Yarn Crawl

It never hit me until SnB the other night that Moths are really every knitters biggest enemy. Seeing Cookie with her huge hefty bags of yarn she was de-stashing made me think. "Huh, those could be useful." So at Walmart the other day (I really don't go there often, this was the P&C run and justified) I got two boxes and decided that one day I would make my yarn moth safe. When I still had some left. So last night at 1 am after doing some work-work (the one I get paid to support my yarn-addiction with) I decided it was Time. Out came the camera at ISO 800 and one of the studio lights (I just needed enough light to not have to use the flash. Ick, ick, I hate flashes.) Pictures are not compensated for tungsten light so they're VERY yellow.

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So many single skeins that were bought "just for fun" back when all I knit were socks (instant gratification.) With socks you can really justify splurging $20 on a skein. The Classic Elite alpaca in black and red will come in handy (ha ha ha) for the sheep puppets from Spin Off Summer 2006.

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There were projects that haven't seen daylight in YEARS. A pair of mittens (well clearly not done, so 1.5 mittens) from the Folk Mittens book (the lapland ones, cuz ya know, that's where I'm from, and I'm proud of it dammit.) One mitten is clearly too small, but I still kept going (or didn't). Some dpns were missing in it too.

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3/4 of a sock has been knitted in my pretty blue and green stitches yarn, using the embossed leaves pattern from IK. I love the pattern, finished a pair already in a different color, but got bored with the second pair. I'm thinking Pomatomus or Jaywalkers maybe. I've always wanted to do a toe up sock.

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I almost forgot the homegrown felted bag with leaves. It is worked in intarsia and the round, isn't that an oxymoron? Took me one row exactly to figure that one out. " Where the fudge is the yarn??" (Only I didn't say fudge.) I'm bright, I know. One corner of the bag is open. It will be sewed up before felting. The Manos pink and purples are gorgeous.

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The dreaded sweater. Brought it out for the Yearly Inspection. "Yup, the first sleeve is STILL at 5 inches." The knitting fairies are but a dream. Although this time, I also decided that when the weather gets colder (in the CA Bay Area that will be in OCTOBER I hope) I am bringing out the beast to FINISH it.

A tip for the knitter who hasn't left a project hanging for more than a few weeks. Don't. ( But you'll know for sure you're a Process Knitter.) And if you do, then make sure you unravel about 2-3 rows before you begin knitting. If the yarn has been hanging out on the needles for too long they get stretched. You will definately see a "ridge" in your knitting where you picked up the work again and started knitting unless you unravel that row. It can maybe be fixed with blocking, but I wouldn't take that chance. Rip, rip, rip.

For this sweater I am actually going to start the other sleeve first (or maybe do two at once) because God only knows ( if she knits) what my gauge is like now, and I'd prefer it to be the same on both sleeves at least.

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I love Artfibers. I'm a broken record, I know. Their stuff is stellar. Kyoto and Satori (a.k.a. handpainted Kyoto) are my favorites. So shiny and so soft. I have made a gazillion hats and scarves with this yarn. Not for myself though, but I still have yarn left to pet. Alot of it.

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Novelty yarns. I'm sure Old School knitters shudder at the thought. But it's fun! My grandma (79 years old, who probably knitted for about seventy of them) sent me some ribbon yarn the other week from Sweden. "It's so FUN and PRETTY to knit with, and guess what?? It's ALL IN GARTER STITCH. How easy is that??" She even got my sister to start knitting. WITHOUT ME. I am so jealous.

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Knitting research is awesome. Got my books from Amazon on Friday. Only looked through the Pattern book by Barbara Walker so far. So the pictures are in black in white? So the book is THICK? It is such a wealth of patterns and information I think EVERY SINGLE KNITTER should have this book. I found the pattern for the Orangina in it. I think. It is so pretty. (And it's coming along..)



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So the Yarn Crawl? It was really just a trip to Creative Hands in Belmont (We almost had a heartattack when we noticed they were not in their old location in San Carlos!! Just drive a couple of miles north and it's on the left right when you get into Belmont, phewey), and to Fengari's in Half Moon Bay. Don't take 92, it's a bitch to get over the hill. Not for my friend though "you can take as long as you want, I'm knitting."

Four skeins of sock yarn, and 4 skeins of Cotton classic. Thanks to Organizing Streak I didn't spend a fortune today. Because, even if I don't think so, I DO have SOME yarn at home. At least enough for a couple of sweaters and too many pairs of socks. So it's time to make the Complete List of Objects to Knit. Scary.