Yesterday I recapped the 2006 Holiday Season.
Tomorrow there will be a Bloggy Recap to shut down 2006.
But for today, I feel compelled to Recap This Year In Knitting and note some thoughts about what I plan to do with "all things string" in 2007.
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2006 FO's
I had no intention of making a grand master tally of what I had knit this year. For starters, who the hell cares?!?! Secondly, it seemed like a surefire way to bum myself out for being such an underachiever. I did not knit much this year.
But that recent chunk of time I had with no dial tone...?? When I couldn't get online, but still felt compelled to be perched at the computer...??
Well, I purged/organized files and photos.
And do you know what I discovered?
I did do some knitting this year.
Nothing epic. Only small items. But more items than I had remembered knitting. 6 hats, 6 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of armwarmers, 7 scarves, 8 warshrags, 15 toys or misc items, and 1 baby sweater.
For the Head: Fish Skull Hat, Big Kids Hat, Hallowigs (1 + 2), Beret, Meathead
For the Feet: 4 pairs of Vanilla Socks in Mega Boots Stretch (for me, Karen, TheMIG, and MyFK), Mock Cable socks, Fancy Lace Socks
For the Hands: Koigu Arm Warmers, Gauntlets
For the Neck: Knit Round Scarf, Latifa, Cowl, Branching Out (1 + 2), The Bride’s Boa Thingy (knit on commission), Swirly Scarf
Warshrags: Round (3), Mason-Dixon Ball Band (1+2+3/4), Alien (1)
Toys+Knick-Knacks: Jess Hutch Robot, Jess Hutch Squarey, Felted Catnip Mice (5), Miniature Felted Pumpkins (3), Korknisse, Spring Flowers (2), Baby Blanket Square, Bookmark for James
Garments: Baby Surprise Jacket
Still on my needles:
TheMIG's Trekking Socks (on the heel flap of sock #2)
Forest Canopy Shawl (I've done 14 repeats, using laceweight, which means it should be time to add the border and block this baby, but I think I'm going to add a few more repeats to make it bigger than a "shoulder shawl")
The Shumps (probably at about 75%, and I think I need to wait for a lawsuit shift before I have what it takes to finish them off)
Jaywalker's in SLM's HandDyed (freakin' LOVE the yarn, and LOVE the pattern...got gauge, and it fits perfectly on my foot...but the pattern doesn't have enough stretch to get over my heel...so I need to frog and reknit in the larger size, and I am so cranky about it because it is so damn pretty I don't want to rip it out. But rip I shall. I just need to wipe the pout off my face so I can buck up and start over. I want. Those. Socks.)
2006 UFO's, Their Fates To Be Determined
The Olympics Shawl of Shame (so near, and yet so far...but I may finish this off yet. If I can only remember what the fuck needle size I was knitting with, as it is on waste yarn now, and I can't find one single friggin' note anywhere about what size I was using. Gah.)
A Mason-Dixon Hand Towel (Linen may lovely after washing, but I am not enjoying knitting with it one bit. But I want the towel. So I dunno.)
MyFK’s Spiral Socks (These need to be frogged. Permanently. The yarn itches, and his feet are getting huge now anyhow).
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2007
The Year of the Stash
Funny thing. I wrote this post about my stash, about how I justify yarn purchases by only buying yarn for specific projects, the end result being a basket full of goals never met. A day or two of writing that entry, I figured it out.
I have too much yarn.
I never thought I'd hear myself say that. I really buy into the notion that one can never have too much yarn. But really. I do have too much. Not as much as some. But too much for me. And swear at night that I can hear the chattering of little hanks and skeins, tucked away in their new underbed storage boxes, whispering to each other while I sleep. It's driving me nuts.
So I decided that in 2007 I would try to knit primarily, if not solely, from stash.
About 2 seconds after coming to that conlcusion, I discovered that a good portion of the blogosphere was doing the same thing. It's even a Knit A Long.
The first thing that ran through my brain was, "Holy Crap...the yarn stores must be warned. This could get ugly." But clearly they've gotten the memo (and Rabbitch, my love, you crack me up).
My second thought was that I'd be in good company if I joined in on this "yarn fast"...so why not. Misery loves company, right?
Then I took a closer look at the "rules" of this KAL. Now, I understand that they are meant to be ammended to fit our own indivicual needs and "isssssssues", but I can see that I'd probably have to rewrite them entirely to have any success whatsoever.
For some reason, sock yarn does not count. Ummm yah. Sure. Okay. Then I can join the Socks That Rocks Club (I had already signed up November 3rd, so it wouldn't count anyhow. I'm a STR virgin and I deserve a new drug don't I? Besides, I got enough Channukah gelt from mommy+daddy this year to cover most of it--thanks guys!).
You get a free get of jail one time card. Grand. So blowing a huge wad on a one time purchase for say, a sweater, or Lizard Ridge...or hey, why not both?? If I do it at the same time...that's okay, then. Right?
When they first posted this, it only applied to yarn purchases. Fiber was excluded. And I just got an email that the Clemes & Clemes wheel is finished. So the yarn money is going to shift to fiber money anyhow. Silly me.
They don't even address hoarding thrift store sweaters to be frogged and reknit.
And what is this shit with a 9 month year that ends in Septemeber right before the (their local) big yarn festival? Isn't that kind of like binging after you come off a diet and regaining all the weight in a manner of days?? This makes no sense to me. But whatever.
So.
I am a joiner? Or am I not a joiner?
Hmmmmm.
I know I like the little sidebar buttons.
What to do. What to do.
Well, here is what I had decided on doing, even before I saw the damn KAL. A public declaration. Just to remind myself.
* My intention is to knit up some of the projects in queue I have already bought yarn for.
* By year's end, my intention is to have a stash that takes up less space than it does now.
* My intention, if I am overcome with the compulsion to spend money on my craft, is to put it towards books. Classic books. Design books. (can you believe that I don't even own a stitch dictionary, for crying out loud?)
* This year I intend to knit my second sweater, and also an intermediate/advanced patterned shawl. Yarn purchased for either of these is fine (provided I've saved for it)...but thou shall not purchase the yarn and fail to cast on for weeks, either.
* I do not intend to pass up small purchases of gorgeous yarns by small artisans who spin and/or hand dye. But I promise to be reasonable about it.
* My intention is to get creative and crafty with the samller bits of yarn I have on hand.
* My intention is to put a little extra focus on reducing the sock yarn stash. My foot is cold.
* My intention is to swap or donate the stuff in my stash that I will not use, but for some reason, hoarde and hate letting go of.
* Yarn purchases for charity knitting does not count, provided I actually intend on knitting and donating immediately after purchasing.
There.
Now it's in writing.
Let's not call it a resolution.
I never keep those.
6 comments:
Good idea. I don't actually buy yarn all that often, but I do have a closet full of secondhand sweaters for recycling, and have come to the recent realization that, if you count recycled yarn equal to purchased yarn, I also have too much. And last month I found a stash of Jo Sharp dk wool that I bought a year and a half ago and forgot I had. So, no purchases, new or recycled (save sock yarn, one addiction at a time here!) until something is done with that Jo Sharp. Pinky swear.
I had the same reaction to the *rules* -- if these are meant to rein in yarn purchases, good god, how much yarn do these people buy? Yikes.
This is not to say that the only yarn in my house is that which is intended for the projects currently OTN. Oh, no. My stash, like yours, is in underbed storage bins, although they are stacked in my laundry/craft room rather than actually being under the bed. Three bins. Plus a couple boxes and a laundry basket; those would fill at least one more bin.
Yup. Time to knit from stash. At least half of it was purchased within the past few months and intended for Dulaan, so it's not like I'm making a major resolution here. But still, a reminder and a rededication are good things. Thanks for the impetus.
I thought the point of the KAL was to enable people to yarn diet in a way that works for them. I've vowed to knit from my stash because I have so many projects with appropriate yarn lined up that I could knit for 2 years. My problem is I keep getting attracted to other things!! (The sock yarn doesn't count thing comes from the Yarn Harlot's book, btw. So it's now "Gospel.")
I, too, am wondering if my yarn diet means that I have to un-sign-up for the STR club. :(
ru @ the cafe wed?
I am so excited to see the finished wheel! I have to admit that one of the things that I want to do in the bay area is fondle that wheel. I'm a tool whore I suppose.
I can't say I have too much yarn, but I have plenty to keep me busy all year. My plan is to use the yarn in my stash faster than I add to it.
I love this post. Would you think about submitting it to Yarnival?
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