Favorite Stuff for Knitting and Yarny Goodness

I've been thinking a lot lately about simplifying everything. Life feels so complicated sometimes, and simplifying where I can just makes sense. Simplifying means different things to different people. To me, it means getting things out of the way that are keeping me from feeling comfortable in my own space and being able to get things done easily and as effortlessly as possible.

With this goal in mind, I went through my bathroom and got rid of expired products, stuff I knew I was never going to use, old makeup, etc., etc.. I need to do this in my kitchen. Like, big time. How many measuring cups does one person need? Apparently I think I need ALL of the measuring cups. Same with wooden spoons and tongs.

This got me thinking about my craft supplies, including my knitting supplies. I'm much more hesitant to get rid of craft and art supplies than I am with pretty much anything else. They don't go bad! I have them well-organized! Don't touch my watercolor paper! STEP AWAY FROM THE YARN!

So here's the thing. I have found that there are some things I really can't live without when it comes to knitting and yarn.

1. Yarn

I know: DUH!  I often say my real hobby is collecting yarn, and I just happen to also knit a lot. Do not ask me to cull my yarn stash, because it will not happen. I love all of my yarn. Also: I am a yarn snob. If it's mostly acrylic, I won't touch it. I just don't like the way acrylic feels. I prefer natural fibers, with a real focus on protein fibers (wool, alpaca, mohair, cashmere, silk). I don't own a lot of cotton or linen, though I do have times when I enjoy working with those. I have my stash very well organized and inventoried. I can pretty easily put my hands on the yarn I'm looking for without too much digging. Over the summer, I even made labels for my yarn containers to make locating what I need even easier!

2. Knitting Needles

This is another duh, but hear me out. Every knitter has their favorite knitting needles, right? But we have a tendency--at least I do--to collect many different kinds of needles. At one point, I had lots of nickel-plated needles, bamboo needles, and other wooden needles. Several years ago, I found out I'm highly allergic to nickel, so I got rid of all of my nickel-plated needles. A couple of weeks ago, I realized I still have a lot of needles I just avoid because I don't like their join or their tips aren't pointy enough. So, I pulled out the needles I avoid and put them in a small box. My favorite needles are Knitter's Pride Symfonie Dreamz fixed circulars or interchangeable. I love the join. I love how pointy they are. I love the smoothness of the finish. Yes, they still have a little metal on them, but I can live with it because that part is usually covered with yarn. My point to all of this: I have reduced my needle collection down to just what I enjoy using, which makes my life easier. I also moved from a hanging circular needle holder in an armoire to zipped binder pouches in a glittery pink binder. I even made labels for the pouches with my Cricut. It's super fun, and I have my needles right next to where I do most of my knitting. Simplify!!!

3. Ball Winder and Swift

I know many knitters who don't own ball winders or swifts, and they are perfectly happy with life. I have three ball winders. Two are the classic plastic ball winder you see at most yarn shops. They are small and portable and easy to use. The other is a larger metal ball winder that winds large balls. The descriptions says "up to 10 oz," but I've wound larger balls without any problem. I love this ball winder and highly recommend it. I have it set up on my secondary craft table at all times.  The swift I own is the classic wooden swift (this link isn't the exact one I have, but it's darn close), but the metal and plastic ones are probably fine for at-home use.

4. Stitch Markers

In my years of teaching knitting, I've discovered that I'm maybe a bit pickier about stitch markers than most knitters. I really prefer the thin, rigid plastic discs, which I used to get from River Knits and now can't find online, so I can't give you a link. Instead, I'll give you a photo.

I'm also a sucker for pretty beaded stitch markers. I don't usually enjoy using them as much because they're a little fiddly for me, but they are pretty. So I use them sometimes. I really love this TARDIS set I got from Brenda and Heather Yarns at the Fiber Event.

One kind of stitch marker I absolutely cannot live without is a locking stitch marker that looks like a plastic safety pin. I use these so much! In fact, I just ordered this off-brand collection of 300 of them from Amazon. We'll see how they hold up. I rarely use this as on-needle markers. Instead, I use them to mark my place. I tend to be a row-counter, especially when it comes to matching sleeves or socks or mittens--anything that comes in twos. So it's not uncommon for a sleeve to look like this:

This project (Boxy by Joji Locatelli)  has 5 different skeins of handpainted yarns. So, I marked my transition rows and "solid" rows. I couldn't have done this without these amazing locking markers.

I know you're saying, "But what about split ring markers?"  Answer: I hate them. They fall out way too easily. I will admit that I have a few, but I only use them once in a great while. Like if I see a mistake that needs to be fixed on the next row, I'll put a spit ring marker on the spot to mark it temporarily. Otherwise. No. I don't like them. I also strongly dislike rubbery stitch markers that can stretch or bend or stick to my needles. Oh! One more thing: I mostly use small gauge needles (I don't like working with anything much over a US7), so I prefer smaller stitch markers too. I hate using a large stitch marker on a small needle.

Using the right stitch markers for ME makes my knitting life easier! Once you find something that works for you, it's perfectly fine to stick with it and be a curmudgeon about it, like I am with stitch markers.

5. Susan Bates Silvalume Handi Tool

This little guy is so handy. I've used it to pick up stitches, make a chain for a provisional cast on, work Emily Ocker's cast on, fix a pulled stitch, fix a snag on a finished garment, and more.  I've linked you to Amazon, but if you have a local yarn shop, check there. Amazon has these marked up a lot, and you can probably get it at your LYS for less than $2.

6. Apps for my iPad and iPhone (also available for Android devices)

KnitCompanion is, hands down, the most necessary app in my life. You can have all of my other apps. I have to have KnitCompanion. It's free to download and try, but it's 100% worth the $14.99 per year subscription rate. I never use paper patterns anymore. Everything is in KnitCompanion. In KC, I can set up charts, row-by-row instructions, take notes, easily refer to abbreviations and other necessary information, and so much more. It also helps familiarize me with a pattern before I cast on, which is always a good thing.

Sortly is an inventory app that I've found extremely useful for keeping track of my yarn stash (along with other collections like fabric, sewing patterns...and I just realized I could use it to keep track of knitting magazines, books, patterns, pattern booklets, etc.!). I'm kinda weird in that I like having an easily navigable inventory of stuff that I collect. So much so that I'm actually looking forward to working with my husband to inventory his vacuum tubes and possibly other components. So, why do I like having a yarn inventory on my phone? When I'm shopping for yarn, I can check to see what I already have, including colors and dye lots. I have photos for everything, which makes it easier to find other yarns that might coordinate. It also helps when I find a pattern I love because I can see if I already have yarn that will work for it. Now for the sort-of down side: Sortly has a monthly subscription price of $4.99 if you want to enter more than 100 items. To me, it's worth it because I keep track of more than just my yarn, and I'll be expanding to add other inventories as well. [Edited to add: Sortly has recently changed their subscriptions, and the $4.99/mo option is no longer available. As a legacy user, I can continue at that rate. If I weren't a legacy user, I would not sign up with Sortly now. I will likely be searching for a different app. Eventually, I'm sure they will discontinue the legacy support.] Umm..yes, I also maintain my yarn inventory in Ravelry and in Excel. Why do you ask?

Apps for listening to stuff. Amazon Music, Downcast, Audible, Chirp, Hoopla, and Libby. Those are my six most-used listening apps. Amazon Music is (duh) for music. Downcast is a podcast app. I know many are happy with the native podcast app on their iPhones, but I wasn't. I've been using Downcast for years and love it. Audible and Chirp are audiobook apps. Hoopla and Libby are apps that work with my local library to borrow audiobooks. I don't watch a lot of TV, so while the others in my house are watching TV, I'm usually listening to a podcast or audiobook.

7. Ravelry

I almost didn't add this here because it's such an obvious thing, but I figured if I added yarn and needles, I better add Ravelry.  I use Ravelry for so much, I don't know how I existed before...well, I do. I had lots of binders full of patterns, project notes, yarn inventories... you get the picture. So much paper!  Enter Ravelry: I can buy PDF patterns and open them in KnitCompanion for use. I can sell my own patterns (to enable me to buy more patterns by other designers). I can keep track of all of my projects. I can look up projects done by other people to see how they look, if they ran into any problems, or if they made any alterations. I can connect with other knitters who might have similar interests to mine. Doctor Who? Yep. Animal Crossing? Yep. Curling? Yep. You name it, there's probably a group for it!

I know someone is probably wondering how I feel about Ravelry since they made their anti-racism policy change on June 23. I fully support it. Trump and his administration have proven themselves to be highly supportive of white supremacy. Regardless of your own personal beliefs, support of the Trump administration is undoubtedly support for white supremacy. You may not consider yourself a white supremacist or a racist, but you are certainly supporting them if you support him. So, I support Ravelry, and that's that.

8. A Good Lamp

It doesn't have to be an expensive lamp, but I need good lighting when I'm knitting anything much more complicated than stockinette or garter stitch. Yes, I have a simple stockinette project just for movie theater knitting.  At home, I have this lamp from IKEA clamped to the end table. (I actually have an older version of this.) I can shine it directly at my knitting so the rest of the room can be dark, which is how my family likes it for watching TV or playing video games. And I use a bulb with relatively low lumens. I think what I'm using now is an LED that roughly equal to a 25W or 40W incandescent bulb.

9. A Supportive Spouse/Partner/Housemate

I cannot stress this enough. There are times when all of the floor space in our bedroom is taken up by blocking shawls, or the kitchen and dining table are inaccessible all weekend because I'm dyeing, or we have to turn down an invitation because it's the same day as The Fiber Event, or any other number of things related to yarn. My husband is fully supportive. Why? Because he has his own interests and side hustles that affect our life together, so he gets it! I have plenty of friends whose partners are not as supportive. They won't allow them to have a large yarn stash. They complain if there are knitting projects left on the coffee table. They expect to be able to use the kitchen to prepare a meal. (😉Yes, we can use our kitchen to prepare meals....just not while I'm dyeing...) I guess what I'm saying is this: My husband makes my life easier by being supportive of my interests and activities.


So there you have it: the nine things I can't live without that all work together to make my life easier, simpler, and much better.

PS: I'm planning a big announcement Friday, so be sure to check back!! 

Yarny Fun

Many of you know that I enjoy (and have even taught classes about) dyeing with Kool Aid. A few weeks ago, I decided to play around a little bit with Kool Aid again. I had some white worsted weight and fingering weight yarn, and I wanted to try dyeing some true self-striping and gradient yarns. There are a handful of ways to accomplish this, but I decided the knitting blanks would be a fun way to play. So, I ordered a hand-crank, 40-needle knitting machine from Amazon. (For some reason, I haven't taken a picture of it....) It's a finicky little tool, but once I got it figured out, I was off to the races! I made four 50g tubes of fingering, one 100g tube of fingering, and two 100g tubes of worsted. I laid them out on my kitchen table, mixed up my Kool Aid, and had some fun. 

The picture below of my yarn steaming might look pretty familiar to those of you who attended the River Knits Retreat a couple of years ago.

After steaming and drying them, I decided I wanted them in skein format (even though you can knit directly from the blank). I'm blessed with a dad who is an amazing woodworker, and he made me a skein winder so I wouldn't have to use a niddy-noddy!

This fabulous tool makes winding skeins go so much faster! But look at how kinky they are!

 
A little soak and hanging to dry straightened them right out. Below, from top to bottom: two 100g skeins of worsted in self striping cool and warm colors, respectively; two 50g skeins of self-striping fingering weight (shown above on the table); two 50g skeins of fingering dyed in rainbow gradients; one 100g skein of fingering dyed in a long rainbow gradient. 

Y'all. This was so much fun! But I found myself wondering what kinds of effects I could get if I had "real dye." Note: Kool Aid is a real dye. It dyes yarn beautifully and safely, but it does have some limitations. There are a limited number of colors, and color mixing to expand the pallet is disappointing. For example, if you mix cherry (red) and mixed berry (blue), you won't get purple. The red will take up very quickly, and the blue won't take up much at all.  

So, I went to Bluprint (formerly Craftsy Unlimited) and watched a couple of classes. Professional Yarn Dyeing at Home and Next Steps in Yarn Dyeing were both very helpful. Last weekend, I dyed some mini skeins (that I made with my awesome skein winder!), and you guys? I'm in love.
 

I took this basket of bare yarn (the grey ones have stellina in them! SPARKLES!!!), and dyed tons of samples, playing with color mixing, depth of shade, and fiber content.

Pure colors in jars in a water bath, ready to steam:

Mixed colors, after steaming:

Sparkle yarn, ready to steam:

Here's the same basket, filled with all of my little sample skeins.

Now I have some ideas for how I want to do some full skeins and projects I'd like to knit with them. Guess how I'm going to spend my weekend!

Reinventions

Wow....I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I last wrote. I mean, I knew it had been a long time....

But, do you smell that? Take a deep breath. Let it fill your being. It's change. Change is in the air, and that means it's time for reinvention.

I turned 42 a few days ago. My daughter is heading to college in less than a week. My son starts high school next week. My life is about to change a lot. That makes this the perfect time to reexamine my life and what I want from it. Who am I? (A creative being who wants to spend all of her time making things.) What do I want to be when I grow up? (Well, I don't want to grow up....and I'm not sure what I want to be, but I don't see myself staying where I am forever.) What do I want out of life? (Happiness, joy, surprise, wonder, a little bit of comfort, love.) How do I get that? (By working toward it every day.) But how?

That's the big question, isn't it? HOW?

About a month ago, I started a pretty amazing journey toward self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-love. I was feeling down a lot. I was so overwhelmed with this feeling of inadequacy and a lack of desire to really DO anything. I felt like there was an enormous amount of negativity coming at me from every direction.....so many words and so much energy that wasn't positive. And it reflected in me. I was wearing a lot of black, not making a lot of effort to look nice, and not really caring about any of it. I wasn't knitting or really creating at all. I'd come home from work, put in my earbuds to listen to an audiobook and play Yahtzee with Buddies or puzzle games on my iPhone or iPad. It wasn't good. (Note: I'm not saying these are bad things to do. They just weren't good FOR ME.)

So, a month or so ago, I decided I needed to do something to get myself out of this funk. I went with a bit of advice from Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. In her book, she says that you need to be attractive for creativity. You can't lay around in pajamas you've had on for 3 days and hair that hasn't been washed in longer and expect the magic to come. You have to make an effort.

I remembered seeing a link to something called Dressing Your Truth on Pinterest. So, I went digging. Turns out I pinned that link more than a year ago. LOL! I read more about it and thought, "Well, this sounds like fun, so I'll just do it and see where it goes." (Please know that this is not a commercial for DYT. I'm just sharing my experience.)

I started watching the Energy Profiling videos and knew right away that I'm a Type 1. I mean, it's not even possible I could be anything else. It describes everything about me when I'm not trying to be someone I'm not: optimistic, happy, bright, bubbly, positive, expressive, outgoing, youthful. Even so, I watched the rest of the videos.... I felt a slight connection with all of the Types, but I'm so obviously a Type 1. Then I read Dressing Your Truth; Discover Your Type of Beauty by Carol Tuttle (creator of DYT).  Yep! Definitely a Type 1.

Then, I ponied up and bought the DYT course. (I'm going to tell you about it, but this isn't really the important part of what's happening in my life...it just supports it.)  I wasn't thrilled with the color pallet for a Type 1. Bright, sunshiny yellow is the signature color....I had literally never worn yellow in my life because I had been told it would be a terrible color for me. Tints were the name of the game (which means any pure color that has had white added to it). I always thought I preferred rich, deep, dark colors. Then I started cleaning out my closet. Ruthlessly.

Here's the before:



Really awful, right? So many clothes, many which weren't being worn ever. What a mess. (Also, yes, I realize I'm blessed with a giant walk-in closet. In this picture, you are seeing a bit less than half of it. Hubby uses the other half.)

Here are the after pics:
 

































Pretty amazing, right? (I need to recover my chair with a Type 1 fabric...) And there is NO BLACK. (Items that look black in the picture are actually either navy blue or dark chocolate brown.)

Anyway, I was really really ruthless. I took out 3 trash bags full of clothes for Goodwill, along with several pairs of shoes. I will admit that I kept a laundry basket of clothes I wasn't quite ready to part with yet...but it's now been a couple of weeks, and I don't miss those clothes at all. They will likely be on their way out of the house soon. (If you've done DYT and you are a Type 4 who wears a 14/16 top and 18/20 bottom, I probably have some great black stuff for you.)

After cleaning out my closet, I went shopping. End of season clearance is the bomb. I had so much fun!! I don't remember ever having this much fun shopping for clothes! I was able to quickly pick things that followed the Type 1 guidelines. And guess what! They all looked great on me!! I even tried on YELLOW and LOVED IT!!!  

Here's the really amazing thing: DYT has a "5 compliment guarantee." They promise that you will receive at least 5 compliments in the first 30 days of dressing your truth. I had that many on the first day. Seriously. And even the way complete strangers responded to me changed (possibly because my way of responding to them changed).  I don't even know how to describe how wonderful it was/is.  I smile at people, and they smile back. I feel like before, I would smile but no one would respond, and I was just invisible. But maybe it's hard not to smile back at someone who is wearing a bright, sunshiny yellow blouse and turquoise jewelry. :) 

So, while changing the way I dress and present myself to the world physically was a wonderful and much-needed step in my life, it was just the tip of the iceberg. I've been immersing myself in the Living Your Truth way of living. I'm currently trying to figure out my secondary Energy Type. I thought it was Type 4, but I'm not so sure.... But, I'm also learning more about my dominant Type 1 Energy. I'm learning that so much of what I've seen as my weaknesses are really my strengths. Yes, I'm optimistic and maybe a little naively so, but I bring hope and joy. Yes, I'm chatty and bubbly, but I bring people together and try to include everyone. I look in the mirror now and I see beauty and light and joy, not flaws that I used to see. I literally look in the mirror and see hearts and stars and circles in my features and think, "Wow! I am beautiful!" It's a really nice change.

My husband (in classic Type 2 fashion) didn't really say anything until I said, "So, you may have noticed that I've been dressing differently." Then he opened up and said that yes, he'd noticed and that he'd also noticed that I seem more present than I have in a while. I told him I was tired of looking and feeling like a schlump. He said, "Well, first, you never looked like a schlump." Bless his heart. I think that's what we call unconditional love. Why don't we love ourselves unconditionally? Why is that so hard?? I believe that by living my truth, I'm finally figuring out how to give myself some of that good stuff!



That's probably the last time you'll hear me rave about DYT. Henceforth, you get to witness my reinvention. Don't worry, there will still be knitting and sewing....but I might add some other things as inspiration strikes. I'm becoming more confident every day. Stay tuned!!!

Digging out

What a winter this has been!! Between the Polar Vortices that keep swooping down on us with more snow and cold air than we've seen in ages and the school cancellations and delays that result, this has felt like the never-ending winter. And it's only January! Rest assured, I'm warm and cozy and crafting like crazy. I've written several blog posts that just haven't been posted because as I wrote them, I thought, "When I get home, I'll take pictures, then publish the post to the blog." Then the photography just didn't happen. (Queue sad trombone.)

But today, this post IS going to happen. I have so much to tell you about. So many updates to share. And just ONE picture I'm waiting to take.

So, let's go back to December. My last post was on December 5. After that, I focused a lot on Christmas Knitting. I'm not usually one to do a lot of knitting for Christmas, but this year was an exception. Tori put in a very specific sweater request, and I wanted to make her a couple of pairs of socks. The sweater was completed not quite in time for Christmas, but by the Saturday after. The yarn is Noro Kureyon that has been aging in my stash for years. The pattern is of my own (really her own) design. I knit it to match her request. Here she is, mere moments after I completed the sweater. It's a terrible picture, but it's still evidence.  What you can't see: It's a top-down raglan, and it's tunic-length, longer in the back than the front. She loves it.

I only managed to finish ONE pair of socks. The other pair is nearly done, but not a huge priority for me. They are entrelac, and it's kind of difficult to make myself work on them. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the ones I actually completed. The two pairs of socks complement each other in an interesting way, so I'll be sure to take a pic of them together once both pairs are done.

I also worked on my Dreambird Shawl a lot, though it is still not complete. Here's a picture I took some time ago. It's about 3 times this size now.

The green yarn is Malabrigo Sock colorway Fresco y Seco. The purple is Crystal Palace Sausalito colorway 8459 (quite a romantic color name...). I really love these yarns together, and this is quite a fun pattern to knit. But, it does require a lot of attention and many stitch markers. Maybe I'll get it out again, now that I'm done with my Rios sweater (but more on that in a bit).

Once we got through the holidays, I decided to get out my sewing machine. I can't remember if I have talked about my sewing machines before (yes, plural), and I'm frankly too lazy to go back and check. So, here's a recap: I have two sewing machines. One is a Kenmore circa 1973 or 1974 that belonged to my grandmother. It's built like a tank and served me well for a long time. However, its tensioner broke several years ago, and I've been unable to find a replacement or a way to fix it. Even so, I have used it occasionally with poor results. My other machine is a Singer that was also a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law. And it was a hand-me-down to her too.

So, I decided to get out the old Singer on January 4 to make a bag. Things were going okay until I attempted to sew about 6 layers of fabric together--2 lining, 2 quilting cotton, and 2 denim. It was tough. The machine didn't want to do it. But I forced it.....My husband thinks maybe it jumped a gear or something. Impossible to sew on the machine now. The needle bangs into the plate under the bobbin. After much frustration, including taking it apart and attempting to fix it, I got out the Kenmore. What a joke. With the tensioner broken, the seams are a mess. Still, I was determined and finished my bag. From a distance, it looks great. But, up close... well, just don't look too close. 

The printed fabric is fat quarters, I think from Joann's but I'm not 100% sure on that one. The denim is from an old pair of cargo capri pants. I love having the cargo pocket on the iPad pocket. And I love these fabrics. This will be a great bag for summer, if it lasts that long. Given the crappiness of the seams, I'm not sure it will.

Upon completing that bag, I came to a decision: It was time to get a new sewing machine. I'd only ever had hand-me-downs, and both of them were broken. Of course, when it came to shopping for a machine, I didn't even know where to start. I'm very thankful for friends who are avid sewists who were able to help me figure it all out. On January 8, I ordered my new baby.

She's a Singer One, and is very fancy compared with what I had before. I haven't experimented much, but I have been a busy girl on the weekends. The first weekend, I made these:

Left to right: Boxy Pouch from Pink Stitches, a car trash bag, and a Grab Bag (also sometimes known as a Japanese Knot Bag). All were very fun to make and went together like a dream with my new machine!

Last weekend, I made these little puppies. I saw something similar online, but couldn't find a pattern, so I made one up. They are graduated sizes, and the smallest is just the right size to hold my sewing machine cord and pedal. The other three will make wonderful project bags.

Yes, you've seen this fabric before. It's the same that I used for my new Circular Needles Holder. The biggest bag is 8"x8"x12" tall. The smallest is 5"x5"x9" tall. They are really fun, and I have plans to put together a little tutorial here when I have time.

Yesterday, school was cancelled because of cold. So, I was home with my kids. We were lazy all day. We rented a couple of movies from RedBox (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Despicable Me 2, if you must know), and then just lazed about the house. I spent most of my day knitting and managed to finish the Malabrigo Rios sweater I started in October.  I love it so much. It's warm and soft and gorgeous (if I do say so myself; and I do), and fits nicely and....well, it's just perfect. So perfect that I didn't block it before putting it on and wearing it to work today. This is one thing I do not have pictures of. I want to wait until after it is blocked. And, besides, it's worthy of its own exclusive post anyway, so we'll save it for later.

I want to take a brief moment to thank everyone who was praying for the Purdue University family last week when there was an active shooter on campus. Fortunately, the shooter had only one target; tragically, he was successful in his mission. I don't know if we'll ever know the motivation behind his actions. However, I do know that life on this campus has been changed forever. We've all seen news stories about shootings on college campuses, and even at K-12 schools, but we all believe it will never happen to us. I never would have thought something like this would happen at Purdue. Could it happen? Sure. But would it? No way. I was wrong. My office is in the building right next door to the building where the incident happened. I was walking by that building mere minutes before the shooting occurred. Needless to say, I went home that night and hugged my kids and husband tight and told them I loved them. I'm so thankful to live in a world of fast communication and well-trained emergency workers.

What a weekend!

Productive? Yes! Relaxing? Absolutely! 

I had a fun weekend filled with sewing and knitting and a little bit of cooking.

We kicked off the weekend with the HHS Homecoming game. We're in the midst of a 3-season losing streak, so there was no surprise when the streak continued. But, that's not what's important. What IS important is that the Raider Militia Band ROCKED their Michael Jackson themed half-time show.

Best looking band around. And, as my husband has said in the past, it's really nice of the high school to put on this football game for the Band. Seriously...the band has won more events than the football team has. Just sayin'.

Saturday was all about the sewing. Started the day with a quick trip to the fabric store for zippers, purse hardware, and some solid white and black fabric to use as linings for some of the bags. Once home, I pulled out my craft cart and got to work. I also had a "helper."

Why is it cats think they need to be right in our biz-nazz all the time? Diego has the benefit of being black and white, so his fur shows up on everything. Good thing he's so cute.

First project of the day was another case for my 3DS XL, but this one matches the skin I got a few weeks ago.

Isn't it awesome?! I love it so much. I used 4 different Doctor Who fabrics--I just purchased 8"x8" samples of each, which was perfect. This and the Avengers fabric in the next pic are all from Spoonflower.

Once the DS case was done, I tackled a Two-Zip Hipster for Tori.

What a fabulous pattern! Every step is spelled out and accompanied by full-color photos. It's so clear and well-written, I had no doubt what I was supposed to do. And Tori LOVES it! It's the perfect size for her to carry at school from class to class.

Sunday, I sat down with the Cruzer Convertible Bag pattern and some fabric I got on sale at Walmart eons ago. After the absolute clarity of the Two-Zip Hipster pattern, this one was quite a disappointment. I realize this pattern was written for "advanced" sewers, but even so, it seemed like some steps were left out or not as clear as they could have been. That said, I'm quite pleased with the finished bag. It's big and can be worn as a backpack. It will make an excellent knitting bag and will easily hold a sweater-worth of yarn.

I love this fabric. You might recognize it from the curtains in my front room. I still have tons of fabric left, which is awesome. It also means you'll probably see it here again in the future.

I still have a few yards of geeky fabric I didn't get to use. My intention was to make the Cruzer with my Doctor Who damask fabric, but after I read the pattern, I wanted to do it with a cheaper fabric first. I'm glad I did. This isn't the right bag for that fabric. I also didn't get around to doing anything with the Icons of the Silver Screen fabric. I didn't have anything in particular in mind when I ordered that one, though. (Oh my goodness....is this how fabric stashing starts? I don't need another stash of anything. My yarn stash is plenty big!)

How did you spend your weekend?

Project planning

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my River in Summer vest/shawl/wrap/thing. It's about 75% done, and at this point, it's too big to carry around with me. So, I'm limited to working on it at home. I really hope to have it done by the end of the week.

Yesterday, my order from Spoonflower arrived! I couldn't be happier!  I have plans to spend the weekend sewing a couple of bags, another 3DS XL case, and maybe a few other little goodies. Just look at this fabric! I'm so excited to start working with it! I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

I'm also really excited about this yarn I purchased last week. It wants to be a Meridien.

The color is all wrong in the picture. It's really shades of green, not blue and tan. The color is called "Spruce Moss." I want so badly to cast on RIGHT NOW, but I'm trying to be good and finish my River in Summer first. There's one other problem with starting Meridien soon. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm teaching a top-down sweater class starting October 8, and I'm also very excited about the sweater I'll be knitting along with the class. But, even if I start Meridien right now, it's unlikely it will be done by October 8. It is, after all, knit with fingering weight yarn. It's going to take a long time to knit.

In the past, this wouldn't have stopped me at all. I'd get a case of startitis, and I'd just go with it. Start all kinds of stuff. But now, I know myself well enough to know that very few of the projects I cast on when I get startitis actually get finished. Most of them end up getting ripped out and the yarn put back in storage until something else strikes me.

Is that a problem? No, I guess not. But, there's something really satisfying and rewarding in finishing something you start. It's always a little disappointing to rip something out or to look at a long list (or big pile) of unfinished projects knowing most of them won't ever be finished.

So, I'm trying to learn to be selective in my starting. Using KnitCompanion to set up patterns on my iPad BEFORE I actually cast on has helped a lot. It forces me to read the pattern, look at construction, and think. There have been a number of times I've started setting up a pattern in KC only to realize half-way through that there's no way I'll ever finish the project. It's really wonderful and has saved me a lot of knitting time and energy.

But my situation right now is a little different. I've purchased and set up Meridien in KnitCompanion. I know I'll finish this project. It's a gorgeous sweater, and I want it. I also have an image in my head of what my top-down sweater will look like, and I know I'll finish it too. There's the added bonus that both sweaters are going to be knit in beautiful yarns that practically knit themselves. So what's the problem?

Well, it's sort of like multitasking. Can you do it? Yes. But, no one thing receives all your attention, so everything suffers as a result. Right?

I'm not quite sure what's wrong with me. I've never been this hesitant to start multiple projects. What does it mean?

And now it's gone

I had a long, elaborate post written with this title "And now it's gone" referring to summer being gone. Then, I did SOMETHING, and deleted the entire post.....and now it's gone. Which makes me very sad. I'll try to recreate the highlights...

So, summer is gone. I'm not sad about it. As much as I love the laid-back attitude surrounding summer, Fall is my favorite. Jeans and sweaters, cooler temps, apples and pumpkin pie, leaves turning gold and red and orange, and the soybean fields yellowing. That yellowing is usually the first sign that fall is really coming.

Those pictures were taken about a week ago, and now the green in the fields is almost completely gone. The only thing I love more than that yellowing-green is freshly fallen snow, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

This time of year, I always look back and take stock of what I accomplished over the summer. This year, it wasn't much. Remember in my last post, when I talked about Animal Crossing: New Leaf? Yeah, it kind of ate my summer. I didn't do much knitting or sewing or any other kind of crafting. All of my free time was spent catching bugs, fishing, doing tours on the island, and building public works projects.

I'm still playing, but not as rabidly as I was before. I take time every day to accomplish the "required" tasks, and play some extra if I feel like it. But, I'm not as obsessed as I was, which means I'm back to knitting and crafting.

I'm currently working on River in Summer.  It's a wonderful cardigan/vest/shawl/wrap thing.

The yarn is Briar Rose Wistful in purples and greens. I love the yarn so much that I really can't wait to have the thing done so I can wrap myself in it. The pattern is wonderful--just mindless and rhythmic enough for watching TV or carrying on a conversation, but interesting enough to keep it fun. Love it.

Starting in October, I'm teaching a top-down sweater class. The class is geared toward knitters of all experience levels--beginners can use existing patterns, but more experienced knitters will get help designing their own. I'll be designing my own as well--top-down cardigan with set-in sleeves, a wide button band and collar, and done entirely in diagonal rib. Oh! And I'll be using Malabrigo Rios--I bought myself 10 skeins for my birthday in August, and I LOVE it!

In other non-knitting-but-still-sort-of-crafty news: My husband and kids got me a Nintendo 3DS XL for my birthday. I was super excited and surprised--when I purchased my 3DS in June, I really debated getting the XL, but decided I'd rather spend the extra $30 on another game. So, this was awesome. But, I needed a case for it. None of the ready-made cases appealed to me, so I set out to make my own. Then the kids each wanted one, and before I knew it, I had these: 

The two on the right are for the 3DS. The two on the left are for the XL. The one on the far left is for my friend Sam, who is one of the hosts of the podcast Not Your Mama's Gamer, which you should all listen to right now.

So, once the cases were made, I realized I wasn't thrilled with the boring color of my new toy: black and red. Snore. So, I looked for skins for it. Again, nothing really jumped out at me. I really wanted a Doctor Who skin, but none existed.....so I designed my own on DecalGirl. I'd never done it before, but it was so easy.  And, I couldn't be happier.

In other geeky/crafty news, we went to GenCon in Indianapolis in August. Talk about nerds! Holy cow!  (I mean that in the nicest way possible! My husband and daughter had found "their people." Aaron and I, however, felt a little left out because there wasn't much video gaming stuff.)  Anyway, there was a booth for Three Geeks and a Needle, and I couldn't resist purchasing a small bag and a key fob. But what really caught my eye was the fabric they used. It was sooooo geeky! So, I immediately went online to try to find the fabric. After much searching, I discovered Spoonflower. And the angels sang!  So much beautiful fabric! I ordered enough of this to make a bag. I also ordered several 8x8 swatches of Doctor Who fabrics to make another case for my XL, like this and this and this. I'm so excited and can't wait for the fabric to arrive!!! 

So, as you can see, I'm getting my crafting mojo back. What kinds of crafts are you doing this fall?

Destashing

I'm pretty attached to my stash. I don't like to get rid of my knitting-related stuff. I love my yarn. I love my needles. I really love my books. But, it's time to do a bit of destashing. Not of yarn, but needles. This is what my stash of needles looks like:

Before I delve into my destash process, let's look at my totally awesome organizer. Yes, I made it myself. I love it. I love the little mushroom print fabric and the twill-tape size label down the center. I love the perfectly-sized pocket at the bottom for a needle gauge. I love the way it hangs in my project cabinet, just waiting for me to cast on something new!

Okay, back to the actual needles. Do I really need that many needles. Um....probably not. I've been knitting for more than 14 years, and one just accumulates needles.

Last weekend, I pulled out all of my metal needles. Addi Turbo, Inox Express, Susan Bates Silvalume and HiyaHiya all came out.

That's a lot of needles. Why the metal needles? Don't get me wrong! I love metal needles. Addi Turbos are slick and fast and wonderful. But, a couple of years ago, we learned that I'm extremely allergic to nickel. My allergist told me he'd never seen anyone react as strongly to it as I had. So, what's a girl to do? I ignored him. Completely. I continued knitting with nickel-plated needles for more than a year. After all, my hands weren't reacting to them. And there's no way skin reactions on other parts of my body could possibly be related to the nickel, right?

Wrong.

Several months ago, I discovered the wonderful Knitter's Pride Symphonie Dreamz circular needles. And the angels sang. I wanted to use these fabulous things for every project I started, so I bought more needles. After a while of not using metal needles, I realized some of my other skin issues were clearing up. If you are a dermatologist or an allergist, you probably aren't surprised by this at all. But I was shocked. How could something that I'm holding in my hands cause a reaction on my shins? I don't know what kind of magic or witchcraft this is, but I'm fully convinced.

So, all of my metal needles got bagged and tagged and ready to sell at the River Knits Customer Garage Sale (which was on May 25)! Now my needle collection looks like this:

Sad, isn't it? Well, not too sad. What you don't see are the two sets of Knitter's Pride Interchangeable circulars that are in their own little case and go with me everywhere.I spent most of Memorial Day sewing, and ended up with this little beauty to hold my interchangeable needles:

Plenty of space for both the full set and the "special" 16" set plus 4 pockets for 4 different cable lengths.

See the zipper pocket in the flap? Perfect for all the little bits and pieces--stoppers, tags, and keys. Love it!

I also spent some time this weekend organizing my yarn a bit. The last great airing of the stash was in November, and I've certainly made some acquisitions since then. So, I updated my inventory with new things and deleted anything I knew was used and gone. I didn't do a full stash airing, just added things that hadn't yet been incorporated. Mileage update: 105 miles of yarn. Tonight, I'm teaching a class on stash organization and stash busting. I think I'm definitely qualified.