Dear Knitwear Designers,

Please stop coming out with terrific books with patterns that I-must-knit-right-this-minute.  The cooler weather has given me a severe case of sweater knitting-itis and I've been buying your publications like a crazy person.  There seems to be no end to great looking patterns & I am stuck knitting random hats & baby items because I can't make a decision.  Can you hold off until next year so I can get a few of these done just in time for Spring 2012 as is my tradition of sweater knitting?  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Tasha

PS - I threw in The Knitters Book of Socks because I just got it last night and I love it too.

Barn Raising Quilt

I seriously can't believe what I'm about to tell you.  It is totally shocking to me because I have never even once visualized this as a finished project.  EVER.  Are you ready?

I FINISHED MY BARN RAISING QUILT!!!!!!!


I started this project in April of 2008.  The general concept was to use sock yarn scraps to make a 7 inch square until I had 42 squares - that is what the pattern calls for (I ended up with 56 because apparently that's exactly how crazy I am).  I had so many sock yarn scraps back in April 2008 that I really thought I need to do something with them.  Reality is that I had exactly 8 scraps, I went back and checked.  I made a few squares & came to the realization that it would take me 14 bajillion years to knit up 42 pairs of socks & have enough scraps to finish up this blanket.  I came up with a brilliant idea to get new scraps for my blanket - I would ask all the knitters I knew for one of their yarn scraps.

Here is what I found out.  When you tell people that you are looking for sock scraps for your blanket, they will offer you every single sock yarn scrap they have in their possession.  I know why, honestly, because now I have scraps that I would love to (and do) put into the hands of people who would love them.  What I quickly figured out is that if I took every scrap from one knitter I knew, the blanket wouldn't become about all of the knitters I knew.  My friends laugh that I was pretty strict about it, like "I have already given Tasha a scrap so she sure won't take another one."  For the most part that is true.  I didn't want to have a blanket full of someone else's scraps - I wanted this blanket that would take me most of my natural life (or 3 1/2 years) to finish to mean something to me.  My "rules" really made people think about which scrap meant something to them so they could give it to me.

For example:
Manda gave me this Zen String Blueberry Pie scrap because I drew her name in a swap & I gave her this yarn since purple is her favorite color.


Becky gave me this scrap which we affectionately called the Groovy Greg Brady sock yarn.  I was with her for the many weeks that she worked on these socks.  There were many stories told over coffee at our local coffee shop, much gossip shared.  Groovy Greg Brady is a part of those memories for me.


Liz has several scraps in my blanket.  This is her favorite yarn because it's Aggie yarn.  Not only that, but I bought this yarn for her.  We were on our first ever trip to Kid N Ewe & she really wanted this yarn but passed on it because it was literally one of the first booths we visited that year & she wasn't ready to buy it.  When she wasn't looking I went to the vendor and bought the yarn for her.  She was SOOOOOO disappointed that she wouldn't stop talking about it forever.   I was going to give it to her for Christmas but I broke down & gave it to her that weekend, that is how sad she was that she didn't buy it when it was available.


This is the yarn that I used for my mother-in-law's birthday present from 2009.  I chose the yarn and pattern specifically for her, and that shawl was one of the prettiest things I've ever made.  The best part?  Based on the prodding of my friends, I entered that shawl into the Texas state fair and won a 3rd place ribbon in 2010.


Amy gave me this Madeline Tosh scrap & if you knew Amy you'd say, yep, that looks just like Amy.


I really could tell you about every single of the 56 squares in my blanket but I'm sure that would bore you to tears.

So while you were looking at those pictures I know exactly what you were thinking.  "Tasha, block that blanket, please, those squares look like they have nipples."  No?  Go look at those pictures then tell me that's not true!  Here's where the story turns a little sad.  After I finished the border I immediately wanted to block it out.  I tried to steam it but the border is just too tight.  Having said that, I really LOVE the way the border looks.  I love the icord, I love the pink, I think it adds exactly what I wanted for the finishing.  I refuse to change this project status to "not finished" right behind it being finished.  I am going to rip out the border, block this thing, then make a decision on what to do about the border.  Seriously, it only took me about 3 nights to do the icord, so I'm tossing around the idea of doubling the border yarn, using larger needles, maybe a crochet borders?  I don't know and to be perfectly honest I can't even think about it right now.  I'm currently in the EEEEEP-I-have-to-pull-out-my-border mentality.   I might even bring it to knitting tonight & let someone else do it because you know those friends that so freely gave scraps for my blanket?  Those bitches are also quick to rip out a project if you just can't bear to do it.  That is a true friend.

What I Learned from Cast On Mania

Well, August is over & with it goes Cast On Mania.  I must admit that I'm a little sad because I was having fun casting on whatever I wanted.  Obviously I didn't start something new every single day but here is what I ended up with:

Number of newly cast on projects: 11
Number of finished projects from those: 2
Number of frogged projects from those: 3
Number still on the list in danger of frogging: 1
Number making it through to the regular WIP pile: 5

This exercise was so much fun.  Some things that I learned about myself & my process:

* I don't need to buy new needles for a long time.  Holy crap, despite having 30ish things on the needles, I still have a collection to chose from if I wanted to cast on for something else.  I have a few Knit Picks Option sets, which I truly love.  I have also been adding Addis to my stash for as long as I've been knitting.  No more needles.  Wow.

* I really love the process of picking out a pattern and yarn pairing.  I could (and do) spend hours searching for the perfect pattern for a specific yarn I have.  Or the other way around - I find a pattern that I love and spend time picking out a yarn that will work best with that pattern.  Seeing what they become together is  a really satisfying part of the process.  I have had my fair share of failures in this area, but I will admit I've gotten much better at it.  Sometimes the pairings still don't work, but I think the longer I knit the more wiling I am to pull the project out.

*  I LOVE TO CAST ON!

I decided that in September I was going to work on projects already on the needles because obviously I have a few things I could work on.  It seems like there is temptation everywhere!  I found out that a friend is adopting a baby and she will be here in a few weeks, so I had to cast on for a new baby thing.  It's the Clara Dress  that was featured in a Soak ad several years back.  I've been wanting to make it forever so I finally broke down and bought the kit in a dusty plum color.

The other temptation is from Single Skein September with the Stash and Burn podcast group.  I participated last year and I pushed through a lot of projects that I had been wanting to make.  This year I'm trying to resist so I can work on the bigger projects that I already have started.  Today is the 7th and I've only cast on one new thing (the Clara dress), so maybe I can make it without casting on more.  I just stashed my needles away and am hoping to stay far far away from them....but we'll see.

Riding the Crazy Train

My cast on crazy train took a little detour because I went to Louisiana over the weekend.  I brought a few of my projects with me but ran into a few problems - mostly needle problems!  I got to the decreases on my Sockhead Hat & had to put it away.  I must admit that when I started this madness it never occurred to me that I might actually FINISH something this month.  There I was though, on decreases with no shorter needles or DPNs.  I almost broke down and went to the new yarn shop in Hammond, LA (which looks adorable & I can't wait to visit) or to Hobby Lobby or something, but I could hear Patrick cackling in the back of my head telling me that he KNEW I'd have to buy needles.  I fought off the urge knowing that I had the dang needles at home and it was only a few more days, seriously!  I worked on some of the other projects I brought and I am trying to accept that the most adorable Fiesta Frock baby sweater is just not going to work out.  It is entirely too wide and despite adding a little bit of length, the proportions are definitely off.  If I frog something & cast it back on using smaller needles, does that count as a new cast on for the day?  I have to think so.  Here are the other things I started before I left Thursday and since I got back.

Heel Head Scarf  using this Adrienne Vittadini Trina that has been in my stash for what seems like a million years.

I bought it 50% off at the Woolie Ewe way back when I realized that there was a clearance section.  I have a weird amount of it - which is exactly why it was in the sale bin.  I had a project picked out for it all this time but when I grabbed all of my stuff together to cast on for it, I realized I didn't have enough yardage.  Go figure!  This scarf with a hood has been in my queue forever, so I paired them up & cast on - isn't that the point of this exercise??

When I got back I immediately finished the Sockhead Hat (with needles that I already own, thankyouverymuch).  My nieces saw the nearly finished hat & both of them threw a fit & wanted it.  Right after I finished the first one I cast on for another in this Colinette Jitterbug Fruit that again, I've had forever!  Great old stash busting that I've got going on over here.


Camp Loopy Project #3 started on Monday so I cast on for The Aspen Wrap in Amy Butler Belle DK.

This was my Monday AND Tuesday cast on project since I started on size 9 needles & I didn't like the way it looked. I have to finish before September 15th to finish up the 3 months of camp challenges and that WILL happen.  It's been fun.

Since I'm trying to finish up the Camp Loopy Aspen Wrap in a month, I'm debating casting on more projects in August.  There are so many things I want to cast on though, and it seems to be working....stay tuned.  I'll let you know what happens!

Still Casting on

Yes, I'm still casting on.  Since I last checked in I have cast on 3 new project.

The 19th Century Honeycomb Stitch Scarf in this Three Irish Girls Bryn


A Girlfriend Market Bag in this very old stashed Sugar n Cream


And tonight I'm casting on the Knit Gridded Towel in this yarn (also vintage stash!)


It is a fun exercise & I highly recommend it.  I've gotten a surprising amount of knitting done on these projects. Casting on with wild abandon is really a lot of fun & very freeing.  I have had to stop myself from casting on more than one project each day - how is that possible?

I have also have some comments about needles.  Sigh.  I do have a lot of needles.  So far I have had the sizes of all the needles I have needed, but I'm waiting for the day that I don't have what I need & have to pull from another project or (gasp!) buy more.  That was Patrick's very first comment when I mentioned the challenge, so I'm trying to keep my word that I'll have what I need to move forward on a daily basis.  I really don't see a need to buy more needles, but we'll just have to see.

Join the fun or plan your own month of casting on craziness!

Cast On Mania August 2011

I have some craziness going on right now.  I heard about a challenge where you are supposed to cast on a new project every day of the month for a whole month.  My immediate reaction was "That is the most insane thing I have ever heard in my life".  After contemplating the idea of about 24 hours, I had a plan of action.  The more I thought about it the more it actually makes sense to me.  Half the time the problem with me putting off a project I really want to knit is simply gathering the needles, finding & winding the yarn, finding & printing the pattern and getting it all together in one place.  After it is cast on I can just grab something and work on it - no real thought required. I made a list of about 45 things that have been in queue for years - these projects range from baby items to socks to hat to sweaters - all levels of time involved.

There is no universe that I believe I will actually finish any of these projects in one day (or maybe even in the month!), but at the end of the month I  can reassess the new projects on the needles and frog the ones that I don't want to continue with.  I don't know that I will cast on something new every single day, but for the past 2 days I have & it's fun to think about what to do tomorrow.

Here's what I've done so far:
Fiesta Frock  - CO 8/6

Sockhead Hat - CO 8/5 - This is perfect movie / brainless knitting.

What about you?  Do you think this is a genius idea or it is just crazypants?

DFW Fiber Fest - April 8-10, 2011

(disclaimer - this is "knitter Tasha" talking, not "board member Tasha" - as if I'm ever anything other than "knitter Tasha")

So, I'm pretty sure I haven't talked about this on my blog, but this year I am on the board of DFW Fiber Fest. This knitting event has a place near & dear to my heart. We are in our 6th year, so this was the very first fiber event that I ever attended. For Valentine's Day 2006 Patrick got me a full weekend of classes. I was such a new knitter - I had only been knitting for about 8 months. I took 6 classes in 3 days. Do I need to explain to you how big of a deal that was for a brand new knitter?

I felt a little nostalgic as I read my posts from that time period. Before I went. Immediately after I returned. (I'm happy to say that Alissa Barton is still putting up with my stupid questions & mistakes, as well as my not so stupid questions & mistakes). A post about my dyeing class. ANYWAY, I've been every single year since they have started & I have been there for the whole thing other than the 2 years I was a Disney with my nieces (their Easter break) and last year I even left Disney half a day early & came straight from the airport at noon to go to my 2PM class. I met some of my best knitting friends there that first year. The event continues to grow & while some people think because we "aren't as big as Stitches" or that our classes don't sell out in 15 minutes that it can't be all that. I assure you, it's so much fun. I've been to some big events & this still remains on the top of my list as a favorite.

The benefits of it being a smaller venue are apparent. You get more face time with teachers, shopping is fairly easy - it's rare to feel claustrophobic & crowded even at really popular booths. All of the people - friends or not - are so friendly and open, it's hard to find anyone that isn't just happy to be there. I guess you can say that about most knitting events, but I truly mean it. It's in my back yard & rather I was involved or not, I could never imagine not supporting a local event that brings National & local teachers together for a weekend of learning & yarn buying! If you have never been, you should come, no matter where you live. Every year it keeps growing & growing & growing - it is our goal to never get it so big that it loses what makes it so special.

What sold me being on the board was that I got to work with the Vendors. We have a lot of repeat vendors coming but the new larger venue has allowed us to expand the vendor hall to some new to us vendors. We took a lot of time balancing the needs, wants, and feedback of past students to create a good mix of vendors. I have to say, it's a lot of work. It's been a lot of fun. I truly hope it all turns out as I have envisioned it.

If you are in the Dallas area, please come see us. If you aren't & you would need to travel, consider coming next year. It just keeps getting better!

Nothing Says Love Like Zombie BBQ

This is what my sweet husband got me for Valentines Day. So much better than flowers.



While this breaks my "no yarn" rules for the first quarter of 2011, I am pretty happy about it (like jumping up & down happy). The dyeing geniuses at Lorna's Laces created this colorway for the Sock Summit in 2009 & I fell in love with it immediately. It is even prettier in person that I could have imagined. Now....what to do with it.....

I love that man!

New Fun Stuff

I've been a little absent from blogging because stop the presses, I've actually been knitting a lot!

My friend Lina has a brand new pattern out, Nouveau Bohemia. I pulled some DIC Classy in the Petal Shower colorway out of my stash & knit up the beret version.

The pattern was very well written, easy to follow, and her photos are so great. She is a professional photographer living in NYC - I love to read her blog & see her great pictures. She is also having a contest to celebrate her blog's new home, you can enter it here. The contest ends tomorrow, so hurry!

The other thing that I finished very recently was La Novia designed by Anne Hanson.

It needs a good blocking, but it turned out really pretty in the Pigeonroof Studios Superwash Sport yarn. The color is really gorgeous.

The other fun thing that came in the mail this week was my order from Three Bags Full. One of these was supposed to be a gift, but now I'm thinking not so much.

I was unsure about the size of these (they are the minis), but I really wanted the owls. As it turns out, they are a great size - my wound skein of Classy & my hat project fit in there just fine with a few notions with plenty of room to spare. I would love to have the bigger one as well so I'll be stalking for a fabric that I love. You know, because I need another bag....

What Do These Things Have In Common?

My couch ate them all. I was on a mission to find one thing - the remote, but you knew that didn't you? I moved my couch cushion - uh, jackpot! Some of this was found between the sections of my sectional, like the cordless phone (set of 4 which is why I didn't tear the couch apart to find it when it went missing weeks ago) & the Addi turbo size 11, 32 inch still in the package.

Items found under cushion:
2 pens, 1 pencil, 2 pair of scissors, a ponytail holder, a container of chibis, 1 size 4 Knitpicks Options tip, a small crochet hook, 6 stitch markers, countless beads (seriously, I stopped picking these up), and a nickel. I often hear people talk about paying for a meal with the change you find in your couch cushions & well, my nickel wouldn't buy much. But I don't know one knitter that wouldn't be happy about finding this loot which is obviously much more valuable than a few bucks in change.

Just for the record, I also looked under Patrick's cushion & he didn't have anything fun under there. Not even one fun thing! Go figure. Go look under yours & tell me what you find - please! You never know what might be under there. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was hoping the cushion would cough up my Knitpicks Option set complete with binder that has been missing forever. No such luck.

Yarn That is Just Too Pretty To Use

I have been reading a discussion about using up yarn that you have that is your holy grail. Every knitter has some of this yarn. It's sitting there waiting for the "perfect" project. I am determined to knit some of my precious yarn. You want to see it? Because, honestly, it's so pretty & I couldn't limit it to a couple because I have a bunch of it.

Black Bunny Fibers Alpaca Silk

My friend Betty gave this yarn to me & it is positively stunning. I LOVE silk because of the sheen it adds to the yarn & the alpaca blend makes it perfect perfect yarn. And that color - oh my.

Bijou Spun Bamboo / Yak from Bijou Basin Ranch

This company had a booth at Stitches East when I went to last year. They were on my list of booths to see because I have a cat named Bijoux & I thought it was fate. I was so overwhelmed that I completely forgot about it until the last day. This was my last purchase - a splurge on 2 skeins of bamboo / yak yarn. But I know why I haven't used this. Their most recent product is a dyed, color version of this yarn. I saw them in person a few months ago & OMG they are STUNNING. Now I am dreaming of buying some colored yarn & doing stripey scarves in alternating colors. It is a bit of an investment, these gorgeous, expensive scarves, so that's going to have to wait a bit.

Handmaiden Sea Silk in Stardust

Sigh. This is maybe my favorite yarn ever. I love it in the skein, I love it knitted up, I love working with it, I love the final product that it makes. Did I mention I love silk? I won a Survivor pool (yes, I bet yarn on reality shows & no, I don't have a problem - that's not why I stopped at all) and I got a lot of gift certificates to The Loopy Ewe so I bought this yarn with those certificates. It's such a great color & looks truly silver on this base, which is really hard to find. It is destined to become the Eiffel Tower Shawl. I planned to make this to wear in Paris, but that never happened. I'm more determined than ever that this is what it is going to be though. I'm a little worried that I will run out of yarn, so I was waiting for enough people to finish it that I can get a better idea of if I have enough yarn to make the larger size, which is what I would prefer. Need to get on that research because it will be a divine project & I have already bought the pattern. Natalie has a ton of great patterns - check her out.

Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere

This is maybe the softest yarn that I own. I bought it on vacation in Destin last Christmas & immediately decided that it needs to be a Tibetan Clouds Beaded Shawl from The Knitter's Book of Wool. I even bought the beads for it, but now I'm not sure. Since I've been wearing some of my shawls, I find the rectangular ones harder to work into my everyday wardrobe. Thus the stalling on this yarn.

Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DK

I heard great things about this yarn & when I saw it in person at Stitches East, I had to have it. This color was an "accident" - she mixed her blue with forest green & this is what came out. It is completely gorgeous & is on the forefront to become a sweater for next fall. Right now I'm thinking Coraline.


The Fibre Company Road to China Light in Dark Amethyst

This yarn is positively dreamy & I have no idea why I bought it or what I'm going to do with it. Alpaca, Silk, Camel, & Cashmere. Seriouly.

Wollmeise Blaue Tinte

I think all of the Wollmeise that I own is gorgeous, so I don't really know why this yarn in particular is just too precious for me to use. It is SOOO hard to capture the true color of this yarn - the color literally glows. It's one of those yarns that I can't seem to decide on a worthy pattern for. Right now Trevi from Anne Hanson is winning, but you notice I haven't cast on for it yet.

So what is your precious, too pretty to knit yarn? I'd love to see it. And I'd love to see you knit with some of it in the new year. Happy 2011!

WIP Update Early 2011

So.....last year I did a WIP reveal & had a few "finish or frog" conversations with myself.  According to my calculations, at that time I had 16 WIP (not including my Barn Raising Quilt, which doesn't really count because it's a long term stash buster).   I finished 6 of those, frogged 5, and there are still FIVE previous projects that are still not finished.  And now I have 18.  I guess I need another talking to.

Here we go again, but I'm starting with the most recent.

Ellie Shawl
I love this yarn & pattern combo. I bought this yarn at the Brooks Farms booth the first year they came to DFW Fiber Fest - I do believe it was in 2007 though I can't be absolutely sure. I just love the color & while I was knitting on it over the Christmas holidays my Mom insisted that I need to buy more if I see it. It's just that pretty & the pictures don't do it justice (as usual).


Happy Baby Blanket
This is for a friend that is having a baby in mid-January.  I'm 1/4 of the way through & it went really really fast (like 3 or 4 days of light knitting maybe).  I need to get on it because she'll be here anytime.  They think she is going to be early - yeah, right!



One Row Buffalo Scarf
Clicking along on this. 


Old Rose Moebius
It needs to go to the frog pond - I'm going to run out of yarn before it's as big as I want it.


Give me some sock mojo socks
I stopped knitting on this because I can't find my working copy & I'm too lazy to pull out my book so that I have the heel directions.  Seriously, that is the laziest thing I think I've ever said.


Peasy
I do like this sweater, I think it's destined to be finished, not frogged.


Shoulder Bling
This is some of the easiest knitting that I have on the needles.  I just need to wind more of my yarn.  My cat got into it & it's....a little loved on.  She really loves yarn & she doesn't actually hurt it, but she doesn't like it to be in a neat skein or ball.  I really hate to straighten it out either way.


Lace Edge Cardigan
I need to sew on the edging or this baby is going to outgrow it!  I knit a 6-9 month & she was born in July.  Like I need to get sewing pronto.  Damn you, Debbie Bliss.


Vintage Velvet
I lost my place on this & I am horrible at counting rows on cables.  Chenille yarn surely doesn't help.


Hellfire Crosswalkers
I think this is too many stitches.  The pattern swears it's not & it will work out, but I'm not buying it.  It needs a frog pond visit.


I Love Being a Girl
Another project that stalled because I need to wind another skein of yarn.  I think I see a pattern developing, but it honestly makes no sense because I have to wind new yarn to start a new project. Geeze


Garter Rib Yarntini
I ran out of yarn.  In April.  The yarn dyer was nice enough to send me some of the base to finish the socks.  And I still haven't wound it.  OMG - what is wrong with me????? (UPDATE: Wound the yarn & finished these 12/29/10. They are a little wonky because the toes are different & I didn't continue the patter for the same amount of repeats. And I don't care - they are house socks and DONE!)


Learn to Knit Afghan
Long term knit.  I have done 22 of 63 squares.  A lot of the ones I have left are slipped stitch / mosaic knitting & I must admit, I kind of hate those squares!  Maybe I should figure out the color pattern on the afghan if I knit the other squares 3 times or something.  We'll see.  I tend to pick this up when I'm at a total loss.  I really do like the Knitpicks Swish Worsted & I'm enjoying knitting with it.  I would be happy to use this for baby things & washables in the future. (These colors + Pink)


Notes of Lyra
I really love this shawl.  I'm test knitting it for the designer & it's a great knit.  I finished the chart one full repeat & it's so pretty.  I just have to be in a special mood to work on lace with beads.  I would love to finish this & I can see it going in my gift pile because honestly?  The yarn color is just not working for me.  That might be part of why I keep stalling on it.


Sweater Sampler
This has been on my goal list for the past 2 years. I was rocking through the sampler all the way until I got to the button part.  This is one of those projects that you need to read & not being doing something else.  It's very rare that I am in that situation - I usually knit while I'm watching TV & Patrick already fusses that I make his rewind the show we are watching quite often.  Another thing is that because it's pretty involved I didn't make myself a working copy so I have to work out of my book.  That gets really cumbersome & stops me from picking it up as an "easy project".  Easy must be my new safe word.


Lace Sampler a la Franklin
This was on my list last year, but as a long term project as well.  I am wanting to pursue my stitch dictionaries for patterns for it, but that is also not very portable.  That really stops me from working on this because honestly?  This is the softest yarn I've ever worked with.  It's absolutely dreamy & you'd think I would be doing whatever is necessary to work with it!  But....I'm all about easy, remember?


Misty Ike Socks.
Ok, I will admit it.  I don't think this sock fits all that great.  I cast on for the number that should have worked but then it was too big in the heel / gusset.  Then I decreased to make the heel / gusset work.  I have no idea what I really did & how to make #2 work with it.  So my real problem now is...do I frog it?  Try to match it?  Make a sock like I want for #2 & live with the fact that they are different?  I'm currently leaning toward #3 but honestly the decision paralyzes me.  I haven't ever been able to knit socks successfully with Socks That Rock.  Ever.  That makes me sad, but it's true & I can't seem to fix it.


Barn Raising Quilt
I have 39 of 42 squares knit.  I have so many scraps that I want to include that I keep increasing my plan for a bigger blanket.  But I won't pick the last 3 just in case I don't make more & then I'm stuck with what I knit.  I want it all to be "perfect" - I'm once again paralyzed by a decision that really won't matter, but it seems like a really big decision.

That is 18. I'd like to say that is all of the WIPs I have going on, but honestly there are a few more in my "hibernating" section of Ravelry. But I don't want to talk about them. Or they need their own post...
* Triple S Shawl (I love it dearly, but it needs it's own post)
* Astrid - about 45000 circles to make then seam (not really, but it's a lot)
* Dallas Guild shawl - which is more of a plan than WIP.
* Trellis still needs to be frogged. But who wants to frog Kid Silk Haze? Not me.
* Noni Adventure Bag is sitting in a zipped pillow case on my dryer waiting for a felting. Where it's been for about 6 months. I hate confessing that to anyone. I'm scared to death to felt it!

2010 FOs

My most boring post all year, but I do enjoy going back & revisiting these later.  All of my FOs for 2010.

January - 1 cardigan, 2 scarves, 2 shawls, 1 hat, 2 baby (considering chicken a baby), 1 pr socks
Lucy in the Sky - brown
Geaux Saints Scarf
Colonnade Shawl
My So Called Hat
Annabelle's Shrug
Fit & Float Scarf
Happy Harlot Socks
Clapotis  - ms nancy
Chicken Blanket

February - 1 cardigan, 1 fingerless mitts, 1 scarf, 1 pair socks
Ophelia
Cheery Hand warmers
Big Cheery Scarf
Ribbed BFF Socks

March - 1 sweater
Vesper (kinda, I still need to weave ends)

April - 1 hat
Purple toddler hat

May - 4 hats, 1 shawl, 1 scarf, 1 baby
Roll brimmed hat x4
WM Traveling Woman
Noro Wisp
Baby Bib (orange)

June - 8 washcloths, 1 hat
8 washcloths
Odessa for Mom

July - 2 washcloths, 1 baby sweater, 1 scarf, 1 toy
2 washcloths
Louise Baby Cardigan
Lengthwise Garter Stitch Scarf
Little Lamb

August - NOTHING

September - 1 washcloth, 4 hats, 7 scarves, 2 toys
1 washcloth
Scathach hat
Shawl Collared Cowl
Wine hat & scarf (categorizing as a toy, I mean, what else is it??)
Rapunzel x 2
Muppet Scarf
A Very Warm Hat
Purple Alpaca Scarf
Star Crossed Slouchy Beret
One Row Malabrigo Scarf
Mustard Scarf
Center Square Hat

October - NOTHING

November - 2 shawls, 1 scarf, 1 hat
Sangre de Cristo
Basket weave alpaca scarf
Unoriginal Rowan Hat
Mara Shawl

December - 2 toys, 3 scarf, 1 mitts, 1 pr socks
Wine scarf & hat x 2
Casbah Sugarplum Batkus
Squooshy Mitts
Eternity Scarf
Jordyn's Pink Scarf
Yarntini Good to Be Girl Socks



******

Scarves - 16
Socks - 3
Hats - 12
Washcloths - 11
Toys - 5
Shawls - 5
Cardigans - 3 adult,  1 baby
Baby - 3
Fingerless Mitts - 2
61 total

Wrapping up 2010, Looking Forward to 2011

2011....it will be here before you know it.  As this year closes & I'm suddenly doing last minute Christmas knitting AGAIN (don't I say every single year that I'm not going to do this????) Actually, I'm more looking at the yarn to knit those presents & not doing it.  I can't help but look forward to my goals for next year.  Lately I have been doing a bit of "have to" knitting - baby gifts, Christmas presents, fast last minute stuff.  Two nights ago I decided that I needed an easy project out of nice yarn for ME & I went in my yarn room and wound some Buffalo Gold Buffboo (discontinued, sorry).

 

I hear a lot of talk about the Buffalo Gold & to me it always seems like yarn that you stash & don't use because it's so nice.  Which is totally ridiculous, I know.   It's also pretty pricey stuff.  It suddenly occurred to me that I have two skeins of buffalo yarn and, well, I didn't buy either one of them.  I traded a friend for one & then last year I won a skein at the DFW Fiber Fest.  How cool is that?  In keeping with last year's goal of not saving the nice yarn for the Pope, I cast on a One Row Scarf.  It's so soft & nice that I swear, I don't know what to do with myself.  It's little yarn on little-ish needles, so it's going to take a while.  But what the heck, I knit every day & I only have a pile of projects on the needles so what's one more????

Wow - that was quite a tangent.  Here's what I'm thinking for 2011.  I figured out how much yarn I bought this year.  Don't do that unless you want a huge shock.  HUGE.SHOCK.  I'm not revealing any true confessions here, but it was more than I thought.  So I'm saying it.  2011 is going to be a stashdown year.  It has to be.  I can sell or knit, but Stashdown here we come.  I've heard some talk that it's "trendy" to stashdown....I'm not sure if I believe that.  I think every year there is a movement for people to consume less, declutter, lose weight, stop spending, save money, etc, etc.  I usually don't follow that bandwagon because for the most part I think you are just setting yourself up for failure.  I remember hearing a speaker once say to pick ONE thing to change.  If you say you are going to change everything about your life, you are just fooling yourself.  It is possible, but it takes more self restraint than most people can take all at once.  I know I can't do it & I'm not even going to try.  I've lost about 30 pounds this year & I can tell you, it has mostly come from very small changes, not huge behavioral differences.  I believe this in most areas of my life & that's where I am.  But honestly, the stash is out of control.  I have a huge yarn cabinet & it's busting at the seams.  I can't get more yarn in it which is causing some overflow.  That is RIDICULOUS.  And frankly, if I knit up every bit of this yarn, what in the heck am I going to do with all of those knitted goods???? Well, here is my plan:

* Gift knit ahead.  This year I've had several last minutes wishes for knitted gifts.  I figure if over the year I knit some scarves, shawls, baby things, hat/scarf sets, etc. that I don't claim mental ownership of, I can gift randomly.  I have a few people that I wish I could just give them a scarf when they admire mine (if not the one off my neck!) and there is no reason that I can't do that.  I really do love scarf knitting & I love appreciative recipients.  Knitted gift giving does take a little forethought though, and by the time I think of someone to give something to, it's usually too late.  In the past I have thought that I need to knit for that person specifically, and in some cases I still believe that.  For the most part, though, I think a random nice person that I want to give a scarf or something to won't care if I carefully picked out that yarn & pattern for them or not.  And really, how many brown & pink scarves can I wear??? (my yarn color of choice for years!)

* Get rid of some of this sock yarn!  I blame 2007.  And 2008.  I got in the horrible habit of snatching up the new latest-and-greatest-hard-to-get-OMG-pretty-and-it-is-only-$20 sock yarn craze.  That gets out of hand very very very quickly.  And I did it for a couple of years.  To be honest, the yarn is still pretty but no one cares about it anymore.  For example: I fought tooth & nail catching Yarn Pirate updates until I finally scored some Culture Club.


I still love it dearly, but seriously, try swapping it for the new "latest & greatest" & see what happens.  No one cares anymore! I try to tell myself these days when the popular yarn posts & I get caught up in the craze.  I'm pretty good about it too though I still find it hard to resist Wollmeise (I did last week though, YAY me!).  So I'm going to knit some up and/or sell some.  Incidentally, if you'd like your own skein of fabulous Yarn Pirate Culture Club it's very easily available on Ravelry destash for...you guessed it, about $20. You can't have mine because I still hoard it like it is the rarest yarn on the planet.  Will I knit it up this year?

* WIP (Works in Progress).  Well, I did this in 2010, remember? I'm happy to report that I started with 16 projects, finished 6, frogged 5, and that leaves FIVE previous projects that are still floating around out there.  Only 5 WIPs, Tasha?  Bwhahahahaha.  Make that 18.  That's what I did this year, start a bunch of crap that I didn't finish!  It looks like a new WIP post is in order.  Really, though, this will eliminate a lot of my stash yardage quickly.  Well, more quickly than starting stuff from scratch, anyway.  In all fairness, 2 of those are long term blankets & one was on the needles when I did that last post but I didn't count it....(I'm going to stop justifying now).  I do need a frog or finish intervention, though.

* $50 per month limit on knitting stuff for 1st quarter 2011.  I can't do a no-buy. I just can't do it. I like my yarn, I like my knitting stuff.  Sometimes I need yarn to finish something or to add to something I have or just because it's pretty.  Or I want to buy a pattern.  Or needles.  And April brings DFW Fiber Fest & that means I can buy direct from a variety of oh so great vendors.  I can limit it in for a few months, though, and then reassess the situation.

* Look at my existing yarn in a new way & stop trying to make it into the project I loved 4 years ago. 

* Knit stuff that I love.  Destash the rest.

* Stealing this from Susan-from-Athens on Ravelry: "enjoy what I have and admire what others have without necessarily coveting some of my own."  That woman is smart. 

What are your goals for 2011?  Do you have any?  Will you be buying up a ton of yarn?  Can I watch?


PS - I will talk about my trip to Paris at some point.  I'm still processing it in a lot of ways.  Here is one shot for you:

Yes, I found an alpaca.  In Paris.  Go figure. And since that wasn't very Paris-y:

Taos Wool Festival October 2010

I have been trying to put together a blog post about my experience at the Taos Wool Festival for weeks.  This is why I end up not writing about my trips - I want to write about every moment & it's such an overwhelming task that I can't get past the first day.  So how about today I'll tell you about Taos in pictures?

Cool lodge where we stayed Taos Mountain Lodge

Food that we ate (I'm telling you - they put green chiles in everything! I loved them but seriously - I don't need every damn thing I eat to have chiles in it, and that includes you, Mr. Beer)

Welcome to the Taos Wool Festival 2010

When we got to the festival the very first thing we saw were critters!  This was a huge surprise to me - I wasn't expecting critters & I was very happy to see them there.
ALPACA!

SHEEP!

LLAMAS!

YAK & BABY YAK!

Scary llama video.  Keep watching & turn up the volume - you can hear him growling at me.

I had never been to New Mexico.  It is so gorgeous & I fell absolutely in love with it.  I'll go back tomorrow.  (apparently if you want to split gas & have a free place to stay, I'm your girl).

I was lucky enough to be traveling with Betty.  Betty is a firm believer in visiting local bars to get a feel for the place.

Yes, you are reading that right.  Abe's GROCERIES, Bar & Grill.  How could we not go check it out? 

Stray Dog Cantina (don't just call them Stray Dog - they don't like that much)- the only real bar open on the top of the mountain (in Ski Valley) out of season.

The Adobe Bar inside the historic Taos Inn

My personal favorite - there was a bar inside of the radio station. Yep - complete with a big dance hall, a swing band & lots of happy dancing people. It was a most unique experience.

Eske's Pub - this is where we drank the Green Chile beer - only because there weren't many options.  There were many BEER options since they brew their own, but if you don't like beer, don't go here. Having said that, I don't like beer but I did enjoy my beer.  How could I not taste it?

After we ate, and festivaled, and did sight seeing, and took in all  of the local flavor, we decided to....hit yarn shops.  What else, right?   Because surely we didn't buy enough dang yarn from all of the vendors  at Taos.  Geeze.
First we went to Weaving Southwest.  I've never seen anything like it & I've been to some pretty impressive yarn shops!

Red Willow Art and Fibers
This was a great shop that recently opened to showcase local artists. It is a great concept, Julie was positively charming, and the shop is so unique - you must go. (no web presence that I could find - but they are listed on this website)

This might be my favorite picture of the trip. We went to a shop that had a weaving demonstration. They let us sample Mexican hot chocolate & roam around. This was one of the many many many gorgeous rugs / wall hangings that were there.


And my very very favorite thing about the whole weekend? The vibe in this tent:

A Ravelry tent was set up & you could bring your chairs & hang out. It was such a fun & relaxing place to be that I swear, we spent nearly our whole time here. We would go look at some booths & pet yarn, come back to the Rav tent, hang out, knit, eat snacks, chat with new friends...it was just really cool. It was a place that you could leave your bag - a few times I even walked off without my wallet & never even worried about it for a minute. We met so many cool people & had great conversation, saw great knitted items, watched many talented knitters & spinner...we saw much show & tell, heard stories about what people bought & why, heard excitement from other people like ourselves that had never been & bought loads of stuff. It was just really neat. As a board member I'm helping to organize the DFW Fiber Fest & I wish I had a bottle of that atmosphere so that I could open it up at our event. Come join us in April 2011 & help us make that happen. (ok, shameless commercial, but if you are still reading you deserved a poke!)

What did I buy? I'll tell you as I knit it up because it's really embarrassing how much new stuff I got when I didn't even need one thing!

Peace.