Fiber Deficiency

I can't knit at work anymore, because I now have a job where I actually work, you know? And I can't knit in my chair at night because Rex. He's cute, but he chews anything he sees, at least once, if not twice, just to see what it tastes like.

He's lucky we love him.

Anyway, I'm sadly fiber deficient.

I also had a moth scare the other night. Yoda caught a moth in my bedroom (no one was more surprised than I am; he's not exactly the Great Fluffy Hunter, you know?) and until I verified through someone outside my own head that it wasn't a wool or clothing moth, I was tense. Here, have a lookey-lou:

Consensus is that it's just your average, 'round the ole porch light moth. But Yoda did bring it down, single pawedly (well, he used two paws, but who's counting?) and I tossed it outside. But then I took precautions and put all the projects and yarn that had been in my room into the freezer. Just...in case.

Now that I know it's not the dangerous sort of moth, I'm taking them back upstairs. I've got...my Double Cross Scarf, my Victorious (picture in case you've forgotten it):

And my new stash -- the mill ends in my last post, in particular.

But now that I know they are safe and secure, I will be taking them back up to work on up there. And some new yarn (well, not really new; I got it on yarn crawl this past winter):

and am going to cast on and knit a Mountaineer Hat. I've had the pattern for a while (a friend designed it; don't I have the most awesome friends!??!) but not the impulse. However, I now sit beneath an air vent at work.



I need a hat. Like, yesterday. Or, to be more precise, the eigth of July. Maybe I should go with something less...fitted, so I don't continually smush my curls....

Ok, new goal for the year.

Two, actually.

One: Re: my reading list. I'm sorry, y'all, I just can't force myself to read "literature" which doesn't interest me in the least. The thought alone is giving me the collywobbles.

So, New Reading Goal: Read all the books I own that I haven't read yet. All you book-ish people know exactly what I'm talking about. I went to the second hand book shop tonight (I was looking for a DVD and found three. And four books, besides.) After I impulse shopped my way to $50 (at a second hand bookstore), I realized that these were far from the first small piles of books I hadn't read yet. And I have a new bookshelf to build and install.

Once it's up, I'm going to reorganize my shelves. There will be a section for books I haven't read yet. And I will read from this section for the whole of 2014. I can do some nostalgia reading (again, you bookish folk know what I mean), but I have to read at least two of the new books per month.

Two: Re: Ravellenics. I'm working on three projects. One is my hue shift blanket:

Two is my Double Cross Scarf:

And the third is to cast on to a new design for arm warmers that I've been percolating for years. I even have the pattern sketched out and plotted, I just haven't finished up the math or done swatching.

Yes, Virginia, swatching. I'm debating making that a pre-games event.

Either way, I'm not going to finish any of these projects. I mean, there's only so many weeks between the opening ceremonies and the closing. But I can at least make progress. And that, people, is my only goal.

What the hell is it with CSI?

So, last night I went and DVR'd several episodes of CSI: Original Crispy, because it was on Cloo Network and I had to do some heavy-duty knitting today. I needed to get my Mummy's Mink off the needles this weekend. It was needful, if only so I can prepare to start up my Ravellenic projects in the next few weeks.

Armed with my DVR'd episodes (of the post-modern DB era) and my DVD set of season 5 (prime Grissom vintage), I sat to this morning. Lots of fun mayhem and murder apparently speeds my needles along, because looky-looky what I got done today:

And it only took me what felt like forever. Ok, so only two months. It's laceweight yarn, doubled up, so next week on my destashing game I get to add 8 points to my tally. For the first time in over a year, I will be in the positive, wooohooo!

You know, whatever it takes to keep the chi flowing.

And I have nearly nothing left:

It's hard to tell, but that really is next to nothing left over. Mostly it's the longer tail end of one of the balls wadded up under all the wraps. It's definitely not enough for two more rows, which is what I would have needed to do. Since I started it with a pattern row right after my cast on, I had to cast off right after a pattern row. Makes sense, no?

So I'm not going to count it as leftover stash -- I mean, I couldn't do anything with it, other than perhaps chop it up and give it to the birds for some extremely fine nest lining. I may give it to my mother, or save it in case I have to make mends in her cowl. Yes, that may be best after all.

Either way, it's like a million pounds of obligation suddenly lifted off my mind. Now I can focus on my rainbow Hue Shift blanket and thousand other WIPs I have. Double Cross, Nemesis....a whole bunch of other's in my stashtainer that have no names yet.

Now I feel sad for them. Pretty yarns, stashed away in mid-stitch, pining for the light of day and fresh air of knitting process.

Just what I need; sympathy for my WIPs!

A week and a half to go!

Until the new year, that is. Everyone continues to heal up (blessed be), things are peaceful and quiet -- maybe a little too quiet.

Yes, in my family it is tradition to take good fortune as a harbinger of the bad. It's a screwed up way to live, and I wish I didn't do it, but there it is. Particularly after this past year, I'm a little frightened to have faith that life isn't about to stab me in the back.

I'm working hard on mom's mink neckwarmer. It's beautiful and soft as kittens, and I love it. She will enjoy it, too, I know. Plus, being an infinity scarf, she won't lose it. The benefits of felting an acrylic/mohair blend scarf by wearing it -- you get it replaced with mink.

I'm lining up my projects for next year, and I'm spoilt for choice. I've already decided to join my hermit's club's Ravellenics team -- Team Knit Alone. We don't officially register for the games, just knit along. I'm going to finish my Hue Shift Afghan because my colorway is the shockingly appropriate "Rainbow".

Look at the rainbow -- LOOK AT IT!!!!

I'm also thinking about working on my Double Cross scarf, because it has sparkles. Rainbows and sparkles? Oh, yeah.

Sparkly rainbows would be better, but I'm limited by my stock

 

I've been trying to narrow down my book list, but am not having much luck in figuring out which books to remove. Truman Capote will have to come off, sadly -- In Cold Blood is, technically, non-fiction. I think I may have to simply choose a book by an author who has several on the list as I come to the author on the list. I'd have to read two books a week, on average, to hit 100 books next year anyway, and that's not going to be feasible. I have a hard time mustering up enthusiasm for literature, anyway, not sure I could make it through two a week. That's like...eating peas every day for every meal. Urgh. I'll just have to see how many I can get through. Anything over three will be a major improvement for me.

 

I only have one more work day left before we close the office for the holidays. Wheee! I won't finish up mom's scarf in the next three days (unless I give up going to the bathroom in favor of sitting for the whole day in my chair, knitting like a fiend), but that's ok. I'm sure I'll get it done over the holiday break. Then I can maybe move on to another project, pick a book and get started on all my goals at once. 

 

But for now, I'm off to watch the first episode of season one of Sherlock. I need to watch them all over again before the third season starts up on the 19th. Possibly twice.  

Is it possible? Is it just possible that I have too much yarn?

I think it might be, honestly.

I have so much yarn, in fact, that I want to knit it all up -- at the same time. I'm like a kid in a candy store with free rein to eat whatever I want. Where does one start in that sort of situation?

Do I go with some of my silk:

Or do I go with some nice wool:

And then there's the ominous "Unknown" fiber category, which sadly includes my most luxurious yarn:

Camel.

I want to simultaneously knit it and roll on it.

I can't decide! Maybe I'll just go back to what I was doing anyway:

Either way, I think I'll just go work on this scarf. It's proceeding apace, it's already on the needles, and I like it.

Plus, sparkles.

For, lo, this I hath wrought.

I am so full of awesome, it's hard to be myself lately, you know?


I even learned French seams, which are a major pain in the ass, but somehow worth it. Still and all, I'm fairly chuffed. Now all I have to do is figure out what I want to do next: a decorative throw pillow (in which project I would learn trims and how to sew a pillow form into its case) or a small bag (which would be colorful and I would learn lining -- a far more useful skill to a knitter -- and adding handles and working with interfacing.)

Oh, decisions, decisions.

In the knitting news, I've decided to become mostly monogamous to my projects. Right now, I've got something like fifty gajillion projects on the needles. This is counter-productive to actually, you know, finishing anything. So for the time being I've only got three projects on the needles:

1. Double-Cross Scarf:

This is a freshly updated photo for the purposes of this post. Look at that sexy pooling! Anyway, I want this scarf, I do, so I'm going to make it one of my initial projects. The pattern is fairly simple, the yarn is like heaven in my hands, and I have a dreadful feeling Crowley is going to Come To A Well-Deserved Bad End at the end of this season (although how they'll survive without his delicious, delicious snark is beyond me).

I will cry. While wrapped warmly in my snuggly, wuggly little bit of the King of Hell.

2. Nereides Shawl:

Yeah. Still having problems with this one. She does the seafoam stitch a little differently than I'm accustomed to (but in a way that's probably oodles simpler, overall) making this far, far too complex a knit for the workplace. I can't answer calls while working on this, I can barely watch television and make my stitch counts. This is the fifth version of this that I've cast on, and in one repeat I've tinked back twice.

I think this one is going to end up being my knitting nemesis.

3. Milk Run Shawl (Adjusted):

Yes, it's an old picture. I'm not dragging this eight hundred pound monster out of its bag for a new picture. Besides, the only change is an inch of ruffle. One inch. It's heartbreaking how hours and hours of endless knit or purl stitches (oh, the curse of garter in the round -- I forgot how that would go until I'd already picked up and started knitting the ruffle stitches) will get you nowhere fast.

However it's a mind-numbingly simple piece, and will do excellently as a work project. I can answer phones, chat with visitors and probably even mop the floors (not a job duty, never fear) while finishing up the ruffle. The worst part is figuring out what I'm going to replace it with when the ruffle inevitably gets finished.

Oh, and by the bye, they tell you a knit-on ruffle will "eat up" yarn. They lie. One inch of ruffle isn't even touching the single skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease I tied on before I even finished the point. I've got at least 2/3 of the skein left to go.

Oh, well. At least when I'm done I can toss this puppy in the washer to clean out the desk-clutter-gunk before I lay it out to sorta-block. That'll be nice.