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.

How to wash yarn?

One of the things I need to do, besides actually uploading knitting pics and bringing them to work on my thumb drive, is figure out what the heck to do with this yarn. I have a pattern in mind, just a nice and simple v-neck sweater with ribbing at the wrists and bottom, but this yarn is that funky stuff made for machine knitters. Meaning it's been treated with some kind of oily, soapy stuff.

Based on what I've read online, I need to wash and dry this yarn before using it, because if I knit it with the goo still on, my sweater might get distorted once I block it. That's bad. I found this yarn online for about $25, which I couldn't pass up (that, and I love this color! Hard to find, believe it or not). I was so excited at the price I didn't think through the mechanics of washing 1,000yds+ of yarn in the tiny shoebox I call my apartment. I don't have a bathtub, just a standup shower. I don't have a back yard, or a slop sink. I do have a bucket big enough (I think) to hold this yarn plus water, but then I'm faced with a winding dilemma. Do I unwind it from this ball into a large hank, tied off at intervals with string to keep it mostly untangled? I have a feeling that once it dried I'd have a devil of a time re-winding it again.

*Sigh*

Any suggestions or personal experience I could put to good use? I installed one of those awesome visitor-counter things, so I know (some) people are reading this. Feel free to add your opinions, I'd love to hear them!