thinking ... just thinking ... about getting organized

so.

i have a yarn stash.  i know, you're like, well DUH.

but as you can imagine or might have seen, it is a fairly substantial stash.  not as huge as others i've seen, for sure, but i think i have enough yarn to comfortably knit for several years -- decades, maybe -- without buying a single ball, skein or hank more AND without spinning any additional yarn from the fiber that's in my stash.

at one point i tried, however half-heartedly, to photograph my yarn and post the photos and deets to my ravelry stash.  that was a pathetic attempt.  then i thought maybe it would work better if i photographed and posted the yarn as i used it.  neat idea but that didn't work too well either.  so what's a girl to do when she has a nice stash but not a good way to quickly know what's in it ... besides going in the craft room and pawing through all the bins?

so, i'm totally stealing this idea from cory and start a weekly "stash appreciation" day.  the idea is that every week on stash appreciation day, i will take a yarn from my stash, take a photo, post to rav and then blog about it.  so the goal here is not only to catalog what i own, but to be able to more easily "shop" from my own stash before considering buying more!  although i have to admit, i have over $300 worth of goodies on my knitpicks wishlist and i'm just DYING to buy it all.  it's not all yarn though; i need a swift (which is the most expensive single item on the list), some blocking mats and other tools (like split ring stitch markers and a darning egg).  the rest is yarn, though, and reflects my ongoing obsession with sock yarn and lace weight yarn :-)  seriously, i don't think i've knitted with anything heavier than sock yarn (and size 2 needles) all year long.  my current projects are both on size 0!!). 

unfortunately, none of this photographing can take place until i get my camera back.  i had to send it off to canon for servicing (the image sensor went bad -- again!) and hope to get it back soon.  meantime, i'll keep thinking about my stash organization, and of course i'll keep on knitting!

~mz
 

anyone want to test knit a pattern for me?

a couple years ago, i designed a neat scarf pattern (http://bit.ly/chained_hearts).  while i do like this stockinette version, it has an annoying tendency to curl, thus the pretty heart lace pattern doesn't show up very well.  i've been meaning to test knit a garter stitch version for, like, EVER and still haven't gotten 'round to it, so i thought i'd enlist some help from fellow knitters.  i recently revised the pattern and i am pretty sure that i did it right, but it would help me a lot to have another set of eyes (and needles) to test this out and let me know how it works.  if you're interested please leave me a comment, and i'll send you the pattern! of course you won't have to knit the whole thing ... just a few pattern repeats would be plenty.  and if you'd be kind enough to email me a photo, too, i will include it in the .pdf pattern that will be posted on ravelry.  how cool is that?

thanks so much for considering this request, even in the midst of preparing for the upcoming winter holidays.  i, like you, am busy making lists of gifts that i'd like to give to family and friends ... some will be knitted, some will be baked, some may be bought.  but all will be given with lots of love and that's what counts, right?

enjoy the rest of this beautiful mid-november weather!

~mz

sock frustration!

so. i have reknitted this sock heel for the 3rd time i think, but it's still not quite right. see, when i finished the leg and divided the stitches for the heel/foot, i had to do so in such a way that i ended up with 52 stitches on needle 1 and 48 stitches on needle 2. no big deal. but the heel was supposed to be knitted on the 52 needle 1 stitches. what did i do? i didn't read the pattern and i did them on the 48 needle 2 stitches. grrrrrrr ... i flat-out refuse to rip and reknit this stupid heel, especially since i had to spend a lot of time untangling the yarn from the other 2 times i ripped it out. so, i'm just going to get on with it as-freakin'-is, and do the same thing for the second sock ... IF i can ever get to that point -sigh- i would REALLY like to have these socks done in time to gift to my honey for christmas, but lately i've been thinking of other holiday knitting i would like to do:

• a set of dishcloths for my momma
• a set of washcloths and/or a set of hand towels for my grandmother
• hats for my nephews
• a handmade gift for a white elephant exchange with my knitty friends
• maybe a nice set of dish/wash cloths for my honey's mom 
• and of course a bunch of holiday baking for friends and family. 

the baking is the sort of thing that i would ordinarily do the week or so before christmas.  this year, though,  i'm heading out to tucson on december 20 so that will severely abbreviate my baking time.  i guess i COULD bake before i leave and mail out the gifts before vacation.  or i could wait and have a more leisurely time of it once i get back.  i figure if gifts are received before the new year then they're TECHnically not late :-)  wonder if the gift receivers will see it that way!


well, dear readers, mz really must get back to this pile of stuff on my desk that needs to be handled before the end of business today.  here's hopinig y'all are having a wonderful friday and are gearing up for a fun weekend.  if you're in northeast or north central ohio like i am, be ready for more unseasonably warm temperatures ... get out there and enjoy!!


~mz

no knitting today

:-(

HOW SAD ... a day with no knitting!!! Maybe I can squeeze in a bit of knitting tomorrow.

~mz

Gotta keep going

Thanks to PatchworkGirl for encouraging me to keep going with the daily (or almost daily) blogging. I only wish I had something interesting to say today. Oh, well here's one thing: I ordered a copy of the "Warm Me Up" pattern (see the post for "Day 5" listed below). I went to a yarn shop in Columbus over the weekend, and it wasn't there but they will order and mail it to me ... Yay! I was hoping to buy the yarn for the pattern too, but they didn't have that either.

Oh well. I can't keep my eyes open so ... goodnight!

~mz

I blew it already!

Well, hell.

I managed to post every day for 7 days, and totally forgot day 8. Whoops! Yesterday I was busy wrapping up a totally fun weekend visit with family and friends by the time I had a moment to blog it was after midnight. So while I'm out of the running for a prize for completing NaBloPoMo, it was a fun week and I am totally inspired to write more often, if not every day. I should have known that daily blogging would only last so long!

~mz

Day 7

Unfortunately, I had to rip out that sock heel. It just didn't look or feel right ... It was a little too narrow and the corners were kinda pointy and just ugh. So I ripped it and started reknitting. I think I can fix the problem by leaving more "live" stitches unworked before I start the 2nd half of the short row heel. The pattern called for 17 wrapped stitches on either side of 18 live stitches. But another short row heel pattern that I've made before called for leaving 20% of the total stitches unworked. So since I have 100 stitches around, that means 20 stitches unworked for the heel. I am not sure that 2 stitches will make that big a difference in the way the heel turns out but I won't know until I try, right? If it doesn't quite work I am NOT going to rip and re-knit. Maybe I can block it into submission! I have a little time to work on it a bit more before I meet up with my sister-in-law for lunch and maybe a little shopping. Wish me luck!

~mz

Day 6

Guess what? I've finished the sock heel ... yay!! It's all downhill from here. I just have to knit down the foot, do a nice short-row toe and it'll be finished. Then on to sock #2. I wish I could post a picture here but I have to send my camera off for repair.

But first ... a nap!!

~mz

Day 5

Today was my "Friday" at work ... yay! I am taking a vacation day tomorrow, and am spending the weekend in Columbus visiting family and friends. Tomorrow night I'm getting together with my knitting group for Friday Night Knitties. I STILL haven't finished that sock heel so that is priority #1! The only other knitting project I have is my laceweight Clapotis. I hope to make a stop at a LYS in search of a pattern from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns called "Warm Me Up" (scroll down about halfway down the page). It's a lovely long-sleeved tee shirt knitted in laceweight silk yarn. Isn't it lovely? I don't even have any laceweight silk yarn in my stash but I want the pattern anyway :-)

That's it for tonight, amigos. I'm settling in for a bit of TV and maybe some knitting. Have a good night!

~mz

Day 4

Late last night/early this morning before I went to sleep I checked my email and was shocked to see that a dear internet friend, Ronnie Graudins, had passed away earlier in the evening. The email message came from her son, who sent the message to everyone in her email address book. Ronnie was such a wonderfully warm, caring spirit. I never got to meet her in person, but we kept in touch frequently through email ... most recently just about a week ago. She always had a kind word or bit of wisdom when I needed it, and there certainly were times when I needed it! I loved her positive outlook on life, and how she was always giving of herself, to family, friends (even if she never met them) and other loved ones. I'm so happy and proud to have gotten to know her over the past several years and will really miss her.

I wish I could post a photo of the note my honey left me this morning, but my cell phone is acting ignorant today. Anyway, he left it for me in the bathroom closet (where I keep towels, jewelry, toiletries, etc). After my shower I opened the closet to get my lotion I saw the note there on the shelf. A man of few words, he is. The note simply said, "Eboni, I love you!!! -Eric" How sweet is that? I blush a little every time I think of it or look at the photo I took of it :-)

~mz

Day 3

I had so much fun with a group of knitting friends from work today! On Tuesday nights we meet up in Azariah's, the library cafe, after work for an hour or so of knitting. I made so much progress on Eric's sock #1 ... almost finished with the heel. Yay!! Another woman in the group was knitting a long sleeved t-shirt out of laceweight silk. It was turning out to be a beautiful fabric. I'd love to try knitting one myself. Next week I'll try to remember to ask her where she found the pattern. There was also a new knitter there who was knitting her first scarf. The rest of us are so excited to enable her as much as possible! I think her next project will be a hat in the round on circular needles. How exciting ... I'm proud to be a pretty good enabler. Just ask my friends!

Well now. It's taken me forever to write this post. I've been writing between folding loads of laundry and watching some of my shows that were recorded in the DVR. That's enough housework for one night. It's high time I turn of the computer, go get a midnight snack and cozy up with this sock and finish the heel already. I'm happy that I'm working the late shift tomorrow and can sleep in a bit in the morning.

Talk to y'all again tomorrow!

~mz

Day 2

Yeah. So.

Well, this evening after work I had to go to a neighboring town to run an errand and stopped off at Michaels before coming home. I found some 12mm split rings that I can use for various things, including the stitch marker project I mentioned yesterday. I also bought some headpins. And some beads that I bought from a friend on Etsy arrived today too. Yay! So later this week while I'm waiting for my camera to be repaired, I will get busy creating more stitch markers, and printing little cards to get packaged with each one:


So once I get the markers made that I'm donating, I can work on making stuff to populate my Etsy shop, which is now embarrassingly empty!

But right now, it's time for me to get to bed. I have a 9am meeting in the morning. God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll go vote BEFORE work. We'll see how that turns out but it definitely won't happen unless I get some shut-eye right now.

See y'all tomorrow for episode 3 :-)

~mz

NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month

So yesterday I got hip to NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month. The idea is simple: blog every day for one month. I just signed up today. I found out that some months have a theme but November doesn't. What November DOES have that other months don't are PRIZES!!! Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot to see if I can do it. I've tried NaNoWriMo a couple of times but couldn't manage to finish a 50k word novel!!

Anyway, my goal for the weekend was to post some handmade goods for sale in my Etsy shop. Friday evening I set out to take photos of some stitch markers to post, only to find out that my camera doesn't work (never mind that it worked fine last week). Canon customer support says it sounds like an issue with the image sensor, so I have to send it in for repair. So instead of selling those stitch markers, I'm going to donate them to the goody bags that will be distributed at the Sticks N Stitches event in January!!! How cool is that? As my Momma says, I have enough beads to sink a battleship, so I can make stitch markers to sell once I get my camera back and can actually take photos to post to Etsy. I've committed to make one lovely stitch marker for every goody bag (right now there will be at least 100 but could be as many as 150). I have 80 of them made up now, and this week I will work on making nice cards to include with each one. How exciting is that? Take a look at my post from Oct. 22 to see examples of what some of the stitch markers will look like :-)

That's all for now. I gotta go get some dinner, iron some work clothes for the week and settle in for a bit of knitting. Post one is done ... 29 more to go!!

~mz