Stashes, Dashes & Knits

I’ve been trying to write this post for close to three weeks. A collision of home projects, end of the school year activities, a rapidly accelerating canning season, some secrety squirrel projects I’ll show you later, and just plain old exhaustion, have kept me from sitting down long enough to do anything but wolf down some food and go to sleep. Just ask my Fitbit. Except, how come I am walking close to 35 miles each week just doing regular stuff and I’m still at a distressingly sad level of fitness?! It’s just not fair.

Never mind. Summer is here!

Uptown is now a First Grader. What?!  When did that happen? Wasn’t it only just over 6 years ago that this happened? He’s thrilled to be done with school for a while. Me? I’m not so sure. Right now we are still in the honeymoon phase and there has been plenty to do. But I’m waiting for him to drop the “I’m bored!” bomb on me any day now. I think I’ve cleverly blast-proofed myself though with a thing I call “The Boredom Book.”  I’ll tell you all about that another time after we’ve caught up.

Last day of Kindergarten!

Just in time for the last day of school, I blocked Frisson (which I mentioned here) as an end of the year teacher’s gift for Uptown’s Kindergarten teacher. R. Darling was kind enough to take a few photos for me, along with a couple other projects that had been languishing, undocumented, in the closet for a while. I’m going to spare you the usual FO rigamarole this time around because I’m sure your eyes are already glazed over due to my self-important blabbing (and because I’m too lazy and just want to post this b*tch already!), but suffice it to say, this was a super fun knit.  I love how it turned out and I will surely be making another.  If you want more details on the specifics I’m skipping this time, feel free to check it out on my Ravelry project page here.

Frisson

The main reason I wanted to post today was to talk about Stash Dash 2016. You can check out the details at the Ravelry Group or at my friend Knitting Up North‘s blog here. I participated (rather poorly) last year and plan to participate (probably just as poorly) this year too.  According to the Knit Girllls, whose podcast I don’t listen to because I’m stubbornly avoiding the whole podcast thing (don’t ask me why), Stash Dash is: “….a virtual dash to use up stash and/or finish some WIPs. Crafts included in stash dash are knitting, spinning, crochet, tatting, and weaving.” So even though I participate unofficially, and craptastically, I still get some sh!t done and that’s always a good feeling.  Never mind that the only knitting I do lately is the 20-30 minutes I get during Uptown’s evening swim lessons. I mean, it could happen.

Swim Lessons

So here’s my Stash Dash 2016 list (in totally random order & all Ravelry links):

• Knittymuggins’ The Joker & The Thief
• Knittymuggins’ Embroidered Apron
• Knittymuggins’ Volga
• Knittymuggins’ Artichoke French
• Knittymuggins’ Through The Woods
• Death Star Pillow
• Bandana Cowl
• Skimmer Socks

I just recently found out that I have a brand new niece arriving in early November, so I have a feeling the list will shift a little.  But in keeping with my Rule Of Two, I am currently focusing on only The Joker & The Thief and the Embroidered Apron.  To be honest though, it’s been damn hard not to cast on for some baby frivolity!

And as a special prize for your visit today, I’ll leave you with an earworm from the album that inspired the title for today’s post (yes it’s in my CD library, and yes I rock the crap out of it all the time!).

Mojo-a-gogo

Tidbit

Leafy Newborn Beanie

Seventh

From Left to Right: Tidbit, Leafy Newborn Beanie & Seventh

 

I’ve been busy. There’s some serious knitting mojo goin’ on up in here. Plus, I’ve been bustin’ me some stash! It’s all good at Chez Funkytown.

These little hats are for my friend at Knitting Up North.  Every spring she knits baby hats for a contest her local Optimist Club holds. I always like to donate a few.  It’s for a worthy cause, I get to help out a knitting pal, and it’s pretty much instant gratification. I’ve actually made 6 already, but have only photographed the 3 above. I mean, these fingers are too busy knittin’ to stop and take photos people! The deadline is April 15th – hint hint. Not only should you check out her blog for some awesome inspiration, I’m sure she’d love to receive a few extra hats to add to her total ;) Just sayin’. Oh and she’s also hosting a knit along beginning March 20th for the Jujika Cowl. I’m in!  If you’re on Ravelry (and you totally should be!) come join us at her group here.

I decided early on this year that I was going to try to keep myself to a strict set of rules for my knitting in 2016. Well, it’s really not a set of rules, more like one big rule.  I have a penchant for getting totally obsessed with any new pattern that comes across my radar, to the complete detriment of whatever else I may be working on.  I have sweaters that have taken me years to complete (if they’ve been completed at all) not because they were difficult, but because I lost momentum and then lost interest in going back to figure out where I’d left off.  I gots me some serious start-itis folks.

This year I plan to end my wayward habits by instituting “The Rule of Two.” The Rule of Two states that I may only have 2 significant projects on the needles at one time: a UFO/WIP that needs finishing and one new project. This rule will remain in place until I have finished all said UFOs/WIPs in which case I will cast on with complete abandon. Or something like that.  Anyway, The Rule of Two has served me well so far this year.  I finished an afghan I’ve had in the works for a year, finished Los Monos Locos socks (picture to come later), am nearly finished with a sweater for Uptown, and finished the Frisson I mentioned last time (pictures later of course). Now if only I could be this successful in reducing my winter’s worth of insulation that has been accumulating underneath all those warm bulky sweaters I’m not knitting/finishing!

Ribbon Afghan

 

PATTERN:  Ribbon Afghan by Olivia Rainsford

YARN:  Acrylic in Black (Caron One Pound), White (Lion Brand Pound of Love) & Olive (Vintage Bernat)

YARDAGE:  1004 yds

CROCHETING DURATION:  May 16, 2015 – February 15, 2016

PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED:  Briefly, here.

RECIPIENT:  Donation to Warmth for Warriors (Ravelry group here)

DODGY BITS:  None

BLISS FACTOR:  8

---

This pattern was well written and fun to knit. Definitely pretty mindless & a great stashbuster.  Love that it’s only meant to be lap sized for veterans in wheelchairs to use.  I could see myself making another for sure! Bliss factor of 8 because, well, it’s acrylic (not that I’m a snob or anything, I just don’t love the stuff).

 

All Sorts of Random

Oops I did it again,
I played with some yarn,
got lost in the game,
oh baby baby.

So far summer has been cr-a-a-zy with a capital cray cray. Karate, playdates, birthday parties, park ventures, bike riding, berry picking, canning, home maintenance and all sorts of other nonsense.  Rare is the day we aren’t rushing off to something.  And swimming hasn’t even started yet (that will be every day!).  While busy is nice in its own way, I find myself wishing for a quiet afternoon with an iced mocha and my knitting.  No need to answer a question every two seconds, deal with the inevitable: “I’m bored!”, force feed the kid, mediate wrestling matches between boy and dog, or worry about keeping everyone on track for work and bedtimes. A real lazy summer afternoon. Or morning.  I’d take a morning in a heartbeat. How come only kids get summer vacation?

Despite all that, I’m making some slow progress on Stash Dash. The hat pictured left and center is Ombre by ChemKnits. I had fun knitting this one, and working through all my “manly” colored worsted weight scraps. This one clocked in at 135 yds for Stash Dash. The red hat in the final picture is the Ribbed Watchman’s Hat by Channah Koppel. I knit one of these for R. Darling and it is his absolute favorite go-to hat.  He probably needs another one in black, come to think of it. This hat came in at 140.6 yds.  Both hats were knit for Recovery Cafe via a request from the Pacific Northwest Ravelers Group on Ravelry, so I get to mail them off in a couple months to a happy new home.

Current Stash Dash total: 275.6 yds (approximately 252 meters).

Pretty miserable, I’ll admit. I do have a couple big(gish) things nearing completion that will hopefully put me back on track to reach my 5K goal.  But since I’m an unofficial entry anyway, I’m not sweating it too hard.  Just focusing on knitting from stash and finishing some UFO’s will be a reward in itself.

And now for the previously advertised “All Sorts of Random” portion of today’s blogcast…..

I am currently reading “In The Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick, and in searching for images to put in the sidebar for my “Current Reads” widget, I noticed that it is coming out as a movie this year. With Chris Hemsworth no less. This book was published in 2000 and how is it that not only did I choose to read it this month (it’s been in my book stash for a long time), but someone else apparently chose to make it into a movie for release right around the same time?  Curious.  I am never timely with these things. But for once I’ll be in the know. I’m about halfway through the book at the moment and I honestly do not know how they will make any sort of movie out of this. It’s astonishingly depressing so far.  But maybe they’re counting on Chris Hemsworth in period whaling attire to uplift everyone’s spirits.  I’ll have to examine the trailers thoroughly and report back to you.

Guess what? I am in the process of opening an Etsy shop. But that’s all I’m going to say at the moment :) Don’t go looking for it in the middle of the night when you have come to the end of the intrawebs and exhausted youtube’s supply of cute kitty videos or something. You won’t find it. But trust me. When it’s up, you’ll be the first to know.

And now some WordPress questions worthy of a noob. What’s the deal with people following you who don’t seem to have anything in common with you in the slightest? I mean, it’s kind of flattering to see my number of followers slowly increasing, but I’m kind of curious why they’d bother to follow me. I’m not entertaining. I’m not rich, or cool, or famous, or interesting. Do they just hope I’ll follow them too? Really, if you know the answer, I’d love to hear it. And lastly, when I respond to your comment on my blog, do you get to see it?  Back in the “old” days of my blog I responded to each comment via e-mail, assuming people would not care to come back to the blog to see if I responded to them. But now that WordPress allows you to follow comments, I want to make sure that if I do respond here you get to see it. Please let me know! I want to make sure you know if I’m responding :)

Now back to our regularly scheduled summer programming…..

Drinkin’ The Kool-Aid

So my good friend at Knitting Up North has been talking about the Knit Girllls Stash Dash a bunch lately.  If you haven’t read her blog yet, go check it out. Seriously. Go now.  I’ll wait.  Are you back?

She never fails to make me laugh and constantly inspires me with all her awesome projects. I don’t listen to the Knit Girllls podcast like she does but I love the idea of the Stash Dash.  So I’m drinkin’ the kool-aid and joining in.  I’ll be an unofficial entry though.  It seems a little fakey fake to join the Ravelry group just for the Dash without really knowing what the podcast is about or even having plans to check it out (I’m not really a podcast kinda person). But it will be the perfect excuse to drag out some UFOs that need finishing and maybe clean the slate a bit while having a little fun and challenging myself.

I’m on my way to completing my Freshman year of Loopy Academy and though I thoroughly enjoyed my first Camp Loopy last summer, I think I need a break from “mandatory fun”.  You know, activities that are designed to be “fun” but really leave you sweaty and stressed and make you want to fake a violent illness so you can get out of them.  Management likes to call these “team building exercises.” Right.  Anyway that’s not totally fair since Camp Loopy and Loopy Academy have actually been really fun, but I’m a little burnt out on the structure and the fact that you have to buy new yarn for each project.  I’m ready to work on the stash and finishing some things. Hopefully that will mean I’ll be ready for my sophomore year of Loopy Academy when it starts in the fall. ‘Cause I’d really like to continue.

Oh crap.  I clicked over to The Loopy Ewe blog to copy some links for the stuff I just wrote and they have posted stuff for Camp Loopy – Safari Edition already.  How can I resist those adorable lions and giraffes in colored socks? Here, you try:

Tell me that wasn’t just a little bit hard to resist…..

Right now though, I’m having fun combing Ravelry for all my old projects I’d like to finish and things I might like to knit from stash for the Stash Dash.  I’ll post soon with photos and progress reports.  Oh and that thing up at the top?  That’s my kick a$$ ceramic toadstool posing with a dishcloth I’m working on as a request from a fellow Raveler for the pattern I used in my very first knitting project. I’m actually more excited about the toadstool.  I’d love to have a little army of these in different sizes scattered throughout my front garden.  Awesome.  Makes me smile just thinking about it.  Hope your day is smiley too!

Febru-Very

February was very:

 

Toothy…..

 

Knittymunchkin’s 1st Dentist Appointment!

 

Valentiney…..

 

Hand Knit Valentines for Knittymunchkin’s Prescchool Friends

 

• Pattern: Little Hearts by Teresa Fox (Ravelry link)
• Yarn: Random ancient Hot Pink wool from stash & Scraps of Valley Yarns Stockbridge in “Deep Red”
• Needles: Size 9, 32″ circs for Magic Loop
• Comments: These came out super cute!  I feel a little guilty because I had the fun of making them and Knittymunchkin really wasn’t that involved, but he had absolutely no interest in making valentines this year.  I had him stick stickers to the gift tags we attached and that was about all I could convince him to do.  I figure his class is getting pretty sick of my hand knits by now, but I did get a very sweet photo e-mail from one of his classmates’ moms telling me that her son had been hugging his heart all day.  Awww!  Gave the teacher the lone red heart and the kids all got dark pink.  I didn’t felt them because I didn’t have time, but maybe next time I’ll give it a try.

 

Swappy……

 

Back in September, I joined a swap group on Ravelry called Ewe LaLa Swap, mainly because the first swap they set up was one in which you swapped a handmade project bag and a ball of yarn and I was hoping to sort of force myself to learn to sew a project bag.  It didn’t come out too badly (I used this free pattern) and my partner seemed to really like it.

 

My First Handmade Project Bag

 
This year I did the January-February Box of Color Swap in which our partner picked a color theme and it was our job to make and send them items to fit this theme.  I amassed a big collection of stuff to send, which was really fun.  But the best part was making some handknits for my partner.  Her colors were a combination of red/orange/pink/ and a little dash of purple (here at design-seeds – which, by the way, is so much fun to browse!).  Of course I went a little heavy on the pink and purple!
 

Hogwarts Express

 

• Pattern: Hogwarts Express by Susan Ashcroft (Ravelry link)
• Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock  in “Blacklight”
• Needles: Size 6 circ
• Comments:  I love how this turned out!  One of the things I have always wanted to try, but have never gotten around to, is adding beads to my knitting.  It always seemed so intimidating, but I thought this would be the perfect way to try it out, as you only add beads to the “eyes” of the owls.  My swap partner loved all things owl, so this was the perfect choice.  It was a pretty speedy knit too, and I got to use some beautiful HK Artisan Sock from my stash.  The pattern was a little loosey-goosey for my taste and therefore a bit confusing for me at first, but I got it down eventually and this was a really pleasant knit.  I was actually tempted to make one for myself once I tried it on, but then reminded myself I don’t really “do” shawls (at least not yet) so it would just be silly to make one for myself.  The nice thing about swapping is getting to make things and then give them away!

 

I also made this for my swap partner:

 

Mosaic Pouch

 

• Pattern: Mosaic Knitted Pouches by Kate Sharaf (Ravelry link)
• Yarn: Noro Iro scraps in color #9 & random purple aran weight wool from stash
• Needles: Size 7 & Size 9
• Comments:  I am disgustingly pleased with myself for using random scrap stash yarn to make this.  It was a bit tedious to add the zipper and the lining and, in fact, getting up the resolve to do that portion of it took a lot longer than the actual knitting.  I had to seam one of the sides too and that kind of got me kerbobbled, until I actually did it.  And then I had to pat myself on the back for how easily I was able to match everything up.  Not too bad.  I hand sewed the lining and zipper in, figuring I could do a neater job by hand than with my machine.  I’m still a little zipper-phobic.  But it looked nice and it worked!  Bonus.  I almost (almost!) want to make some more of these….

 

Knit-Along-y:

 

Malabrigo Lace in “Continental”

 
On February 14th my friends Jess, Troy and I bravely began a laceweight sweater knitalong.  I’m knitting the Cloudette Cardigan with this lovely blue Malabrigo Laceweight that I have had in my stash for eons.  It’s actually going a lot faster than I’d expected, but I’ve had to put it down for a couple weeks because the purling is driving me bananas and I’ve been inadvertently pimped out to other knitting recipients by my Mom (more on that later).  I think I’m going to love this when I finally do finish it though!
 
And, as expected, March has come roaring in like the lion it’s supposed to be.  Meaning, I finally have an explanation for the bone-crushing weariness that has been plaguing me since November.  Yep.  I have a nasty little abscess hanging out next to my crown on tooth #30 and I gets to have me a big ole root canal on March 22.  Fun.  I hope this means I can expect March to go out like a lamb…..

There’s Something About Minis Part Deux

After 4 months of swing shift, R. Darling’s schedule has changed to day shift again and we are all trying to adjust.  This means more family time (yay!) but less time for catching up with my own stuff (boo!).  Summer is always a tough time for me when it comes to blogging, and apparently springtime is not much different.  Though you will most likely be hearing less from me for a while, never fear.  I’ll still be slugging away behind the scenes.
 
A two week recap on the Thinning The Nest Project:
 
Week 18 (May 3, 2012):  Gave away another pyrex dish & lid to my Mom, using travel size contact solution, threw out some old face powder
 
Week 19 (May 10, 2012 – this week): Goodbye Gallon Size Bag O’ Corks!
 
Nothing crazy or life-altering here.  A while back the makers of the contact solution we buy (Clear Care) decided to add some extras to the big Costco sized box we buy every month.  One of those extras is a travel size bottle of solution.  Pretty cool if you are traveling a lot, but with a 2 year old and not much extra in the bank, we aren’t going anywhere any time soon (except for maybe crazy).  I decided to start using some of these before they either expire, or bust out the bottom of our “junk” drawer in the bathroom.  As for the face powder, I’ve had that stuff in my makeup case for going on 9 years now.  I guess because it was powder I just hung onto it, figuring I’d find a use for it someday.  I try it periodically and it never seems quite right.  So this time, instead of putting it back in the drawer, I just chucked it.  It kind of felt good!  And I’m pretty sure I won’t miss it. And the corks, you ask?  They came in a vase I bought at an antique shop (which, it turns out, was NOT an antique & was made in China; not that I really cared).  I wanted the vase for something else, so dumped out the corks and decided I could find a good use for them eventually.  Someone on the Random Acts of Kindness Group on Ravelry was looking for corks, so they’ve now been happily rehomed.
 

Knittymunchkin Loves Minis Too!

 
A while back I mentioned that I was a little excited about minis.  I also mentioned that if I started talking about my “tub o’ minis” and complaining that the lid wouldn’t shut, I might need you to stage an intervention.  Um.  Houston, we have a problem.  Wednesday this week I went to Target and bought myself a bigger tub for my minis.  Granted, we are nowhere near rubbermaid tote proportions, but the collection is growing at an astonishing rate.  And um, there might be more to this addiction….er….situation.  I started growing a little collection of orphan minis from the swaps I’ve been in.  Minis in dark, crazy, stripey, boyish colors that just didn’t belong in my girly Beekeeper’s Quilt.  What to do, what to do?  Well, what any nutjob like me would do: Start a Sock Yarn Blanket for my sweet baby boy!!  Gulp.  I need another years-long project like I need more yarn, but what can I say?  There’s something about minis……
 

The Beginning of The Madness!

Thinning The Nest: Thursday Number 11

Week 11:  Odds ‘n Ends, i.e. total lameness!

I’d love to be able to tell you that between this Thursday and last, I got my sh!t togetha and cleared all the clutter out of my entire house, knit 4 sweaters, 5 pairs of socks, and a dozen hats.  Or at least that I took a bad-ass vacation to the beach.  But alas, none of those things occurred.  The weather was beyond bleak.  Several days Knittymunchkin decided he needed to wear his “jammies” all day and while the rain pelted, the snow fell, and the wind buffeted, we cranked up the heat and watched just a little too much Sesame Street.  It was one of those weeks.  I felt about as forlorn inside as the weather was outside.  But I did manage to read and recycle two magazines, gift four Martha Stewart magazines to my friend John, and use up a laundry detergent sample that has been sitting in the laundry room exactly as long as we’ve had our washing machine (circa 2008 or 2009).  I also used up a deluxe sized sample of Philosophy Purity Made Simple that I received years ago (2007?) with a Sephora order.  I’ve been keeping this wash in my travel stuff for years now because it’s such a nice portable size, yet there is always enough for several days.  Well with my skin freaking out lately, I decided to try anything I had in my sample stash that might calm things down a little.  This seemed to do the trick, though Troy bought me some Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel that I positively adore, so it’s not so bad that I finally used up the Philosophy stuff.  I also pulled some yarn out of my stash to knit another square for my friend Kathy that I mentioned last time.  Not much to be said for this week, but I’m chipping away at things slowly.  Ever so slowly…..

It was a good mail week though!  I received back yarn from two different swaps and I can’t wait to add them to my Beekeeper’s Quilt.  It’s always nice when there’s something to look forward to in the mailbox.  Here’s a few of my favorites from the Sweet Georgia Swap in the Blankiemania Group on Ravelry.  I sure wish I could join Round 2!  These are just lovely….

Thinning The Nest: Thursday Number 10

Week 10:  More RAK’s!
 
Thursday again, and I’ve officially procrastinated at least an hour before writing this post.  I think I’m getting a little burnt out on my project.  Not so much engaging in the new behavior of getting rid of things, but the documenting of it all.  When it’s just piddly things here and there from week to week, it’s still progress, but it’s not a story.  While that’s fine for getting myself organized, it’s not much fun for blogging.
 
So, I’ll keep my weekly accounting short and sweet and then move onto better subjects.  This week I sent out three more RAK’s and it felt really good to be able to make someone else’s day!  Technically, I can only take credit for two of them.  I sent off a needle gauge, some extra cable needles, and some stitch markers to a beginning knitter in Massachusetts.  She has since received them and seems thrilled with her new goodies, which makes me smile inside.  The second RAK was mailed off to a super sweet gal in Canada and consisted of a bit of my stationery odds and ends.  I probably have enough stationery to write letters until I’m 110, especially now that very few people send real correspondence anymore.  She and I have conversed a bunch between my initial contact and the actual mailing of her gifty and she was kind enough to gift me a couple patterns in return.  I think what I love best about RAKing people is that I get to meet some really nice knitters along the way and have the pleasure of getting to know them and chat with them.  Knitters are so awesome!
 
The third RAK really belongs to my super knitty pal Troy.  When we went on our super-fab knitty weekend to Seattle in mid-February, he dumped a giant bag of sock yarn at my feet and told me to take whatever I wanted.  I might have pinched myself a little to make sure it was real.  And then of course, I got high on yarn fumes and ended up taking ALL of it home with me!  That’s something you all don’t know about Troy.  Not only is he one of the most generous people I know, but he also buys super nice yarn!  And then he doesn’t become unnecessarily attached to it.  Except for the really good stuff ;)  Anyway, I felt a little guilty taking all of it and told him I’d be sure to send some of it off as RAK’s.  So this was me making good on that.  I sent a starving college student (in microbiology, no less!) some very pretty red sock yarn in honor of her birthday this month.  So here’s to you Troy!  Thank you for making two people’s days!
 
And now…..  Some actual knitting!
 

 
My generous and kind friend Kathy (blog-free) who I have been “virtual” friends with for quite a few years now, is turning 50 this month.  And to celebrate her birthday, she is doing something completely and totally awesometastic!  She is collecting squares in black and bright colors to put together into a blanket which she will then donate to Pine Ridge Reservation.  How wonderful is that?  She kindly asked if I might be able to make her at least one square and I gladly agreed.  How could I say no to both helping my friend celebrate her birthday, and to doing something for charity?  The pattern I used is the Checker-Square Garter Dishcloth and it’s free.  Not only that, there’s no purling!  And while you do have to pay attention to what row you are on, it’s only for every other row, and it knits up quickly.  I hope I can make at least one more before Kathy’s deadline on March 22.  I think I can :)  I’m sure Kathy could use any squares she might be able to receive.  If anyone reading is interested in contributing (and is a Ravelry member) you can find the details of her request here in the Amazing Flying Squirrel Karma Team Group on Ravelry.  Happy Birthday Kathy!!  Here’s to 50 amazing & wonderful years, and many many many happy returns!

Thinning The Nest: Thursday Number 9

Week 9:  All about yarn!

Yeah, so somehow it got to be March 1st already.  And somehow it is also Thursday again.  It keeps creeping up on me and I keep thinking I’ll be prepared, or at least a little excited about having something to say.  Nope.  Still have the blog-writing blues.

So today it will be short and simple.  This week I sold a ball of yarn: 350 yds out the do’!  That was a nice feeling.  For about 5 minutes.  And then I went and spent all that dough on a swapless mini swap.  Oy.  This mini business is turning into a serious problem.  I’ve also been stalking the Random Acts of Kindness Group on Ravelry again.  It’s been surprising me how many things I have right now that I can actually gift to people.  I love the feeling of doing something nice for someone else!  I’m afraid that’s a little addicting in itself, so I have to cool it.  It’s not like I have tons of extra cash for the packages I’ve been sending at least once a week (between swaps, books & RAK’s).  But perhaps the goal of ridding myself of something once a week has something to do with this new obsession.  As a side bonus I am using recycled packaging and recycled tissue paper etc. to wrap and send everything out for the most part.  A clutter-clearing bonanza!  Anyway, I found a very sweet lady who was looking for some Patons Grace.  I happened to have two balls in my stash, one in the “Rose” colorway and one in “Tangelo”.  I loved the colors and would have been happy to use them up for something, but I’m pretty bad with one-skein projects (never can seem to find any good ones) unless they are hats or mittens.  And I’ve got more than enough yarn for those!  So I gifted her those two  yarns as well as a straight needle roll I got as a freebie from some magazine about a billion years ago.  This feels pretty great!

I did get a little discouraged earlier this week when I went on a magazine hunting expedition through the house.  While my yarn is pretty well organized, my magazines are only half-heartedly so, and it is sometimes a challenge to find a specific issue of something when I want a pattern.  The issue in question was Interweave Knits, Fall 2009.  I have become obsessed with the Slanting Gretel Tee pattern and have just settled on the perfect stash yarn for it.  I looked for it in all of my “usual” nooks and crannies, to no avail.  So this meant a lengthy dig through the dark recesses of the sty that is THE GARAGE.  I suited up for extended deep box-diving and held my breath.  It was so depressing that I can’t even begin to describe it without maybe shedding a little bit of a tear.  Boxes and boxes of stuff I need to go through.  With what time?  I know.  It’s disheartening.  But after about 7 boxes, I hit paydirt.  Magazine unearthed!  In the process I also grabbed about 8 fitness magazines from 2008 that were stuffed in the same box, totally unread, and unceremoniously dumped them in the recycle bin on my way back inside.  So it wasn’t really sizable progress, but it was better than just stuffing them back in the box, right?  A little at a time.  It’s all I can do.

And because I can’t seem to find a picture of either of the yarns I RAK’d, I’ll have to leave you with a completely different off-topic shot for the day.  Check out these supa awesome buttons I bought at this etsy shop recently (the shop owner is a total sweetheart)!  It’s totally counter-productive that I bought them, since I have no idea what I’ll use them for, but I had to have them.  They make me happy!

Sugar Skulls!

Thinning The Nest: Thursday Number 7

Week 7:  More Baby Stuff & More Random Acts of Kindness!
 
Ugh.  You’ll have to forgive me dear bloggies.  I feel icky, tired, lackluster, and not very chatty.  With Knittymunchkin’s second birthday arrived a whole load of new behaviors that I’m finding incredibly difficult to process and try to let roll off of me.  He’s getting his last set of molars, none of us are sleeping too well, and I am pretty sure I hear the word “no” at least every 30 seconds throughout each day.  It’s kind of a bummer.  But I promised an update every Thursday, so here we go.
 
This week was a big one, actually.  I got rid of a ton of baby stuff (to my former co-worker again).  Most of it I was fine about, but at the last minute I got sort of sentimental about one thing in particular and had to make sure to take a photo of it before giving it away.  Feeling sad about giving it up made me feel weak and stupid, but there was just something about it that made me want to hang on.  Maybe because I remembered using it so much when my baby was still a baby.  But away it went.  I knew it was pretty pointless to keep it.  In addition to those 4 big bags of things, I found someone at the Random Acts of Kindness Group on Ravelry who was looking for cloth diapering items.  To her, I sent a huge lot of cloth diapers that Knittymunchkin has outgrown: 8 covers with inserts, 8 extra inserts, 8 doublers, some biodegradable disposable inserts, and a sample of cloth diaper detergent.  That was a great feeling because the diapers were a bit worse for wear and I didn’t think there was any way I could sell them.  Yet, I didn’t want to throw them out or risk giving them to Goodwill since I figured they’d have no idea what to do with them.  It made me feel fantastic to know that someone else could get a little more use out of them.  I also mailed some sock yarn minis in dark colors that won’t go very well in my Beekeeper’s Quilt to a lady in New Jersey. She’s working on a blanket for her daughter who is going through a really difficult time, and had run out of yarn to use. Being on a budget, she was having a hard time finishing the blanket, so I thought it would be nice to help her out as so many others have helped me. And tomorrow night I am most likely going to be teaching a teenager to knit! So I am gifting her some dishcloth cotton, a pair of needles, and an instructional leaflet. All stuff from my stash that I don’t necessarily need anymore. I just hope I am an o.k. teacher and that she has fun with it :)
 
They say it takes at least a month for a new behavior to become a habit.  I’d say in at least that amount of time I’ve become almost addicted to the feeling of getting rid of things.  It’s so strange!  But I am always looking ahead to the next thing that I want to gift or sell.  I may have to allow myself a pass sometime in the future though.  This week was so big that I think it makes up for at least two weeks of destashing!
 
And because there’s not enough knitting on here (ever) anymore, and also because Lynn is always excitedly asking for photos, here’s a teaser pic of some of the puffs I’ve made for my Beekeeper’s Quilt.  I’d hoped to do a Puffrospective (Puff + Retrospective = Puffrospective) each month this year, but it’s not working out well with my lack of time for photography and blogging.  ~Sigh~  Someday….
 

Puffs in Regia by Kaffe Fassett

Thinning The Nest: Thursday Number 6

Week 6:  Random Acts Of Kindness!
 
A long time ago, in a year far, far, away, there was a girl who had time on her hands.  She knit for charity, she knit for fun, she knit whenever she felt like it.  Then a little bundle of joy arrived and the girl rarely knit anymore.  Neither did she blog much, or do the things she used to do.  But she still collected yarn.  And though she couldn’t knit it, she couldn’t give it up either.  Until just recently.  Don’t misunderstand.  This girl still hoards most of her lovelies and you will probably have to pry them out of her cold, dead, hands long after she is gone.  But she felt she could sacrifice a few for the greater good.  And that is what she did.
 
There is a Ravelry Group called “Random Acts of Kindness“.  I know I’ve talked about it here before, but it’s been a while since I was active in the group.  You can post a wishlist or peruse other people’s wishes, and things are given or received with no expectations for a return gesture.  I know that in the scheme of things I have more than enough of the good things in life. And not everyone is as fortunate. So I thought this month would be a good chance to give back. I’ve received so many wonderful gifts, support, and kindness from people here at the blog and on Ravelry and it feels good to put a little bit of that back into the world.
 
I’ve had this ball of Plymouth Sockotta staring me in the face for the last 3 (4?) years and I kept looking at it and wondering whether I would really ever get around to using it.  It never even made it into my official stash, I was so wishy washy about it.  I thought about adding it to my Beekeeper’s Quilt since the colors are really pretty, but after knitting puffs nonstop out of a ball of Crystal Palace Panda Silk Print that was only half the size of this skein, and wanting to scratch my eyes out after, I decided using a whole skein of something was not for me.  Nor did I really feel the urge to knit socks from it. I have tons of sock yarn already that – shhhh…..it might hear – I like lots better.  So I thought it could use some loves.  You know, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day and all. It went out yesterday to a new home where it will be (hopefully) more appreciated than it was here!
 

Plymouth Sockotta

 
I also found a second wish to grant this week.  Someone was looking for bulky yarn to use for after school programs in which the kids learn to knit hats and things with knitting looms and needles.  I had some yarn left over from a charity knitting project I did for Warm Woolies a long time ago and it has been sitting in my stash for several years now.  This yarn was a prize I received in a contest for the Mystery Sweater KAL during which I made the sweater.  I thought I was receiving enough yarn to make the smaller size, but apparently she sent me enough to make the larger size.  So I had 3.4 balls of KnitPicks Swish Bulky left over and I felt that since it was given to me to complete a charity project with, that it needed to be used for charity.  I don’t have much time to knit for charity these days (though I hope to again one day) but giving this to kids to use in an after school program felt in keeping with the spirit in which I’d originally received it.  So it was mailed off yesterday to another good home.  I hope the kids enjoy it!
 

KnitPicks Swish Bulky in "Scuba"

 
So, another week without purging drama!  This letting go business is getting a little easier each time I do it. And knowing other people will use the things I say goodbye to, makes me feel even better!  Only 46 more weeks to go :)

There’s Something About Minis

Uh oh.  I have a new addiction.  Thank you Beekeeper’s Quilt!  As if knitting eleventy-quadzillion sweet and smushy little hexi-puffs wasn’t enough, I now feel the insane desire to collect eleventy-quadzillion cute little mini-skeins to knit them from.
 
There’s something about Minis.  But what is it, exactly?  I can’t explain it, but I’ve got it.  In the time I spend each day trolling Blankiemania, MiniMall, and Oh Scrap!: LSG Scrap Blankets on Ravelry for new swaps to join, I could probably have learned Mandarin and taught it Knittymunchkin.  Or cured cancer.  Or maybe just had a clean house.  It is a sickness I tell you!  And yet, I am just a rookie.  A baby, with my measly four swaps I’ve joined since December.  When people are talking about how many totes full of minis they have, and how the lid won’t shut, then I know that I am small-time.
 

Puffs in Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in "Beachglass"

 
There are days I don’t love the minis so much.  Those are the days when I spend two hours (sometimes more) weighing, skeining, and labeling minis to send out, only to find that every mini is going to twist and tangle on me no matter what I do.  I wonder why I do it.  And then I remember….
 
Sometimes the highlight of my day is just walking to the mailbox with Knittymunchkin.  The budget has been stretched a bit thin lately, and knowing that a puffy little mailer filled with sparkly new sock yarn will be arriving in the near future gives me a little something to look forward to.  So far I have only allowed myself to join in swaps for which I already have yarn in my stash to use, in order to keep costs down.  You know me, I have enough for a lifetime of socks and then some to spare!  So it’s good it’s getting used.  Pretty much a win-win.
 
For now it’s all innocent fun.  But please, if you hear me start talking about my “tub full of minis” and how the lid won’t shut, stage an intervention quick!  I’m probably in trouble…..