Things accomplished (and not)

The exciting news: Squee! I'm a *moderator* on the Changes 2008 Raverly group. (I really have no idea what magic powers this gives me, but *squee*, there I am, listed at the bottom of the group page!) Well, stuff happened over the weekend. On Friday, I wrote the following list, as incentive, so I'd have to do *some* of the things on it, or feel quite ashamed before y'all. "In no particular order of importance, I: got a Netflix account; took a bunch of things I just don't have room for to the Salvation Army; scattered grass seed over the patchy bits of our lawn; sent fancy electronics off on the first leg of their journey to Michigan; cleared off the floors of three rooms in the house; set up my drawing desk; and started going through the stash room - or, rather, started getting things moved around so I could actually get in the stash room. Oh, something about "laundry" and "bathroom cleaning", too. And there was a slight project hiccup, but I can blame that on Yarn.

Three-headed daffodil, just because it's cool.

Now, what actually happened:

1. Didn't get NetFlix account, but did at least figure out my queue for when I get one;
2. Did get stuff to the SA, and *also* got FIFTY-NINE books donated to the library (their big fundraiser sale is next week);
3. Did nothing with the lawn, as it was on-and-off rainy all weekend;
4. cleared a *lot* of floor in all three rooms - almost finished the front room, got about a third of the middle, and half the back. And this was with working all weekend!;
5. Got the boxes for the electronics dealt with and out of the attic, plus another large box;
6. set up my drawing desk
   
7. did ten loads of laundry, and still have another ten to go (yeah, it builds up over time, I guess);
8. Did NOTHING with the stash room.

Now, what this means... I got a TON of stuff done, including knitting half my nutkin sock, and a good chunk of the finger part of my ninja mitten (Sock yarn on Size 0 needles? Why did I think that was a good idea???). I rassled with starting my own Go Fly a Kite Shawl, and managed to *not* start it by cleaving unto my unfinished Nutkin sock. I realized that I have THREE huge Martha Stewart sturdy laundry baskets FULL of stash in the middle room. I have no way of getting this stash into the stash room, however, as it is full - or anywhere I could put it is beyond reach of my two-and-a-half-foot long arms. (This is why the Stash Room will be on the list of things to deal with for quite some time.)

Plans for the Weekend

Thought for the day, gakked from Yarnardent @ Ravelry (on the Changes 2008 board) - (anyone know the original source?):

When does a WIP (work in progress) become a UFO (unfinished object)?

It starts out as a WHIMM (work hidden in my mind). After a FART (fiber acquisition road trip) and some SEX (stash enhancing experience), it becomes a PIG (project in a grocery bag). The PIG becomes a HISY (haven’t I started yet?) and once you have a HISY-fit and begin, it becomes a WIP!

The WIP becomes a UFO as soon as another WHIMM occurs that drags your attention away from your current WIP.

Repeat process.

So, I was looking at the thing-I-want-to-start-next (assuming, of course, I finish something soon), and decided that since the corner of my house is almost too cold to knit in (!!), I really need a set of long armwarmers.


Almost too cold to knit!
Naturally, I'm doing the "Snowball's Chance" ones, and discovered that they're much easier than I thought: just fitted arms, and duplicate stitch. As it's been over a year since I duplicate-stitched anything, I decided to find some on-line help, and discovered a tutorial at Bella Knitting. Quick, easy, good photos. (And I should add that the yarn for them accidentally followed me home from my weekly drop-in on Jess at Stitch DC. Convenient, that!)yay i cn hz ARMWARMZ!
In serious news, it's now the second quarter of the calendar year, so it's time to review the UFO stats. This time around, I decided to see what sort of projects I had that were so-many-years old, just to see if there were any trends (other than starting things I haven't finished yet) over the past decade and a half.

Year	Cross Stitch	Cross Stitch Sets	Latch Hook	Canvaswork/ Needlepoint	Crochet	Quilting	Knitting
1992	2
1993	2
1994	3
1995	2
1996	3		1
1997	2
1998	3
1999				1
2000		1
2001	3				1	1
2002				1
2003	1
2004						2	2
2005	4			1		3
2006	5	1				3
2007	1	1		2			3
2008							3

Well, it appears that I tend to start more cross-stitch and not finish it, mostly because the pieces left are large and non-portable, and knitting/crochet have more of an Instant Gratification factor. Plus, they don't need framing. The latch hook project (all one of it) needs to be restarted anyway, so when I can get to it, I may just pull the one or two rows done and fold it up for another decade. The crochet from long ago is a pure-white afghan done fillet-style with the family name and a big heart in the center. If I've made it through the name, I'll keep going; if not, I'm going to pull it out. Actually, I'm going to pull it out anyway: pure white afghans in my house are a BAD idea.

$1 a ball. For Patons.

Last night was, as it turns out, a really good night for shopping. Someone in the blogiverse had gotten her paws on her copy of "Things I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not)", so I had to check the local B&N to see if they had a copy. They did - ONE. Just one. MineMineMineMineMine!! Since I was already buying stuff, I checked to see if they had season 1 & 2 of "Project Runway" - they did. They were also playing an Armik album I hadn't heard (and thus did not own) - got that, too. Then, it was off to the neighborhood of the gym. Nearby the gym, you see, is a Dollar Tree. This, in itself, isn't incredible - but the fact that it's selling skeins of Patons Yarn(!!!) for a buck apiece (!!!!) is. I got three skeins of Lacette - yeah, that's what I needed to finish my Travelling Roses shawl - for THREE DOLLARS. Mom had wiped out the entire stock of whatever-she's-making-her-sweater-in - ice blue Allure, I think - the day before. (If you're interested, it's at the northeast corner of the intersection of Old Keene Mill Rd. and Rolling Rd. in Springfield - next to the Giant. The yarn is just sitting in one of the racks outside the store, waiting for you.)

When I got home, I looked at the five balls of pink Lacette that I'd gotten for just shy of $6 apiece, and frowned. I have three balls of a deep mauve/dark rose... I do not need these five balls. (If I can find the receipt, some of those overpriced little hussies are going back to Michael's.) After chastising my yarn for a while, I curled up in my chair, and spent the rest of the evening startling my spouse by randomly laughing out loud.



You understand.

Also, much fun was had in Toronto, thanks to the Yarn Harlot's photo-with-sock scavenger hunt. (Rules here). I feel like setting up something like this in DC - it would be a ton of fun, and it would be a neat way to get people into the city to find all the cool little corners I've found. (I shoud add that I've been thinking of doing a photo scavenger hunt for years; I just have to save up enough prize money/get enough sponsors that lots of people would play.)

Sleeves, gadgets and flowers

Woohoo, Titania has sleeves!

Also, I'm going to turn her into a cardigan... it'll be a bit more flattering on my definitely plus-sized bod. (And remember, I do sleeves first. I'll be doing the front panels of the cardi simultaneously, too, so I don't finish only one of them. Doing just the back, while it will take much longer, will be much easier, as I'm gonna leave the lace off the cream section. (The sleeve-tops go STUNNINGLY fast, being in stockinette.)

Nifty item alert: Okay, this is cool. I love those "row counter" bracelets - and here's the instructions to make your own! Yay!

And, gacked from Quilting Cindy, I know what sort of flower I am. Also yay!

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

Shopping for Stash

So, Saturday afternoon, after beating my head against a wall for seven hours straight over doing my taxes (which isn't just mine: it's mine, my husband's, and his corporation, we don't get ANY shortcuts, and there's a ton of extra schedules I have to figure out, so it's *not* as easy as people try to tell me it is, it's just not!), I decided that I deserved a field trip to Aylin's Woolgatherer. I needed an extra set of size 1 DPNs; my husband told me to get two sets. This, I did. I also managed to get a lovely 14" set of size six wooden needles, two sets (one large, one small like I already have) of lovely little Almost Amy (go look at her stuff, it's fun!) stitch markers, four balls of Feza "Fanatic", thick-yet-lightweight wool-blend braid, to make the shrug for my sister's wedding, and a truly adorable little hand-painted enamel "I love Ewe" sheep pin by Gita Maria (go look at her stuff, it's cool!). Please note that the sheep in question is mostly orange, thus I had to buy it.

See? ORANGE sheep. I had to get it.

I should also add that my plan to "finish my taxes, then start working on cleaning up the Stash Room" didn't materialize. The taxes are done and filed, the Stash Room isn't gonna get touched for a bit longer. But at least I know the next sweater/shrug I'm knitting once I finish something (anything!! The wedding is in JUNE!!)... I just have to pick a pattern. Yay for Ravelry!