I’m trying to be good and not spend my money on yarn, because Amelia has a birthday coming up in a month plus we are wanting to switch her to a toddler bed, which means redoing her room a bit to be more little girl rather than a nursery. Plus we have a long road trip in 2 weeks and then the holidays will be upon us.

But oh how I want to buy some yarn. Agh! What to do!

Darn it! I used to love reading. Before I discovered a love of knitting, my obsession was books. I could spend hours in the bookstore just browsing and reading the summaries.

Now, my limited free time is wasted if I do something other than knit. Ugh! I can’t even enjoy a good book anymore. What is happening to me?!

The crocheted snake I did for Amelia. Not perfect and my crochet skills are seriously lacking, but it’s cute and she likes it. That’s what matters. And it used up some stash yarn. :)

Yarn is Classic Elite Miracle (alpaca/tencel single-ply DK weight) and I used US7 needles, but because I tend to bind off somewhat tight, I used US9 for the bind off. I’m definitely interested to see how much it grows with blocking because right now it looks a bit small.

And today I officially began working on the Adamas Shawl for the Beginner’s Lace August KAL on Ravelry. It’s my first project working with laceweight yarn. I cast on numerous times with Baruffa Cashwool and it was a mess! I had such a tangle of thread. I even went down a few needle sizes hoping it would help. I got to discussing this with some folks in the KAL and one lady suggested that my yarn was probably an extra-fine laceweight and that I should try a thicker one first. I had read somewhere previously that Cashwool is more cobweb than regular laceweight, so I ordered some Knit Picks Shadow and tried again. Success! I made it through the first 6 rows and Chart 1 without needing to frog or use my lifeline. And it looks so pretty! I plan to get pics of my progress to share with the ladies on Ravelry. I’ll try to remember to post here as well, in case anyone is interested.

It’s a bit small. A bit tight in the armholes, and a bit snug around the bust and midsection. The reason for this is not because my gauge was off. My gauge was perfect and the garment came out to the exact dimensions I was expecting when I swatched. The reason for the size issue is even more idiotic than bad swatching. It’s because I was not thinking straight when I was trying to figure out what size to make and didn’t consider that I’d be wearing this over a shirt. Duh! I was so concerned with getting gauge and making sure to knit the size for the gauge I was getting, that I totally forgot that little important factor.

But besides that, it fits pretty well and I like it. It’s warm and stylish and I made it. I love the color and I love the fabric made by the moss stitch and I love how the moss stitch looks in tweed. So overall, I’m quite pleased with this, and can definitely see me making another one (in a larger size).

I’m also competing in the Handspun Heptathalon, and will be spinning and plying 3.5 oz of royal blue Corriedale. with the 0.5oz I’ve already spun. I’ve gotten back into my spinning and having a blast. I’m hoping to get a nice 2-ply laceweight yarn out of it, but if it ends up fingering weight, I don’t mind.

In the meantime, I’ve started working on sleeve #2 for my Minimalist Cardigan. I’m almost 1/2 way done and hoping to get that finished very soon so I can finally seam this up and be able to wear it, even though it’s too hot still.

The Quinn Cabled Bag is finished. I really like it, but do have one slight issue. I think I braided my strap too tightly because now it twists on itself, but it’s pretty sturdy. I want to eventually line it and put a snap or some other type of closure on it,  because it hangs open.

I just need to control what it is that I surf ravelry for. If I just stick to forums and don’t click the pattern/project links, I won’t have any trouble. I’ve currently got 4 WIPs and that is more than enough for my plate. If I could only get them finished in a timely manner then restrict myself to only 2 at a time, I’d be doing a whole lot better. 

I have too many ideas and ambitions and I just don’t have the time to knit fast enough to follow through with all those ideas. For instance: I still want to make the crochet hexagon blanket and I’ve even gone so far as to purchase the pattern book (in Japanese no less) for it. I have yarn sitting in my stash waiting for me to do the rectangular granny afghan. I also would love to make a ripple blanket. And lets not forget the countless items in my ravelry queue and favorites (for maybe some day). 

I’m sure every knitter has these issues, but it really does overwhelm me the amount of stuff I want to make or have pending to make (meaning I have pattern and yarn patiently waiting for the cast on). And I can’t seem to finish anything fast enough for my liking. Once I cast on a new project, it’s like a race to the finish so that I can start a new project. 

I managed to get down to 2 WIPs and I told myself I wouldn’t cast on anything else. 2 WIPs were more than enough. I’d prefer 1, but I know that’s unreasonable. There’s no way I can knit a lace shawl while watching tv, so why not use that time to work on a pair of socks, for instance. But anyway, somehow, I didn’t listen to the niggling voice in my head telling me to wait. And I ended up casting on 2 more projects. So now I have 4, 2 of which are pretty labor intensive…one a lace shawl that requires concentration and no interruptions while I count and recite the stitch pattern out loud as I knit. The other is DH’s afghan which is just going to take a while, no matter how I look at it. Mindless tv knitting, but I’m making it extra long and wider than suggested because I have a 6′1″ tall husband.

The other two are somewhat simpler, but not really. The cardigan is simple, I’m just knitting a sleeve…pretty basic structure there and I’ve got the stitch pattern down. Just a matter of doing it, so I can seam it up and move on. The cabled bag is time consuming…doing two repeats of each row in a 12 row cabled stitch pattern takes time. But I’m 1/2 way through it, so the project is moving right along. I can see these two being finished fairly quickly. I will finish them both before I cast on for anything else.

Then I’ll have 3 projects going. Because once the bag and the cardigan are finished, I will immediately cast on for my sister’s wedding afghan. This is my mammoth project. Probably the biggest I’ve done to date. But as I mentioned, I really need to get the other two projects done first. Ugh!

I also have hopes of knitting some towels for Christmas. I still have yet to start on the baby’s Christmas stocking, which I bought the kit for back in January. And I want to start working on my quilting again now that mom has given me a decent sewing machine.

It’s really a good thing my husband both supports and encourages my hobbies.

But all is not lost, because I will wear it as much as I can, then save it for Amelia. :) That’s another great thing about having a daughter. Knits that end up too small for me can be passed along to her. Then I can make something bigger for me. I really like that sweater so I might try knitting it again with a different yarn at a bigger size. Maybe the next time I can get gauge and actually knit the size 41, so that I have room underneath for the bulk of a shirt.

I also finished the first repeat on the body of my cabled bag. This project is small yet, sometimes it feels like it’s taking forever, because I’m doing the pattern twice around (once for each side of the bag). So it feels like it’s taking longer than it probably is. But there’s progress. And I think I’m going to make it my focus project for now so I can finish it.

I also completed 2 color blocks on the 2nd strip for DH’s afghan. I like this project because it’s mindless knitting, but it can also get boring, because of the simplicity of it. At least it’s done in sections.

Mom and I ordered the yarn for the Saffron Cables afghan. We ordered 30 balls of KnitPicks Comfy in Cashew (a soft latte-colored brown). I have just under a year to make this afghan as it’s my sister’s wedding present and she’s getting married next June. I definitely need to get started soon, but I really want to finish something first. So I’m going to try hard to get the bag finished so I can cast on for the afghan by the end of this month.

While I was on vacation I was talking to mom about it and she gave me one of her old Singer machines. DH looked it up online based on the serial # and we found out it was made in 1950. It runs so nice and for something that old, it sure has a lot of features. I was looking through the manual for it and I was surprised at all the extra attachments that came with it. Mom didn’t give me all the extra feet since all I need for quilting is straight stitch, but I learned it does have the one feature I desperately need on my Brother. A way to adjust the pressure foot tension. Yeah! And I like that it doesn’t go nearly as fast as my Brother. Sure, it’s nice to zip through the seam, but it makes it harder to control. So this Singer will not allow me to go so fast meaning my seams will be straighter.

I’m looking forward to paying the bills so I can run out and get some fat quarters for the quilt I’ve been wanting to make. Hopefully I can make time to work on it now that I have a good working sewing machine.

Going on vacation next week to Florida with the baby. I plan on taking all my WIPs so I can work on each on. I just need to make sure to take enough yarn. That’s always the hardest part. Trying to decide how much yarn to take with me. Just exactly how much knitting time will I get? If I take an extra skein of each required color for all 4 projects, plus my drop spindle and some fiber, I’m sure to have enough to keep me knitting all week, even if I do run out of yarn for one project and can’t continue it. So I should  be okay.

One thing I’m hoping is that I make significant progress on the cabled bag and the cardigan sleeves. The afghan and the shawl can be my side projects for now.

Hubby did take the baby for an hour yesterday to give me some quiet time and I managed to finish the top portion of my Quinn bag and get it grafted. But, somehow when I grafted the ends together, my cable got off by one stitch. What’s really weird is that it worked beautifully all the way across to the last cable, so it’s like 5 stitches that don’t line up right. And I have no idea how that happened. I may have dropped a stitch where I shouldn’t have, who knows. Oh well. I’m not going to fret about it. Now comes the challenging part of picking up the 144 stitches all the way around the top band. I think that’s the plan for tonight while we watch the movie we rented on the xBox. We’re going to watch The Bucket List.

I’ve been wanting to do cables for a while now and I think this is a good practice to get me a little more comfortable with it before I plunge into the Central Park Hoodie. My husband of course, was teasing me about starting yet another project before finishing the ones I’m working on. LOL! But he really is supportive of my hobbies.

I’m itching to work on it again, but I do want to get the heel done on my sock so I can get it finished. There’s just something about knitting with yarn you made yourself.

I also decided I much prefer the short row heel when using circular needles, because you don’t have that insane # of stitches on the needles from picking up gusset stitches. Somehow it all made perfect sense.

Isn’t it great when you have that aha! moment when everything clicks and it all makes sense finally?

This finally cool office also means I can go back to my plan on knitting Evangeline [links to ravelry] (fingerless mitts/wristwarmers). I’ve been wanting to make these for a while, but decided to wait til the weather got cooler because I had no need to make them now with an office that felt like an oven. It’s cool enough in my office now that my hands and fingers actually got cold. So I think my need for a pair of fingerless mitts just increased. Hurray!!!

Yesterday I did make the run to A.C. Moore and picked up a Vera look-a-like bag. I really like it too. I can fit my two projects, patterns, and my notions bag in there and it takes up less room than total tote. I can also sling it over my shoulder with my purse, which is nice when I’m carrying a mug of coffee and a toddler with all her stuff. The only thing is that since she carried it around the store for me when we bought it, she now thinks it’s hers, so she won’t let me carry it. She just screams "BAG" when she sees it and insists on carrying it herself. LOL!