Friday, December 22, 2006

yarn stash?! no, not me!

i have never considered myself a knitter with yarn stash.

yarn was purchased when a new project was being planned and about to be knit. economical and non-frivolous. that was that. so imagine my surprise when i found my non-existent yarn stash filled a whole cardboard storage box with virtually no room to spare!

my first unconscience inkling that perhaps i did indeed have yarn stash was when i needed a present for the office gift exchange. i wanted to knit something personal and realized i had two balls of crystal palace red mohair frappe in a bag in the sewing room that just might make a great flying v scarf from exquisite little knits. and it did.

my first conscience inkling that i had yarn stash was when i went to the LYS' secret saturday sale and bought two skein's of noro kureyon with a pattern in mind but no one in mind for the finished project. that was the day i thought, "hmmmm, i wonder if those various bags of yarn stashed around the house constitutes 'yarn stash?' ". and lo and behold it did.


who knew? obviously not me! as my cute husband would say, i have been living in the state of denial!

so this is what a non-existent yarn stash looks like. some of it is earmarked for a project, like the blue cotton and silk frogtree in front, which will hopefully turn into the shell game, a pattern from the garter belt. then there is the various sock yarn; in the upper right hand corner is this truly lovely lavender and green cotton and silk yarn by the name of fable from artyarns. the dark yarn next to it is rowanspun aran in a lovely navy tweed color that has hopes of someday being the bookworm vest from cheryl oberle's folk vests book.

but the rest of it is just stash. i fell in love with the ry cashsoft in various colors. also the jo sharp silver grey kid mohair. the most unusual find for me is the gray skein of fingering weight yarn from black water abby yarns in ireland (yarn next to the blue frogtee). i had read of this yarn, looked at their website and found a nearby trunk show. i look forward to knitting it up. the two bags in back are filled with leftover yarn from various projects. there is enough brown cascade 220 leftovers to knit up a felted hat from pick up sticks! yeesh!

amazing how yarn can just multiply like that! now i guess i should actually knit something with it all! so i better get to it! happy holidays to all!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

christmas blooming


i am home sick today and instead of resting i am taking pictures for my blog! oh brother! but all seven of the african violets are blooming at the same time and i could not let this kodak moment slip by. they seem so content on the kitchen window sill even though it is quite cold outside, by northern california standards anyway.


now i will go rest...and knit the red mohair scarf that will not be finished by tomorrows gift exchange. think it would be tacky if i gave it away on the needles with promises that it would be finished soon?!

Monday, December 18, 2006

it's outta here!

so, the gray baby alpaca scarf is done and gone! finished it in time for the holiday luncheon last friday. whew! here it is modeled by the big guy. the person who picked it out during the white elephant exchange liked it so much she didn't take it off!

so now i am once again cramming to finish a scarf for a thursday holiday breakfast. i don't think i will finish it in time. so i may have to attend with a non-knitted cutesy gift from my traditional gift stash and start a knitted gift stash for future use. we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

a sewing repose

this weekend is the annual madrigal feast put on by the music department of the h.s. the kids go to. this is the only year both kids will be in it. this will be the big guy's fourth and final year; and it is my sweet friend's first. it is a real joy to see them both performing in the same production. except for the costumes.

i have known about this weekend and all of it's responsibilities since forever. unfortunately, possessing that knowledge did not inspire me to get started on the costumes until about a week and a half ago. luckily the big guy had most of his costume. he just needed a few additions. it was my sweet friend who needed a whole costume from scratch. the last few days have found me glued to the sewing machine. i came home from work early today so i could finish putting bone in her vest as well as finishing some other odds and ends. i don't think the fam has heard such gnashing of teeth and cursing since...well..forever. it is what happens when i continually prick myself with the pins and sew the shoulders of the vest in such a way it resembles a horse harness instead of a young woman's vest. but amazingly, it all resolved itself. they are at dress rehersal, as i type, with costumes completed. well, everything except for a muffin hat!

i miss sewing. i have sewn my whole adult life. i love being able to make something new to wear. then i discovered knitting. with these last few days of sewing i found i missed sitting with the fam and catching up on their day while i knit. sometimes in the quiteness of knitting, my sweet friend and i have the best talks. that can't happen while sewing. at least not while crunch sewing! so, though muffin hats still need to be made, i can take a breather and knit a bit.

with that said, here are some pictures of the felted bags! i love the way they came out. i shared them at the LYS this past weekend and they were oohhed and aaahhhed over. i love the tweedy look knitting with two colored yarns held together gives. and i love the spice the third yarn contributes. i like the surprise of felting. when knitting, i liked the look of the red yarn combo and was concerned about the green yarn combo. after felting, i love the look of the green yarns. the size of the bag is just what i envisioned. the pattern had called for knitting 6.25 inches before starting the keyhole handle. i knitted 7.25 inches which made the bag a bit bigger. after i finished knitting them, i was concerned the bags were to big. when felting, i let them agitate five times in a row, each time adding a full kettle of boiling water to get them to this size. they came out much better than i expected. i can't wait for christmas to come so i can give them to my friends. i may even make one for me.
and sew a new christmas blouse to match.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

they are done!

just finished the felting wash for the evening bags. they look terrific! pics and specifics to come!