2 steps forward, 1 step back

Okaaay, I managed to “stash-bust” today by sending Frew-Frew‘s skeins to her (it counts! it counts! it had better, anyway) – they’ll arrive in 2 – 3 days, so I’ll post my pix of them after they arrive. Now that Knitwit got her skeins from me, I can finally post a piccie:

that she took :D
the pink is merino/ bombyx, the middle is mixed + painted Romney, the cocoa is painted baby alpaca – from the dirtiest cria I’ve ever seen. OMG.

Anyway. There are 5 skeins out of my life. Even if I did spin them for a swap, it still counts as stash-busting, I am determined. I mean, I got rid of fiber in my stash…

But, of course, me being me, I took one step backwards upon reaching this goal. Dad and I ran back and forth across town today, on errands. So, we hit Goodwill and St Vinny’s. Oh, and the scary new Walmart Superstore. Dangerous. Here’s what I got:

But! Butbutbut, the yarn is for my Rya pillow for my Rya weaving class – it’s 100% wool Tapisserie yarn from Great Britain for needlepoint and tapestry weaving. I got each skein for 15 cents at St Vinny’s. Major woot! It matches my pillow better than any of the yarns in my stash, and it’s better spun for hard wear. The needles came from both stores. I got another cable circular for Emmos, a pair of Takumi bamboo US 7’s for 49 cents at Goodwill, and some heavy nickel plated steel straights in 1’s and 3’s. Perfect for lace. The Takumis will probably go to M, since I have too many straight 7’s anyway. Unless Emmos wants them?

I’m actually thinking of clearing out all my bamboo needles. Maybe. I don’t like how much they slow me down. I’m normally a very fast knitter, but wooden needles (except my Latern Moon’s, you’ll have to prise those from my cold, dead hands, y’all) bother me (ebony and rosewood can never bother me – I can just sit and pet them :D).

In other news, I started D’s blanket, I had thought I’d taken pix, but ohwell. I’ll post some laters. I’m making him a hexagonal blanky. So far, it’s going well.

Oh, and I am completely and utterly addicted to the music from the Tsubasa Chronicles. Give me a chorus anyday…

August 18, 2006 by fyberduck

knitting blackout

We all laughed last night when we came to the part of the Knitter’s Anonymous Quiz that asked us if we’d ever had “knitting blackouts”. I openly admitted that this happened to me. I had balls of yarn, FO’s and UFO’s that I couldn’t (for the life of me) identify. This afternoon, whilst cleaning up my stash (I was on a cleaning rampage, don’t ask) I realised that I had a greater “problem” than I knew. OMG. I am OFFICIALLY NOT ALLOWED TO BUY ANY MORE YARN. Do you hear that Emmos? M? All you pushers/ enablers??? Don’t even tempt me into a yarn store.

There was yarn I couldn’t even identify. I have so much more wool and silk and cotton than I realised. I am so lucky I don’t have moths. Because of this, I have decided to discipline myself, and organize my stash. I have a stack of sealable plastic containers. I am going to separate and organize all my yarns by types – sock, DK, etc – and by planned projects – sweaters get their own box, etc. It’ll probably take me a while. A looong while, but I am determined. I’ll post pix when I am done.

I’m also hoping to do the same with my spinning stash. I used to have it organized. ‘Used to’ being the operative words in that sentence. I had the fleeces (sheep) in one large plastic box, alpaca fleeces in another, and various tops seperated by fiber content. Now, after months of frantic destress-spinning bouts, they’re all in a heap. Blast.

Oh, well. I still don’t have a job. So, at least I have a project (other than filling out applications). Also, today, as part of my cleaning rampage, I did two loads of laundry, cleaned the front room and stacked all my school notes. I deserve special credit for tackling all my school books. They’re monstrous.

And something that both cheered me and sent me into the twisted stash-organizing was the arrival of these skeins from my Handspun Swap partner, Frew-Frew:

I completely freaked when I saw the box. I was hoping that she’d padded the skein well. Yeah, she had, with other skeins. Oy. So, upon seeing all this yarn, I decided that I was not worthy and that my pitiful little skein wasn’t even close to Equivalent Exchange (FMA reference for you anime freaks hidding in the woodwork). After cleaning the front room, in order to set up my wheel (I’m being honest), I dug through my stash and realised how much fiber and yarn I have. This was a bit depressing, to be perfectly honest. I think, mostly, because it means I have very little impulse control when it comes to yarn, or anything of a wooly nature. I’m going to have to work on this – it’s going to be an uphill battle for me, I can tell.

I then also realised how many projects I have on the needles, to be put on the needles, and just sitting around. So, I’ve decided to prioritize. Articles due within the next two weeks (D’s blanky, Emmos’ b-day gift, M’s b-day gift) come first. Then the swap items (sox and pantas) due at the end of the month. Then the KAL and family presents due by the end of Sept. Then my things. Lucky me. So, tonight I would my Wild Iris skeins into balls and knit a swatch for D’s blanky:

I love my swift. I love my ball-winder. It must be said.

I’m also going to update my sidebar and blog to represent my timeline goals. Hopefully it’ll work… I don’t even know. Anyway, tired.

In other, swap related, news – I’ve had several offers for a “secret swap angel” for my poor little disappointee. I thank you all veryvery heartily for your offers, and I’m taking someone who’s done secret angeling before up. Hopefully it’ll all work out.

It does worry me, a bit, that the very nice angel read about the situation on my blog – since she’s in the swap. I hope that the person who sent the package hasn’t heard about this. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, this is all about making everyone happy. Eek.

August 18, 2006 by fyberduck