Birthday

It’s my birthday! Boy, am I old … (40) … although technically I still have an hour before I was born. Phew!

I got some great gifts from the hubby:

Yes, more yarn, but isn’t it a gorgeous colorway? I was eyeing this for awhile.

And this:

once I get it set up, I’ll have no reason not to do photos of my FOs!

Speaking of which, I finished my Scribble Lace shawl yesterday. It is HUGE! I only used less than one skein of Manos yarn and less than 2 skeins of sock yarn, but it is truly large. I love it, though. I’ll definitely photograph it tomorrow, as I’m resting today!

I was also busy today:

After having lunch with BR I went to get my 5th tattoo. My first is 17 years old, can you believe it? Time really does fly.

I really hope my 40s are better. The end of my 30s has been pretty bad, so I’m looking forward to a new beginning or two!

You’re Pitiful

In 2 ways. One, I haven’t posted in forever (I think I need pictures, and I so rarely take pictures in my “real life”) and two, I *still* have startitis!

I keep finding yarn in my house and starting or planning projects because I want to use up my yarn, but there is only so much knitting I can do in a day, and those projects never seem to get fully started and/or finished!

Recently finished:

a “skinny scarf” (Ravelry info) of my own very exciting garter stitch pattern. I just am trying to use up my single skeins and/or bulky yarn that I can’t use in my knitting machine, so I brought out this Cascade Bobble that I bought from my LYS and wasn’t sure how to use. I also can’t keep away from destashes on Ravelry, so I’ve added a bit lately. One of my best purchases was 3 balls of Scholler & Stahl Fortissima Socka in red, 2 in dark green and 2 in light green. The dark green just happened to match this Bobble yarn perfectly so I used up the Bobble and now have a very cute short skinny scarf! (And am 1 1/2 skeins down!)

The Cable Rib scarf from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Scarves Two. It didn’t turn out as nice as the picture in the book, but I used up my 3 balls of Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes that I bought on my last trip to Portland, just in time to buy *more* yarn at the most amazing LYS in America: Yarn Garden. I love this place. It is a full city block long, has an attached cafe, and happened to have a very nice sale this past weekend – more on that later. This yarn is also a bit scratchy, but I guess I could try washing it and see how it goes.

Recently started:

A Scribble Lace wrap. This was another serendipitous pairing. I had one skein of Manos Del Uruguay in a nice set of red shades, and some of my new stash of Scholler & Stahl Fortissima Socka in red. I’ve been very surprised at how long this one skein of Manos has gone. I wasn’t convinced I’d have enough Manos, but actually I’ve gone through one skein of sock yarn already on this pattern, and am about 3/4 done with the second! The wrap will be a very good length/width when I’m done, and actually I’m really done with the pattern, but I still have yarn left! So I guess I’ll keep knitting.

I also started a Ruffles Scarf from Scarf Style. Yes, I’ve been haunting the library recently! I’m not quite sure how this pattern is supposed to curl like the pattern says, but we’ll see. Here’s the most amazing story about the yarn used. I still have a lot of (tangled) dyed red Wool2Dye4 sock yarn, which I started untangling on the plane to Portland last weekend. In the past I had bought some SWTC Beyond that was on sale, and I just could not find a good pattern to use it in. I tried everything, but the little bumps made it impossible. I actually threw away quite a bit of it. So this week I decided to double strand the sock yarn with this Beyond and it is amazing – this is the most perfect pairing ever! Of course I’m not really sure how much Beyond I have left, and now I really want it!

I *also* started a triangular wrap/scarf with the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran in purple that I have. I only had 3 skeins and of course it is just a bit too short, and I don’t have any more! I have some black, but it would look weird being added in now, and I really don’t want to restart. This one is in hibernation for now.

Planned projects:

I have been pulling out yarn, thinking I’ll just start a sweater randomly. I need a grey sweater, but I wasted the Pima Silk I had on the sweater I made for my machine knitting class, so believe it or not, I don’t have any grey yarn! I really don’t want to buy more …

I also really enjoy the book Knitovation by Barry Klein and Fayla Reiss. (As a side note – I was reading the reviews on Amazon and ended up adding my own review and you would not believe what tag Amazon suggested I add for this book – “worthless”!!!! How rude. Personally, I really like it.) I’ve got a couple of patterns in my “queue” and so much sweater yarn, you would not believe. First I’m going to make one of the wrap/kimono patterns with my collection of rust/burgundy colored reds, then I’m going to make “Purcy”, a purse, and then who knows! I’ve got a number of weeks before the library asks for it back

Help!

I’ve got startitis!

However, I have finished a few things, so since some have gone by the wayside, I guess it all works out, right?

First, I finished my Mr. Greenjeans. It fits, but makes me look huge, so it will be a lounging around the house sweater. To quote “Better Off Dead”, one of my favorite movies, “It’s sure *warm*”

Here is also a wrap thing I created on my knitting machine awhile ago. It’s just a rectangle, but maybe someone can use it. (I tend to give my knitting away to wherever will take it.)

The startitis I mentioned was mostly on scarves. I have finished 2, started and frogged one, and am almost done with a third.

First there was the recycled silk scarf. This started as a feather and fan scarf, then something else I can’t recall, and ended up being a standard drop stitch scarf. I’m doing pretty well on stashbusting this year!

Then there was the last skein of Patons SWS that I didn’t need for my Mr. Greenjeans. I decided to follow another drop stitch pattern, but I only did one repeat since I only had one skein of yarn, so it looks a bit weird:

And finally another frogged project. I have been into drop stitches recently, so I tried to start my own pattern but failed miserably. Here it is pre-frogging:

It’s my Nashua Wooly Stripes that I got in Portland, but they only had 3 skeins so I’m on a limited budget of yarn in this case. I frogged it, and have since started a pattern from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Scarves. I’m almost done, so a picture will be forthcoming.

So what am I down, 3 + 10? + 3 skeins of yarn? Pretty good, if you ask me! And I haven’t bought any this year, I think. (However, I am going to Portland in 2 weeks, and I have been limited to only 2 yarn stores )

And, I have been very prolific in other realms as well! I’ve been trying to walk more, and one week logged 14 miles. To keep myself from getting bored, I’ve been bringing books with me (yes, I’m old school – it’s not an audio book or podcast or Kindle or anything). I’ve finished all 4 of the Twilight books. I really enjoyed the first, but after that it was hard slogging through 2100 more pages (I’m guesstimating) of “I love Edward.” “I love Jacob.” “I don’t know what the hell I want” – Bella, and the horrible writing style of Stephenie Meyer. It is so obvious in the books that she 1) went to Brigham Young and 2) has a degree in English Literature. She really seems to think she’s a more God-fearing Shakespeare than just a Harry Potter wannabe.

Anyway, speaking of Startitis, I’m in the middle of a pretty interesting book, “X Saves the Day” about Generation X and how screwed we’ve been being between the Boomers and the Milennials. I also started and gave up on “I Hate Your Guts” by Jim Norton. It was slightly funny, and very unfunny.

I’ve also now got 3 or 4 books waiting for me, through my library holds, so I’d better get to it!