suddenly, posting again...

Okay, finally updating after 8 months....

I finally decluttered my stash by giving it away! I sent a box full of yarn up to an old high school friend who teaches in NYC and happens to be in charge of the knitting club at her school. It felt so nice to get rid of yarn that I had no desire to make anything with, plus the added bonus of knowing that it's going to good use.

I'm currently working on a shawl for Reformation Sunday. It will be on October 30th this year. Traditionally, you wear red that day, so I figured I would make a lovely red shawl to wear to church (and then I will have said lovely red shawl to wear all winter because it gets rather nippy in our church during the winter months). I'm about half-way done, so there is actually hope at me finishing it before Oct. 30.

I also have two commissions for berets. I had given one to my co-worker and she went and showed it off to other co-workers and let them know how easy it would be for me to stitch one up if they would like to purchase one. I just hope they turn out nicely; it's one of my biggest fears of giving away something and then it unraveling the first time they try to wash it (especially when I give away baby blankets - so far I've only had two recipients comment on how much they love theirs...and I can't help if all the others are thrown away, in some deep recess of an attic or worse - fell apart within days and they're just too nice to tell me the truth.)

Other than that, I have a ton of projects I want to do and just not enough time to do them all. But isn't that every knitter's dilemma?

yarn overload

My yarn stash is out of control. With a one bedroom apartment, there just isn't much room and I try to keep my yarn contained to one canvas bin. Which is currently overflowing. With more yarn on the way. I've been trying to bust through my scrap yarn granny blanket, but it gets old crocheting in rounds over and over. And I still have a ton of yarn left even though I'm on my tenth square.

I keep getting bombarded with ideas of things I want to make for others, which of course, means buying more yarn. There's the wedding ring blanket for a soon-to-be wed couple that I would love to make, but that's 8 more skeins to buy. Plus I've been commissioned to make a vest (hence the more yarn on the way). That's not to mention the bright, summery blanket I want to make for my husband and myself. I'm seeing bright, dark blue, yellow and white yarn with fresh, just bought light-blue sheets - because really, I have two sets of sheets and I need a change. In my mind, I'm seeing a Better-Homes-and-Gardens-esque scene with bright summer sunshine pouring through clean windows onto my lovely homemade creation - but the sensible side of my brain sees the stacks of skeins piled around the house while I struggle to finish yet another project.

I'm torn between wanting to wait until I use up my surplus and running out an buying a ton more new yarn. Crochet/knitting is definitely a struggle in self-control.