Stash News

Good news and bad news! Good news: I found a bunch of sock yarn I really forgot I had. In the group was the yarn for the lonely only here. Bad news? Where is the pattern? I think I’ll have to frog it. Good news- I have more Noro than I thought! I found lots of Kureyon odds and ends from other projects that could make a small blanket, or sweater.
Bad news, I did not make the inventory. It was just too overwhelming! But I did organize them and they are more ready for inventory now. When I swifter into balls now a days, I leave a few labels, but I did not in the past, so there is lots of stuff unlabled. ☹. I did stay up very late doing all that, and pulled out the skeins that need to be wound up, but I also did some serious blog hopping last night, and today I have yarn hangover. It was just amazing to visit the different stash out there, and I only touched the tip of the stashburg… so go blog/stash hopping, its lots of fun!
Here are some things I found last night I wanted to share:
The red sweater project.
Mermaid gloves, aka Pomatomus sock turned fingerless mitts
Funny thing- because I am on a yarn “diet” now, all of a sudden I get these cravings for this yarn that until a few days ago I did not even know I “had” to have…
Sundara Yarn
Lorna’s lace

We had such great weather in NYC yesterday. Central park was exploding with color and people. It was one of those perfect days when everybody was smiling. I overheard a conversation, when this one woman told her friends: “it is so beautiful today, after the long winter, that even people who do not believe in god, have to feel some sense of awe towards the universe, and whoever “directs” this resurrection of life we call spring.”
And she was right. Despite some serious stress going on at work, (major, major stuff!) I felt very optimistic about the future, and cheerful. And all that stash at home too........

Flash your Stash!

Who knew stashtography can be so much fun? But hard too! After I took the pictures, I now want to do an inventory (I’ll be up all night. Anyone from Europe wants to chat?) of all my stuff, plus many skeins need to be wound, so I need to do that before I put them away, don’t I? and the hardest part is wanting to start new projects with yarn I forgot I have. There. I said it. I was not sure I’ll be brave enough to admit it, but it is true. You all know what I mean. Yes, you too!
So here goes. (Click it to see details...)

Now for some highlights: ( I got the idea from Yarn Bug)



yummie or what?









assorted natural alpacas









Yes mary, I have some Diakeito... (10)









who are you people, I mean skeins, and how did you get in?









all the Noros wanted a photo together, and so of course, the Koigu did too.

One step forward, one frog back!

Had to frog the glove. It was HUGE, even with the #1. I thought I got the gauge right, but it was just too huge and it should fit, like a, well, GLOVE! I have to work the numbers. I hate froging. ( I did not even know what it meant until last week... ripit... ripit...)
Mary wanted to know about the pattern for the pillow. There is none, I made it up, and this is what you do:
So, you first have to solve 2 sudoku puzzles. You can get them at Websudoko they are free. You get 1 skein each of 9 different colors (I got mine at knitpicks $1.79 a skein!) be sure to pick colors that will work with all the colors, cause you have no say at the placement!!!

You assign each number a color. Start knitting. I made mine with the mitered square technique. (Horst Schultz influenced-The techniques he developed make it possible to incorporate many, many colors into your knitting simply. Each garment is constructed of individual units, or modules, which are joined together as you knit. Knowing that many knitters do not like hand sewing or finishing, Mr. Schulz has designed methods of knitting the pieces together. His creations are distinctive, colorful pieces of knitted art that are elegant, yet simple and fun to make.

His two books, "Das Neue Stricken" and "Das Neue Stricken Kindermode", are available in many languages and have recently been translated into English.) You can use other techniques. The great thing is, you knit each little square out of the one before, so there is no sewing!!
Here is the mitered square: (WARNING! Content highly addictive! Can cost you hours of sleep!)
Basic Square:
Remember: K the first stitch of every row (TBL) and slip, P wise, the last stitch of every row.
Cast on 23 stitches.
1st row (WS) K10 SK2po K10
2nd row (RS) K to end. Repeat this EVERY RIGHT SIDE ROW.
3rd row (WS) P9 P3tog P9
5th row K8 SK2po K8
7th row P7 P3tog P7
9th row K6 SK2po K6
11th row P5 P3tog P5
13th row K4 SK2po K4
15th row P3 P3tog P3
17th row K2 SK2po K2
19th row P1 P3tog P1
20th row K3
21st row P3 tog
you can do garter st, in which case you knit all the rows, but do the decreases. you PU stitches for the new sq from the last one.

Finally, spring has sprung!

It was a gorgeous day here in NYC. The park was great. I had 45 minutes between work and picking up my son from school and of course I sat in the park and knit. Ah! Glory. The sun was so bright!

Sudoku progress report:
Done! Yippy!! I love the way the colors sparkle. now I have to do the border and either knit the back, or back it with a velvet.
what do ya' all think?


I allowed myself to start a new project today, the fingerless gloves from “not just socks” in Koigu.

Knitting on #1 needles is hard!! Normally one would knit the koigu with a #3, but to get the gauge for the gloves, I need to work with the 1. I am just at the ruffle part; it should get smoother any minute now… my wrist is killing me today. Its not like addi, and I do not have 2 #1 circulars right now. I was advised by Barbara to start the second one now, so I don't fall prey to the lonely only syndrome. :-(
I also want to start the lace alpaca scarf, but I am trying to stick to the one project rule. it also works with use your stash month. (The Koigu was here already...)

Blogging, Oey Vey!

I was so wrong about blogging; not only is it great fun, but it is toooooooo much fun! Its not really about how long it takes to write and post to your own blog, ( although that takes time too) its how long it takes to visit with all my newly acquired friends from around the world. And I do LOVE reading the blogs, and how closely I relate. It gives me goose bumps at times. And following links. In the past week I have met and seen some fantastic stuff, and it is just the tip of the iceberg, but tonight starting at 7pm EST- I MUST declare a 24 hour curfew on my internet travel. I will be allowed to check my email, but that's it!!
The idea will be to catch up on all the stuff I managed to neglect all week.
It is amazing how fast I got into the blog world, considering I have only been in it a week!!!!!
Wow.
do write- I'll be back tomorrow night!

P.S. Yes, I have been knitting- if only a little bit before dawn...
Sudoku progress report:
63 down, only 18 to go!

Who said knitting is for little old ladies?????

this is hillarious! thanks to the Yarn Bug from CA.

gangstaKnitter the video- the fusion of hip-hop culture with knitting culture.

I should be sleeping now!

No, I should not be bloging or surfing blogs- but-
Thank god for knitters. Had a rough week (don't even ask) but last night, knitters "block party" saved my sanity. The almost 2 hours knitting and chatting was just what I needed.

Sudoku progress report:
61 down, only 20 to go! yoooohooo!

Selma, its time to go to knitters anonymous!

That was the caption of an old New Yorker cartoon, where the woman of the house was walking around knitting in a house where everything was knit. Sofa, cat, lamp shade (that gave you and idea, ha? Ha?) etc etc.

Sudoku progress report:
45 down, only 36 to go!

I have been thinking about the NY project. I have to decide on a single idea. It’s hard to do.

Does a knitter have to be obsessive? Are some knitters- binge knitters where as some are full fledge knitting addicts? Can a knitter knit responsibly without neglecting the rest of her/his life?
Well, you guessed it. I still have not done a thing about the paperwork pile, but I am making progress with the Sudoku project, and busy with ideas for others. I try to have only one project at a time, but lately that is not working for me. I really love the knitting groups, I find them very inspiring.
I love the whole global knitting community idea. It brings people together in a way never possible before. All thanks to the internet. How else can you see a German, Canadian, American etc. knitting friends all in the same day, (well,in the same few minutes more like it!!) and what they are knitting? I think it is so fantastic.

So spread the blog word, visit often, and write!
:-)

What’s a sudoku within a sudoku puzzle pillow, and why?

Sudoku progress report:
36 down, only 45 to go!
It goes so fast, and yet not fast enough. I had a bit of a panic yesterday. I misplaced the two puzzles and could not find them for a few hours. I wish I could remember at times like that, that I am neat, and therefore, things are (usually) where they should be! And that is where it was! I should trust myself more…………. Ok, so some people wanted to know what’s a sudoku within a sudoku puzzle pillow. My brother who lives in Paris, told me about sudoku puzzles about 2 years ago, but I did not get into it at the time. I kept thinking I’ll try one for real- "soon". well, little did I know that once you start, you can't stop, kind of like knitting.........
So, you first have to solve 2 sudoku puzzles. You can get them at Websudoko they are free. You get 1 skein each of 9 different colors (I got mine at knitpicks $1.79 a skein!) be sure to pick colors that will work with all the colors, cause you have no say at the placement!!!

You assign each number a color. Start knitting. I am making mine with the mitered square technique. Just to make it more fun, I am doing a puzzle with in a puzzle, but same colors. You can use other techniques. The great thing is, you knit each little square out of the one before, so there is no sewing!! It is great to see the random color placements. Next I want to try one with all different kinds of yarn. You know, eye lash, boucle, tape etc.

I got some visitors today! Wow, it is so exciting. I guess I should tell people about my blog, but I am just getting the hang of it, so I want to get a bit better.

Oh, also, my friend in CA wanted to know when I have time to blog, so it turns out that I had about 15-20 minutes of time per day, I was just wasting...................... (not even day dreaming, which is a very good tool) ;-0

Spring and beyond

It was a great meeting- Spring. it was nice to see all the projects, and how we are all influenced by where we come from.
I can now reveal my project- can you tell what it is?


The new Theme for Project Knitaway- New York. So many ideas!

And whats OTN?
can't put this thing down- my sudoku within a sudoku puzzle pillow.


And, as you can see- I figured out how to post pix and links. thanks annie for the firefox tip!

To blog or not to blog?

When I first heard about blogs, I thought, who the hell has time to sit and write, on top of the busy life we all live, but as I have discovered the world wide community of knitting blogs and podcasts, I feel I want to play too!
I used to keep a journal for years, but stopped when I was married to my ex. (He always tried to read it...) it was good to write and get stuff out of my head.
So hear I go!

What should I blog about?
Knitting of course! As the title of my blog implies, I turn to knitting in times of stress. Life has been very stressful here, but my knitting is alive and kicking!! So lets talk about that,shall we?
I am going today to my first Project Knitaway. I am realy excited! This is the first meeting for this special meet-up group dedicated to enhancing our knitting. We choose a monthly theme. This time it is SPRING! Never mind that it is only 32º here today in NYC, I can report that the daffodils are begining to pop, so spring can’t be too far away. It better be! We each had to make something to do with spring. Minimum a swatch.


I’ll post mine after the meeting. I had a cool idea. (I think).
So what else am I working on?
Here are some things I recently finished: