Sweater Hunting

Yesterday, the kids and I went hunting for sweaters to rip apart into yarn. Value Village was too expensive (no surprise there!), but we did have good luck digging through the bins at the GoodWill Outlet, where I found the two sweaters on the left -- the two on the right have been hiding in a closet with the purple sweater I tore apart earlier this week. The brown one on the left is a soft wool/angora blend. The purple one is 100% wool, which I hope will felt into a bag, maybe striped with the grey wool next to it. And the lavender one is a lightweight wool/angora blend that wants to be a shawl someday.



Here's Besotted:



I'm using the seaming pin as a cable needle, which works well. It's less awkward than a DPN, and not expensive if I lose it.

Voodoo!

Fluffy scarf yarn usually doesn't appeal to me, but this stuff is fun. It's also $5.99 for a 33 yard skein, which I didn't realize until I'd already brought it home from the store and started knitting with it. Per yard, this has got to be the most expensive yarn I've ever splurged on. And it was for my eight year old daughter to knit with! The day I saw her sitting on the floor at the LYS and counting her pennies to see if she could buy a skein of fluffy pink stuff, I knew I had to get her a few skeins fancy yarn for her birthday. It never occured to me that there might not be enough for a teeny-tiny scarf. We've made it narrower and switched to bigger needles and I'm hoping I don't have to go buy a second skein.

I'd happily use Voodoo again, if I didn't have to pay for it. :-P

X's & O's

I've spent three evenings knitting on Besotted, and the more progress I make, the happier I am with the way it's turning out. It's pretty and has a great name and the cable pattern is interesting, but just barely simple enough to keep track of while there are other things going on.

And after getting all inspired by ReKal 2005, I dug out the thrift store sweaters that have been stuffed in the closet for more than a year now. The purple one has been taken apart and unraveled into what's got to be at least 900 yards of yummy wool/angora blend. I've still got two more sweaters to play with, but what I'd really like to do is dig through the bins at the GoodWill outlet looking for muddy reddish brown yarn-to-be. That'll have to wait until the love of my life goes back to work, though, because I don't even want to try to explain to him why I'm frogging sweaters instead of knitting with the yarn I've got or using my spinning wheel.

I know why -- because I've just discovered that I can spend $2 and get hours and hours of playtime. And I haven't even knit anything with it yet!

Besotted!

I didn't get the sleeve sewn to Quinn's cute little sweater tonight. Instead, I cast on for Besotted and knit two whole pattern repeats. I've got X's and O's in cranberry Wool-ease and I'm even more excited about this scarf now that I've got a visible hint of how mine is going to turn out. The picture on the pattern is pretty, but mine is red.

I think this is going to be my Valentine's gift to myself.

Still Not Much Knitting

Quinn's blue sweater will be done as soon as I sew the last sleeve into place, but that's still about the only knitting I've managed to get done this month. I really do want to knit...as soon as I feel better....or the kids all take a nap...or the stars line up properly...or whatever it finally takes to get me sitting on the couch with needles and yarn.

I keep getting ambushed by new projects:

I found the new issue of Knit It! last week while I was wandering the grocery store to kill time during Alex's karate class. She stays after to spar, and to do chin ups now that they've got the bar back up, and class gets longer and longer every week. There are about seven patterns that appeal to me, but they're all overshadowed by the Aran Poncho, which has a huge intricately twining cable. The pattern calls for 11 skeins of Cool Wool, which is more than I want to spend, but Chunky USA is the same gauge and was on sale for 99 cents a skein. Less expensive, washes well, and will mean a lot less ends to weave in. I'm suddenly convinced I need a poncho for nursing in public.

Then someone on one of the knitting lists mentionedthis, which has got to be the cutest baby boy hat and booties I've ever seen. And Craft Warehouse had the Berroco Suede on clearance for $5.50 a skein. As soon as I find something to substitute for the Plush, I can get started.

There's the Besotted scarf, the Snowdrift Aran, the Bed & Breakfast Pullover, two sweaters from Baby Knits for Beginners, Amazing Twining Lace from a back issue of Knitters, the Diamonds in the Rough and Waffle socks...

And then are the things I want to buy yarn for. Top of that list is this -- which has got to be the most incredible felted bag I've ever seen. I don't want the yarn the pattern calls for, because I'd never in a million years spend that much on one project, let alone something I was going to throw in the washer and felt. But where there's a will, there's a way, and I've definitely got the will to find a decent substitute.

I want to tackle something from Folk Mittens and another sweater for Quinn.

There are more things on my dream list, lots more than I've got the energy to type out here. I've either got to start getting things done, or stop adding to the list. And there's no way I'm going to stop finding new projects, so I'd better grab those needles!

Why can't I knit?

I've got yarn, patterns, projects I'm excited about that are already in progress and more projects I'm excited about that could go on the needles anytime I'm ready. For Christmas, the kids and I got a bunch of great DVDs, and I've been renting lots of cheap movies to watch while my husband is at work.

Open Water was intriguing and disturbing, and I had to watch it three times, then do a Google search to find the true story it was based on. Dawn of the Dead was kind of fun and I would've watched the commentary if I'd had the chance. The Village wasn't at all what I expected.

Despite all of that, I haven't knit much of anything so far this year. First it was the migraine that had me working my way through the medicine cabinet for days, trying everything I could find that was safe to take while breastfeeding. Now I've got a nasty bug that just won't let go. Today is day eight and I'm starting to feel better, but still nowhere near healthy. After keeping myself and the baby quarantined since October, this just isn't fair! At least he seems to have caught it and recovered with just a little stuffiness and one scary voiceless afternoon.

Yesterday and today should have been prime knitting days. Bill has the good car and I'm not going anywhere, even though I'd love to see if the LYS down the street has the new issue of Vogue Knitting. That can wait until tomorrow, especially since I'll be able to slip out without the kids.

I did get up early yesterday and finish about three inches of Quinn's blue fishy sweater, which is bearing less and less of a resemblance to the original pattern, and has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now that I've divided the front and back, it just needs four more inches of stockinette stitch, so I'm saving the rest for a karate project.

Today, I'm playing with my cardigan. I'm almost to the part where the two front halves interlock, and I'm getting more nervous with every row.

I'd like to cast on the second half of the Cathedral Window Shawl, but there's no way I'll be able to concentrate on it, so that'll have to wait until a night when everyone else is in bed.