Tukats

Isn't It All Good?

Last week I picked up a copy of Lace Style and IK's Favorite Socks from Julie at Knit and Pearl, my very local yarn store.  It seems, upon reading various blogs, that everyone loves Favorite Socks, but have differing opinions on how they liked Lace Style in particular.  I have to say, I absolutely love both books.  I usually won't buy a pattern book unless there's at least two or three items I would knit out of it.  These, for me, are each full of ample patterns in differing degrees of difficulty, and I've been poring over them, trying to soak up as much visual and technical stimulation as time will allow.

Also, big kudos go out to Eunny Jang on her appointment as editor of IK.  This little item of news also seems to be on the radar of knitting blogland and quite controversial.  She's young, yes, but that doesn't mean she's incompetent.  I think IK was very forward thinking in realizing that a large part of their consumers are surfing and blogging on the World Wide Web and that they recognize that ever-growing group as a large segment of their sales.  For them to reach out to that segment with one of our very own is validating the knit blog community as a whole.  If not for blogging, I never would have come across Eunny Jang at all, and I'm all for giving her an opportunity to show her mettle.  Hopefully, she'll return the format to the way it was formerly.

Knit Picks Heading:  "Legwarmers Are Back in Fashion."  Really?   My very first knitting project in the mid 1980s was a pair of ribbed Classic Elite mohair leggings in pale blue.  I don't care what IK Lace Stye says, I don't care what Knit Picks says, I'm NOT going back.  One reason is it intimates that I'd have to wear leggings, and if that's where fashion is going, I'll just have to jump off that bandwagon.  I'll leave them for the younger, hipper knitsters who can pull off the look.  After all, I'm just barely getting used to fingerless mittens.

Oh, update on the stash.  I finished my inventory, and while I do have a lot of sock yarn that I purchased last year, the rest of my stash isn't as overwhelmingly, panic-stricken, what-have-I-done huge as I thought it was.  I reorganized, pulled out some orphans that I know I will never use, and I actually have an empty drawer!  I'm still assembling it for sale or give-away, and my LYS is going to be having a swap/give-away Sunday coming soon, so I'm hoping I can make it to that.

On an ending note, this is Ms. Kitty, one of three wild cats we feed on our back deck.  We thought we had one to feed, and then she brought her two young cats with her one day.  She's slowly warming up to us and letting us get closer, but not too close yet.  She was abandoned by a family that moved, (which don't even start me up on that!) so she's somewhat tame, but her babies,I think,are wild.

Last week, after trying to find space in my knitting stash for some newly acquired Rowanspun DK that I bought on ebay, I came to the realization that every storage box, drawer, and suitcase where I hide my crack stash is full.  I mean full.  No matter which way I arrange those little lines of crack skeins in their compartments, squish them down, they're capital F-U-L-L.  See, I was under the delusion misunderstanding that it was an "organizational" problem on my part, but after a very brief period of time, I had to face my addiction full on in the face.  Step 1:  Admitting I am powerless over my addiction.

Step 4:  (Yeah, I skipped a couple) Make a searching and fearless inventory of your stash.  So I've started to make an inventory of ALL of my yarn, starting with sock yarn and working my way up to sport, DK, worsted, and aran.  I'm chronicaling the color, how many skeins of each yarn, size needles required, and gauge.  So far, I've only gone through two storage containers that fit underneath my bed, and it's already frightening me.  I have enough sock yarn for 29 pairs of socks, people.  This is from someone who didn't even get the whole knit-a-sock thing until 10 months ago, and I'm working on my fourth pair right now.  Denial?  Nah.

Speaking of said socks, this is Vesper Sock Yarn in the Knit and Tonic colorway, and I love it.  Really love it.  I finally decided on Cookie A's BBF sock pattern instead of Monkey.  It's a fun, easy-to-remember pattern and the colors are luscious and I think it suits the yarn well.

I'm also working on Arm 1 of Katie.  I really like the longish arms on sweaters, so I've modified it a bit, added a little more ribbing and will be adding a few more rows for length.  Unfortunately, it's a pretty plain knit and not real exciting to photograph, but there it is anyway.

Step 5:  Admit to myself and another human being the exact nature of my addiction.  So, lastly, when I was stressed over finding a place for my mom, I would be momentarily comforted by all those many yarn purchases I've shown you lately, and I vaguely remember (faster than the speed of light) signing up for the Socks That Rock Club.  Yup.  Got my first package two days ago and I'll be knitting them up next.

I am planning on listing some yarn on Good Yarn Karma and Destash as soon as I tally up the total amount of yarn I have, so I can hook somebody else spread the love and try not be such a hoarder.

Stitches West Not To Be

It was only last year that I discovered there actually was a Stitches West, mind you, after the fact.  So with great enthusiasm, I announced to my DH that, "Mark your calendar for next year, we're going to Santa Clara!" 

Blink. Blink. Grin. "Okay, if you think you gotta go..."

"I gotta go."

Halfway making plans throughout the year, totally excited of the possibility of meeting other bloggers and feasting my eyes on some fine yarns, I dreamed on.  But this is where life intercepted the pass.  My sweet 86-year-old mother, who lives an hour away in assisted living, started to decline in health.  To make a very long story short, her doctor said she needed to move "immediately" into a place that provided more care and attention or she might not make it.  So after a two-month full-time search for just the right place, her moving was to occur, yes, you got it, on the Stitches West weekend.

Forward snapshot:  She's moved into a Board & Care 10 minutes away from me, and she's thriving and happy, and so am I.  So I'm restarting the countdown on SW 2008 and hope I can meet up with some of you next year.

Katie is coming along quickly.  I've dubbed her my crisis-knitting project.  When my brain was almost paralyzed with decision making, setting up appointments, tying up loose ends, coordinating schedules and doctors, etc., I could pick up this simple stockinette pattern, do a few rows, and my breathing would again become slow and rythmic.  And then there's the tweedy wholesomeness of a zip-up cardigan.  I'm actually thinking of adding a button band instead, because I have these marvelous leather buttons I found on ebay that would really set this plain sweater off, but I'll make that decision a little later on.

Here are my contributions to Jenla's De Feet of Cuteness.  The contributing models were demanding, unruly little primadonnas at times, but they finally obliged with promises of whipped cream out of the can.  Tough negotiators.