I'm going to spin!

The past 2 consecutive Saturdays, women have come with their drop spindles and spun. I was so ridiculously entertained, I can not even begin to explain.

So.. Here it is: I'm going to teach myself how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. I went to Etsy and bought a drop spindle (that comes with roving and a "teach yourself how to spin" guide) and some silk roving.

This is the spinning kit I got from Wind Rose on Etsy. I'm pretty excited.


This would be the Tussah Silk Roving I bought (also from Wind Rose). Is it gorgeous or what?
"Tussah silk is gathered from wild silk worms after the moth emerges and is often referred to as "Peace Silk". It's stronger than cultivated silk and has more than a 3" staple length. It's loved by both spinners and needle felters for its softness and luster."

Sock yarn is definitely not stash.

I'm following the Stephanie Pearl-McPhee approach: sock yarn is not stash. (If I don't have at least a little loophole, my yarn diet will never survive. This is an excellent option.)

Today while at knit night (today's was located at the yarn shop) and I could not resist buying just a little bit of yarn to take the edge off. At first I got a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids and a skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (which was only $11 for a whole skein with plenty to knit a pair of socks. $11 for quality sock yarn, you wouldn't be able to resist either). Then I went back and picked up the gorgeous skein of hand painted teal sock yarn I had found earlier. It was the last one available, it was a limited edition, and it was hand painted. Really, it was irresistible.

Emily was laughing at me pretty hard. I don't blame her, 20 minutes before my purchases I had been talking about my newly organized stash and my also-new yarn diet. I'm pretty hopeless. Then Carolyn (the school nurse at PHS) chimed in that according to the Yarn Harlot: sock yarn is not stash. I agreed.


So, new philosophy. I'm feeling pretty good about this. And a new relization: I think I am subconciously attracted to green sock yarn and blue worsted weight for hats. I'm going to be a ripe old age someday with 40 million blue hats and another 40 million pairs of green socks. Yup. green socks.

Socks!

This morning I decided to put the half finished sock on one of the sock blockers. You know, just for kicks.

IT'S FOOT SHAPED! AND THE RIGHT SIZE! AND THE GAUGE IS FANTASTIC! I think I forgot to mention that it is perfect.



After finishing the decreases of the picked up stitches from the heel flap (Wow, I can't remember the term. It's not the gusset.. the instep? I have no idea.) too quickly, I had to rip back to pre-picked-up-stitches and start over again. I decided to put an all-knit row in between the decrease rows. That seems to work out perfectly.


Wow, foot shaped socks. This thrills me to no end.

I'M NOT BREAKING MY YARN DIET, I SWEAR.

The last time Jim (mom's fiancee) was in town, they ventured up to Jerome and bought me a gift certificate for Knit 1 Bead 2. After weeks of it burning a hole in my pocket, my mom and I took a trip up there today. We had lunch at the Haunted Hamburger (which was fantastic, after they re-cooked my burger. The first time around it was barely cooked and totally gross.) and then went to the yarn shop.

I paced and walked around the store, picking up and feeling skein after skein of pretty yarn that I wasn't really loving. I considered buying just a skein of or 2 of something I knew I liked from A Good yarn so I could get out of there, but I didn't want to leave the shop that I"ll probably never go to again with something I could buy in my town.

After pacing for about an hour, I finally stumbled upon a giant rack of Dream in Color Starry. How had I not seen it before? I have no idea. But it was there, next to the beaded jewelry, and it was gorgeous. I walked up to the rack and first saw the giant red skein called Lipstick Lava. Then I looked down and saw a shelf. A shelf with even more Dream in Color Starry. It was there that I saw a beautiful skein called Blue Lagoon. My mom came over and then picked out a nice skein for herself, Some Summer Sky, with the idea of me knitting her socks (considering that she was the one responsible for the gift certificate, and was also willing to spring the cash for an extra skein for me as a gift, I'm more than willing to knit her the perfect socks.)

Blue Lagoon. It's a smidge darker than in the photos, but seriously, I adore this yarn. It's my favorite color. And as a girl, something deep inside of me really, really loves the sparkles.



Some Summer Sky. I was a little surprised, my mom chose this over a lovely baby pink (which is usually her favorite). It's a little too light for my taste, but there's no denying that it's gorgeous.



Lipstick Lava. Way more red than in the photos (close to the top picture, but not completely), way way way more red. It has some subtle hints of dark brownish-purple as well. I think I might make a pair of Nutkins out of this, that's what popped into my head the second I saw it.


So yeah, it was a gift. And I had to spend the gift certificate before I moved. So, technically, this wasn't breaking my yarn diet because all of the yarn bought today was a gift. And 1/3 of what I bought today will be made into something for my mom, not me. (It's totally justified, I swear.)

~~~

Project kits. Tons of them. A tall laundry basket filled to the brim with them. I counted, and then added more, so I'd guess around 30 projects kits. AND I STILL HAVE MORE YARN. Good Lord. I have 3 bins that used to be overflowing, and are now comfortably filled, but seriously: How do I have 30 project kits and still more yarn?!

I'm thrilled with this whole thing, by the way. Everything is organized and it pleases me to no end. As soon as I finish my socks, I can grab the neck warmer WIP, and then the Habitat WIP, and my Ravelympics project is right on top just waiting for me to work on it. I love this. Love, love, love this. Organization is pretty much the key to my happiness. No more yarn on shelves, or in baskets, or on top of books. Nope, none. There's yarn tucked away in 3 small-ish bins in my closet, and then The Basket Of Project Kits. I am tickled, really, this is going to be great.

All of the patterns I want to do, they're in The Bin. All of the yarn I so desperately want to work with, it's in The Bin. The projects that need to be done and over with, in The Bin. It's sort of prioritized, a little, the projects I want done NOW are at the top, while everything else is mingling below them. I just can't explain how much I love this.

~~~

I picked patterns for the new sock yarn, and my mom picked a pattern for hers.

"Alex, this is cute, but it looks too difficult. It says Intermediate."
*grabs book to look over pattern*
"Mom, it's just knit, purl, k2tog, and ssk. No biggie. The chart is easy to read and the instructions are clear. It will take an attention span, but it'll be fine."
"Are you sure, it looks awfully hard. I don't want you to be ripping your hair out making these for me."
"Mom, seriously, it's fine. I wouldn't offer to make these if I didn't feel confident I could do it."
"Alright, but it's okay if you decide to make just simple socks."
"Mom, I want to make socks you're going to love."
"Thanks sweetie."

Watch me be ripping out my hair making these. Hahaha. Of course.

Day 2: a good start on my stashbusting project, and some very hot FO action.

I finished my hat. My first cable project. I finished it in 3 days. Well, technically, one night, one day, and a morning. (So if you want to add it up, it's really only 2 days.) I did the Snowdrift hat by Alex Tinsley. I followed the pattern except for turning the 1x1 rib into a 2x2 rib, and I used a super bulky instead of a chunky. It's dense and warm and I love it. My only real beef is the yarn. If you tugged at it a little to hard, it just ripped apart. And it was filled with vegetable matter. And the second skein had random spots of black on it. Like, say, the yarn was on the ground and someone stepped in it with dirty shoes. In the end, I love it. It's exactly what I wanted out of this yarn.

~~~

I turned this (Sorry for the crappy quality. Cell phone picture and at night, yeah.. The sad part is that this wasn't even all of it.):



Into this:



And this:


I took all of my yarn, every bit of it (in the bins, on the bookshelf, out of my knitting bag, etc.) and put it all on my bed. I gabbed some patterns I like, got the yarn I wanted to pair with the pattern, and put them in bags. I was up until 11 last night making a ton of kits and then threw them in the huge laundry basket I have. This way, I can grab a bag when I'm done with my project, and power through a new project. (I'm really excited about this, I think it will make my yarn diet easier.)

Part 1: A Dedication

I do not have bucket of money laying around dedicating to yarn-buying. I have a ton of yarn, I really don't need any more at this point.

Tomorrow I am going to get a ton of Ziploc bags and set up yarns with patterns. If I need to print out the pattern, I will. If I need to scan a pattern out of a book, I will. I'll everything set up and then make myself knit a single project at a time and power through some of my projects because, seriously, I have too much yarn.

(I wonder how far this will go and how good I'll be about it. I'm going to give it the ole' college try, but I just hope I stick with it for a while.)