destashing – Enchilada Sunrise

Alive, alive-oh

D’oh, I zoned out for a while there. I wish that would stop happening. My next psych appt isn’t until July, either. It was s’posed to be April or early May, but it got put back. :-/ Still, I can phone them if need be, so it’s not that bad.

Anyway, I haven’t been completely unproductive (read: asleep) over the last few weeks. I’ve been reading (I keep meaning to write reviews… I really will do that. Eventually), and knitting, which I shall talk about a bit more in a moment, and doing a bit of work on a fannish website project with Sann. And over the last couple of days I’ve been gradually putting some knitting / crochet books and some more yarn up for sale on eBay. I might even get the non-knitting things I have to clear out up there, if I can get around to taking photos and working out postage. I need a better pair of scales!

Actually, talking of scales, I may or may not have lost weight recently, but I have been eating more healthily. And without having to think about it too hard, either – it’s becoming more of a habit, which is really good. As well as that, I’m going to start doing more exercise again. I had meant to before, but I as part of the whole zoning out thing I was mainly stuck indoors. However, this morning I’m planning to either go for a walk in the park if I can get hold of Ally in time, or go to aquafit and then either the gym or just stay in the pool for a swim. I’ve got to get back into a routine where I’ve got something to get going for in the morning, and having something that I need to leave the house for is better. Otherwise I’m likely to faff around at the computer in my pyjamas until lunchtime! Quite possibly doing something productive, but still – I need that routine of being really “up and about”, and being actually dressed is part of that.

Back to the knitting, anyhow. Let’s see… looking back at those goals I set myself at the beginning of May, I’m afraid I still haven’t finished Mum’s present (I’m going to go and do some work on that in just a mo!). But as I said, I did finish the baby bootees, and I’ve also finished my second pair of socks – the Berlin Muster pattern – for the Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon. I hit my personal targets as well: I wanted to finish in the first 100, and to improve my sock knitting time. Which I did: I finished as number 68, on 23rd May, so it took me exactly 3 weeks to knit them, doing an average of an hour or two a day. :-) Since then, as well as Mum’s pressie I’ve been working on my Fireworks socks, and I’ve now finished the first one after a bit of a hiccup with the garter stitch toe the first go around (it ended up about twice as long as it should have been!). The second one of those is cast on and I’ll now be slowly making my way down the leg whenever I want to work on a project that requires very little concentration for the most part. I don’t have any pictures of that just yet, anyway, but I do have some of the finished objects. Want to see?….

Continue reading “Alive, alive-oh”

It was. Only. A dream!

Sitting on the bus this afternoon, I suddenly remembered a dream I’d had last night. In which my skeins of sock yarn were just so irresistibly yummy that I just had to chew on them*. Nom nom nom! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarn!!! This is the point where I should probably be saying “I think I’ve finally cracked”. Only, whoops, too late! ;-)

* They weren’t bad tasting, either. Not that I ate them. That would be a waste! Just stuffed them in my mouth and gently chomped down a couple of times. Erm. Hi there subconscious. Something you want to tell me?

ANYWAY! Hi, Happy New Year. Here I am! I’ve been pretty zonked since Christmas, and I was rushed off my feet before that (plus my webserver was down for over a week, grr), but I’ll elaborate on what I actually got up to in the other post that I’m writing. This is going to be a looking forwards post. Well, and a ‘currently’ one as well, I guess.

So, let’s have some resolutions for 2008. I have general ones, and knitting-related ones as well:

General resolutions:

Get back into a regular day-to-day routine and maintain my sleep hygiene regime
Remember to take my meds (I’ve been doing well with this for some time, but it never hurts to reinforce it!)
Related to #1, go to the gym / gym classes regularly and often.
Eat proper!
Get back to work, but take it slowly and don’t overdo it!
Keep a cap on my spending and improve my money situation overall.
Have a thorough clear-out of the flat and charity-shop or eBay anything I don’t want or need.
Be a more reliable and prompt correspondent! I’m pants at replying to emails and comments, and I really want to get on top of that. Feel free to help me out by prodding me if I should be mailing you and haven’t. I’m not ignoring you, I’m just a bit rubbish!

Several of which can really be summed up as “Look after myself”, but since detailed lists help me plan, that’s what we’ve got. :-)

Knitting Resolutions:

Two words: Yarn Diet. This is strongly related to #6 above, since I can’t now afford to buy any more yarn – woe! But I’m not exactly yarnless, so I’m not going to repine. I haven’t decided on my exact goal for this yet, but I want to join the Stashalong thingy. Piglottie has said she’s not going to buy any yarn in 2008 at all. I’d like to say the same, but maybe I’ll start with a 6 month commitment and then revise / renew it from there! I feel that I should leave myself some wiggle-room just in case, and there’s still sockclub. So. I’ll post more about it when I’ve figured out how I want to work it.
Knit from my stash. You know, since I’m not going to be buying anything new. But even if I was, I have a ginormous stash that needs some serious busting, and what’s more, it’s yarn I really want to knit with! I have plans!
Those two UFOs that have been needing sewing up for the last couple of years? FINISH THEM! Damnit. At least one, if not both, by the end of February.
Never have more than 8 WIPs on the needles. Preferably less, to leave room for ‘OMG must start that right now’ syndrome.
In the short term, finish all my current WIPs by the end of March (Hedaras, Damson Gloves, Ruby Scarf, Clapotis, Fireworks socks, Chevron Scarf, WFS, Spring Sprung scarf, and SAHWWJ Cardi) with a possible waiver on the cardi because I’m happy enough for that to be a relatively long-term no-rush project.
Do some more stash clearing / yarn selling. Which sort of counts as stash busting, but not exactly. Also advertise those knitting books and magazines.
Get out the knitting machine and make up some stuff to sell. Like HP scarves and so on. I’ve got the yarn, after all. Stashbusting! Yay!
Spend more time on my Ravelry groups, and keep up with my blogroll links. And comment more! Oh, on the podcasts I listen to, as well. Par-ti-ci-pate. *nod*

I’ve also been thinking about joining Project 365. Or maybe I’ll do the weekly variant that some people on Ravelry are doing. I’ll probably end up with a stack of photos of the cat. And yarn. No change there, then!

Okeydokey, this post is long enough. I’ll yatter about my current WIPs (with photos) more tomorrow or some time soon. Time for bed! :-)

I think you’re great, but I’m going to have to let you go…

If you love something, let it go… and other clichés. The grand de-stashing has begun! I’ve actually ended up being fairly ruthless and turfed out a lot of yarn on the basis that I don’t have any specific project in mind for it. It might be gorgeous, but unfortunately, I need the cash more. You see, a few things happened, including my washing machine having a very dramatic last hoorah (it was trying to throw itself out the kitchen window, I’m sure of it) and now I’m kind of hideously broke. The yarn, she is not necessary. So, here goes. I’m not putting pictures up in this entry because it would get too big, but there are links so you can click through to the photos. Or if you like you can jump to the yarn sale section of my photo album – all pictures but two are there.

Is what’s below everything that I’m clearing out? Well, no. As it just so happens, I’ve got some more yarn on eBay. And I’m also destashing some of my knitting books. I’ll make another post about those!

Continue reading “I think you’re great, but I’m going to have to let you go…”

Zooooom

I’ve had THE most awesome final / “reveal” package from my SP11 pal, Janey. THANK YOU JANEY! :-D I shall write more and post pics later. And email Janey to gush a lot. Yes.
Due to Circumstances Beyond My Control, I haven’t been able to send out my own final SP11 parcel to Katie yet. Argh. Actually, it looks like I won’t be able to get hold of one thing I was looking for anyway, so I guess I’ll have to give up and get it sent asap. Although asap might have to be next week, the way things are looking. I reiterate: argh! Sorry, Katie :-/
It’s a year today that I was in that car accident (my car was hit). Therefore, a year since I last drove, since after that (a) my poor car was squished, and (b) I was put on meds that mean I’m medically disqualified from having a licence. Which in turn means I’ve got a free bus pass, so it’s not all bad.
I was kind of under the weather again last week. Mainly, I’m annoyed. I have things to do! Therefore, I’m now running around like a… crazy running around thing. Pick your metaphor. Off to the shops soon. Hey, fresh air! That’ll be novel.
Site revamp still not done. Well, it is. I just haven’t applied it to the actual site and uploaded it yet. Yeah, not done.
What with the not-well thing, I haven’t got as much knitting done as I’d like, either. I do at least have one FO, but everything else that’s Christmas knitting? Um, not yet. Must knit faster.
I have sorted out pretty much everything (I think!) that I’m going to destash, however. Looong post all about that coming v soon.
Xandermog is poking me in the leg with his sharp pointy toes. Owwwww.
Aaaaaaaaaand the child upstairs seems to be banging something echo-y and metal on the floor. Oh, someone please make it stop!
I might just be having a bit of a manic Monday (haha, oh dear). Shall have to watch myself, and try to do some relaxing stuff once I’ve got the must-do things out of the way. Note to self: breathe.

Destashing? HAH!

Today, I’ve been looking through my stash on Ravelry and trying to decide what I don’t want / need. As well as a few odd things, I had every intention of thinning out some of my Posh Yarn and Yarn Yard stash. Uh huh, right. What has actually happened is that I’ve fallen madly back in love with every single skein and colourway. It’s all mine and you can’t have it. So there!

I’m also restraining myself right now from running and digging out a skein or two to wind into cakes so that I can cast them on. Oh, they’re so pretty! I want to knit with all of them, this instant! But I don’t have time. Christmas knitting first! And oh dear, only just over a month to go for that. I’ve got to get a crack on.

Actually, there are a few skeins that I can bring myself to, ah, re-home. If anyone wants to buy them from me, that is. I really do have more sock yarn than I can reasonably knit in the next, oh, couple of years. And more than once I’ve bought yarn because it’s so pretty… without taking into account that I already have some that’s very very similar. I’ll think about it overnight and see which ones I settle on.

Before I go to bed, though, I’m going to do a bit more work on the redesign of this site. With a bit of luck I should have it up sometime this week. The design itself is pretty much done, actually…. it’s just plugging it in to the various parts of the site. I’m intending to convert everything to php, so I have to work out the most efficient way of doing the templates. I’m not sure if I’m going to change the blog to php, though. It’d mess up any direct links. Unless…. Hmm, I’ll sleep on that as well. I’m tired anyway. Maybe I will just go to bed now. G’night.

Falling off the yarn wagon

Ummmm….. it was my birthday and I’ll buy yarn if I want to?

So, I know I said I wasn’t going to buy any more yarn, and lord knows, I don’t exactly need any. Seriously, I’m all yarned out. You know that – you’ve seen my stash. I have lots. But those sock yarns are just so scrummy, and apparently don’t count towards your stash anyway. Of course they still dent your bank balance a bit, but whoops, too late now! But it was my birthday last month, so I treated myself to some yarn that I had been stalking for a while. And then I decided that that’ll be it until… well, until I’ve knitted a lot of it up!

That wasn’t me falling off the yarn wagon, though – at that point, I wasn’t even on it despite my oh so good intentions. I was the person half-heartedly jogging along behind the wagon, occasionally making a vague jump up but not quite getting on board. But last month when I began clearing out my stash, I made my yarn diet ‘resolution’. I was then really good and resisted all yarn except for the YY glove kit that I already mentioned… which I justified because [a] it’s for something I need (gloves) [b] it counts as my sock yarn allowance, and [c] the money for it came from the yarn I’d sold on eBay.

Howwwwwever, I tripped and bought yarn and stuff after Knit & Natter last Saturday. The fatal flaw with K&N is that I’d have to leave early to catch my bus back home… and I don’t want to do that. So that leaves me with almost an hour to kill when it finishes. Of course I’m going to go to the yarn shop (the group meets in the pub opposite). Actually I still haven’t broken my yarn diet rules¹, but I feel kind of bad nevertheless. I got some Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, which is for a Christmas gift and was a planned purchase, and some sock yarn – Regia’s Kaffe Fassett Design Line in Mirage Fire, which I think is new. I refrained from buying more than one lot of sock yarn, though, so at least that’s something! *g* I did succumb to the lure of a couple of Addi Turbo bamboo circular needles, though. I’m using one pair already, and they are lovely and smooth with a non-tangley cord and all. But the join between the bamboo and the bit that connects it to the cord isn’t smooth. There’s a definite jump that the stitches catch on all the time. :-/ Still, maybe I can do something about it. I really hope so, because they’re lovely in every other respect, and I don’t want to spoil the very nice yarn that’s being knit on them. Anyone have any advice about that?

So yeah, I haven’t technically fallen off the wagon, but I felt the need to confess my purchases anyway. That’s probably the best way of keeping on top of what I do buy within my allowance and making sure I don’t slip. Keep it all public so I’ll be too embarrassed to fail! Think it’ll work?

¹ To re-cap:

No more yarn for larger projects until I’ve used the yarn I already have in my stash which is mentally assigned to things in my queue.
Budget the amount of sock yarn / single skeins that I can buy: this will be sock club yarn plus an allowance of £15 a month max. This should probably also cover needles and notions as well, come to think of it. And books.
Yarn for gifts and commissions doesn’t count, but I am going to try to knit from my stash for those as well where possible.

Autumnal Spring Cleaning

I’ve been having a really good clear-out over the last few weeks, and I’m starting to feel less mentally cluttered as well already. I’ve even eBayed more of my yarn. I know! Can I really be breaking my hoarding mentality? Well, no, not if you look at my bookshelves (MY books *clings*) and, uh, the remainder of my yarn stash. Not to mention the contents of my wardrobe and drawers… and a couple of suitcases… However, I am going to eBay some more stuff. Not yarn this time (although I might be able to persuade myself to part with a couple more skeins), but things like my spare Palm cradle (never used) and serial cable (not used since approx 3 computer upgrades ago)… oh, and I’m sure there are some other things. I have also sorted out more clothes and knick-knacks etc to go off to the charity shop. I think I still have more to do there, though!

Unfortunately, I’ve been a bit stalled on the whole thing because I’m still ill. Bleuch. I left the flat yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks (alright, maybe my mental health hasn’t been ideal: being stuck indoors ill was threatening to push me into a ‘down’, but I think I’ve caught it in time) because I had to go to the Post Office, and stopped in to speak to the pharmacist on the way. She reckons I have bronchitis or a chest infection, and what with being asthmatic already, I’ve been told to go to the doctor tout de suite. I know, I know, I should have gone a week ago. I am Procrastination Woman. In this case, that’s particularly stupid of me since it means I’ve been propped at a weird angle in bed for several days since I can neither sit/stand up or lay down normally and breathe comfortably. V annoying. Oh well. I have an appointment this afternoon. I’ll be fixed soon. On the plus side, this whole thing seems to have sorted out my insomnia / wonky body-clock thing that I had going on: I’m now tired / sleeping during the actual night again, instead of being awake all night and tired or asleep all day. Hoorah!

In knitting news, I have got some work done on my WIPs. I really must remember to make a couple of posts about my current WIPs and recently completed FOs to spring-clean that off my mental to-do list. Mainly I’ve been working on “Mmm, Refreshers”, which is a Christmas gift. Can’t say anything else about it in case the recipient trundles over here. You never know with my friends and family *peers around suspiciously*. I’ve also done a bit of “WFS” (likewise, Christmas), and some of my Fireworks socks… which are for me me me, so there. Obviously I finished my Tête à Fetching (wore it when I went out yesterday), and I’m really chuffed with the response – some people have said they like it and want to make it, it’s in a few queues (and one in-progress!) on Ravelry, and I even got a really lovely comment from Cheryl Niamath who designed the Fetching gloves. :-) I’ll get the scarf pattern written up soon-ish as well, but I want to make a wider version of it for Mum first. Once I’ve finished something else, that is.

I actually think my WIP tolerance has been reached. If I cast on one more project, my head would explode. I can cope, just about, with the number I have going at once right now (8 plus 3 in hibernation) because I have a definite Christmas deadline for, um, three of them. Although I have at least two more things I wanted to cast on for gift knitting as well. Oh dear. But I’m not going to think about that now! The thing is, those gift knits are the ones which are taking priority, and the rest are pushed to the back-burner. Some more than others – I’m still working on my various pairs of socks (for me) every now and again, to give myself a break. It seems to be working. But anyway, like I said, I’ll make a proper all-about-my-WIPs post a bit later.

I didn’t find my gloves, by the way. So far I’ve been wearing my Fetchings or my Hurry Up Spring fingerless ones, but I’ve wound a skein of Yarn Yard Merino sock into a ball to make some new ones – I think I’m going to make cabled ones with that. And I did crumble and get ones of the glove kits, so I’m going to make a pair with that too.

Photo of Yarn Yard Merino Sock yarn 'Damson'

Photo of Yarn Yard Glove kit yarn 'Olive-ish'

Yay, gloves! I’m not allowing myself to cast on for them until I’ve finished a couple of my current WIPs, though. Preferably the Christmas gift ones, since those have a deadline!

Hmm, was there anything else I was going to say? I can’t think… oh! I remember. I found a (the) Holiday Gift KAL-CAL. Just what I wanted! I have duly signed myself up. Um. Oh yes, and I’ve been working on my next (final? I’m not sure if I’ll be sending one more package or if I’ll split it into two – Katie, do you have any preferences?) SP11 package. Mwahaha. Etc. ;-)

Right, that’s enough being upright for me for the time being. I’m going back to bed for a bit to listen to the radio / podcasts while knitting, then I shall get up again, have foooood, and get myself off to the doctor’s. TTFN!

Lost Gloves

It looks like I’ve lost my favourite pair of gloves :-( I mean, they’re only shop-bought, almost certainly acrylic yarn ones. But they fit, they were black with cables on the back, and they were warm and comfy. They weren’t scratchy or squeaky. They were my perfect gloves. Wah!

Of course, I have other gloves. Handknitted fingerless ones, which are lovely… but not quite the same as, well, gloves with fingers. And not go-with-everything black, either. Pleather (ie. plastic leather-looking!) ones: not warm or particularly flexible either. Cycling ones: v practical… if I had a bike right now, which I don’t. Velvet ones, lace ones: all very pretty, but not much use for keeping fingers toasty.

No, I want my woolly gloves back. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I lost them out somewhere, earlier this year. Last I remember, they were in my coat pocket… and the next time I went to put them on, they were gone. I probably took them off and put them down, got distracted, and that was that. :-/ I’m going to have one last really good hunt through the bags that I don’t use much, just in case. And then I guess I’d better buckle down and knit myself some new ones.

The next question is, what kind of gloves shall I make? Proper cosy wool ones, certainly. But shall I try to replicate my old ones as closely as I can remember, or shall I have plain ones? Black / one-colour, or variegated? Hmmm. Pattern suggestions, anyone?

(I am of course, rilly rilly tempted by Natalie’s Glove Kits & Club, but I must not buy any more yarn yet. However, I spose I could have more than one new pair of gloves, couldn’t I? *cough* After all, I have all that lovely sock yarn that I don’t have to use on socks…)

Whoosh!

I’ve been pretty busy over the last few days. Phew! But I have been knitting – I’ll make a longer post all about that a bit later. Right now I’m in the middle of a massive tidy-up / clear out that was actually inspired by me deciding that I need to destash my yarn. As in, knit from the stash. Not (*gasp*) give it away or anything drastic. Well, maybe a skein or two as gifts.

But the point is, I need to declutter my entire life. Or at least my flat. So I’ve been doing that. I’m still not properly sorted out after the move in December. But now I’m on a roll, and I know what the major problems were (wardrobe in the wrong place, and not enough storage – soon to be solved). Whee!
You never know, once I’ve done the big stuff and made a trip or two to the charity shop and the tip, I might even get around to sorting out my filing. Ahahahah! Yeah, right.

Oh, and before I forget (because I’m rubbish like that), hi to my secret pal, “Miss Teri”. *waves* I’ve had my own secret pal assignment too so I’ve been diligently stalking them. Mwahaha! I’ve bought them stuff already too. This is fun!