The Crisis and the New Year's Resolution

Wow! It's been nearly a month! By the looks of thing, nobody has noticed, but it feels like a long time so I thought I'd get back in the blogging game.

I'd made a conscious decision this year not to knit gifts for anyone and though it made me a little sad, it did mean I had plenty of knitting time to myself. I started the Tree Jacket, Hourglass Sweater and I continued on Ben's Cabled Sweater. I also finished a lot in December:

• Patons Cabled Cap

• Bernat Leaf Pullover

• 4 Mason-Dixon Washcloths (or Washcloth Reloaded, however you happen to refer to it)
(gave them away before I got pictures)

• Drops 79-24 Pullover

• The Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf

The Mason-Dixon Washcloths were a last minute gift idea for my sister and 3 sister-in-laws. A day before the Christmas celebration with my dad and step-mom, I decided that I really needed to make something for someone. My female immediate relatives seemed like the only realistic recipients (there are only 4 of them). I had a couple skeins of Cotton-Ease and went to work on the Washcloth Reloaded from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I sent Tony out to Bath and Body works for 4 bars of smelly soap. I made one washcloth that day and got halfway through the other. I finished the second one in the morning. I pinned them, spritzed them, and they were dry in a few hours. They turned out marvelous! I finished another one that afternoon so I could give it to another SIL the next day. I made the last one on Christmas Eve, blocked it, and gifted it that night. I think this might just be my second favorite knitted gift (Fluffy Lap Blanket being #1). I fully intend to make several of these and save them for end of the year teacher gifts - to the teachers who don't get blankets. The pattern is easy and how can it get any better than a pattern that decreases into nothingness?

Oh my GOSH, how could I forget the most amazing finished object of December!!!!!!

(drum roll, please...)

THE OMBRE ACRYLIC BLANKET!!!!!!!

I can't put into words just how wonderful it is to have that beast out of my house! It turned out beautiful! I could have made it longer, but I was so tired of it that I could not bear the thought of continuing. Plus, I ran out of yarn. My brother and his girlfriend made it into town the weekend before Christmas and we had them out for dinner and presents. He loved it and she loved it too. Here it is, modeled beautifully by Alicia and Yocasta.



On to the crisis I alluded to in the title of this post. Yesterday my Christmas present to myself (using gift money) arrived from the evil Crafter's Choice book club. They don't have the best selection of knitting books but they had an irresistable $9.99 for any book sale and I happened to find five (5!) books that I really felt I couldn't live without. I got Family Knits by Debbie Bliss, Modern Classics by Louisa Harding, Bag Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd, The Best of Interweave Knits, and Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery.

As I entered these books into my Ravelry library (and as I contemplate the purchase of another sock book), I realized that I have a crisis on my hands. I have a lot of books. It might be getting a little out of control. This led to a New Year's resolution: in 2008, I resolve to knit something from every book in my library. Even if it's something little. I have knit something from nearly everything I own, but there are several books that have sat collecting dust on my shelf. It's time to change that or get them out of here.

I used to be a pack rat, but now clutter bugs me. If I'm not making use of something, I'd rather not keep it. It was quite a leap for me to buy the Debbie Bliss book - also for the Veronik Avery and Louisa Harding books - because I've always been a little afraid of those books/designers. In Knitting Daily yesterday, Sandi said something about fearless knitting. I've decided that that is the perfect motto for me for 2008. Anything from Debbie or Veronik would qualify as bravery for me. I love texture and cables and small gauges, but I've always shied away from it. I will change that.

Heck, I spent the money on all these books, thus there was something that appealed to me enough to want them, so why not make it?

The air is clear and so is my conscience!

Yarn conscience, that is. I don't have a huge stash, and I did already do one major stash airing, however the remaining yarn was grating on my mind. Today was the day and I bagged up or tossed most of what I didn't get rid of the first time around.

The spur in my backside is that my mom, my brother, Jamie, and his girlfriend, Yocasta, are coming to my house on Saturday to celebrate Christmas. He lives in the Bronx, New York, and he's only able to come into town for a few days. I'm trying the strategy of one area of the house at a time - and I started today with the formal living room and dining room.

To call it a formal living room is kind of a joke. There is a sofa, but I'm the only one who sits on it. My 100 year old Mason & Hamlin upright is there too. And my desk, or, the Armpit of the Room. I have a jar of buttons, a fork that a friend bent into a bug, a mug with pens, piles of work papers, a printer/fax machine, laptop, 4 boxes of contacts, and several mini DV tapes. Oh, and shhh, don't tell, but I also have Christmas gifts stashed inside the pullout front drawer. It's kind of a nightmare, but I did already clean it so that wasn't my focus.

The starting point was the corner between the piano and the wall. I have plastic tower of drawers that hold medical records, insurance documents, recipes and yarn. Next to the tower is a small cabinet that holds my piano music. On top of that is a large basket full of all my wool balls and scraps. On the floor around everything were boxes of phots (another project I haven't finished).

Once I knew what I was up against, I went out and got 3 of these cool new plastic containers that are designed to fit on wire shelving. I labeled one Feltable Wool, another Cotton and Cotton Blends, and Wool Blends. I have a plastic box under my bed already for the acrylic that I might still have a use for.

I don't know if anyone even takes yarn donations (of yarn that isn't brand new, I mean) around here, but I bagged up the Fun Fur, Lion Suede, Red Heart, Homespun, Bernat Babysoft, and some unlabeled novelty yarn put out by Walmart a couple years ago. Into the garbage bag went the remains of Mariah (a story for another day), the body parts of a bunny that was never finished, bits of projects that were started, then abandoned, and some really ugly Red Heart.

I also tossed loads of papers. Yay for me!

Now my plastic tower has room for all the music that didn't fit in the little cabinet and there is still room for some afghan squares that I crochet from time to time. The basket is empty and the whole corner looks neat and organized. I can even see the floor! The living room is totally done and I nearly got through the dining room.

My bins worked great! Luckily my stash isn't huge so it all fit just fine and now they're resting comfortably on my closet shelf. The bins are clear so I can quickly see what I have and now my memory is refreshed about what I actually have.

It's a good thing.

Holiday Knitting...I've got the blues (but it's okay because I have presents too!)

And not for the reason you might think. Am I overwhelmed with projects and don't know how I'm going to finish them? Am I staring at the ceiling each night wondering what the heck to make everybody on my list? Am I worried I won't please anybody with their gift?

Nope. Not me.

Last November I crocheted a sweater for my mom and this year I'm making the Ombre Acrylic Nightmare - er, Blanket - for my brother, but I haven't done any holiday gift knitting since the Scarf and Hat Extravaganza of 2005. That year I made 9 hats and 15 scarves. It was craziness!




That was a little much, so I'd hoped not to do that much again, but I didn't expect that I wouldn't be doing any gift knitting. I'm kind of sad. Here's the deal....

The Husband sees the idea of a sweater/hat/scarf/socks or anything knit for him and expected to be worn by him as torture and a threat. He gets nothing and likes it.

The Girl, as I've said many times before, said to me "Mom, I don't like knitted things." She gets nothing and likes it. Well she does want a striped rib hat to match her new winter jacket, but that's all she wants.

Bigger Boy loves anything I make. He doesn't specifically ask for anything, but he'll take anything I make.

Smaller Big Boy loves anything I make. He's begging me to finish his blue sweater.

Everybody else already has a scarf or hat, my mom has a sweater, and my brother will eventually have this beast of a blanket. What more could they want? The other attitude prevailing in my household is that a handmade gift isn't enough. Nevermind that the yarn for my mom's birthday sweater last year cost $50 and hours and hours to crochet, Tony didn't think it was good enough to give that on its own and we bought another gift to go with it.

It's not that I don't know my family well enough to decide what to make for each of them. On the contrary, I think I know them well enough to understand that they don't want anything and I'm not about to force anything knitted upon them. Plus, everybody at my house but me sweats year round so they don't need any wool in their lives. I pity them. More for me. My hands are cold.

On one hand, I'd love to be the person who is constantly asked to make things for others, but then again, I wouldn't have as much time to knit for myself. Which brings me to my presents!

The first half - the package from Amazon - came yesterday. I started reading Jenny McCarthy's book and it's pretty good. Her son's story is vastly different from my son's but I'll save all those details for a review when I've finished it. I haven't looked at the Knitter's Book of Yarn much yet, but I can tell you that I'm DYING to sit by the fire and read until I fall over! It's huge! I'm so psyched and so ready to soak up some knowledge about yarn. This book is jam packed with info. I'll review that too once we've gotten to know each other.

My Knit Picks package should be arriving tomorrow. Package tracking said it was only 25 miles from my house at 3 a.m. this morning. I was hopeful for today, but certainly it will be tomorrow. Yeeee! Of course that does mean I'll have to work on that blanket...

I'll let you know if I survive.