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Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Still Knitting and Reading

Phew, it has been a bit too long. I haven't meant to neglect this space. Somehow days turn into weeks around these parts. We have been trying to stay cool as our temperatures continue to hover in the 110s. I think each of us is ready for fall and cooler weather (yes, 90 degrees is cooler to us). In preparation for cooler temperatures, I continue to knit. Several people have commented on my knitting in such warm weather. I just tell them I am optimistic that the weather will cool at some point.
Scrappy Hat, FLS, Foliage hat and current reading for Ginny's Yarn Along
My February Lady Sweater is almost complete. I really wanted to have it finished by the end of August, but that deadline came and went. I then thought for sure it would be done by Labor Day. Again I hit a snag. I was merrily knitting the sleeves while at my book group. The needles were flying, but so was my mouth. When I stopped to look at what I had knit, the stitch count was off; my lace was not right. I spent some time trying to figure out my problem before unceremoniously stuffing it into my bag. I haven't pulled it out since Saturday night.

In the absence of sweater knitting, I have been organizing and documenting. For several years, I have listened sporadically to the Stash and Burn podcast. I like getting ideas for new patterns and yarn. I also like listening to ideas on how to keep a moderate stash and knit what you have without amassing more. In all that time, I have continued to keep my yarn in the closet. I finally pulled it out and documented it in Ravelry this weekend. I snapped photos, weighed partial skeins and entered all of my yarn into the database. It wasn't pretty. Once I had completed the task, I decided I needed to do more reduction. I had previously destashed quite a bit of yarn, but more needs to go. I am now on a knitting frenzy trying to reduce my yarn.

I have a plan for the yarn. There is enough for a sweater for me and two of the kiddos. I plan on making some hats, cowls, scarves and socks. I also realized I need to make two more stockings for my children. So, for September, I am tackling single skein projects. Today I made a quick hat from two partial skeins. I also cast on for another hat. These quick projects will be my fodder for the next month or two. Of course, I will finish my sweater. I just needed something to distract me for a few days.

As I mentioned above, I belong to a book group. It is composed of some of my very best mama friends. Each month a different member picks a book. This month I neglected getting the book until just a few days before our meeting. I quickly read the book, and we had a great discussion. The book was The Raven's Bride. It was an interesting perspective on Edgar Allan Poe. I had always believed that he was a crazy opium addict. After reading the book, I did a bit of research on Poe. He was not an opium addict, although he did have a problem with alcohol. He wrote a large variety of pieces, worked as an editor, started the detective genre and championed for the rights of the career writer. The book is written from his wife's perspective, which I really enjoyed.

With my book group reading out of the way, I picked up a couple new books from the library. While organizing this weekend, I listened to part of Crossing to Safety. Thus far, I really like the characters. It is nice to listen to a good story while working on projects. In the evenings, I am reading Ellis Island. I have only begun the book, so I have no strong opinion. Both of these books were recommended by friends through goodreads. I really like that website for organizing what my family reads and what we want to read.

Hopefully next week, I will have pictures of my finished sweater and a few more stash-busting projects. (Sorry for the sub-par photo, I forgot my camera at a friend's house.)

13 comments:

  1. Your sweater looks marvellous, what a wonderful green! Good luck with the stash burning, it sounds like there will be many new projects soon. How exciting!

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  2. I'm working on trying to burn through some stash right now too - one good things about the one skein projects is getting the satisfaction of finishing something far more regularly ;)

    Love the green of your February Lady

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  3. The green you have chosen for your sweater is absolutely gorgeous

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  4. Anonymous7:44 AM

    Thanks for the Stash & Burn link. I really need to take stock of what I have too and use it up... I don't know about you, but I buy yarn without a particular pattern in mind or buy it with a pattern in mind and then forget what I bought it for. Your sweater looks lovely. Boy, hope you get cooler weather soon too. We've had an absolutely wonderfully unexpected dip in our weather (usually it's 'hot' here in Oct) and I'm loving it.

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  5. My mom-in-law was "gifted" with a yarn stash of a co-worker's mother (who recently went into a nursing home). Over six hundred skeins of yarn (many of them 30 years or older) came in to her home. She spent an entire weekend categorizing the yarn and typing it all into a spreadsheet. I give credit to anyone with a large stash of yarn (I think mine is larger than I think because I have it spread out).

    Your book club read sounds interesting! I may need to check that out. I've always enjoyed Poe and would be interested in reading the book from his wife's point of view.

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  6. The Raven's Wife sounds like a great read! Thanks for the recommendation:)
    I haven't made the leap to actually documenting my yarn stash.
    I like to think it's pretty moderate, but I bet if I went through and really cataloged what I have I would be unpleasantly surprised...

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  7. The sweater is gorgeous! What a beautiful shade of green and lovely pattern.

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  8. Anonymous10:00 AM

    I haven't listened to Stash and Burn in a while. Hmmm..off to download some shows to the iPod.

    Your FLS is beautiful! Just take it one stitch at a time and you'll get back to where you're supposed to be and finish it in no time.

    Love, love, love Goodreads, too.

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  9. I love the color of your FLS!! It is just the perfect shade of green. I need to knit through my stash in my closet too.

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  10. Wow! Beautiful sweater..I love the color!!

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  11. Love the colours!
    I am the s-l-o-w-e-s-t knitter & crocheter in the universe, and yet I consistently pick projects that I know will take me a year! Time to consider a couple single skein items...

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  12. best to be optimistic...what else can we do? our temps finally broke this past weekend...i am in heaven.

    :)
    jen

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  13. Well done on documenting your stash. It took me AGRs to do my knitting pins on the ravelry site. Love the February pattern and the yarn you are using. The book about Poe sounds very interesting - funny how we have these ideas about folk. xx

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