I'M COMING!!!!

I'm coming!  I'm coming, Peggy!  To see the eclipse!

I hadn't planned on it, but as I was standing there at work pondering the mundanity of my life, I said to myself, "Dadgummit!  I do want to go see that eclipse!  I'll just put the hotel on my credit card and let the financial chips fall where they may."

By the time I got home, my zeal had cooled a bit, and I thought, "Nah, I'll just watch it from here."  Just out of curiosity, I got on Hotels.com anyway and checked out rooms in Cape Girardeau.  There were two available rooms left in the entire city, and they were $850 and $550.  Nope.  Not going to happen. 

Then I hopped down and looked at rooms in Memphis.  They were much more reasonable, but still....

But when I got up this morning to head in to work at 5:00 AM, I said to myself, "NO!  Dadgummit!!!  Life is more than just working and paying bills.  I am going to go see that eclipse!"  I got back on Hotels.com and began looking for rooms in smaller towns between Memphis and Cape Girardeau.  First I looked in Sikeston, MO, where I'd stayed last time, but there were no availabilities.  Then I looked in a little town in northeast Arkansas.   

They had rooms available, and pretty cheap, but none of the hotels had very good ratings.  I decided to pass on them.  Moving further South, I found a room in Covington, TN that was in a hotel with a good rating, and with the  One Key cash I'd saved up from all those weddings last year, I was able to book the room for only $71!  I am coming to see the eclipse!!

Covington is just up the road from where my friend Leann lives, but it being a Sunday, I don't know if we'll get to hang out or not.  The plan is to drive up to Memphis, maybe go to the zoo, maybe find some craft stores and see if they have the safety eyes I need for my emotional support chicken, maybe go to the Bass Pro in the Pyramid -- which Cody says I really need to do...just hang out in Memphis.  Then Monday morning, I'll drive on up to Jackson, MO and impose upon Peggy and her husband.  After the eclipse, I'll have to hot foot it back to Grenada, because I'll have to go back to work the next day.   It'll be worth it, though, and I don't have to worry about boarding dogs this time.  

In other news, I've about decided that everything that is going to germinate in my little mini-greenhouse has already done so, so I'm going to buy some more seeds and try again.  To avoid making the same mistake twice, I got my little poker tool and marked 1/4" intervals on it.  

Maybe that'll help me get them planted to the correct depth.  Another thing I'll need to do is figure out why some of the cells are sopping, while others are desert dry.  I think my kitchen cabinet where I have it sitting isn't completely level.  I'll need to check that before I plant anything else, and if it isn't level, I'll have to figure out where else I can put my greenhouse, or figure out some way to level it where it sits.  

The first step will be to find my level...

OK, moving right along.  A while back when I was first getting into pen-palling, I'd bought some stationery from Amazon, but to be honest, I never really liked it.  I have finally almost used it all up.  I have one sheet of paper and one envelope left, and I think I'll jot a quick note to my sister on that this weekend. 

Anyway, what I didn't like about it was that the paper itself was too busy -- as in, it had too much decoration that obscured the writing.  Some of the patterns were OK, but others were almost unusable.  Well, enough complaining...as soon as I finished that last letter to my Australian pen pal, I got on Amazon and ordered some more paper, with matching envelopes. 

It's much bigger, much simpler, and has lines!  No more slanted writing.  Now, I just need to find more pen pals.  Anyone want one?  

And finally, look what I got in the mail!  A magazine from the Seaman's Church Institute!  

Isn't that cool?  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get to knitting.  I've got sailor's heads to cover!

Stashalong Goals

I've decided to revise my stashalong goals. Not a tremendous change; just a slight one. I've decided to separate my yarn into categories.

The first category will be yarn for charity projects. I'm going to kind of give myself a bit more leeway in this category. Yarn bought or traded specifically to make charity projects will not count against me, provided I knit it all up before buying more. Like, all the yarn Shelly sent me to knit for Scarves From The Heart doesn't count as a strike, but I need to knit it up before buying any more yarn for charity scarves.

The second category is sock yarn. I know, most knitters say that sock yarn doesn't count as stash, but in my stash it does. My goal is to get my sock yarn stash down to 10 pairs worth and keep it around there. I can buy more, but I must knit down to 10 pairs worth before buying more again. Even though, right now, I have more than that, I've decided that for now, for every two pair of socks I knit, I can buy one pairs worth of yarn. So far in 2008, I've knit 3 and 9/10th pairs of socks. That means I can buy 2 pairs worth--once I get that last half inch done and bound off. After this, I must knit 2 pairs to be able to buy more yarn.

The third category is yarn bought to knit gifts with. If I buy yarn with a specific gift in mind, and knit it up promptly, it doesn't count as a strike. If I let it linger, and buy more yarn before knitting the gift, the second purchase will count as a strike.

The final category is everything else. Whatever I decide to knit, I must make a concerted effort to knit from stash. Right now I've got enough yarn in my stash that I shouldn't have to buy any more--not for a while. That shouldn't be too hard since I'm not one to be overcome by yarn fumes.

Looking back, I guess I haven't really changed my goals. Just clarified them a bit.

Stashalong Update

First off, here are the projects I finished in January:

One Row Scarf. This one used 300 yards of worsted weight yarn. The yarn is Trendsetter Tonalita. I really liked this yarn, though the end product is a bit scratchy. I'm going to soak it in some conditioner to see if that helps.

Branching Out Lace Scarf Approximately 200 yards of fingering weight. I actually used a ball of sock yarn for this. The ball was 400 yards, and I used about half of it.

Tidal Wave Socks. One ball of Tofutsies sock yarn. I love this yarn. It feels so silky and smooth. It must be the soy silk in it.


Cody's hat. A basic hat pattern that used about 100 yards of worsted weight yarn--or just under half a skein of Red Heart Super Saver. There is enough to maybe make a really narrow or a really short scarf to go with it. This was actually made from my free day purchase for these two months. I bought it and knit it before the month was up. Pretty cool, huh?

Total usage for January: 400 yards of worsted weight yarn, and two balls of sock yarn.

For the purposes of Stashalong, I'm going to count the yardage/skeins used toward the two month period in the month that I finished that particular project in. For example, if I start a blanket in February and finish it in March, and it takes 1000 yards of yarn, the total yardage will count toward the March/April time period. I'm not going to try to think, "Let's see, I did approximately 1/3 of the blanket in February, so that'll be about 300 yards in February and 700 in March..." No. That is too complicated.

Some people are setting their goals to knit up specific amounts of yarn or numbers of projects per month. Like, "I'm going to knit up 15 skeins of yarn in February." Or, "I'm going to complete these 7 projects in February." That is fine if that's what works for them, but it isn't for me. I knit for relaxation and enjoyment. Putting a deadline or a quota on my knitting would make it too stressful. I just knit what is there. My stipulation is that I must buy less yarn than I've used up during those two months.

It seems to be working so far. Now if only my mother doesn't clean out her closet again!

Stashalong 2008

It took me a long time to come up with some Stashalong goals. I did this last year, and I think I ended up with more yarn than I started with. That sort of defeats the purpose of stashalonging, so I figured I'd better do something different this year. My ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of yarn languishing in my stash. In order to accomplish this, I decided on the following:

I will not buy any new yarn for two months at a time. For each two month period, I will allow myself one free day. If I should win a free day for a KAL within a KAL or any other reason, that will count as my free day for the two months. I will only have one free day for each two month period, regardless.

Even my free days will have some restrictions, though. Those are: the total yarn purchased on free days must be less than the amount of yarn knitted up during those two months. For example, if I knit up three skeins of yarn, then I may only buy two skeins--or less. Free yarn gained in swaps or trades or won in contests counts as my free day. If I don't use my free day, it is forfeit.

The exception to these goals will be if I need something specific for a gift or charity knitting and have already used my free day. If I haven't used my free day, then gift or charity knitting will count as the free day for that period. If I have used my free day, then I must purchase ONLY what is required for the gift/charity project.

The only exemption is dishcloth cotton. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to continue with my monthly dishcloth KAL. If I do decide to continue, then I will have to buy suitable cotton yarn, but I will buy ONLY what I need for the KAL.

Boy, it sounds like I'm being really hard on myself, but that is what it will take to get my stash under control.

Back By Popular Demand

OK so one person asked to see them, but hey, I'm obliging. Here are the socks dyed bright pink.



I wore them today, and noticed that one side took the dye better than the other. So as soon as I got home, I put them into another dye bath. Then I forgot about them. For 4 hours. They should be really bright now!

The main focus today was a follow up visit to the allergist. But after that, I did a little shopping. I found the mall, but it was mostly clothes stores. There wasn't even a book store or a pet store in it. I told Cody that he wouldn't have enjoyed that anyway.

BUT...just up the road from the mall, I found a lot of good stores: Best Buy, Circuit City, TJ Maxx, and the like. There was also a Barnes and Noble's. Cody has been collecting the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, and the only one he doesn't have is #2, The Reptile Room. Guess which book was the ONLY one they didn't have in stock. That's right. The Reptile Room. I looked and looked for something else I thought he might like, but the ones I found, he already has. So I bought him a hardcover sketchbook instead. He was very pleased with it. He said it will only be for the best sketches.

I bought myself two Yarn Harlot books, the newest one, and one of the older ones. I also went back to the yarn store and bought three skeins of sock yarn. I'd been wanting to get some yarn with cotton, because I just can't wear wool socks to work. The two on either side are cotton blends. The one in the middle is wool/bamboo blend. I got it because I liked the color.

I stayed consistent with my Stashalong goals, and only bought three balls, though I was tempted by many.

OK, words aren't flowing as eloquently as I'd like, so I'll leave it here. Just one more thing before I go.

Cody can wiggle his ears. I asked him how he did that, and he said, "I don't know. I just do it." The only other person I know who can wiggle his ears gave me the exact same answer. I guess that's one of those things you can either do or you can't. I've always wanted to be able to wiggle my ears, but I can't.

But then again, I've always wanted pointy ears, too.

Lead Me Not Into Temptation

As I sit here at my computer desperately trying to think of something interesting to blog about, a disturbing thought has come to my mind.

I only have one ball of sock yarn left.

Now I know I could just get online and order some more, but this doesn't fit in with my Stashalong goals. I still have 5 items on my WIP list that I haven't completed. I keep trying to justify buying more, even though I haven't finished my goals.

Let's see, there is that huge bag of yarn I donated to the art teacher at the school. There is no way I'd buy up enough sock yarn to replace all of that. Then there is the two rather large projects I've done/am doing from stash that weren't on my list. That ought to count for something. Plus, I have completed half of the list already...

Surely it wouldn't hurt to buy just a few balls of sock yarn. Or would it? Would fudging on my goals really accomplish the purpose of the Stashalong? If I cheat this time, wouldn't it be just that much easier to do it again?

Lead me not into temptation.

Back to knitting.
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