I'm all over the place

I'd like to think of myself as a fairly organized person, especially when it comes to knitting. I line up my projects, make sure I have all needed supplies before starting, and never work on more than two projects at once. I used to knit only one project at once, but made an exception for my "perfect sock project" which will be ongoing.


I finished the morning glory wrap on saturday, and I'll show it to you after it's been blocked, which will hopefully be next week. I had lined up the "curved shawl" from victorian lace today as the next project. It was to be a christmas gift for my SIL. Well, I cast on and knit 3 rows, by which time I was nearly in tears. It's not a difficult pattern--perhaps a 7 stitch 4 row repeat. But I could...not...make...it...work.


Part of the problem, I've realized, is that I'm a very visual knitter. I make a good amount of mistakes. But with this pattern, I could not for the life of me see anything but a big tangle of yarn after 3 rows. Who knew how many mistakes were in there, and where they were? How would I ever fix it? So I frogged it after only 3 rows.


I think I've identified a suitable replacement--Miss Lambert's Shetland Pattern (also from Victorian Lace Today). I can use the same yarn, and I have the right needles. It looks a wee bit boring, but since it won't be draped on my shoulders, I don't much care. Plus, wee bit boring also means less difficulty, and because it's a rectangle, much easier for me to visualize. The only thing that scares me about the pattern, and pretty much every other pattern in the book, is the knit on border. But Ill deal with that when I come to it.


Now let's talk about yarn for a mo. I've got a big wicker basket next to my chair that holds my stash. Last week it became full, and it was no longer possible for me to pile another skein precariously on it's top without creating a landslide. Plus, there is some yarn in there that I really shouldn't have bought. It's not bad yarn really, but there's a good quantity of it. 10 skeins, maybe? Anyway, looking at this "mistake purchase" yarn has been dredging up a good amount of yarn guilt. So I made it go away. I took out about 15 skeins of BMFA mediumweight and stashed it in a drawer in the coffee table. Then I took the mistake yarn and put it in the bottom of the basket where I couldn't see it. Then I put the "good" yarn on top. You know, the yarn the just brings you joy whenever you see it? Well, that's all I'm looking at right now, and I feel much better.


So another reason for making the alternate BMFA stash was that it allowed more room in the basket for the rest of the yarn that I ordered last week. Remember the 10 skeins of Wollmeise? Well, that's not here yet. But when it does arrive, I'll have room for it.


While catching up with bloglines on tuesday afternoon I discover that yarn4socks.com had just put up a selection of Yarntini. You know, the stuff that vaporizes in seconds? Well I bopped on over there and bought myself some. Just two skeins. And they're really pretty--see?







Then on Wednesday there's some scuttle on the Ravelry boards that the Loopy Ewe sneak-up is going to be that night. So I get up at 1am and check. Nothing. Hmpf. I get up thursday at 5am as usual, check the Loopy Ewe, and looky there! Wollmeise! Chewy Spaghetti! Well, I bought 3 more Wollmeise--









and 2 Chewy Spaghetti fingering weight.







What? That pink one looks familiar? How astute of you! Yes, I actually already have a skein of that but ordered it anyway. So much for Ravelry helping with stash management.

So next week's sneak up is supposed to contain Yarntini, so I can pass on that one. And here's another shocker--I didn't buy anything from Posh the past two weeks. No her yarn still rocks, but I'm trying to control myself. Wish me luck for this week!