Spending Spree, pt. 2

I know what you're thinking: Part 2? There hasn't been a part 1 yet! At the end of my last post I mentioned my recent purchase (recent like yesterday) from fuzzymabel.com, so I'm counting that. Though I just realized I won't get that yarn for probably two weeks, by which time I will have forgotten about it. That's the best - when you get a package that you forgot you bought, so it's exciting all over again :)

Today I (finally!) used my gift card to handpaintedyarns.com, which my mother bought for me a month and a half ago. Trust me, if you had $50 to spend, and tons of stunning yarn to choose from, it would take you that long to decide too. I decided on a beautiful blue yarn (see pic), which will become either a hoodie, pullover, or cardigan. I'm toying with the idea of turning it into the Central Park Hoodie from Knitscene, but a big part of me feels like that should be green, because cables=celtic=Irish=green in my mind. Plus I don't know if 9 skiens will be enough (guess it'll depend on the pattern; I'm buying about 1,200 yds of yarn). Maybe it's destined to be a simple stockinette stitch pullover, to draw all the attention to the beauty of the yarn itself. Or maybe I'll just hang it all from my walls and stare at it - petting it occasionally. Any ideas?

In other crafting news, last night I used Modge Podge for the first time. Over the years I've received many a gift or handmade card from Annie *waves to Annie!* and I finally decided to try it out myself. I have this box I keep crafty notions in, and I covered it in this awesome vintage looking cloth, and then messed around with random ribbons and photos I've cut out of magazines over the past few months. I definitely want to buy more cloth, because I love the look of surfaces covered in neat graphic patterns, and I want to buy some scrapbook paper (I don't scrapbook much, but I love the paper!) and see what I can come up with there. Maybe I'll end up with some neat magnets! Oh, and speaking of magnets (do I write train-of-thought or what?) I needle-felted another flower, this one shades of purple, and made it into a magnet along with my pink flower I made months and months ago. My needle felting skills still leave a lot to be desired - I need to work hard on achieving randomness and "going with the flow" rather than trying to force a design into a solid shape - but I'm going to keep practicing.

Back in the Swing of Things

I haven't posted in almost a month, because I haven't been knitting all that much. First there was the move (all my yarn is still in a big box in my living room), and the unpacking and cleaning that occupied a large portion of my time, and then there was this strange math kerfuffle I experienced. (That's a word, right?) Basically all my WIPs stalled due to math issues, and I haven't felt like untangling the mess to see where I went wrong in adapting the patterns. Too much work for my overburdened brain. The only thing that's gotten me over this 'I don't feel like knitting" (gasp!) hump is buying new yarn. Doesn't that always solve everything? :)
Because I know you care. My getting over the hump projects:

- I've been working on a square from the Oddball Sampler to work on my cabling. I've already screwed up twice but rather than rip back 5 tedious cabled-filled rows, I'm chalking it up to a learning experience. Note to self: Do NOT attempt difficult celtic braiding while watching 24.

-I picked up some yummy 50 alpaca/ 50 merino wool yarn (forgot the brand) in a springy green and I'm making a spring scarf based loosely on the Peekaboo scarf in a back issue of Knitscene I have.

-I took some advice from my newest pattern book, Weekend Knitting, and bought an expensive hank of yarn (Manos del Uruguay, color is Cornflower) and knit up a simple 6 st garter scarf on size 19 needles. After finishing I attached some pretty abalone buttons I had to the fringe, and voila! Completed trendy looking project in four hours! Talk about instant gratification. Hopefully I'll get pics of that up soon.

-The most exciting project, which I can't start yet: Lily's Bordello pillow, from "Hip Graphic Knits." I've been wanting to make this pillow forever, but now that I have a new couch arriving this weekend (yay! No more lawnchair!) I have to make this because it will match perfectly. I also bit the bullet and (for the first time in my knitting career) went online and ordered the EXACT YARN CALLED FOR IN THE PATTERN. Whoa. What a novel concept! I never do that. In this case I was going to try to seek out a cheaper alternative, but then I realized for maybe $15 extra I'd have the peace of mind of knowing the colors will already work and it'll look like the picture. I ordered from Fuzzy Mabel for the first time because they were the only place where I could find all the colors I needed, and I lucked into their Moving Sale, which saved me $12. All I have to do is wait until April 2nd for my yarn to ship (because they're moving) which is a sacrifice I'll have to make.

Reasons why I'm not knitting

Reason #1: Work. This month is crazy month - the month where everything my department is responsible for (like delivering a fully edited and completed television show) happens. Half of April will be bad too, but the majority of it happens now because there are so many overlapping shows.

Reason #2: Moving! I'm excited to finally have my own place (again) but moving is a lot of work. All my yarn is in one (big) box, my WIPS in another, my needles and random accoutrement's in a a third. When I knit, it's just for a swatch I'm working on that requires no thought or energy. I've also stalled on my City Shrug, because I've realized I screwed up the math and I don't have the time to figure out where I went wrong just yet.

Also, check this out: Knitwiki, an online wiki-type knitting reference page. They're encouraging people to add content just like wikipedia. When I have more time I'll fully explore it, but for now I wanted to give it some free press on my blog!