Reckoning

I don't like to think of myself as a yarn hoarder. A yarn aficionado, yes. One that is appreciative of all things woolly, yes. A hoarder, never!

That is why, during a fit of reorganization I found this to be especially troubling.

That is enough sock yarn to knit 34! pairs of socks. Sadly (or happily depending on how you see these things) this doesn't include the 4 skeins currently winging their way to me. This combined set of factors was enough to convince me it was time to consider picking up these again.

This sock is in its sixth incarnation. It started off as a plain toe-up. It then found life as a top-down jaywalker, which was later ripped to make way for a larger jaywalker. After some serious pooling, it became a sock of my own design. Problems with the design led to a sock with a clock/cable motif down the side and now it's been ripped back to once again become a plain old sock. The picture above is one taken during life #5, the clock phase, and thus is a little outdated.

I'm still not loving the plain sock but I've decided there's no fighting the yarn on this one. It if wants to be a plain sock, then and a plain sock it'll be.

Also, I've finished knitting and blocking all the pieces for the sand dollar pullover. More on that next time.

I *heart* the mailman

The new STR Rockin' Sock Club shipment arrived at my house safe and sound this afternoon (huge relief after the mail theft problems I'd been having). I may or may not have spent the day compulsively checking the KAL for pics of other people's kits, counting the number of days it took past shipments to arrive, and running to the door to stare out of the peephole at the slightest sound.

I am ecstatic about the red skein (click to big-ify). I love, love, love red and have been wondering all along when it would show its yummy primary goodness. As for the Rare Gem, I'm still not convinced, and find myself wavering between loving it and HoHum-ing it. I suppose I won't be able to tell until it becomes socks. Perhaps it will become a pair of these depending on what happens during swatching.

I tried to get a good picture of the finished sock on the pattern but it was not meant to be (if you supersize the photo and squint you can almost see part of it). For those of you who are dying to know, it is a stunning beaded cable-rib pattern by Sivia Harding who designed these. The pattern itself reminds me of a simpler/easier, non-knee sock version, of these in that there is a fancy design at the top, that morphs into a simple cable to the heel, and then becomes pretty heel and front ankle detailing.

The good news is that it's here and I can focus on more urgent matters (like that pesky 100% final tomorrow). For now it's back to studying. I promise more regular postings with actual knitting content after it's done. Methinks a trip to the bead store is in order tomorrow, on the way home from the beastie!

Beginnings

I have long toyed with the idea of contributing my thoughts to the online knitting community. For many reasons, I never actually followed through with it before now. My status as a hit-or-miss knitter and my closeted lack of project monogamy held me back.

Ultimately, my newfound desire to clog the internet with my musings found its basis in the motivational power of guilt. The guilt coming from a responsibility owed to you, the casual reader, to follow through and get things done.

Like any true blossoming knitter, I am drowning in projects. Every time I walk into my LYS (which is often) I walk out with lofty goals and more yarn. Currently I have a whopping 67 pretties waiting for my love and attention, 14 of which are currently on the needles (I'll introduce you to those later).

It is my hope that the pressure to produce fodder for this charming little side-project will have one important side effect: hold me accountable to the stash. The blog, the perfect why-didn't-I-think-of-this-before blog, will be the solution to my knitterly ways (don't laugh). A solution that will force me to accumulate less yarn and start whittling down The List before I begin to adopt the Yarn Harlot's patented nook and cranny stash storage strategy and stop having room for things like groceries in my kitchen cupboards.



In the belly of the beast: a sampling of the yarn stash. It's both depressing and exciting that all of these gorgeous skeins sit waiting for their turn. We'll save the fiber stash for another day when I can collect the necessary courage.