My Goodness! More Stash Enhancement! When will it end?

We went to Michael's yesterday. I got two balls of sock yarn (how much yarn does it take to make socks, anyway?) Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in the Crush colorway (Pinks, Reds, Grey, and White) and some worsted acrylic - TLC Essentials in the Blue Jean colorway (denim blue, light blue, and purple). Both were on clearance. I wanted to try making socks, but I didn't want to invest $15 + needles into it, and I figure that I can use the other on hats and scarves for charity.

I was really looking for stitch markers. They didn't have any in the knitting section, and in the jewelry section the largest jump rings they had were 10mm, which didn't look big enough (well, for like socks they would be, but...) So I bought a bag of buttons, threaded some red yarn through them, and made some unique stitch markers. This way I figure that I'll be able to remember what they stand for, instead of having a bunch of white stitch markers.

Stash Enhancement, Progress Reports, and adding to the list!

My La-la is home sick today with a stomach bug. Yuckarooni! She's mostly in good spirits, and lobbying hard to go to the doctor's. Our compromise is that when we go out later today, we'd look for a sticker for her. A Winnie-the-Pooh sticker is enough, I guess. I'm not feelin' so hot myself - I have had a sore throat for three days and I'm beat (La-la waking up at 2:30 and 5 with stinkiness didn't help at all).

Well. I found yarn for Clapotis. I was browsing the worsted at Webs (yarn.com). It was a whole project - I made a list of all the ones that I thought had potential (worsted weight, not a solid color, etc). I started with a list of 10 yarns, narrowed it down to three, and went with Valley Yarns Charisma - it's on sale for $13.50 for 385 yards, so it'd be a $27 Clapotis vs my runner-ups in the neighborhood of $50 for Clapotis. The alternates were Art Yarns Supermarino and Berroco Zen Colors. The Berroco is a ribbon yarn, but the sheen and the colorways were so beautiful that, if it were less expensive, it would have been a great experiment.

I got my order from Little Knits. I'm digging the Cascade 220 Superwash. I'm only wishing it were a little bulkier. And I'm kind of wishing it were in a varigated color. I'm going to have to special order the yarn for our friend's tax deduction. Oh! And they had their baby yesterday - a little boy, with a #4 after his name, 7lbs, 5 oz, born at 1:01 pm, with the cord wrapped around his neck twice and a knot in it! Didn't tighten up and cause any trouble though.

Back to the Little Knits, though. In a marketing stroke of genious, the proprietor added a note about the specials she was having and included little baggies with samples of yarn. Freakin brilliant. So, I get the order, read the note, fondle the samples (I'm a toucher), and order more yarn. More yellow for a french market bag, and some purple&grey fuzzy cotton homestyle stuff (Cascade makes it, I think). Thinking of a winter scarf for me with that. If I ordered anything else, it'll be a suprise for both of us.

Speaking of the French Market Bag. I went to the LYS and limited my spending to picking up a couple skeins of lilac (is there a theme here?). I thought the orange/brown was too halloweeny, and since I didn't feel like swatching and felting the swatches, I didn't want to risk the vintage wool being superwash. The FMB turns out to be kind of a big project. 200 stitches around in the body of the bag. I've got about 2 inches done of the body color. 6 more to go.

We had an offsite meeting Wednesday, and I brought my knitting. I got some comments about it - mostly amusement, though. I got a good inch done there in an hour and a half. Maybe it's not so bad. It's stockinette, so if you can keep working on it, it goes by pretty brainlessly.

Progress and photos!

I'm making some progress on the French Market Bag (knitty). The circs came in the mail, and I transferred it to a 24" circ on Monday at the Boy Scout meeting (Have I mentioned how much I love the Boy Scout meetings?) It's looking a little less like a pyramid on the circs, however, the center is still somewhat reminiscent of a part of the anatomy that I hesitate to mention (it starts with an N, and you find it on a baby bottle). Hopefully it'll felt out.

I've had an interesting experience with Little Knits. Unforseen excellent customer service. Very nice. If it were through eBay, I'd give them a very high rating. There was a typo on their web site where the color number didn't correspond to the color of Cascade 220 that I ordered. They checked to see which one I meant, I clarified and gave an example what I was ultimately looking for (garnet as in FSU) with a web site. She checked the web site and gave a suggestion that was even better!

I'm thinking about ditching the clapotis idea, since I don't think I've found the PERFECT yarn for it, in favor of making the mellow version of Tie One On from the spring Knitty in the delicious purple wool-silk that I already have on hand. And I'm thinking of making Branching Out from some dusty blue, DK weight yarn I have. I had been thinking of making socks, but I think it'll be too dull for socks.

When we would play "good guys vs bad guys" with the monkey when he was little, the longest part of the game was to pick out your action figures and negotiating who got who, etc, etc. I just realized that I'm the same way with my project agenda. I'm not sure how I feel about that epiphany. I just know that I need to finish this up so I can knit.

DH with his snazzy London Beanie!

The fluffy pink cotton candy scarf. It was a neat rib pattern. Knit like 2x2 but with a remainder so it turns out differently.

Not much actual knitting this week....

Those danged Circs aren't here yet! I NEED to get back to the French Market Bag!

We're going to my sister's this weekend for a whirlwind trip...and we all know what that means. Road trip knitting! 2 1/2 hours each way! I should be able to finish the homespun scarf (Lion Brand Homespun, that is) and get some good progress on my red scarf. A little irony - I'll probably donate a scarf and buy a scarf. Don't tell the DH.

Oh, so I really would love to show off the FMB to my sister. Maybe I can squinch some more stitches on the DPN's before switching. It's a set of 4, not 5, which, I guess would have allowed for more stitches before switching to circs.

Josh (the older monkey) crossed over into Boy Scouts and went to his first troop meeting as an official Crossed-Over Scout. I got to take him to the meeting and sit in the back and KNIT (on the French Market Bag, mais oui)! It was heavenly. I had so much energy after that that I came home, did the dishes and other whirlwind puttering. I'm really looking forward to this Boy Scout business.

I made an online yarn purchase this week too. Not much knitting, lots of browsing & purchasing. I ordered 2 skeins of red Cascade 220 superwash to (a) make a scarf for DH and (b) test out the Cascade 220 superwash before buying more for my friend's baby blanket, and I ordered some garnet and gold Cascade 220 to make FMB's for my sister and mom in FSU colors. Go Noles! It'll probably be a garnet body and gold handles/bottom. They only had one skein of the yellow, though, so either I'll have to pick up more later or of a different color.

I need to get some FO shots of the London Beanie and the fluffy scarf. DH will lay in bed and wear the beanie while we watch TV. It's very cute.

I started the French Market Bag!

Towards the end of last week, I had a knitting epiphany. I'm not so thrilled with working on either of those two scarves right now. I mean, heck, it's starting to be 80 degrees out pretty regularly, so even by wussy Florida standards, we're starting to be pretty far away from winter weather. It seems like I've been adding stuff to the queue daily - stuff I want to knit for me (French Market Bag, felted ballet slippers, Blaze from Knitty, a raglan cardigan, maybe another French Market Bag, Clapotis). Knitting time is "me" time, and if I'm not thrilled with what I'm knitting, it's drudgery. OK, the scarves are perfect for scarf knitting - the patterns are simple enough that I probably won't make a mistake when I look out the windows, tend to the monkeys or chit-chat with DH. My limited chance for personal time is in the evenings at home. The scarves were just not hitting the spot. So.....I put another project on the needles.

The FMB. The base and handles are in brown, then sides will be orange. I'm using Lamb's Pride Worsted. I'm so wild and crazy that I haven't test-felted a swatch or even checked guage. I'm just winging it. I don't think I'm doing the increases completely right, either. They're mostly good, but every once in a while I'm getting one even side and the rest odd - so I'm either increasing one side on a knit row or I'm forgetting to increase on an increase row. All-in-all, I'm pleased with it so far. It's fun. It's challenging. It's an excuse to buy more needles.

That's right. It's filling up my DPN's and it's only half the size it needs to be before switching to the main color and my circs are too long, I think. 32"? So....I bought some 16 and 24" #7's. Wah-ha-ha-ha. I almost bought yarn for more FMB's (one for my sis and one for my mom) but then I thought I should figure out how much yarn it takes and how well the Lamb's Pride felts. I may buy some wool from KnitPicks though for bags for Mom and the sis......Wah-ha-ha-ha some more!

Adding to the queue

I've been ogling everyone's selections for clapotis and contemplating one. And I've been thinking about my knitting projects in the queue and on the needles. I've decided that I really want to knit something cool for me, the French Market bag. While the two scarves I've got on the needles are good....I think they're both going to be pretty when they're done, and they're going to good causes, etc, etc, I just really WANT to work on the French Market bag - it's something challenging and something for me. I think those are the two most important points. I decided to do it in brown and orange wool - orange for the body, brown for the bottom and handles. The colors might be a little autumnal, but then, maybe I'll have to make a second one for myself. who knows.

And I'll keep looking for yarn to use for the clapotis. And I think I'd like to make a cardigan for me - found a free top down basic cardigan. And I have gorgeous purple wool/silk yarn that I'd like to use on something for me.....

Maybe the secret to happiness will be to keep something for me on the needles and something for someone else too.

I really hope I have time to start the FMB tomorrow. I got the brown wool ready to go and the pattern printed out. I don't think I'm going to make a felting sample first or anything. Gonna throw caution into the wind on this one.