Quickie

I thought I'd stop in and spend a moment updating you on the blanket which is nearly double in size from the last time I posted.

It's looking quite nice- although I've had to start measuring and deciding how long I want this to be.  Thinking 2 more repeats with an extra brown stripe will make the blanket too short at roughly 31 inches.  (Although it would be more esthetically appealing to the eye.)  3 repeats is probably the right length call but I would need to figure the order of the various blues, because I like consistency.

I will also admit I've hit a certain amount of "sigh" when it comes to this project and my brain is counting the minutes until it can focus on more appealing projects.  Hang in there self!  Get it done!!!

In the mean time... back to the grind!

Return of the Mojo

Well... it seems that little undesired knitting sabbatical I was on has come to an end.  I WANT TO KNIT ALL THE THINGS.  ALL OF THEM.  NOW.  My desire to work through the stash has me desiring to keep whipping things off the needles... which bodes well for current projects.

(I try to keep myself to 1, sometimes 2 "in progress" projects at a time.  I find if I have too many unfinished things on the needles I get stressed out.  Since this is technically supposed to be something I enjoy doing {most days} it's best to not stress me out.  Hence you don't often see more than 1 or 2 things going at a time around here.)

I'm loving the latest little scrappy blanket.

Simple and knits up fast, although I am worried that it might be a bit short in length.  It's always hard to say.  I cast on 220 stitches, but the SK2tog, PSSO might be "scrunching" it up a bit.  Same little rules as always- after a full round of color repeat, I need to weave in the ends, so that I don't feel suicidal at the end of the blanket.  My hate for end weaving in knows no limits.  I will admit I have some concerns about having enough to be consistent in my color changes, but I'll worry about that as it comes.

Getting Parker back into his routine has meant 2 things... his activities allow me more "portable project" time and more time to knit in general while he's at school.  The socks have been seeing this benefit lately...

Remember I want to knit TWO more simple socks this year... so these need to get done.

This is all well and good- my desire to sit and knit is back and I'm doing just that... but my Knitting ADD has also returned and I find myself with all kinds of desires to knit all kinds of things.  And so, because I always need to remind myself, knitting is FUN, I'm allowed a little "side" project once these two other projects are off the needles... before getting back to the "to do" list.

Okay- must finish this up and take advantage of my child-free knitting hours!!

Positive Momentum

I knew it!  I knew it!  Last week's little project in updating myself on the stash situation and setting some specific goals regarding gettting stuff out WORKED.  That seemed to be just the "kick" I needed and this week we have seen KNITTING progress.  YES.  ACTUAL. KNITTING PROGRESS.  Mojo may have returned!

I decided to just get one of those dish cloths out of the way right away...

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth by Peaches and Cream Design Team
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton**
Needles: US 7
Notes: I'm not sure anything new could be said about this pattern- it's the bees knees!  I love it.  I'll likely knit 2 more of these.  There are so many colorful options to be had and it always looks smart when it's done.

I also worked on the travel sock for a bit just to keep that going and I ended up actually finishing the first sock.  (I took a picture before that... so this will have to suffice.)

I even cast on sock #2 just to keep momentum going in a positive way!

AND- I put together a grouping of sock leftovers and even cast on another little leftover sock yarn blanket!

HOLY PRODUCTIVITY BATMAN!  It feels good to be knitting again!

So now that you're updated about what's on my needles I need to show you what my husband arranged for me for my birthday this last week....

WOLLMEISE CAKE!  And oh people... it was yum.

(No... none of us understand why they didn't center the picture... but the cake was delicious!)

OH and look at my Christmas gift from my Mother in Law!

How did I not know about a knitting coloring book!?  Yeesh!  I'm out of touch!  (Can't wait to color in it...  (I love that it has KITTIES and Yarn!)

January is off to a good start...  hoping to continue with positive momentum.


**I'm not even going to link to this yarn because it is terrible!  While cotton in general isn't usually "fun" to knit with, this stuff is scented.  WHO DECIDED THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA!?  I had a headache like 4 rows into this thing!  It is TERRIBLE and I will never buy it again.  UGH.  Scented yarn is such a bad idea.

Let's Talk About My Yarn!

Happy New Year!  As predicted, the flurry of the Christmas season caught up with me and I had a difficult time carving enough space out for blog posts... let alone anything else.  Also, if I'm being really honest here... I am in a pretty nasty knitting slump.

Maybe it's because I'm creating my own pattern and there are just nights "I don't wanna".  Or maybe it's because there have been other stressful factors lately and I just find myself unable to motivate to do anything other than "get thru it", I'm not sure.  I do know that this is probably one of the longest stretches of "knitting slump" I've been in and that I'm not sure I'm entirely past it.  The good news is that I'm tired of being in it.  I actually miss knitting.  I can't bring myself to actually KNIT- but I miss the process and the excitement of starting something new.

I noticed on Ravelry this am that people were "flashing their stash" to start the new year.  I haven't  participated in that in quite awhile and I decided to take advantage of a bright morning in my living room and snap some photos of my stash.  I also hoped that it would inspire me a little to be reminded about what's in there and maybe, just maybe, excite me about a new project.

Let's dive in- here is what's in my stash on January 1, 2017.  (I've broken it down into sections- in the effort to get me more organized.)  Maybe we can set some knitting goals here too...

ACRYLIC STASH (OF SHAME):

This is actually quite a bit smaller than it has been in other years.  The truth is for a non-knitter, sometimes an acylic blanket is soft and just what they want.  I'm not going to feel badly about that.  My goal here is to get those "Pound of Love" skeins (large pink & white skeins) out of my stash.  I'd like to knit other variations on the "Baby Heart Blanket" that I've knit twice already.  The other skeins can be for the oddball group if I feel so inspired... but for now- those big skeins need to go.

COTTON STASH

This is where this exercise comes in handy... because I was all "WHAT- WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH COTTON!?"  This stash is made up of so many leftovers and it's time to whittle it down.  And so, with that in mind- the goal is to knit 3- yes THREE dish clothes this year.  Doesn't matter what I make... I just have to make 'em.

WORSTED WEIGHT STASH

This actually isn't that bad.  The only goal here is remember I have this stash in case I need to knit a baby blanket.  (Looking at you GREY ROWAN YARN.)  Someday I'd like to knit a large afghan with that purple stuff, but I'm not ready to commit to that this year... so as long as this stash doesn't GROW... I'm happy.)

DK/SPORT WEIGHT STASH

GAH... this is out of control and I don't know even where to start here.  That giant yarn skein was a sweater I had started... and then abandoned.  I might pick it back up again, but I feel my commitment waning on that idea.  I need to remember the Red/Navy Mission Hill yarns in here when it comes time to knit blankets.  The only goal I can wrap my head around here is to knit SOMETHING by June out of this stash.  Something.  Anything.  JUST GET IT OUT OF HERE.

FINGERING WEIGHT STASH

Oh Lord.  WHAT HAVE I DONE!?  I didn't know I had gotten so carried away on Knit Picks Felici until I did this project.

Goal #1- NO MORE BUYING FELICI until at least FOUR BALLS are knit up.  (This will be hard- Phyllis I expect you to be very strict with me on this.)  Goal #2- KNIT 2 PLAIN/RELATIVELY PLAIN socks from the Felici this year.  Beyond that, I love that purple gradiant kit a WHOLE bunch... and I need to devise a plan, at some point that maximizes the beauty of that.  Plus the Wollmeise... which is languishing.... and needs some love.  But I try to set realistic goals.... 2 Felici socks this year... OR ELSE.

LACE WEIGHT STASH

Okay- this isn't bad, like at all.  But the fact that I have started/stopped/restarted/restopped/restarted/stopped various lace projects with this one skein... I'm a disaster.  I need to knit a lace shawl.  If I ever want to win a "First overall" at Stampede, I need to be able to knit a kick ass shawl.  I need to learn this.  I need to do this... but I'm going to let this languish a little bit for at least another year...

LEFTOVERS.... Which I have broken down into 2 additional categories...

FINGERING WEIGHT LEFTOVERS

So. MUCH. STUFF.  The problem here is mittens.  Mittens rarely take up a whole skein and leave me with a bunch of leftovers.  The good news is that Parker is likely going to pass Kindergarten and therefore I will need to knit at least ONE pair of mittens for a new teacher for Christmas this new year.  I vow to knit those using something from here.  I also need to get around to making a "leftover blanket" from this... and so let's add that to the goals too.

DK/SPORT/WORSTED WEIGHT LEFTOVERS

This isn't ugly.  This is actually manageable.  Dear little stash, don't expand in size.  That is your only job this year!  Don't get bigger.

So that's where I'm at.  I did find going through this stash VERY helpful and cathartic.  In fact I did derive some inspiration and will hopefully be casting on very soon for something NEW! AND! EXCITING!

So.... let's review the goals here:

1) "Pound of Love" acrylic Blanket(s) - skeins need to be gone.
2) 3 Dishcloths
3) Knit something, ANYTHING from the DK/Sport Weight stash
4) Knit 2 Pairs of Felici Socks.  TWO.
5) Knit 1 pair of mittens from "leftovers" box
6) Fingering leftover blanket

I'll be checking in on these throughout the year, but hopefully this will keep me on track, get the stash down further and BONUS- bring back the knitting mojo with some new challenges.

There is more to say about what is currently on the needles- but it is far from interesting.  I'll report back on that soon, hopefully with something interesting.  In the mean time, with the holidays winding down, lets enjoy getting back into the routine and, god willing, more regular blog posts.

Let's do this 2017!