Destash

As you all know, I’ve been thinking about my stash a lot lately. Organizing it, working on actually knitting things with it;  I’ve gifted a little, traded a bit, and have even sold a few hanks of sock yarn.  And it feels pretty good to let go of that need to hoard it all.  I think the sentiment is going around.  One of my bloggy friends, Learner’s Per-knit, is having a contest right now to win some of her stash that she wants to give away.  Leave a comment for her on this post by September 1st (hurry, that’s tomorrow!!) and you could win some new yarn!  You should just read her blog anyway :)  There’s always lovely projects to drool over and funny commentary on life and knitting.
 
I’m destashing a little too, though I’m still not brave enough to just give it away freely.  Here’s a few of the yarns I’m selling on Ravelry.  The colors just weren’t quite what I had in mind when they arrived (shakes fist at stupid monitor for faking me out yet again).  If you’re interested you can see the details on my Trade/Sell Page in Ravelry.  I’m sure there will be more in the future and I’ll try to post them here as I list them.
 

Needful Yarns Filtes King Darling in "Corn Field"

 

Needful Yarns Filtes King Darling in "Ginger Spice"

 

Classic Elite Bam Boo in "Melon"

 
My LYS had a stashbusting sale last weekend too.  I’ve never gone to it before, but I took Little Mister in on Friday mid-morning  just to get us out of the house and have a little look around.  It’s kind of a cool deal.  You just bring in your yarn you don’t want, price it, and then they display and sell it for you.  In return you get a giftcard to the shop for 85% of the sale price of your yarn.  Maybe next year I’ll have some stuff to drop off.  As for this year, despite trying to be “good” and not buy more yarn, I ended up buying some stuff and wasting my hoarded giftcard that I got for Mother’s Day this year :(  I feel a little guilty about that now, but I did get some good deals including 1300 yds of cotton for $13!  Not sure what I’ll make with it.  Perhaps you’ll see it destashed here at some point ;)

Time Keeps On Slipping Into The Future

Being without a traditional job any longer is sometimes kind of surreal for me.  Deeply ingrained, after years of getting up early and making my way to work, is that feeling of needing to go to bed on time.  No staying up late on a school night!  You would think that freedom from that routine would make time stand still; no schedule but the rhythm of life with my son.  Instead I find that I blink and 2 weeks have passed.  Where does the time go?  Lately I’ve been feeling really anxious about the things that I don’t get around to doing during the day. Little chores, correspondence, always having to apologize for not getting something done.  It’s keeping me awake at night and it’s insidiously robbing me of my sleep.  To combat this I’ve gone back to my mainstay: listmaking.  I know that there is no possible way I can ever have a clean slate, things will always accumulate faster than I can complete them, but having them on paper rather than creeping around in my mind really helps put a lid on my anxiety.  I’ve promised myself that I’ll complete one thing off the list each day, no matter how big or small, and hopefully this will make me feel better about the time that seems to be slipping through my fingers.
 

Let's Eat!!

 
We did have a bit of an interesting event this week though, to break up our little homey routine.  Viruses, viruses everywhere (and maybe a little Bacteria too)!  Now don’t get me wrong.  I loves me some pink.  But not when that pink precedes eye, as in pinkeye.  Ugh.  Little Mister woke up Wednesday morning with his poor little eye all crusted shut :(  I wiped both eyes clean, but after an hour they still looked a little swollen and his right eye was tearing like crazy.  I got us an appointment with the pediatrician and had a momentary surge of maternal pride when the doctor told us that Knittymunchkin was the happiest baby she had ever seen :)  She told us he probably has pinkeye and wrote us a prescription for some drops.  No idea where he might have gotten it. We don’t take him many places and he’s not around other children at all.  I’ve never had it in my entire life!  Anyway, Little Mister is so sweet.  Other than being more tired than usual and wanting more cuddles, you would never know that he wasn’t feeling well.  What a trooper!  We started the drops Wednesday night and by the next morning he already looked better and was back to his busy little determined self.  So back off Señor Pinkeye!  There’s no room for your kind of pink around here.
 
Though the time since I last posted has blurred together for the most part, it’s been a happy, and often sleepless time, mixed liberally with countless joyous moments.  Knittymunchkin is truly a blessing in my life and I am so grateful that I finally figured out how I felt about having a child and being a mom.  At the risk of sounding trite, there really is no greater experience left that I could ask for.  This is it.

The Good, The Bad, And The …. Ugly?

The Good:

 

PEAS!!!!!!

 
Knittymunchkin has fully embraced eating his veggies.  Of course, he wears most of his food right now, but we’re getting there.  It’s so hilarious to watch him while he eats, though I think he has just as much fun gnawing on the spoon as he does nomming on peas ;)  He has also gotten over his sleep issues (knock on wood) and can now go to sleep if you put him to bed and he’s not quite totally out yet.  We have a tummy sleeper on our hands though, now that he can roll over, and I end up getting up at least a couple times each night just to make sure he’s still breathing. It was worse the first couple days when he started doing that because he could roll over onto his tummy, but couldn’t roll back onto his back very well.  He would wake himself up and cry and I would panic.  But now he flips back and forth pretty easily and has been sleeping close to 10 hours every night with a good nap each day.  Yippeee!!!!  It’s shocking how fast he’s growing & developing.
 

The Bad:

 
I only finished one item for Jess’ Finish Along.  Holy crap I suck.  And Jess was even nice enough to give me some wholly undeserved credit for knitting with a 6 month old in the house (thanks Jess!!).  But I couldn’t even get it together to sew on some damned buttons in order to finish something.  That’s pretty sad.  Except, I’ve been knitting.  I’ve just been cheating on my old stuff with new stuff.  When will I learn?  No pictures yet, but hopefully next time.
 

And – The Ugly?

 
I haven’t had a haircut since last September.  As in almost a year ago.  My hair was driving me crazy and I think I might have done something drastic.  You tell me.
 

Oldilocks - 10:30 AM on August 12, 2010

 

Mama Got Her Hair Did!

 
I liked it.  At first.  Now, I’m not so sure.  You know how the stylist always does some hocusy pocusy crap and makes it look all fantastic and then you go home and it starts to flatten out, or hang in your face, and you wake up the next day and look at yourself and think – Now that’s not right! I got that in spades.  It’s too short to put up, yet long enough to hang on my neck and make me sweat.  So I don’t actually feel cooler like I thought I would.  And it hangs in my face.  One of my biggest peeves.  But there’s an upside.  I save on shampoop and it’s easy to manage right after I shower.  Dries in 10 seconds, I swear.  And that’s pretty good for a new-ish mama.  I’ll take it.  Besides, at the rate I’m going, it will have plenty of time to grow out before I end up getting it cut again!

Summertime, And The Knitting Is Easy

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…..  I love that song.
 
Around here, the knitting has been easy too.  I thought I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be knitting sweaters until I finished breastfeeding Knittymunchkin, but honestly, it’s kind of all good that I’m knitting little things.  They’re simpler and finish quicker, leaving me satisfied and ready to start something new.  I get the quick knit fix, without the need to stay monogamous for too long.
 

Delphinium Mitts

 

• Pattern:  Emerald Fingerless Mitts (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  0.78 hanks (approximately 117 yds) Malabrigo Silky Merino in “Azul Azul”.
• Needles:  32 inch size 4 bamboo circs for magic loop.
• Mods:  Made quite a few since the pattern is very sketchy and confusing (in my opinion).  There was NO WAY I was going to seam the thumb, so I did it in the round.  All my mods are clearly laid out in my project page.

 
Really happy with how these turned out, even though they are on the small side for me (I have long skinny fingers and biggish hands).  But they aren’t for me anyway, so that’s o.k.  Love love love the Silky Merino and even though I’m not down with blue in general, I love this shade. I think I might buy enough for a whole sweater someday.  A quick and satisfying project, and another 117 yds to subtract from stash.  Yippee!!
 

 
No, these were NOT on my list of things I wanted to finish for my friend Jess’ Finish Along.  Bad bad Knittymuggins!  But they were a birthday gift and therefore, were justified.  I’m doing quite miserably at finishing my items for her contest, unfortunately.  So far I have finished a dishcloth, which wasn’t even on my original list, and that’s it.  But I still  have until the 13th and I expect I can finish my BSJ and my Felix sweater without too much trouble since they just need a seam and some buttons sewn on.  I have been working fairly steadily on my Jaywalkers too which is saying something for me.  I tend not to be uber monogamous with stuff, but I really want to get these socks finished (finally!).
 

Crocheted Sherbert Dishcloth - Finished Item #1

 

• Pattern:  Crochet Dishcloths by Lily Sugar ‘n Cream (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  0.56 skeins (approximately 105.8 yds) Lion Brand Cotton Print in “Sherbert Swirl”.
• Hook:  G – 4.25 mm
• Mods:  None

 
Like all free patterns you find in Jo-Ann’s, the pattern was a little sketchy and had some mistakes (at least my copy did).  But I managed.  I started this last October to help a friend learn how to crochet.  We both started the pattern together and then were going to get together to finish it off once I’d gotten her going on it.  But life got busy, as it always does, and we never got together to do the finishing. So I decided I’d just take a few minutes and get it done so I could get it off to my Mom.  She loves these things and I never use them so I was happy to find it a good home.  I’m happy with how it turned out.  Simple, but pretty.
 
In other vacation news, I did finish my book and we’ve completed a few projects around the house.  We’ve still got a ton more to do, but we’ll just have to do what we can as we have the time.  I think we are all feeling at least slightly more relaxed though. And on the second, our little guy turned 6 months old!  Where has the time gone????
 

Knittymunchkin is 6 months old!