The monotony of persistence

First things first. Some FOs I've been promising for a while...

First up is my Summer Flies, made out of Kidsilk Haze Stripe. Wasn't sure how the striping would work out, but the stripes fell very nicely on the pattern I think...

Pretty, no?  This one was finished a while ago (beginning of last month), and was a bit of a soul-destroyer, but I can tell you more about that another day. Tired now, and buckets to do yet, and seriously, where the hell did this day go?!?

Anyway, second was that fabulous Baby Silkpaca Lace I acquired a couple of weeks ago. I decided to try to break the obviously very clearly established pattern by knitting with it almost immediately. Into a Swallowtail. Yes, I know that's my sixth one. But I'll be honest, I loved this yarn, wanted it to be pretty, did NOT want to be chancing it on a pattern I wasn't familiar with and dreading the possibility of running out of yarn.

So it became this...

Please note that even though the sun was shining in, my faulty (really old) camera will not let me decide for myself whether or not I want the flash to, y'know, FLASH all over everything. The colours aren't as flat in real life, and the little beads are WAY more twinkly, don't look as dead or harsh against the yarn as they do here. Honest!

It's really pretty, if a little smaller than I was expecting. I've worked this pattern A LOT, but it's never come out this small. I know the silk in it is going to limit the stretch, and I'm fine with that, as it also makes it look pretty, and easier to put the beads on! It's a plenty-big shawlette, and I love it.

The only problem? Leftovers. I hates leftovers, and I have a LOT of them here (more than 10g, i.e. more than 20% of my total yarn). I'm guessing I may even have had enough for another bunch of budding lace rows to lengthen the thing. Ah well, I'll know next time! Question now, of course, is what to do with 10-15g of exquisite laceweight? Huh? Huh?

So after all that finishing of WIPs, I thought I'd try to be a good girl this week (well, as good as this girl can be. Turns out I have my limits) and work on a couple of things...

(a) I would NOT buy any more new stash this week at least (that decision was completely taken out of my hands by the fact that I do not have disposable income at the mo. A good thing, as I tend to spend it on yarn).

(Seriously though, when you find yourself stopping in the middle of your big grocery shop thinking 'but if I just skipped dinner on Thursday and Friday, I could buy a skein or two of such-and-such. Rice Krispies are okay for dinner, right?' you need to make your way very quickly to the nearest checkout, get your precious food out of there and home, and then and only then are you to permit yourself to even THINK about knitting again!

Close one. Skipping meals, in general, is never a good idea. When you throw in that this knitter is also an insulin-dependent diabetic, and that skipping afore-mentioned meal could leave her, quite literally, dead, then you can see it is NEVER a good idea to trade yarn for essentials. Well, other essentials).

(And yet, even with that crystal-clear, simple, life-or-death choice ahead of me, I still found myself thinking about the yarn. Really not sure that this is a positive development in my character).

Anyhoo...  

(b) knit like crazy to clear some of my current WIPs, so as I can start on the other projects in my queue.

(See above (i.e. Malabrigo Swallowtail). Also the third installment of my Botany Lace obsession is blocking as we speak, so that's done too).

This whole ''2012 is my year of the Stashdown AND the WIPdown'' thing isn't going at all according to plan. I will do a proper 'review' of the carnage to date in June, as it's the mid-way point, and as good a point as any to draw attention to my absolute lack of forward motion (while also, hopefully, theoretically, giving me the kick up the backside required to take control of things once again).

Ya see, it had all started out with my lining up the yarns I had. I then matched them to projects that were on my queue, then arranged my queue accordingly. Good basis, right? A project for everything, every project in its place?

Unfortunately, that 'pattern' tab on Ravelry is like my own personal rabbit-hole. Once I dive down there, I may not be seen for days. Of course, new patterns are going to be added to the queue. New patterns are being added to Ravelry all the time. I have even gone so far as to commit myself to some of them by actually printing them out. And making sure I've the needles.

Not all of these patterns have matching yarns in my stash. Which sometimes results in yarn being 'diverted' from a different project (Ooh, and leaving a poor, abandoned pattern, needing a yarn... well, I may just HAVE to go buy some so!).

Yeah, the plan is getting its arse kicked. I could be wrong (but in this case I doubt it), but I think my original plan was FAR too overreaching. So should I panic? I think not. And why, you may ask, with your plans in tatters, knitting all around you, do you not feel a total failure?

I'll be honest, I really really don't. I have a LOT of knitting here, and I'm getting to it. Honest. In my own way, in my own time. My plan was stupid, because it did not factor in that the person who'd be doing the knitting was me, and apparently I don't know me very well! We shall reassess next month, and give a more formal overview of progress, but I'm good.

No such thing as failure here. Why?  

Because knitting is a hobby!! It's SUPPOSED to be FUN and ENJOYABLE!!

The second it stops being any of these things for you, STOP. We've enough sources of pressure coming at us from all other areas in life, so why the hell would we be pressuring ourselves with our hobbies?

Go enjoy your knitting, people!

So if you'll excuse me, I've about four projects I'd like to go cast on for right now...

(and no, I'm not kidding. You know me better than that!)

Current knitting obsession

Yeah, I've kinda just realised how long it's been since my last post. Not strictly that long ago from a time point of view, but in terms of what I've covered, there's a bit to catch up on.

Today, however, I'd mostly just like to drooool about Botany Lace. I may have been smacking people over the head with this (metaphorically, not literally. I wouldn't do that to the yarn) on Twitter and Ravelry, and maybe even Facebook, but I've neglected my readers here and only realised that today. And I feel really really bad about it. No honestly, I do. Really!

(Aw c'mon. I've been working really hard on that 'sincerity' thing. You can still tell when I'm faking it?)

Anyhoo. Botany Lace. If you haven't knit with it, you really should. Now. Life's too short.

Acquired kinda by accident (translation: impulse buy stemming from 'ooh, pretty colours!' outburst in LYS. Yes, I am that easy).

My first colourway, the one that started it all, was bought entirely because of its pretty pretty colourway. The yarn felt nice and all, but I was mostly buying it for the colours. They're my kind of colours...

And I knew exactly what it wanted to be (which normally doesn't happen until well after I've brought the impulse purchase home. And therefore it doesn't count as an increase in stash, as it was bought for a planned project. Shut up. My blog, my rules).

So as anyone who has met me may well know at this point, I tend to, urm, kinda, like, repeat my shawl patterns. A lot. I find one I like and I knit the crap out of it. I knit more than one. Sometimes way more than one. Examples would include Heartland Lace (3 times), and Holden (5 times). Oh yeah, and Swallowtail (also 5 times, though I've just cast on a sixth).

And then there's this one. Luna Moth (6 times. This would be my seventh. I know, I know, I need to diversify!). The colours of this skein just screamed Luna Moth at me. Well, they did for a while. Quite a few days, actually. Then they started whispering something about another pattern that would also look fab in this yarn, possibly (probably) even better than it had looked when I worked it the first time in, urm, a different yarn (which I also love. Though maybe not quite as obsessively). Fabulous and all as it had looked , this could be even nicer. More to my taste. Oh, that, and my five-year-old niece had procured it on her last visit (because it made her feel all swishy like a princess - how do you say no to that?) so I didn't even have it any more. Obviously, I would HAVE to knit a new one. And maybe even with this yarn.

But what about the Luna Moth I felt it was destined to be? Well, as chance would have it, I happened to be back in the exact same LYS shortly thereafter. (Yeah. It was entirely by chance. I dare you to prove otherwise). And lo, another exquisite colourway, calling my name, and begging to be transformed into a Prairie Rose (note that I had only knitted the one at this stage. And that it had been abducted. So I absolutely needed to make a new one).

So I bought that one...

...and promptly (very promptly, actually) turned it in to this..

Pretty, huh? Exactly what this yarn was supposed to be! Except that now I had a bigger problem. Having actually finally knit with the stuff, and then gone through the spectacular blocking process (it expands like you wouldn't believe. Seriously, it's like four or five times its original size. Hanky to blanky in twenty easy minutes), I was completely in love with a hell of a lot more than the colourways. This yarn is perfection.

(Yes, it turns out that I am that shallow. Pretty pretty pretty is enough to get my attention. However, I think it says something for my character that it's only when I get to know a yarn really really well that it turns into full-on obsession. Aherm).

So anyway, I had been perusing patterns (as one does), and had found a nice one that I thought would also look particularly good with this yarn. So as the first skein was pre-destined for another project, I needed to get me another. So back to LYS. Except when I got there, I couldn't decide. I wanted the pretty bright colours, but I knew deep down they'd look like crap on me. But I went to the till with it anyway. Then changed my mind and ran back to get the more suitable colour. Then dithered, and lurched from yarn-to-till-to-yarn (while melting head of staff - sorry Jacqui) for some time, before eventually going for the sensible (though obviously still beautiful) colourway...

...soooo pretty! Except now the colours had me thinking of other projects again... Heartland Lace, anyone? And I absolutely could not get the exquisite colours of the pretty pretty bright one out of my head. So what if the colours weren't flattering? It would still be fun to knit, right? And how often was I going to have it, like, wrapped around my face? It wasn't like I was thinking of a cowl or anything (okay, I kinda was, but I changed my mind. Fickle like that. You may have noticed).

So you all know where this is going. One week later...

They are pretty colours, aren't they?

(Yes Jacqui, you were right, you agreed with me, they're absolutely not the right colours for me, they will not do anything for me, the blue-grey will indeed be way more flattering. But this was an entirely selfless act, I have no problem sacrificing personal vanity for the sake of the pattern (anyone who has seen me in a home-made hat can attest to that). This colour is good for the pattern. It is in the best interests of the pattern. And from an entirely business point of view, I bought both skeins, so what harm?). ;o)

It was a wonderful moment, as I was so sure that the pretty colours would have found a new home by now, but no. They were waiting for me. The little brother who'd had his ass dragged into the shop with me did not seem to share my enthusiasm, but I was undeterred. We showed my new yarn a good time...

...though he was reluctant to let me pose it with his Guinness. Apparently he knew some of the people who were cracking up laughing at me and wondering what the hell I was doing. I have to share a house with this guy, so decided not to push it.

Oh, and that exact same night? I blocked this...

Destiny. It's perfection. Where a project turns out exactly as you want it to. Which almost never happens.

(Also, the first ever shawl I made where I didn't make a mistake that was only discovered either several rows later or after bind-off. Not a one. Or at least I haven't found it yet if I did).

But now I'm back at square one. All skeins have a plan. I have knit the Prairie Rose pattern twice. However,  I still don't have one in my possession, as I happened to have it with me when I acquired the pretty brightly coloured skein. It was unceremoniously ripped from my grasp (by a staff-member who shall remain nameless. You know who you are. Happy birthday tomorrow, by the way!) to be installed on a shop mannequin.

So I have no Prairie Rose. What to do, what to do...

I think we all know where this is heading...

Startitis

So all those good stashdown/WIPdown intentions that were looking so wobbly on Friday night? Nosedived completely over this weekend.

Do not judge me, I am but a mere mortal (except when I'm invincible and kicking ass and stuff, but that doesn't happen so much these days) and all these yarns and projects are all purty and stuff and make me happy and warm and fluffy inside and on the outside too, or at least they would, if I ever actually finished knitting anything, and, and, and...

Anyhoo. Saturday was a long overdue visit to Rosemary & Co. at The Constant Knitter. Where, obviously, more stash was acquired. (Don't look at me like that, it would have been rude of me not to buy something. Stop it).

First up, a totally legitimate purchase, and technically it's not even stash, as it was purpose-bought for a shawl I've been asked to knit for someone, so doesn't count. At all. Ooh no.

Isn't it pretty? Fabulous greeny-bluey-turquoise colour combination, and a thoroughly reliable yarn. I've used it before on the same project that I intend knitting this into, and that came out pretty fabulous, so fingers crossed this one does too. I have six weeks (ish) to get it done. Heh!

Next up was sock yarn. Impossible to resist, as again I'd used it lots, and it's easily one of the best sock yarns I've ever worked with. Bought a single skein of the blue-green colourway when I first saw it in the shop in January, and made footies out of it. Was so in love with the colour and feel of it that I decided full-blown socks were called for. Which obviously necessitated a purchase of more of the yarn:

The orangey-red one I got because it was pretty. And it reminded me of tigers. And fire.So it'll basically give me really warm, possibly scowling feet.

Anyway, everyone knows that sock yarn isn't really stash yarn! These babies will be cast on and knit up so fast that they won't even have time to get comfortable. Y'know, once I get around to finishing the other socks I have on the go at the moment...

Yes, started in January. I got bored. This is a hobby, and supposed to be fun, there's no rule that says I have to finish everything I start. It's a bonus when it happens, but not a requirement! :o)
Which is just as well, considering I also have these babies on the go...

Yes, they've been going a while too, but I only knit them when I'm out and about, which I haven't been much at all recently.

Obviously then there was the fab 'on sale' yarn I acquired last week...

...which, following suggestions from my Twitter peeps (elvin, I'm looking at you!) was rapidly cast on to become this (so far)...

When it grows up, it'll be Summer Flies, with a mod to the edging.

(I know 'Summer Flies' is meant as like 'time flies', but is anyone else thinking feckin bluebottles and those nasty fecky little black buzzy yokes that wreck your head here all summer long when you read that title? Or is it just me?).

Then there was further nice Noro yarn that I had acquired on Friday, which was cast on that night...

...destined to become another Holden. (You know it's definitely Noro yarn, by the way, because there's a fluorescent lime green stripe coming up. Which seems to be in all their colourways. Stand-out hideous, yet somehow 'goes' with everything. I love it)!

And did I mention that I may also have cast on for this queued item? Only just started...

...more details to follow as I progress.

So yeah, tomorrow I think I'll go cast on some socks... :oD

So about that "stashdown" thing...

...yes, I absolutely fell off the wagon today, and in spectacular fashion, even if I do say so myself. Actually, I didn't so much 'fall off' as 'fling myself wholeheartedly'.

Obviously, my aim for today was to try and leave the house. Yesterday had been a pretty god-awful flashback to last year's months-on-end of being too sick to get out and about. The upshot of this was that when I awoke this morning feeling moderately functional, I was absolutely hell-bent on making the most of it.

And sure if you're going to make leaving the house worth your while, where better to go than to your local friendly LYS??

Depending on your perspective, it was either uphill or downhill from there! Lots and lots of pretty new acquisitions...

Pretty, huh? I had used this colourway before, in the DK-weight Silky Merino, and completely fallen in love. When I saw this sock-weight one today, I grabbed! I think it may become an Ashton shawlette, but of course the possibility does exist that I'll change my mind another 15 times or so before I eventually cast on!

Next up... and yes, it's probably going to become yet another pair of Miss Potters (which, if you've never knit this pattern, you really REALLY should. Now. Instant yarny happiness, trust me)...

Here, the perfect illustration to the Noro novice (assuming there are any left!) that what you first see is not always what you get...

Have a little (discreet) poke around in the ball-end first, because the colours may throw up some surprises when you wind it up...

Yes, I swear, these are the same two balls of yarn! This is part of the whole fun with Noro - even if the knit itself gets boring, the anticipation of what colour is coming next keeps you knitting. (And yes, I knew those colours were coming, I've been poking around the ends of these particular balls for quite some time now)!

Next up was a pure 'ooh-I've-never-knit-with-that-one-before' impulse buy:

which I think is destined to become (again, yet another) Luna Moth, I think the colours and shading evoke nice lunar-mothy-type images (that said, I do hallucinate on a regular basis, so probably best not to take my word for it. I can see it, and it's my knitting, so that's all that matters)!

And yet, for all the fabulously high-end yarny goodness I acquired today, there was one simple little unassuming ball that made my day complete...

Allow me to explain. Quite some time ago (actually, almost three years ago), I came across a nice, though very boringly coloured, circular shawl pattern. I decided I'd like to make one, but totally different, in a full rainbow spectrum of colour. All colours were sourced and purchased (which involved a lengthy session of sitting in the middle of the floor of my LYS with a certain member of staff who shall remain nameless, clearing the ENTIRE shelf of Nature Spun onto aforementioned floor, and rearranging/repositioning the little piles of yarny colour around us. Fun times! Freaked the crap out of the newbie customers, though).

The only problem was my green. There was this one (too limey). Followed by this one (too mossy). I could not find my perfect green. I was vaguely aware of its existence, but I just couldn't get my hands on it. Until today. It was just THERE, looking at me, waiting for me to bring it home!

Which means I now no longer have any excuse, I have got to start this project! Y'know, when all my other WIPs are done. And I've worked through my 2012 'to-do' list as well. So some day, real soon, I swear!

So yeah, end note? Should you see me around over the coming weeks, please please PLEASE don't ask me how the stashdown is coming along... especially given that there's another yarn store trip vaguely planned for the coming days... no, I'm not just slutty with my stitches, I'll go anywhere for wool!

...although I have to say, I do think it says something for my knitterly commitment that every last piece of yarn bought today has already been assigned a project. Especially the one that I've just cast on...

I have HOW MUCH YARN?!?

All the New Year knitty resolutions were starting to have an impact and got me thinking - why not be a lttle more organised with my knitting? WIPdown I need, as I've UFOs dating back four years. Lacealong would also be good, as I've a bunch of (a) laceweight yarn and (b) shawls in my queue. Stashdown also good, as I don't have a vast disposable income. I do, however, have a vast stash. So Step 1, check stash. How much do I have?

Holy crap. 46.6km. That's a lot of yarn (and I'm blaming the laceweight!). So what to do?

Well, I decided to make A Plan. A quick and straightforward plan. I would peruse my stash, match it all to patterns, and get cracking. Simple, right? Well, four days later, I've only just completed the planning phase. And with the exception of the mitten tops I just grafted over a coffee, I have managed absolutely NO KNITTING TIME in that period. So far, The Plan does not seem to be working too effectively.

Here's why. Long long ago (okay, up until last August), all my stash lived, and had always lived, in one easily accessible place (a massive wooden trunk in the bedroom, which Himself was not allowed to open, under any circumstances, lest it give him heart failure). Well, then I split from Himself, and had to transport all my stash to my dad's (who was, as you can imagine, delighted! Well, okay, not so much. Though he has since become fascinated by the transformative powers of the blocking process. He'll sit and watch for ages. And check on it to see how it's drying. Aw! Anyhoo, I digress). Much less space. Bulk of stash living in attic. Until last Saturday.

On Saturday, I was in the attic finally putting away the boxes of Christmas decorations. And I thought "sure while I'm up here..." and The Plan was born. The bulk was transported downstairs (kinda fun tossing yarn bags out the attic and watching them bounce down the stairs! Just sayin'.) where further perusal took place. See, I'd selected yarns on the basis of "ooh, pretty!", and not because I necessarily had any clue what I was going to do with them. But I figured I'd have a better chance of actually completeing stuff if I was at least loving the yarn I was working with.

So onto Sunday. By this time, all yarns had been appropriately labelled and packaged, and most were then transferred into a newly-emptied, newly cleaned, rather large drawer under my bed. (It had been filled with my brother's computer crap, but he kindly took that out of the way. I think out of fear that if he left it, I'd start knitting stuff out of the miles of cables he had living there. A fear not entirely unfounded). Then I started matching yarn to patterns, and sorting accordingly (I've a nice handy 5-drawer unit that lives at the end of my bed, too, for the stuff I need immediate access to).

Obviously, this process needed new labels, new folders, new punch-pocket plastic sleeves, and more labels. That took care of Monday. The end result? I have nice neat folders (two, one for WIPs, one for Stuff to Do). Might need to buy more plastic sleeves. And maybe little coloured labels that I can stick on a pattern once it's been DONE. (Yes, I am that easily amused). I know where all the yarn is, and what I'm going to do with most of it.

So in brief (ha! too late for that!) I have ten current WIPs that I will DEFINITELY finish before the end of 2012 (not counting my Socks Scraps Blanket which (a) I haven't started yet, and (b) will never end, as I'll always have sock scraps). I have, give or take, 35 projects on my "to-do" list. And, if all goes to plan, by year's end I'll be 20km down on my stash (and that's actually not including the yarn I'll be using to finish off current WIPs, so I'll be further down again!).

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me! Doable, no? Hey, wrong answer!