Not shopping! – The Knitting Doctor

Baby Sweaters

Or,

Why I’m Such A Slow Knitter

I’m still knitting those baby sweaters. I’ve finished the first one, and just have sleeves and a hood to finish for the second one.

You wouldn’t think that two worsted weight garter stitch baby sweaters would take this long to make.

I’ve been having some upper back problems for the past couple of months that are really getting on my last nerve. I don’t make a very good patient, since I’m not very “patient” with not feeling well. It finally got bad enough that I started getting regular massages, which are helping, but it’s been a slow recovery. My massage therapist isn’t one of those that gives you a feel-good spa massage. It’s deep tissue/muscle work, and I’m wiped out for a whole day afterwards. It is releasing the knotted (knitted?) up muscles though. I haven’t been able to be on my Peloton bike as often as I’d like either since it hurts. You have no idea how much THAT pisses me off.

I’ve been trying to be careful with how long I sit hunched over my knitting, so that’s my excuse for how long these sweaters are taking to finish.

Also, for those of you doubters out there, I made it to 90 days without yarn shopping a week ago. It’s actually been a little easier this time around. It helps that I dropped my work hours from 0.8 FTE to 0.6 FTE the first of the year. That obviously* correlates to a 20% salary drop, so I do have an incentive to shop from my very deep stash instead of the internet.

And in other news, I get to have dinner tonight with Jennifer AKA Major Knitter! She is flying in later today, and we’re picking her up and heading up to Seattle for dinner. We’re both planning on wearing our Faery Ring sweaters!

*That first paycheck after cutting back my hours was a bit of a reality check!

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60 Days!

Just a quick blog update. As of yesterday, I’ve gone 60 days without any yarn purchases.

The last time I did this “cold sheep” thing, I made it a little over a year without buying any yarn. That was in April of 2015. Since then, there has been way too much added to the yarn bins. My goal is go at least another year. Let’s see how that goes, shall we?

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Because I Can

Let’s call it New Project Saturday, shall we?

That is well aged yarn. It is Old Maiden Aunt, a lace blend of alpaca, silk, and cashmere. Who knows when I bought this, the date on the photo in the database is from 2012, but the dye lot on the ball label is 2009. Knitting from stash, what a concept.

The color name is Whisky Galore, which is no doubt why I bought it, but it really is just the loveliest shade of Scotch whisky.

And what might I be making with this?

How about this?

A Hap For Harriet, by Kate Davies. The pattern calls for Old Maiden Aunt lace weight, though one of the heavier lace yarns from that line. The Whisky yarn is a bit finer, and has the silk and cashmere so will be more drapey, but I think it will be a good match. I also have more yardage (1189 meters) than the pattern calls for, but Kate is nice enough to have instructions in the pattern as to how to up or downsize the shawl to fit your yardage.

I’m off to find needles to match.

The Year of No Yarn Buying

And there you have it. The last time I bought yarn was exactly one year ago today. I actually thought the anniversary was tomorrow, but I checked the receipt for that last purchase, and it was March 15th, 2014. It was this gorgeous Peace Fleece lace, which I still haven't finished. I got as far as swatching and knit a few rows, and it has been a UFO since. I am not one bit sorry I bought this yarn, since they sold out of it quickly and it hasn't reappeared since.

That will get back on the WIP list at some point, if I ever finish the Evenstar thing that I showed in my last post.

Now, about not buying yarn. This has been very instructive. The first few months were really tough. It has gotten easier as the months have gone by, though I found myself doing a lot of internet window shopping the past few weeks, thinking “Yay! I made it a year! Now I can buy yarn!”. But I haven't really found anything I need, and when I find something I WANT WANT WANT, I go look at the stash. Still at 336,405 meters of yarn. That doesn't count most of the handspun that I've made. It's pretty clear that I mostly buy yarn just to have it, not really to use it for anything.

So I'm in for a little while longer. Who knows if I'll make it to 2 years and the pretty pink badge, or 3 years and a platinum badge. But for today, I don't need to buy more yarn. I'm off to do a few rows of Evenstar.

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State of the Stash

Here are the results of my Cold Sheep Project for last year. The last time I bought any yarn was February 15th, 2014***, so I am coming up on the 1 year mark soon! For the record the last yarn was this:

And I immediately started a lace stole and haven’t worked on it since. Too many other things going on!

So, I knit or gave away a total of 4701 meters worth of yarn. I bought 1476 meters (that pretty red lace). So the net out is 3224 meters gone from stash. I have 337,503 meters left in the stash, give or take a few thousand in accounting errors. In looking at my database, there are a few yarns in there that I might not have subtracted when they were used up. It’s a close enough number.

I was very tempted to buy new yarn to celebrate the new year, but I went in to my closet and looked at all of those ridiculously stuffed yarn boxes. And considered the stark reality that if I only use up 4700 meters of yarn a year, I am going to have plenty to last me for a very, very long time. I have committed to not buying yarn just because it is pretty or shiny, or because it’s 11 PM and I’m bored. I might consider buying yarn for a specific purpose, such as a gift if I don’t have something appropriate, but otherwise there is bound to be something in that 337,503 meters that should satisfy my new project itch.

What about you? What is the state of your stash?

***Edited later: And the blog doesn’t lie, most of the time. That February date sounded wrong to me, so I searched back a bit. I bought that pretty red yarn on MARCH 16th of 2014. So I am coming up on the one year mark, just not as soon as I thought.

Back to Reality

I have to say, it’s good to be home. Even with work, and chores, and no rum drinks, it’s always nice to get back home. Hawaii was lovely, but so is where I live.

I’m madly trying to finish up a few things before the Ravellenic games begin, coinciding with the start of the Winter Olympics. I almost decided not to participate this year. The original 2014 Ravelry group for the knitting version of the Olympics blew up rather spectacularly in mid January. It always amazes me how a bunch of apparently intelligent adults can act like such spoiled middle schoolers. Admittedly I didn’t read the whole gazillion-pages-long drama, but I can’t imagine people acting like this in real life.

Anyway, I’m pretty much going to be knitting WIPs during the Olympics. I want to try to get as much of that Evenstar border done as possible, and as a reward, I might just cast on something new. We’ll see. I have Color Affection in my sights for the next big thing.

And a dilemma. I have yarn in two separate color combos that I bought for this pattern. Here they are:

That’s option 1. It’s Swan’s Island Merino. Cream, Oatmeal, and Garnet.

Here’s Option 2:

Those three are Verdant Gryphon Eidos sock yarn. Jade Emperor, Medusa, and Wen Chang.

Decisions, decisions. I’ll do both eventually, but which first? Any votes?

In other news, I’m working away at my newest shawl. Never mind that I should be working away at one of my ancient WIPS. I’m all about new and shiny.

I figure I’m about 40% done with this. I’m hoping to have this finished by the time the Olympics start. A nice long football game tomorrow might help.*

Last but definitely not least, I’m still on that Cold Sheep plan. 112 days without yarn buying. I got a lovely email out of the blue from the Three Irish Girls yarn people. I used to be in her sock yarn club, but quit after awhile when it was apparent that her plan of sending me yarn for a new pair of socks every month didn’t match up with my plan of knitting two pairs of socks a year.

Anyway, I followed the links to her website. Pretty! New colors that I don’t have! Wow!

Then it occurred to me that I probably still have some Three Irish Girls club sock yarn in the stash. Here is a screenshot of that page in the Bento Database That Never Lies. Click to get your Three Irish Girls fix.

Enough Three Irish Girls yarn for 23 pairs of socks, as well as over a thousand yarns of that pretty wine colored stuff in the upper right, destined for a shawl.

Whew. That was close.

*Go ‘Hawks!

90 Days!

90 Days without buying yarn! On to 120!