pepperknit

Now, it’s been bandied about that I have no stash. This isn’t entirely accurate. I have some stash. But it’s really rather small. I showed it to Lolly and Kris a few weeks ago, and Kris laughed–laughed!–when he mentally compared the basket of sock yarn and 1.5 bins of yarn I own to what he has in his house. Remember at the beginning of the year, when I declared I would reduce my stash by 1/3? Actually not all that hard to accomplish. (And yet, I don’t think I did. I reduced it by, I don’t know, maybe 1/4.)

So I was resolved to buy yarn on Saturday at Maryland Sheep and Wool and feel no guilt. And I did! I spent nearly all the cash I’d given myself to spend, and I couldn’t be happier with my purchases. The “spree” didn’t start out so well–I was so overwhelmed that I passed by a lot of great stuff. My first purchase was, naturally, sock yarn–what I identified as a good deal, from a small company that looked nice.

That’s 440 yds of The Flock Bransonas for $15! This whetted my appetite and got the juices flowing, as it were. Because then I unleashed the hounds. To totally mix my metaphors.

Koigu and Louet Gems in complementary colors; I’m thinking a short pair of entrelac socks or some other colorwork project, maybe.

Black Louet Gems sock yarn–I need some good dark colored socks for everyday wear, rather than the colorful ones I hide under boots or wear on the weekends.

Laceweight wool in bright orange! I left the skeins in MD (the ‘rents will bring the yarn up this weekend, when they come to visit), and I didn’t write down the details. Anyway, I’m eyeing the Swallowtail Shawl (check out two different knitalongs! here’s the IK page) despite those p5tog nupps, and I’m considering taking a look at Victorian Lace Today. For no reason other than that I want to knit some lace.

Brooks Farm Yarn Macero (Mas-Acero) in a steely gray. I’m not sure what I’ll use this for, but there’s something like 800 yards of it, and it’s a worsted weight 60/20/20 wool/silk/viscose blend that feels super yummy.

Brooks Farm Acero, the DK version, in this tweedy green. This is going to be the Cabled Bandeau (Ravelry link, for those who can use it) from Winter 05 Interweave (IK link for others; scroll down). Not many have made this pattern, not many speak very highly of it, but I think I can make it work. This is another thing, like the Shocking! Skirt (also by Veronik Avery!) that I’m skeptical of in theory, but which I think I can make work in reality.

and then, the piece de resistance . . .

Tess Designer Yarns Silk & Ivory in baby pink. This yarn is 50% wool, 50% silk. It’s going to be Sahara. I’m going to buy beads (eventually) to string onto the sparkly section. But for now I’m just going to pet the yarn.

That’s it! It’s actually feeling like a ton of yarn for me. And you know what? I just noticed this: It’s all for ME!! I ‘m so eager to cast on for these projects, I suspect I’ll burn through it in no time flat. I think first up is the Cabled Bandeau. I’m on a Veronik kick, what can I say?

I finally watched this week’s episode (part 1 of the finale). The following is not a spoiler, just some Laura love:

I adore that when Tim asked for their receipts, Laura apparently had a spreadsheet. (You don’t see it in the episode at all; Tim mentions it in his podcast.) That’s the kind of thing I would have done!

There are some of you with spreadsheets cataloging all your stash–I haven’t gone that route yet. I should have made one when I did the massive stash purge, but I can do it upon move-in, I suppose! I have so little, I’m not sure it’s all that necessary, but I actually think it would be fun to do, if I had some time to devote to it.

Yesterday I sat with the stash. Well, the stash that doesn’t sit next to the couch. And you know what? I purged it like nobody’s business. There were tangled skeins not worth keeping, bulky yarns I will never want to use, and more acrylic than I’d like to admit.

I thought about making stuff available to you guys, but there was so little, really, and pretty much none of it had a label or was a full skein. It wasn’t worth anything to anybody. And now it’s gone!

I got this bin at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and now nearly all the yarn, plus a big bag of fiberfill (which of course, takes up a ton of the space–at the bottom) fits in the bin. OK, it’s spilling out over the top a bit, but it can be smooshed down. (There’s still the yarn in the container next to the couch, but it doesn’t get sorted: It simply gets put in a box. And a small KnitPicks box with a few skeins of Crayon in it. I can shove them in with everything else, no prob.)

Today, I went through my clothing. I’m happy to say that I filled a giant black trash bag with clothing to donate to some kind of charity (can’t figure out which is easiest to get to from here). I feel very satisfied with the things I’m keeping, and I’m proud of how honest I was with myself. I acknowledged the wonderful skirt that I’ve been holding onto for years but doesn’t fit. It will never fit–I’m very close to the weight I was when I could wear the skirt, but my body physically changed its shape when I hit my mid-20s, and now my hips will not let me wear that skirt. I sadly put it in the donation pile. The last 5 or so times I’ve done a purge, I’ve kept that skirt even though I KNEW I would never wear it again.

That was my task for the day–sort the clothing–so I feel at liberty to slack off a bit this afternoon! I’ve been working on a new pair of socks that have been an experiment in cables, and they have required much frogging. I’m psyched about them, though, if I can work out all the math!

Next task: Go through the linen closet, with all those random toiletries that I need once in a blue moon. It’s time to acknowledge that if I ever need a cotton ball down the road, I can buy some.

My new haircut, which is actually a month old, is still taking getting used to. Honestly, I hate it. Detest it. I can’t keep it out of my face, and it never sits quite right. I get lots of compliments, but I think mostly people are inspired to say “ohmigod, you chopped off all your hair!” and then they have to say something nice. I guess I don’t really hate the way it looks, I mostly hate living with it. I’m just twiddling my thumbs until it grows out enough to start cutting to a consistent length, and hopefully someday I’ll have a normal haircut again. But in the meantime I’m making prodigious use of bobby pins to hold it back.

It’s nice to have a little variety, though, so this weekend over the course of a few short hours, I made up this little headband.

Lace Headband
Yarn: Schaefer Yarn’s Anne, originally used for my Pomatomus. Ended up with a nice striping effect with such a narrow band. Used up a miniscule amount of yarn; I don’t know exactly how much.
Needles: 2.25 mm for the I-cord, 2.5 mm for the band
Stitch: Vine Lace, picked out of my gal Barbara Walker’s first Treasury of Knitting Patterns; I believe this is the lace used in the Orangina top so many bloggers have made, but I haven’t ever seen that pattern, just pictures of the FOs.
Started: Saturday, July 8
Finished: Sunday, July 9
Total time: 2 hours? 3?
Pattern: So easy it doesn’t warrant pdf treatment . . .

Cast on 3 stitches. Work I-cord for 5 inches.

Working in stockinette, increase on every knit row until you have 15 stitches. (I did “Make 1″s, M1R on the right hand side [one stitch in], M1L on the left [before the last stitch], but you could just increase into the first and last stitch. Makes no diff.)

Change to slightly larger needles and begin pattern.
Row 1 (WS): Purl
Row 2: K3, yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo, k4
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: K4, yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo, k3
Repeat until desired length, about 20 inches, or until the band almost meets around your head while being pulled a bit. Depends on the size of your noggin.

Change to slightly smaller needles and begin decreasing.
Decrease at beginning and end of all right-side rows until you have 3 stitches left. (I ssk’d on the right hand side and k2togged on the left, one stitch in, until I had 5 stitches left. The last decrease row went like this: ssk the first two stitches, k1, k2tog the last two stitches.)

Work I-cord for about 5 inches, or to match length of I-cord at other end.

Bind off.

Draw ends into the I-cord. Block it to get it to sit flat.

Wear!