Falling Off the Wagon

After knitting through I can't remember how many miles of sock yarn I was determined to not let my stash grow that large again. Then I went to the North Country Fiber Fair last weekend. Have I mentioned my favorite four-letter "s" word is "sale"? It is, and I found one on my favorite weight of yarn - fingering. They were selling it by the pound!!! I couldn't help myself. I bought about two pounds. With the 52 Pair Plunge III and another idea I have swirling around in my head, it will likely be pretty well knitted up by next years North Country Fiber Fair, when I'll probably fall off the wagon again.

It's been a busy week. Part of it was spent recovering from the fiber fair (I don't think I've ever worked as hard or had as much fun at the same time!) and then finding out, to my extreme pleasure, that I was selected for a position I really wanted. Since it appears not all the finalists for the position have been notified, I can't say much yet. Suffice to say the shingle from my day job figuratively went in the wood chipper this week!

Curiously enough, I have been reading Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life, by Julie Morgenstern. It's for those of us for whom "Organizing Isn't Enough." While I'm organized, I do tend to hang on to things as my life takes different directions. I did fairly well unloading when we moved here a few years ago, because we had to pay for the move ourselves. Nevertheless, as I move on to new things, I am spending a few hours a day in the garage going through boxes and divesting myself of papers I, or anyone else, will ever need. Since there are some limitations as to what I can do with client files, those will remain locked away for some time yet. While I thought I'd be sad about putting part of my life in the recycle bin, it's only making me that much more excited about my new position. Also, it looks like we'll have room for both cars, both bicycles, both lawnmowers and the snowblower. More importantly, we should be able to walk through the garage without hurting ourselves!

Off the Needles: Monkey Socks in Happy Feet by Plymouth Yarns. If you remember, last week I was a bit concerned that I would have enough yarn to complete these. I did have enough. But as you can see in the photo, there is not much yarn left. I enjoyed working with this yarn and would buy it again, but not for something that takes as much yarn as Monkey Socks. The color is rich and has a very nice depth to it. These were a couple of the skeins I purchased a few weeks ago at Athena Fibers, that just seemed to jump out at me. This is great yarn for beginning sock knitters - not "splitty" and very economical, but still a good quality.



On the Needles: Despite all efforts to do one project at a time, I was seduced by a Revontuli-shawl at the North Country Fiber Fair hanging in the South Dakota Natural Colored Wool Booth. It's not from South Dakota wool. Instead, they used Kauni yarn. While I've attempted to obtain a skein from WEBS (long story, not pretty), I was so excited about trying this pattern, I am doing it with Schoppel wolle Zauberball Crazy. When I purchaed this yarn (it was another one from by big dollar day at Athena Fibers), I was a little concerned about using it for socks, because it is a little fuzzy. I've found that sometimes this type of sock yarn felts. I do think it is working up well for the Revontuli/Northern Lights shawl. I hope some day WEBS sends me the ball of Kauni I ordered, because it will look great in that as well.

Sock Pair No. 21/Basket Weave Socks using my Big Foot Merino/Tencel blend, in the Brock's Truck colorway. The merino/tencel blend is a new base yarn I'm using for my Etsy shop. I'm finding it to have a nice sheen to it and it takes the dye well. These socks are coming out at an 8 stitches to the inch with a 0 needle and it's a little firm. I think it probably wants to be more at 7.5 stitches to the inch.

Hans & Greta: Both spent part of the morning in conversation at the lower level window in the family room. I finally went over to see what they were "talking" about and there was a mouse/vole/small rodent stuck in between the bricks of the window well. Apparently, it had eaten too much and it's butt got too big to get back in. All you could see was this mouse butt wiggling and the back legs scrambling, and two amused cats watching.

I hope to finished a number of books for the 52 Books challenge for next time. I do have another trip in my immediate future and since I'm not driving this time, I hope to get quite a bit read.