Bustin' Up the Cotton Stash

I finished a nice "Friendship Scarf" this weekend -finally. It's a cotton piece, in a cool 18 row pattern repeat that has traveled across the country to four other knitters. Hopefully mine should be coming back to me in the next few weeks.


Last night, as I put away all of my cotton dishcloth yarn, I was simply aghast (yes, aghast) at the incredible number of full and partial skeins of cotton yarn I had - in a ton of colors I probably won't ever need. I have amassed a huge Peaches & Creme and Sugar 'n Cream collection over the last two years of dishcloth swaps. I also have about 100 dishcloths I have received in said swaps. Please note, my husband refuses to even use dishcloths. So now what to do with all of this yarn (the photo above is AFTER I used a bunch of the cotton!).

Bob had been to the knitting room, which is a total mess right now, earlier in the day, and was quite surprised, but probably not aghast at how much yarn I had. When I mentioned that I wanted to do something with the cotton, he suggested pitching it. Uh - no. I don't ever pitch yarn. And, I really am trying not to buy a lot of yarn until after I use most of what I already have.

The Easter Bunny Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan's Humble Beginnings

Thus the Easter Bunny Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan was born. There's not much to it - I simply took my cotton yarn and started crocheting in DC. I figure crochet is fast and will use up more yarn. Seeing as I have mostly bright variegated colors, it's going to be a very ugly blanket, but that's OK. It works up super fast, and I have probably gone through a third of my stash already! At only $1 a skein, it's also going to be cheap to add on to the blanket in the event I don't have enough to make it proportional.

Up Close and Personal with the Easter Bunny VVS Afghan

So hopefully I will be able to bust through the uncounted number of skeins and by mid-April have more room in my knitting room for my sock yarn, as well as the feeling of being somewhat more organized!

Telling my UFOs to FO!

There is nothing more annoying to me than having a bunch of UnFinished Objects sitting around. Sometimes they are "taking up" needles that I need, other times I just want to see it all finished.

This week has became a "project" week. On Monday, I went to a meeting for my running group, and saw everyone wearing nice sweaters. Well, maybe not everyone, but there were several nice sweaters in the crowd, and a few looked like they could be homemade.

On Wednesday, I dug through a wicker basket in our bedroom, and pulled out my "Denim Sweater," which I made with my Bond "Incredible Sweater Machine" on about 2004 - maybe even earlier!









Over the course of my lunch hour, as well as a conference call, I was able to seam and weave in all the ends on this beautiful creation. After more than five years, I finally had my Denim Sweater!



Once that was finished, it was on to another project - my Vanna's Striped Afghan. I started this back in August of 2008, and then got caught up with socks and some holiday gifts. It sat in my messy knitting room in a Vera Bradley backpack, waiting to be finished.



I loved this pattern from the start - very basic - a moss stitch border, great colors in the middle, and an endless repeat of knitting and purling. It was perfect for working on in front of the TV - no real pattern to keep track of, and so within 5 days, I was able to take it from 55 to 100% complete.





The blanket adds a nice punch of color to our neutral living room, and the Vanna's Choice is a very easy-care yarn.

Our nine month old puppy Veruca immediately took to the blanket!



Now that these two major projects are complete, I was able to finish one more friendship scarf, and buy the yarn for a new jacket I am doing in a crochet-along. I don't have much work travel upcoming, so I think I'll be able to limit those UFOs to a few pair of socks, and maybe a sweater I frogged a while ago!

SOAP!

So, my newest experiment in crafting is soap making. I have thought long and hard about all the crap I am going to need to make soap - and decided to go with the melt and pour method. With my laziness for following recipes and a pair of dogs that get into everything, it's just not best to even try to deal with lye and other caustic agents. There are so many easy-to-use soap bases out there, that the appeal of soap making was too much to resist.

My first batch was a simple cucumber melon "botanical"soap with apricot seed. My husband took to it immediately, and is my official "tester" for any future batches.

My next batch will be pink grapefruit, a request from my friend Melissa, and maybe a nice vanilla with olive oil. I don't foresee this being more than just another craft, but it will add a little something to holiday gifts and swaps.

Still no running

I am a bit sorry to admit that we are now more than 60 days into the year, and I still have only run three times. I find it a little pathetic, really. There just has not been a lot of running joy coursing through my veins.

Not to say I am not active, or even fit. I think I am. I just have not been running. In fact, the last run, minus the stair climb, was back in January on the beach in southern California. Sigh.

The biggest consequence of this is that training for Fast Forward Sports starts in, oh, 10 days, and I am coaching! I am experiencing a lot of "do as I say, not as I do," remorse right now, and yet, I am not going running tonight. I am instead going to my super mean No Limits Circuit class. It gets me in great shape, and I don't have to deal with the wind storm outside. Excuse, probably. I'll have to start this running thing soon enough.

I did swim last night. I got in the pool with Bob for a standard workout - a little under a mile, probably. I was tired before I started, as well as during and after the workout, but it was totally worth it.

When I am swimming I don't think a lot about swimming - except when I have to count strokes and the like. In fact, I wrote my blog entry in the water. Too bad it stayed there, I think it was a really good one - much more interesting than this! Two lanes over from me there was a swimmer who made it look so easy. I have to keep telling myself that just because I grew up swimming does not mean that I can just dive in the pool and swim miles now. I'll give myself a little time for that. However, always being a little competetive, I kept thinking I could swim as well as he does. I can't - right now, but check back in a few weeks. I aspire to just dive in a few days a week and whip out 2000 meters.

Now it's off to the circuit class!

Happy Birthday to FLU - random thoughts, as promised

Last Friday was supposed to be a fun day. Birthday, to be exact. Unfortunately, I spent the entire day in bed with a wicked virus. Thankfully, it was short lived, but I am still recovering a bit mentally - the foods I ate the day prior are on the banned list right now...

It actually was a good day, in spite of the fever and fatigue. The dogs stayed in bed with me ALL day, and I was able to just relax. They started getting antsy sbout 3:30, and really wanted to go for a walk. Thankfully, two neighbor girls, Sommer and Madison came by to walk my dogs at about 4:15. They took Ruki and Tally for nearly two hours! They made more money ($10) than they ever thought they would get walking dogs, and I got piece and quiet!

I did get to spend some time on the phone with friends and family, something that I neglect a bit now, as I am on the phone for work all the time (in 5 minutes I have a call). My spirits were definitely lifted, and I think I'll try and be a bit more proactive in reaching out to folks (along with that new years resolution to write one hand-written letter a month).

The whole Facebook thing is still makes me laugh. I received birthday wishes from so many people with whom I haven't spoken in literally two decades. Granted, it's not as though we are best friends now that we are linked on Facebook, but it was a little sociological experiment of sorts. I think I need to act a bit more and actually reach out to folks and get together! I guess it's time to get back out of my shell and try to be more social!