are appropriatly named. and don't let the project time scare you--they are super easy to knit. it was my Chronic Project Infidelity that led to the one year time line!

a couple of years ago, when g and i first moved to Indianapolis, i discovered the glory and joy that a LYS in the same town you live in can bring. oh, and the utter e-vile-ness of the Sale room at Mass Ave Knit shop (yep, just what it sounds like. a ROOM of discounted yarn *sigh*). it was there, approximately 3ish years ago, that i picked up 10 skiens of Noro Lily in a gorgeous silvery grey color. now, i love this yarn. i loved it when i bought it and i loved it each of the previous (like 2 or 3) times i've knit it up into some failed project doomed for the frog pond. the problem was the Lily just wouldn't talk to me. she wouldn't tell me what she wanted to be, so i was left willy nilly trying different things. a flirty summer top?? guess not. how about a lacey shell? uh uh, try again. a close fittinging, simple cardigan? eh, not so much. inspiration has once again struck where Lily is concerned, dear readers, and this time, i think she might just be speaking up. i almost don't want to say anything. i've gotten my hopes up concerning this girl before, and i've always let her down with projects that were, well, just not right. i think she'll sing as a Sahara sweater, though. i've almost gotten the main body finished. that's all i'm gonna say about it right now, and no pics until it's all done. i don't want to jinx it!