Flash your stash

Yes, I know it's not that time of year but I spent last night and part of today putting my yarn stash and knitting library up on Ravelry. (Okay, so I've been a member of Ravelry for almost 2 months and am just now getting to this part. I've been a little busy.)

99% of the time my stash is boxed up and in the guest bedroom closet. Want to rob my house just for the yarn? That's where you're going to look. It's very rare that I have it outside of that room and most of the time I just dive into the stash to find what I'm looking for and then shut it away again. I appreciate the stash for it's beauty and for the fact that it tucks away so nicely.

Bringing out the two boxes of yarn and small box of sock yarn made me realize that I have a lot of yarn but I don't have a lot of yarn. Confusing, no? Barring the sock yarn, I have a lot of yarns that are singletons and few batches of yarn that are big enough to do something, well, big with. The lone skein of Cotton Fleece left over from the In Full Bloom cardigan or the sad little Cascade Quatro that I loved the color of in the store but there was only one in stock and so it came home with me to make friends with the 220s.

I'm feeling challenged to be creative and do something with the sad single skeins of yarn. Hopefully having them on Ravelry and in my line of sight often will help them fulfill their destiny of becoming some fun knitted thing.

The lesson is...

always carry knitting with you when you leave the house. Keep it stashed in the trunk of your car, the glove box, underneath the carseat, wherever you think of to put it. Who knows when you'll need it? And who knows when someone else might need it?

On Friday I put the kids, a couple of bags and some knitting in the car and we made our way to Branson. The night before my grandmother had taken a fall and had broken three bones in her ankle. We were going to visit her in the hospital before surgery and keep Mom company for a bit. Our timing was impeccable and we managed to arrive right as grandma fell asleep for the first time since the accident. Mom met me in the parking lot to hug her most adorable grandchildren (and only grandchildren, though that doesn't matter) and talk for a few minutes.

Mom was holding up well and was trying to make sure that her own Mommy was getting the care she needed. Well, even Mom's need to be taken care of and so I asked her if she brought any knitting with her. She said yes, but a little hesitantly and told me that she brought socks with her. I pulled out a bag and put it in her hands before she left. A scarf. Easy easy scarf. Not intimidating at all and perfect for hospital knitting! She grinned as she left.

Here's the scarf, though it's much longer now. I took Tammy's advice and looked on Ravelry for pattern ideas for the handpaintedyarn.com yarn and found this, The Scrunchable Scarf. Simple pattern, great for this type of variegated yarn. I'm really happy with the results and the project is really moving right along.

Owen is done with his summer school so I lost the three hours a day, four days a week that I had with just me and Ailish. Since she's still little (6 weeks old!) and sleeps a lot, that was my chance to take a nap with her or knit or do stuff around the house. No longer! He goes back to school August 15th and though I love being home with him, I'm looking forward to having that time again!

Ailish is such a good baby! She's getting big and has started smiling at people and windows. Owen thinks she's wonderful and can't get enough of her, but who can blame him?

Finito!

UnGranny Smith is done! I finished it yesterday afternoon and she promptly made her debut at a concert in Branson just two hours later. Eleven of us saw Alison Krauss & Union Station in concert at The Grand Palace and it was incredible. I think I enjoyed it even more so because of the beautiful sweater I was wearing.

Want to see a picture?! Me, too!!!

Unfortunately, Mom's camera batteries died and the only other camera with us belonged to my aunt, Holly, who is visiting from San Francisco. So, I'll be getting those pictures emailed to me in about 2 weeks.

My lovely sister, Heather, is back home in San Diego. We had an amazing time together and I loved every minute of it. Though she learned to knit when she visited last in December of 2005 she hasn't picked up the needles since and wasn't interested at all in knitting while she was here. She enjoyed watching Mom and I knit, though, and especially enjoyed holding Ailish while we had our hands full with wool.

We spent 9 days at my parents' house which was fun but I'm really glad to be back at home. I've cleaned and played with the kidlets and appreciated how quiet my house is (well, when Ailish isn't crying and Owen isn't running around singing at the top of his lungs). To celebrate I wound up some yarn and am searching for something to make with it.

The specs:

Handpaintedyarn.com
5 skeins of worsted weight yarn - approximately 750 total yards
Recommended needle size is 8 US
Brown, teal, green variegated

Does anyone have any ideas of what I can make with this?

Naptime update

I can't believe that it's been 2 weeks since I last posted anything. Time has flown by and every day I pass by the computer and say to myself, "I really need to update the blog today!" but it never gets done.

Life has changed exponentially now that Ailish has joined the world. She is such a joy to each of us and even at 3:30am when she's nursing for the third time since I've tried going to sleep I can't help but look at her and think about how lucky I am to have her here with me and how much more I would enjoy her in the morning if she'd just let me sleep for more than one hour at a time. (Just keeping it real here, folks!)

Knitting has been pushed aside for the most part. I work on the Trekking sock here and there when there is a moment for it. Socks will probably be a staple project for a while since I can come to the end of a needle quickly and set it down. Mom has come up to help twice and I took advantage of that time by taking a nap and working on the UnGranny Smith cardigan. I'm very pleased to say that I bound off the sleeves last night, wound in the ends and it started blocking last night. I'm already thinking about the next big project (I may be sleep deprived, but I'm still a Knitter!) and I think that it's going to have to be something using larger needles so that I can actually see progress on it as I'm working. More thoughts on this later.

On Thursday Ailish was kind enough to model some of her handknitted socks!

Newborn socks made with Socks That Rock Mediumweight. (Thanks, Zarah! I've gotten soooo many compliments on these.)

Newborn socks made with KnitPicks Simple Stripes in Napa. Leftover from socks that I made for myself. (We have matching socks!)

Now for a very long delayed picture of the latest socks that I made for Mom, the basketweave socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Chocolate. She wore them to the hospital and I snagged a picture before I forgot again.


It's not the best picture, but the color of the yarn is so rich and beautiful. She loves them and wears them all the time with her brown clogs.

My sister, Heather, and brother-in-law, Spencer, just landed in Tulsa about 45 minutes ago and they're going to be in town for a week. I'm so excited to see them since it has been almost exactly a year since their wedding in San Diego and that was the last time that I saw them. We're going to be in Branson with them for the next few days and I'm looking forward to spending tons of time with them.

Drive quickly, Aunt Heather! I'm cute and cuddly and ready to see you!

Heather is anxious to see her first niece and I'm looking forward to snapping all kinds of great pictures of all of us together. If I'm really lucky, one of those pictures will include me wearing a finished UnGranny Smith.