Yarnventory, and Contest

So, in an effort to make good on my stashbusting promise-to-self, I realized a little bookkeeping was in order. A yarnventory, if you will. I got out the laptop and toted it anywhere there was yarn, armed with a little Excel spreadsheet. And now, with only one box in the basement to go, I have a pretty good idea of just how much yarn I have.

My stash lives in about 14 of these at the top of a tiny corner closet (so tiny it's impossible to get a good photo-taking angle), plus a couple of big baskets around the house. And it's actually not as bad as I thought, until you take into account the fact that historically, I don't knit it up nearly as fast as I buy it. (Well, I'm trying to combat that for the time being.) In any event, it was kind of fun (in a geeky way) to see just how much sock yarn I have, or to realize that nearly half of my yarn is basically the same color. (I guess I'm consistent.) So, that brings me to the next logical step:

How: It's a two-parter, folks. First, guess the color family that dominates my stash. We're talking ROYGBIV here, plus white, gray and black. You have a 1 in 10 chance!
Then, guess the total yardage of my stash. This includes all yarn I currently own EXCEPT skeins currently on the needles.

Scoring: Everyone who gets part 1 right will be in the running, with part 2 being the deciding factor. In the unlikely event of a tie, there will be more than one winner.

Enter: Only once per person, please, and submit your entry in the comments of this entry.

Deadline: By 11:59 p.m. EST this Friday (2/3). Winner will be announced on Monday and notified by e-mail.

Prize: To be determined, depending on the winner's taste and preferences, but something yarny and likely of the Koigu varietal.

***

So, about that knitting.... I actually have made good progress this past week. Looky, I have more than half of the windowpane scarf done:

That's 31 inches, all spread out on the ironing board. But here I ran into a little problem: I ran out of yarn! This was totally unexpected; the skinnier alpaca scarf was 60+ inches and had a ton left over. (I can't find the leftovers; I have a feeling it got thrown out.) Anyway, I put in a call to the Recycled Lamb on Friday, so this should be cruising again soon. Too bad, because I thought I'd hit the 40" mark this weekend without that whole yarn-shortage issue.

And, I'm trucking along on the second sock:

It got a heel flap last night while watching The Man Who Knew Too Much--Hitchcock is great for sock knitting. Tonight, it's gusset time! Then it will be back to being subway knitting. Should be finished soon, so I can start on sockapaloooza!

***

Weekend highlight AND lowlight: Going to the "Washington Bridal Showcase" with two friends. It was so crowded, and so like running a gauntlet that I thought I would be ill. But, once I acclimated to all the estrogen, I ate some really good wedding cake, and won a free engagement portrait session. Yay! (Helped make up for the woman who said: What do you MEAN you're not going to have a videographer?! Don't you want to CHERISH your VERY SPECIAL DAY?" Gag.)

Broccoli Knitting

First things first: a finished sock!

That's the first Go With the Flow sock, and I really loved knitting it. It's the first time I really understood how much FUN sock knitting can be! The colors are so rich, so autumnal. It went with me most everywhere last week, and I kitchenered the ends on Monday night. Look, here's a close-up, which most accurately shows the colors (Koigu P334):

As much as I wanted to cast on for the second one RIGHT AWAY, first I had to do some "broccoli knitting." You know, the knitting that is necessary to make progress on finishing or a long project. In my case, I need to make progress on the boyfriend scarf and weave in all the ends on Sunrise.

The progress is coming along on the scarf:

It's about 25" long now, and growing at a decent rate. I'm pretty confident that this will get finished before February -- two football games this weekend will help on that front. (GO BRONCOS!) And the yarn is soft and squooshy alpaca, so it's really a joy, if a little boring.

But the ends. I was so dreading the ends. Luckily, I had a guardian angel: Last night at Late Night, Nickie and I ended up trading projects for the evening. She weaved in my ends, I knitted on her Opera Scarf (and managed to fix all the mistakes I inserted, thank god). So now I just need to do the I-cord and tassels by the hood, and the sweater will be done. Thanks Nickie!!

Finally, I'll leave you with some snaps of our amaryllis, which have finally popped into bloom:

And this one, Still Life With Amaryllis, Beer, Fruit and Scarf:

Minor Technical Difficulties

Love me a good productive weekend. I headed to the happy place on Saturday, where I had the rare pleasure of seeing both 4-ply Katie and Shanti before they head off again. The place was a total zoo, but I staked out a piece of the table and seamed part of Sunrise. (And I had to pick up a little yarn too, since they were having such a great sale!)

I had to leave in mid-afternoon, but when I got home in the early evening, I camped out on the couch to watch football and finish the seaming. There's a hitch, but here's the main body of the sweater, all sewn up:

I love the seed stitch detail on the neckline:

Then, Houston, we had a problem. The hood directions were omitted from the book. That's right -- it just said "sew hood on. No guidance how. I remembered that there was an errata online, so I went looking, and found it. It says:

Fold hood in half and sew down the back of it. Then attach hood to body of the sweater by sewing it in around the back of the neck and about half way down the V.

The problem? When I do this, it looks retarded. I can't figure these directions out for the life of me, so right now I'm concentrating on weaving in ends. [For the record, it's the "Not Your Standard Issue Sweatshirt" from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits.] Maybe I'll have an inspiration while I'm working. If not, I'll head back to Knit Happens next weekend and hope someone there sees what I don't.

The bright spot is that it fits beautifully--I mean, just spot on. Totally flattering, and the colors really delight me. So once I get this hood thing figured out, I'll post some actual wearing-it photos.

Then, since that had come to a standstill, I cast on for the first new project of 2006: a scarf for the boy. Last year I knit JT a mistake-rib scarf in alpaca, and he loves it. But he wanted another one, a wider one, since the mistake rib tends to pull vertically and become really skinny. So, we sat down with a stitch pattern book together, and he picked out a windowpane pattern. I cast on shortly thereafter, and am now about 10" done:

This is going to take a while; it's 67 stitches wide on size 7s, but it's pretty mindless and I love the way it's looking.

Then, when I was ready for a break from that, I cast on for the second new project of 2006:

Those are Go With the Flow socks from Interweave Knits, summer 2005 issue. The yarn is Koigu P334, which I purchased on Saturday with the aforementioned discount. I love this yarn! It's rich autumn colors of rust, chocolate and olive with hints of celadon throughout. Love it. And I've surprised myself by memorizing the lace pattern already--it's simple, but this lace-memorization is new to me.

And today also marks another accomplishment: Inspired by Kel, I got up early-early this morning and went to a Masters swim practice. I was easily the slowest there, but still ended up doing about 500 yards more in an hour than in my self-directed workouts. Of course, I may not be able to lift my arms any tonight to knit....

Look Back, Look Ahead

Happy 2006!

The start of a new year is always a good time to take stock of how the last one went, and to set goals for the new year. I started out by looking back at my knitting accomplishments in 2005 (thank goodness for this blog--I would have completely forgotten about some!) In 2005, I made:
* 2 sweaters
* 1 tank top
* 2 baby sweaters
* 1 pair of socks
* 1 bridal garter
* 2 baby blankets
* 4 scarves

My favorite thing I made in 2005: The Frimas sweater. I wear it often, and I still absolutely love it.
Best accomplishment: Finishing the lace on the bridal garter. It was so delicate and intricate, and the pattern required close attention.
Longest project: The diamond baby blanket. I know there were projects that actually took more time, but this one really felt like it might never end.
Most frustrating moment: Untangling the Tess microfiber ribbon. Still makes me angry that I lost two full knitting nights on that.
Knitalongs I joined: 4
Knitalongs I finished: 2 (Rebecca Cardi, Pinwheel blanket)
Knitalongs I still haven't started: River (but I still want to make it!)
Knitalongs in progress: Demi
Longest-running unfinished object: The French Market Bag. I think it's high time to felt that thing!

And now, looking forward, at my knitterly resolutions for 2006:
* I will knit more from stash. In fact, after the sale this weekend at the happy place, I plan to not buy yarn for a while. I have plenty of good, gorgeous yarn just waiting to realize its potential.
* I will keep a sock-in-progress with me when I know I'm going to be travelling on the subway or waiting (doctors offices, etc.).
* Take better notes. I do a pretty good job of keeping track of the process on the blog, but when it comes to things like remembering which needle size I used for a particular project, I've gotten lax.
* Improve my chart-reading skills.
* Make at least one of the designs that have been marinating in my head for more than a year.

That's it. Nothing too complicated, since this year will likely be a busy one. I just want to do a better job at doing what I already do. My life resolutions are along the same line:

* Use all of my vacation time from work (I've always had at least 2 weeks in the bank, and this year they're switching to a use-it-or-lose-it policy).
* Spend 15 minutes each day tidying up around the house, so it doesn't become a war zone every 2 weeks.
* Try to "be present" in everything I do, and not daydream or get distracted--whether with friends, watching a movie, or at work.
* Either learn how to take really good photos on this camera or get a new, more idiot-proof one.
* Curb my sweet tooth.
* Do a cardio workout twice a week.
* Do yoga at least once a week.
* Buy less food at a time. If this means more trips to the grocery store, so be it--I'm tired of throwing out packs of mushrooms and spinach because we didn't eat it before it rotted.
* Have a delightful wedding and reception without losing my mind.

*********

So, I have actual knitting progress to report:

That's all the pieces of the sunrise sweater, waiting to be sewn up. I got ahead of myself a bit--over the holiday break, I knitted the hood, and then went to block all the pieces. Gasp--I could only find one sleeve. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find the second one. Turns out (after checking blog archives) that I never made a second sleeve. So, I cast on for the second sleeve on Tuesday, and finished it last night. Blocking commences tonight, and I'll be seaming this baby at KH tomorrow!

And gratuitous food photo:

That's a pie I made with my pal Kim, who taught me how to make pie crust from scratch. Not pictured is the filling, a delish combo of pear and ginger and lime zest and rum-soaked raisins. It was a hit!