I have a problem...problems...

After looking over the credit card statement and my current WIPs I realized (my husband helped) exactly how much I've spent on yarn over the last 4 months. It's a lot. My bathroom could have been redone. Well, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration but not by much. To be fair I had pretty much no stash previous to this, just leftovers and a few skeins of novelty yarn. Add to that the store closing sales at the Fabric Place and some serious stress at work and boom. I have a butt-load of yarn. I can make myself feel better about this by saying oh I used some birthday money, oh it was a big sale, oh I've never been to webs before, etc but the fact remains I went a little too crazy. I have plenty now to keep me busy for awhile so I am officially on a yarn diet. I need to curb my spending (which I never thought I'd hear myself say as I am insanely stingy with money) so I can only hope I get gift certificates for Christmas, gift yarn doesn't count :)

My second issue is with all this new yarn I can't seem to stop casting on new projects. As evidence I present this.

Hiding under my snowman tree is the newly cast on Drops Jacket in Berkshire Bulky. And what is that to its left you ask? Why that is my hibernating Print O'the Wave stole I started this summer. I put it aside to start on the Christmas gifts, one of which I kept (Minimalist Cardigan), one of which I finished, and two that are still in progress. Why aren't those done? Well I had to make my husband his dashings, I needed both those neckwarmers, and I had to cast on for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. Sigh. I know what the real problem is, I don't enjoy knitting the gifts I am making and so I find it hard to make myself work on them for extended periods of time. My Dad's gift hurts my hands if I work on it too long and my Mom's is both annoying and hard on my eyes. I long to get back to my Tangled Yoke and my stole, to knit on something I really enjoy working on. I've made a deal with myself that if I get a certain amount of knitting done per night on the gifts I can then work on something I like. It's like doing your homework before watching TV. At my pace I will finish in time but I still wish I could make myself get them over with sooner so I only have 2 WIPS... and one hibernator. I'm not too worried about the stole, it is more of a fair weather knit and my friend is getting married in June, I have time before then to finish it. But I already need a hat for the winter and I'm sure other things will come up that I must have. I wish my discipline that keeps me going to the gym in the mornings and cooking every night would work its way into my knitting. Well, that is enough complaining for one night. I'll save my feelings on truncated words and unfriendly terms for another day. I have to go do my homework now. Then, maybe some fun stuff during pushing daisies!

Webs!

I have to say I love Webs and I wish it were closer. Man they have a lot of yarn, it's so hard not to go crazy there. I was a good girl and stuck to my list, even left one item off to keep myself within budget. My husband was a good sport for going out of the way especially when I got us a little lost...but he got something good out of it.

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty

Yarn: Berroco Love It in an Olive colour, little over 1 skein

Needles: Colver Bamboo US7

I think he enjoyed the store, it took him awhile to make a decision as to which yarn he liked best. I was a little surprised he picked a cotton yarn but the finished product looks and feels great. I think they will wear really well too. I cast on Wednesday night after we arrived and had them finished by Friday evening so it was a pretty quick project and now my hubby will stop bugging me for them. Not that that is a bad problem to have, any excuse for more knitting is fine by me :) I have some yarn left and am thinking I may try to make myself or his nephew a smaller pair if there is enough. I will definitely purchase this yarn again.

As for myself :) I picked up 9 balls of Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky in Olive for a Drops Jacket.


7 skeins of Berroco Peruvia in Chipotle for a Tilted Duster I bought that Interweave Knits magazine for

And finally the Spring 2005 issue of Interweave knits for the vintage pink cardigan pattern though there are a few other items I'd really like to make from this magazine as well.

All in all it was a very successful trip and I think it may need to become a permanent stop on the way to my in laws :) I do like my LYSs but for brands they don't carry Webs rocks. I meant to knit more today, my Mom's gift is a little behind schedule but we had to start the Christmas decorating process today, yeay! I think now that all the errands and cleaning are done I'll sit down with my knitting and maybe swatch a bit with my new yarn, I've been waiting all weekend to play with it!

I also have to add that I absolutely love my most recent neckwarmer, I've been wearing it out and around the house and it really keeps me nice and warm, I want to make some in every color! They are a nice little accessory to have this time of year.

FO and Happy Thanksgiving!

Every so often I see a pattern that I must have that instant. I saw this on Ravelry Monday and made it that night because I needed it right away!

Pattern: Baby Cable Rib Neckwarmer by Kerry Moorhouse

Yarn: Berroco Pure Merino

Needles: US9

I cast on 4 extra stitches (70 stitches total) since I wasn't using a bulky weight yarn and it worked out great. I think I love this more than my previous neckwarmer even though I couldn't find any cute star buttons. I do have a thing for hearts, and apparently neckwarmers :)

I'm off to the inlaws for Thanksgiving tomorrow with the added bonus of a pit stop at Webs! My first time, can you tell I'm excited. I have a list but will I stick to it...

Enjoy the holiday if you celebrate!

Lurking

Ok so I'm a big time lurker. I lurk on knitblogs I lurk in ravelry forums, I even go through people's ques (hey, it's great for getting ideas). I feel like a stalker so I'm attempting to speak out more, I made two comments on blogs and a few ravelry posts this week! I think my reluctance to speak comes from my incredibly shy nature and from my self consciousness. I don't feel I have much to add if someone has received 25 comments on how nice something looks, but I am determined to give input if it is requested and I think I have valuable info to add. After all, I would want people to do the same for me. Stumbling into the knitblog world has really helped me, I've learned new techniques and been introduced to ravelry which I absolutely adore. I updated my sidebar to include most of the blogs I read regularly, I find all of these really interesting with great knitting skills showcased. What I like in a blog is opinions on patterns, yarns, needles, anything that might open my eyes to something I may not have thought to try on my own. I'm also a big fan of pictures and mainly stick to blogs that have a fair amount (very childish of me I know) so that is what you will see represented in those blogs. I try to make my own blog something that I would want to read, something that I hope other people find helpful and fun. Maybe I also use it to shamelessly show off my cute dog too.....

Now that I've outed myself back to the knitting. I cast on for the tangled yoke cardigan and I'm loving it already, I'm never going to get these Christmas gifts done at this rate.

I think I've come to the realization that I am a sweater knitter. Maybe it is a phase but after Campanula and the Minimalist Cardigan I am just dieing to make more sweaters. I don't know if it is the process, the patterns, or having a comfy article of clothing at the end of the project but I can't seem to stop myself from casting on and preparing for more sweaters. My queue at ravelry is full of them. Feel free to go snoop in it, I'd snoop in yours :-)

An ungifted FO...

Thankfully technology is cooperating with me today so I can show you this

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca -Under 4 skeins
Needles: Denise size US7

It's a finished Minimalist Cardigan! I have to tell you I did not like this sweater much when I first saw it in the magazine. I didn't really have any plans on making it until I began to see them in blogland and now I have to say I love this sweater. It is so cute! I originally started knitting this because I got some yarn pretty cheap from a store closing sale and was going to gift it to my sister in law. A word to the wise, don't try on gifts for a photo shoot. You may like them too much. To be fair I don't think this is exactly her style and I think she'll find it to itchy. At least this is what I'm telling myself... I think this came from my revelation on gift knitting. I'm only gifting things to people who really want them and will really enjoy them. It seems a waste of time and money if my knits end up in some drawer never to see the light of day. I don't want to give someone a gift they don't like as well. Anyway, I knit the smallest size and it is a little snug but I wore it to work today with a tank top underneath and it was so comfy. I can totally see myself making another one someday. This took about a month with other knitting projects in between. The only mods I made were the three-needle bind offs for the shoulders which I really think made the sweater much neater. I am getting better at seaming but I can't say I love it. I think I will employ this technique more often.

I have a lot more work to do on my mom's gift but it is slow going. It doesn't help that I did this

and got my needles for it today. I see a tangled yoke cardigan in my future!

Lots to catch up on

I have quite a bit to report on today to make up for the lack of posting this past week. It's hard now with the time change to get any decent pictures so my weekends are going to be the only days I'll have to work with. For today since I have time and an FO to show you get some crappy pics.

First my finished neckwarmer. I love it. Very warm with less bulk than a sweater. This took me to evenings to knit and another day to block. I ended up using some scrap Ultra Alpaca to sew the button on since it matched my coat and I like the added color. I love how my temporary placement of the button with scrap yarn turned into a permanant addition. Notice my lovely fetchings in the photos :)

I highly reccomend making one of these.

Yarn: Classic Elite Dushess 0.66 skeins
Needles: Denise US11

I've also been making progress on my Dad's hat based on the coronet patter. This bothers my hands so I don't work on it too much at a time but I think I'll finish by Christmas and I hope he and I both like it.

I am also in the home stretch with the Minimalist Cardigan.

Knitting both sleeves at once is great for making sure both are the same lenght but takes a long time to see progress. I'm going to start the cap shaping and hopefully finish tonight which is good because this came tuesday from Webs

Screw it. Blogger sucks and won't let me add pictures now. I'll re-edit this post tomorrow, I want to do some actual knitting.

Stupid computers