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I’m at a loss this morning. Over the last 23 days I have established a new routine that has been ceremoniously ended. Considering there was a huge ceremony at the start and and the end, there was nothing UN-ceremonious about this process however there is now a gap in my day that needs to be filled else-ways. I am, of course, speaking of the recently ended Winter Olympics 2014.
I have tried “Olympic” knitting in the past but generally set myself either goals that were too lofty or was not living anywhere where I could even watch the Olympics so it was difficult to get into the spirit of the process. In 2012 there was a rather large kerfuffle with the USOC and the use of the term “Ravelympics”, namely they were put out that a legion of knitters would ‘make fun of the effort that olympians put forth’ and would, in general, bring shame to the idea of and word of “Olympics”. There was a huge change on Ravelry to put the legal overkillers at rest and there was launched the renamed the “Ravelympics” as the “Ravellenic Games” and there are a barrage of teams and prizes and rules and basically a massive headache to those of us who, like me, tend to keep to the Yarn Harlots vision of The Knitting Olympics, since it was her invention. I “boycotted” those games because I was just too angry at both our litigious society and the monster that had been created in people but this year I reclaimed the Knitting Olympics as my own.
My goal was to turn this beautiful yarn:
from Fancy Image Yarns in the perfect Seahawks colourway into socks for Mike who had been cheering the ‘Hawks all season and was still charged because of the SuperBowl win.
1.5 skeins to go around his wide feel later and we have a met goal!
I cast on during the opening ceremonies and cast off the second sock on the Friday before the Games ended. These socks feature the “Fish Lips Kiss Heel” which was a first for my sock knitting but certainly won’t be the last, in fact I’ve already cast on another pair to use this heel with. It fits so very well and looks beautiful on the foot, mine and Mikes! Here is a cool interview with the Sox Therapist, creator of the FLKH. If you are on Ravelry and knit socks, I HIGHLY suggest you buy this heel pattern. Best $1 I’ve EVER spent on my knitting.
Because being a monogamous knitter is so NOT in my genes, I had to get into another project too and while its not strictly “Olympic Knitting” because it was started before, it was my goal to get it done before closing ceremonies.
This was the inspiration: 
This was the roving: 
This was the pattern: Song of the Sea
This is the unblocked long cowl that I made from my handspun!
It is soaking in its bath of Soak right now and will be laid out to dry as soon as I finish this post here. The true joy of this project is that it was sheep fluff and worm spit when I got my hands on it and now it is a beautiful, wearable and perfectly wearable object in so many ways. I need to do more with my handspun because I always feel so accomplished when I have a finished project.
*sigh*
Now its over and instead of spending the morning with Mike on the couch watching CBC and the Olympics live, because the US coverage SUCKED, I have had to find some other way to begin my morning. Good thing I’ve started running again, beginning again today, because that was the perfect way to put forth my own Olympic effort. Getting up and going running in the rain and cold? Yes, it was an Olympic effort and while I’ll not be anywhere close to the 26.2mile maintained 6 minute mile that I would need to qualify myself for a Summer Games in this lifetime, I’ll keep running all the same.
Where the heck did January go? As I am trying to get back into the blogging saddle, I keep wanting to talk about…everything that has gone on since I last posted and, as it has been just this side of seemingly forever, it is a monumental task that overwhelms me and I don’t post anything. So here I am, telling you about my day today and my right now:
Craft Lit, one of my long-standing favourite podcasts is going to be starting the reading and analysis of “North and South” by Elizabeth Gaskell. In the excitement building, Heather is having give-aways, in the form of raffles, every day from the site and in posting about it here, I get another entry into the drawing!
I am drinking my butter coffee again and I swear that it gives me more energy in the single cup than multiple ones of my traditional coffee (with 2T of Coffeemate) does. I feel more awake and nearly jittery and while I DON’T like the ‘jittery’, I do love the energy and the ‘must move now’ feeling that goes with it.
I frogged a shawl that I was designing and using my hand-spun yarn for because I found a pattern that I love very much and think that it will be perfect for this particular colourway. First the yarn: It was was the October 2012 colourway from Into The Whirled club and was inspired by this photo:
Called “Bodhi” On fibre, mine was a 50/50 Merino/Silk blend that was, as all Cris’ fibres are, a dream to spin.
The softness of the merino and the shine of the silk made this lovely to work with. I kept the braid intact and spun end to end and then N-plyed it to keep the colour progression intact and LOVE the way it feels and came out. I have had this finished yarn for ages and have been wondering what I was to make with it. And then I found this perfect pattern. The pattern is called “Song of the Sea“(Rav link) by Louise Zass-Bangham who blogs over at Inspiration Knits and who wrote about this pattern in this blog post. I plan on starting this very soon, maybe even today!
I have multiple spinning projects and, like always, multiple socks on the go and I’ll update you with those projects one at a time over the next few days.
Its good to be back.
Someone recently said to me, “If you think that time flies now, just wait until you have children!”. Well as there are no children, save for those borrowed from my friends and family in my future plans, I’ll just have to settle for time passing at my own appalling rate.
I have been…busy…since I last blogged in so many, many ways.
My joy of fibre continues. My spinning had been amazing and I’m working on this Into the Whirled
, in Mandarin (an old club offering on BFL) and this Enchanted Knoll 
, in Johnny Jump-Up on Superwash Merino. More on the spinning soon because , OH BOY, do I have something to show you!!
I have been knitting, but not so much in the last week due to an unfortunate injury:
Pepper was rather put out that we left her at home when we went on our recent camping trip to Salt Creek Recreation Area 
and didn’t let her seen the pod of Orcas 
or chase chipmunks and get tangled up like Sisu did 
so she took out her vengeance on my leg, claws and teeth, after purring and rubbing into me 5 seconds before. I swatted at her, missed, hit the wall and heating vent and damaged my fingers badly enough for x-rays, good painkillers and at least 2 weeks in splints to protect me. Yes, they still hurt 1 week in but I finally have some mobility back though I cannot make a fist or touch those fingers to my palm without pain and actually, they won’t bend that far at all, pain or no. I am not impressed with myself.
Mike and I 
have been exploring our area more than just camping too. We went up to Hurricane Ridge and admired the view 
and I loved the wildflowers too 
Lupines always remind me of my Mum and that view is to be admired! 
The biggest part of what I’ve been doing? Running.
Finishing the Rhody Run with my friends was the start of my real training for the Seattle 10k and my mileage has only grown from there. So much so that I have these to proudly display: 
Bruised toenails #1 and #2. They are my external display of my long runs and I couldn’t be happier or more proud of myself. 11 weeks ago I was dreading the idea of 8 miles whereas now, my last long run was 13 miles in 2.5hours.
Oh yeah. And I’ve been cooking and kitchen experimenting daily, bought a sewing machine and have made pj bottoms, skirts and an amazing infinity dress that I LOVE, have a successful herb garden in my strawberry pot, been reading and listening with voracity and spent far less time with my camera than I intend to do in the future. And intend to keep this blog going as I know I have missed sharing and need to write again.
Oh this project…
I bought this fiber back when I begun spinning and what a lucky purchase it was. I had seen it on Etsy and messaged the dyer to see if she would dye it for me. I learned 2 things from this exchange.
#1: You always should ask because the worst they say is no.
#2: You always should ask how much if you haven’t seen the original listing.
I was a little shocked when the bill came but chalked it up to learning and the cost of cashmere.
I would do it again instantly if I found another listing that sang to me the way this did.
This beautiful fiber came out of its packaging every few months to get pet and admired and then put away as I realised that I was no where near the spinner I needed to be to delve into this gorgeous stuff and give it its due.
After I finished Intentions, I needed a break from BFL and thought that, after all this time of spinning consistantly, it was time to get in there…and it was.
The fiber spun as from a dream and the colours were beyond my hopes. 
The plying was perfect and preserved those colour repeats that I wanted to hold on to. 
The knitting was more bliss as I began a simple shawl with a 3 stitch garter edge with a YO and then YOs next to the spine stitch before YO next tot the other garter edge.
It worked up beautifully.
As I got to the end of my ball, I thought that simple lace faggoting would be the perfect way to finish.
It is.
I worked until I could feel the end was nigh and began my cast off with JSSBO. I knew it would take a good deal of yarn so saved myself what I thought would be perfect.
I was close.
6 stitches close.
There was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Ask M. There was cursing too.
Lucky for me, I was binding off in the brilliant line-green section of yarn and I just happened to have some lime green yarn that is a very nearly perfect match. You can’t tell unless I point it out to you.
The blocking was magical, as it always is, and the simple lace is perfect.
I wear this scarf/shawl often and it is the project that I stick into my bag daily if I don’t wrap it around my neck before leaving. The cashmere and superwash merino couldn’t have been a more perfect blend and this project is sheer perfection in every possible way.
So, I just realised that I have this…thing…for project bags.
It all started before I even had a project to put in a project bag. All I had was this strip of beautiful Russian-themed fabric and no possible way to turn it into something wearable as it was 9.5″ wide and 16″ long. I DID have a plain red canvas-like material that I could pair with it but still, what could I make from just those things? Thats when I fell back on my old stand-by. A bag.
It is simple, not entirely neat and one of the most used things that I own. Those handles are bias tape. I knew that I wanted handles but didn’t know how to use the buttonhole attachment of the sewing machine I was using at the time so just cut 4 little slits into the canvas side and used a safety pin to slide the bias tape between the layers and Voila! I had handles to my bag. A few weeks later I was fishing and needed a clip to keep the bag in place inside my overalls and the salmon tag pin you see there was added. It came in quite useful as you can see. Look to my right shoulder strap (left side in the photo).
See the clip and the handle? Thats me working on my Mums Rose Trellis Lace socks (in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Rose Trellis colourway) while fishing up past Icy Point. I would take out the socks between running gear and cleaning salmon and got them done in record time because my awesome little bag kept everything clean and to hand. It is still one of my go-to bags when I am packing socks for a trip, especially if I am needing that clip!
But other bags have come into my life too and I love them with a passion because they are all very cool and wonderful to me.
First up is the hedgehog bag you can see on the left. This was bag #2 and BrightonWoman made that for me from the leftovers from my “hug”(lap blanket) that she made for me post big breakup. I use that bag for holding the sweater that I am working on now or for whichever of my projects is the largest. It can hold a good deal, the whole back of a sweater plus part of a front AND an extra skein of yarn, and that means that it is my perfect “big” project bag. This bag usually stays at home and makes the transition from knitting corner to couch for the most part.
Bag #3 is the lemon bag in the middle. I bought that from The Loopy Ewe and it is a Three Bags Full bag (etsy shop here). So bright and sunny, I rarely find myself ‘searching’ for this bag and being so large, it generally holds M’s Socks-In-Progress…both of them!
Bag #4 is the hedgehog bag on the left and is a JessaLu bag that I wanted the first time I saw it. She has an Etsy shop and an Artfire one (which is where I got that bag) and was a joy to buy from. I absolutely LOVE her fabric choices and am very excited to see her upcoming Doctor Who update to both shops. Again, this bag usually holds socks…usually mine or my mothers but most recently it was baby socks and baby blanket squares for my sisters newest bundle of joy, RGB. Since my good friend A is expecting her 3rd in December, it very well may hold baby things again soon!
Which brings us to this week. No, I do not have enough project bags because there are still projects that are naked and exposed and sans project bags. Which is why I bought this one, again from The Loopy Ewe and again, a Three Bags Full bag.
Its Sushi!!! A gorgeous green with so many beautiful rolls that it makes me hungry just looking at it. When I saw it during my weekly scan of TLE, I knew that it had to come to Washington and live with me. M smiled when he saw it and since I know that he shares my love of the raw fish, I knew he would like this bag too. Speaking of M, one of the up sides to having this plethora of project bags is ease on him. He knows if I ask for “My knitting”, he can grab ANY of the bags and I will be happy. If I ask for a specific bag, he can easily grab that one, Hedgehogs, Lemons, Russian or now, Sushi, and I will have my specific project. Win-Win, especially since there are handknit socks involved!
*deep breath*
It is amazing to me how slowly time can go in the morning.
Today, I was rudely awoken at 630 and while it wasn’t dark (far from it, there were sunbeams!), it was still only 6 and a half hours from when I put my book down and I closed my eyes. As the cat clawed at my arms, I pushed her off, saw the clock and thought, ‘just half hour more’…and then the attacked my toes and all thoughts of sleeping went right out the window. I got up, showered, dressed, pin curled my hair and took a seat to review my plan of action for the day. Had some coffee and just as my coffee is getting cold, I looked at the clock. 8am. Really? When I have to get ready for work the times flies by! When I’m at work the evening races and when I get home it seems like its only a few minutes before its 1am and I finally feel like I could sleep. But mornings…they are special to me. I hear the birds singing, I feel the earth warming up, I can see the sun filtering through the trees…it is just this special time for me and I really love mornings in general. Granted, in the recent past I was sleeping until 9 or 10 so it wasnt so much “morning” anymore but just in this past week or so I have been making more of an effort to get up and get going by 8 and in the last few days I’ve been up closer to 7.
Why?
Because the insane part of me forgot how classes can add up on you if you aren’t paying attention and decided to take not 1, not 2 but 3 classes this 11 week term in addition to working full time. That is 14 credits; a full-time student. Not only do those classes meet online and have extensive “discussions” but two of them (Anatomy and Physiology 2 and Microbiology) have in-person labs which mean 6 Saturdays, 1 per month per class, I get to spend in Renton, a 2+ hour drive for a 4 hour lab. Did I mention that one of those begins at 8am? Not looking forward to that one so much because of the freakishly early start time for my driving, especially since I highly doubt that M will want to go to that one with me. He is coming with me today though for my first day of lab and for that I am very grateful.
So here I am. Trying to manage my time well to get in classes and work and Oh, did I mention that I’m supposed to be training for three races? Yeah, the first one is on May 20th and I am far from ready. My schedule for this upcoming month is going to be packed with the addition of focused running so I don’t A) Hurt myself and/or B) make a fool of myself come the 20th.
Oh wait…did I mention that I am still trying to knit and spin to save my sanity? Yup, there is still a lot of both going on in Chez Sisu, especially now since I bought the wheel of my dreams. She is a Schacht Matchless and is everything that I could have ever wanted. There will be photos of her to come, along with a review.
All in all, I am so very happy with my busy-ness and actually am getting more done. I focus my time and effort on one thing at a time and it all gets done and I’m happy with the results. I still do some things via multi-tasking. I listen and watch A&P lectures while I spin, pausing to take notes every once in a while. I knit mindlessly while reading texts. I take my texts to work with me and read during my dinner break (not while knitting too, just reading). I set dinner to cook while participating in online discussions. The one thing that I can’t multi-task is the running…which is a good thing. With so much else going on, I think that I need that one task that takes me away from it all. But I’ll have to get back to you on that…I haven’t run in over a week now simply because it was not something I could multi-task!
Instead of launching into a mass of reasons why I haven’t posted, what has been going on with me and my general life status; it should suffice to say that I have been floundering in an ocean of depression, have taken many mouthfuls of brackish water, dodged the flotsam and jetsam of plans, saved all the wool, planted a long awaited garden and finally, finally learnt to swim again.
The Wool:
A trio of socks; blue for me, boy colours for the boy.
A shawl. More specifically The Jubilee Year Shawl
…which I am calling “Happiness” both because it is making me very happy to use this skein of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn (188) which I have had in my stash since 2008 or so and happy because I finally feel like I have found the true calling for this yarn. It has tried to be socks and mittens and a hat and none of those things looked…right. And then I found this pattern purely by chance and it is perfect.
What you aren’t seeing in this wool section is something that is done and gone and I, being the forgetful Auntie that I am, forgot to take photos of said items first. I made my new nephew (RGB) 12 single socks from KP’s Imagination and then knit him blanket squared with the remaining 22g of the skein. Actually, what I did was a bit more complicated than that…I wound each 50g skein into a ball, knit a single baby sock using my standard baby sock pattern, weighed the remaining and split it into 2 22g balls. I then used 22g to knit RGB’s baby blanket. 
What you see here is the second 22g knit into mitered squares with a bundle left over on top. As I finish this project, I’ll give you more details on it but the general plan is that this will be joined by 12 more colours (24 total), yes, I know you only see 7 here but the other yarn isn’t squared yet, and become a blanket and more baby socks.
Also in Wool is the beautiful Intentions yarn that I have been spinning and thinking through. This project became so much more than I thought it would and while life got in the way and derailed my plans for doing the project in a year, I am so happy to still be working through it.
This is Patience and is perfect for the lesson that I am learning. Thats part of what makes me love my Intentions project. Though it is nothing like I planned, it is exactly what I needed and has been fitting into my life exactly as I needed it.
The Garden:
6 years ago, I made a plan. I wanted a herb garden in a strawberry pot. I knew I wanted rosemary on top, cilantro (coriander), dill, thyme, marjoram, oregano, chives and sage, all the herbs I love to use, in the pockets. The only problem was that I was living remotely and the getting of said pot, herbs and soil was an insurmountable challenge due to cost and logistics. Since then I haven’t lived long enough in a big enough town to have my dreamed of herb garden.
Until now.
I can not tell you how happy it makes me to have this wee garden. Something that I have wanted for ages is finally mine and just the thought of it makes me smile. And salivate because I can’t wait to use the herbs along the way.
I also planted Orange mint and Spearmint with a Chamomile between them:
And two of a crazy plant that I couldn’t resist because of my love of and for them:
Artichokes.
Swimming:
In other parts of life, I have gotten back into running almost by force. I say “force” but what I really mean is that I registered for the Rhody run (12k) on May 20th, the Seattle 10k at the end of August (again) AND the Seattle Half Marathon the Sunday after Thanksgiving and if I don’t “get back into running” then the registration monies go down the toilet and I embarrass myself when I try to complete any or all of these events. So running it is and I feel great doing it. Makes me wonder why I was foolish to ever let myself stop.
In all parts of life…I feel like I am…getting there.
Emotionally. Physically. Mentally.
I’m not quite sure where “there” is but, as always,
“It is the Journey, Not the Destination”.
I’m knitting socks for M and these, these socks are flying thru my needles. Aran/Worsted yarn on 3’s…perfect for mens socks and I’m to the heel already.
This is my first ball. Now, as I started knitting these socks, I KNEW that there would be a yardage issue. KNEW IT. So, since there were not 2 skeins at the LYS that I visited, I bought the single skein, came home and promptly jumped on Ravelry to search for a second. Yes, the dye lots would be different but for two different socks, I wasn’t all that fussed and I knew that M wouldn’t be either. He has a second sock that is 1/3 another colourway for heavens sake…he loves them and its not a big deal.
I started my first sock toe-up so if I couldn’t find a second skein at the very least I would have two socks with matching toes and then switch at the same place for heels and legs. Brilliant plan.
However, I got very lucky right off the bat and the lovely Sarah came to my rescue and she sent me her leftover skein from a hat that she had crocheted in 2009 and it arrived yesterday and I squeed and M cheered (he was happy not to have oddly striping socks again) and we opened the box.
Look! Isn’t it lovely? Isn’t it perfect? Oh, I am so glad to have Ravelry and that Sarah was willing to part with her other skein!
But…take another look at those photos…do you see it?
Here, I’ll put them side by side:
See it now?
Yup, they are VERY different. The new skein is much more green than the first and no where near the brown and seems to have much longer colour repeats.
Is this a problem? Not at all. We knew that there would be a very good chance that the colours would be slightly different since, of course, I was buying a skein of yarn circa 2009 to match my skein circa 2011 and since they would be making two different socks and since fraternal sock twins are embraced in this house, both M and I are happy, very happy, to have that second skein.
Want to know the REALLY interesting part though? Take a look at the ball bands, particularly the part about colourway and dye lots:
2009 then 2011
Yup. Identical. Colour 1580, Dyelot* 38362
Curiouser and Curiouser.
*Interesting aside…”Parti” in Swedish = “Party” in English and I get this incredible visual of the hanks of yarn just having a party in their dye bath or the dyers just having the best time at work with music and dancing at the dye table. Run along now and leave me to my delusions.
This whole ‘work hours warp’ is still getting the best of me. I work the evening shift, from 2-10pm and that means that 2 main things are out of whack for me.
#1: “Lunch is Dinner”
Since I only get half hour ‘lunch’ break while working and that generally comes between 4 and 6pm, if I get it at all, I don’t really have time to have a real meal. One of the most important parts of my day is having a meal with M, knowing that I’ve made this lovely, healthy, nutritious meal for us…so that means that I make our big meal lunch. Since its more healthy to have a large meal earlier in the day than later in the evening, this is a good thing.
#2: Time in general
General Poll: Who goes to bed within an hour of getting off of work? Yeah, me neither.
I get done with work and get home between 1030 and 11pm and then spend the next 2-3 hours decompressing and relaxing and chatting with M. That means that I don’t get to bed before midnight any night of the week because I have to TRY to keep some semblance of routine in my scheduled life. I also am a morning person so that means, being sick with a cold notwithstanding, I am fully awake and up by 830am. That would be the time for coffee and BBC world news podcast. And food needs to be on the table by 1230 so I can relax and eat and get out the door by 140 so I am planning a full dinner at the midnight previous and getting things moving by 10am, a scant 2-3 hours after getting up. Somewhere in there I also try to get in 30 minutes of running (though not as faithfully as I intend to), knitting on various projects and, oh yes, spinning time too. The best time for the knitting is in the mornings and the spinning is the evenings and in between cooking and laundry and cleaning, it all gets worked on. Except for the blog.
But here is a photo list of what I’m working on!
Socks for M. In Boy Colours. In Aran weight yarn. On 3’s. Because a knitters man always has substantially bigger feet than the knitter herself.
This first sock is toe up and the plan is for me to knit until there is 50g of yarn left and then do the second. Hopefully this works as a plan but I have a call out on Ravelry for a second skein of this colourway (Jarbo Garn Raggi in 1580) so hopefully the de-stasher will get back to me soon! In the meantime though, I bought some more boy colours too:
A vest for myself, which, despite making calculations to get the fit right, I totally made it too big. So it may be a Christmas gift so I shan’t give more detailed photos than this.
My second attempt at Nanny Ogg Mittens (real name: Hedgehog Mittens by Spilly Jane who blogs here) You can see my first attempt over here but, I’m warning you, it isn’t pretty.
I’m liking this second attempt much more than the first and I’m actually using two solid yarns and the pattern as written (to a point) this time. Not that those are connected at all. Ahem.
My Rimefrost socks using Fiesta Baby Boom in Arctic. Yes, I know they haven’t gotten very far yet but I can only do one charted knitting pattern at a time without madness ensuing and I need warm hands more than new socks so the mittens come first and the socks wait their turn. Not too long if last years attempt at the Nanny Mittens are anything to go by!
There also has been some spinning going on and I do promise that I will update you as to my progress thru the Intentions line. I bought some beautiful merino, alpaca, silk/bamboo blend on Friday that is singing its sirens song (along with much more of my other stash) and I want to move into a new project soon but I am dedicated to my Intentions and give that my focus.
I’m on to ‘Joy’ now and am remembering the joy that spinning gives me and being mindful of all the joy I have in my life.
I know that I am blessed and hope you feel the same way today and everyday.
I have been temped, so very sorely temped, in these past few days to spend money on yarn. Sheri at The Loopy Ewe just got in some Amazing colours in bases that I really enjoy and crave, especially the new line from Fiesta, Baby Boom Spirit of the Southwest, and wouldn’t a few skeins of that make some lovely socks? I swear, just about each of those colourways could find a very loving home here with me.
And then I remember: I have a few skeins of FBB that are waiting to be knit…2 of Surf, 2 of Alaska, 2 of Arctic Ice and 1 of Spring Chill to be exact. Each was bought at a different time and for a very specific reason.
The Arctic Ice is to become the Rimefrost socks from Knitspot because it seems that I have more than a soft spot for Anne Hanson patterns since I knit Sprossling and have Bel-Air ready to be knit and would love to make a handful of her other patterns besides. There is something about her patterns that just takes me away and makes me want to knit more of her functional lace…which is what I love about her patterns, the functional, sensible garment that have such beautiful lace in it. Getting my copy of Rimefrost for my binder was the beginning of the love affair with Knitspot back in September 2009…but sadly, that is where that pattern has been since then. Often looked at, often moved to the front of the binder but always moved back a bit to make way for something else. The yarn sits in its icy-blue coldness staring at me from the sock yarn bin.
The Spring Chill came from a blog friend, Muddy Moose who was doing a de-stash back in February. It was a special colour that was part of The Loopy Ewe club for March 2010 but there was just something that called to me in its blue-green-purple-cream amazingness that I offered to take it off her hands and, once she found it, she sent it on its way. It was the perfect timing because I got the yarn just as spring began its slow creep into Nelson Lagoon…a process that takes more than a few months and I thought that I would have socks to celebrate the spring when it fully came on. Other projects have gotten in the way though and the skein sits, completely forgotten, in the sock yarn bin.
Alaska came to me in December of 2008 for obvious reasons of being called “Alaska” and being a lovely blend of purple, blue and teal. A very cold colourway and certainly says “Alaska” and reminds me of visiting the Mendenhall Glacier, knitting in front of another Southeast glacier in between running gear
and wearing all of my cold-weather gear while walking in a blizzard with my best buddy M and still getting frosty eyelashes despite feeling toasty warm.
Yet the yarn sits, untouched, in the sock yarn bin.
Surf called to me with memories of the waves lapping against the boat and made me thing of capturing the beautiful surf crashing against the beach in Nelson Lagoon that June of 2009
But has yet to become anything other than beautiful string sitting in my sock yarn bin.
Why?
Why do I have the craving for more of something when I have never knit a stitch with what I have previously bought?
I don’t feel pressure of a “One Time Only!” or a “Limited Edition” or “Buy More”.
I’m not scared that some fluke of genetic nature will cause all the sheep in the world to lose their fuzz so I need to stockpile for the fleeceless apocolypse.
I’m not worried that the artists over at Fiesta or any other yarn company or indi dyer will go on strike or will encounter a world-wide shortage of dyes.
And I’m not limited to just the FBB. I have some yarn from my very first Loopy Ewe order back in August of 2006! To that end, I am SO on a yarn purchasing restriction. Not a diet because we all know that diets never work, but a “Use It” mantra. The pope isn’t coming to admire my beautiful collection of string and I’m not even Catholic to care but if I show off knit socks? Everyone admires.
I bought these beautiful skeins because I wanted to wear them, not stare at them.
If you have the answers, I would love to hear it. Until then, I’ll be here…
knitting a pair of Rimefrost socks in Fiesta Baby Boom in Arctic Ice and planning my next projects with my other FBB.
Because only then can I buy more.
Adventures of a Sisu Girl 