Gone with the wind

The weather here has finally cooled down (even rainy!) and some of my precious spare time this past week was taken over by airing out my yarn stash. What a revelation! With an unemployed hubby home nearly 24/7, I had some serious hesitation in pulling out all the boxes, pillowcases and bags in one go. (The last time he saw the whole shebang was in 1990 when we packed up our belongings to move back to Israel and its only gotten bigger since then.) Instead I've done a few boxes/bags each day. I'm now on day 4 and there's still yarn that hasn't yet seen the light of day.

It's at times like this that I shake myself and shout, "What were you thinking?!"

Let me tell you what I was thinking:

• When we lived in the States, there were 3 yarn shops within a 15 minute drive from my house. What better way to spend a rainy/snowy/sunny morning/afternoon/evening than surrounded by beautiful fiber and like-minded people.


• I worked very part time in a large yarn shop where my monthly pay check usually covered my yarn purchases.


• Shop employees often had access to sales on yarns that weren't offered to the general public (for a reason; more on that another time).


• One of the local yarn shops used to have 2/$1.00 sales. Like I needed another excuse to stock up, right? But most of my luxury and plain ol' sock yarns came from there.


• After a couple of harrowing experiences discovering that by the time I got around to actually wanting to knit a pattern with the called-for yarn and finding that the yarn had been discontinued, I learned to stock up while the yarn was still available. (Can we all say Rowan?)


• Since Israel is in the YDZ (Yarn Deprivation Zone), whenever I travel abroad I carry along an extra suitcase just for my yarn purchases. (On occasion I have sent my clothes home by surface mail in order to make room for larger-than-expected purchases.)

I am a very slow knitter. While leaving most of the various online knitting lists has quelled the yarn acquisition Siren Song to a great extent, I still enjoy revelling in my own personal yarn shop, open 24/7.

Now to just find the right pattern/stash yarn combinations!

The Latest

Howdy bloggers,

I have been knitting some cute little bears out of the many odd balls of yarn I have. They are great small projects and easy to take around.

My friend's daughter is in the hospital and when we go to sit and keep her company I bring my knitting. So the bears are a perfect project.

I have even inspired the patient to knit and she is working on a blanket for a friend's baby. When I am there and I get tired of working on my own project I give her a hand with hers.

I am also trying to make a pair of fingerless gloves. I am finding the project challenging. I seem to have problems with getting the measurements correct. The easiest measurement is the circumferance. The difficult part is getting the lengths right. I am working on a second glove.. I like the design but when I began the thumb "tube" it seemed to pull the length anad now the glove is too short. They are for my daughter, but they should fit me "like a glove"!

SVP, your suggestions are requested

I completed a scarf for Melissa, and once again I will have a F(rogged) O(bject)! She likes the stockinette stitch, even though I knew it would curl - I just figured that I'd block it, no prob. Yes, prob, it's still curling too much, besides the fact that she won't block it after she washes it.

Any suggestions for a stitch or pattern? I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. It's a lovely, soft yarn with beautiful definition.

I was hoping that this would be a quick project as winter quickly approaches, and it has been so far. But, I must frog.

On the subject of scarves, I've been intrigued by the Multi-directional scarf. A beautiful example of it here. I started mine with Cherry Tree Hill Glitter Alpaca in Wild Cherry colorway and size 11 needles which makes a lacy fabric. So far, it's turning out very nicely. Pictures in the future.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Happy Knitting!

FO

ahhh yes..... my trusty US 2 needle. No, not for knitting socks. Or lace or baby clothes. I love my US 2 needle for gathering stitches when I frog.

FO in my knitting world means "Frogged Objects" not Finished Objects. In this past week alone, I frogged the Ballet Pullover (IK, summer 04), Divine shawl (my own pattern), and Melissa's Indiana scarf. And of course, there's the Supreme Ultimate F(rogged) O(bject), David's Once Again Sweater which has been frogged at least 5 times! (I started this sweater when I first began knitting about 4 years ago ). The Ballet Pullover: the picked-up stitches for the sleeve didn't look right at the raglan seaming. The Divine Shawl: Tried 4 different stitch patterns to find one that I liked. Melissa's Indiana scarf: named because she now lives in cold country and can actually wear functional knitted clothes. YAY! Again I tried 4 different patterns and nothing seemed to work. Then I figured out that it was the yarn that I didn't like (won't name it for fear of offending anyone), but decided on 2 x 2 rib just to get it done and off to her. In the meantime, I've placed an order for Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran. David's sweater? Well, that's a never-ending saga and I won't bore you with it.

oh! one last FO, a 'real' FO. I present baby slippers from Simple Knits For Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. (you can see another view here).


And these babies weren't frogged once! When I showed them to Molly, she asked, "How many times did you have to take them out?"
"Take them out? What do you mean?"
"You know. You undo them and start again. How many times did you do that?"

With the Holidays quickly approaching, I've got a busy frogging season ahead.
Happy Knitting!
and frogging!

Dumped!

Has it already been an entire month since we last posted? We must be too busy knitting. But regardless, it looks like we've been removed from the KnittingBlogs webring. (sigh)

I think Julie & Co. deserve real kudos in mantaining the ring. It's a huge and thankless job keeping track of 500 sites, but frankly, I don't see myself posting only about knitting on a weekly basis. Besides having another website to maintain, Real Life takes up most of my spare time. (One must have one's priorities straight, no?)

When the KnittingBlogs webring was started by Ivete in 2002, it was much smaller and you could actually travel the entire ring during the week. (Trivia note: The original ring image of a pair of knitting hands is the link I created for the ring way back when.) Now, because of time considerations, I only read the knitting blogs that interest me, most of whom are listed on the BlogRoll over there in the sidebar.

Give them a try and maybe they'll become regular reads for you as well.