Busy Busy

It was with renewed vigour that I surveyed my surroundings this afternoon. "This won't do," I thought to myself. The mess was everywhere. Stacks of magazines, lovingly collected for recipes or knitting patterns or pretty photographs, were starting to lean sideways in a precarious manner. The wastepaper basket was overflowing with tissues - I have a cold. The cat was sleeping happily in an unmade bed (I don't have the heart to disturb him). A pair of furry pink slippers and beige and brown cowboy boots lay on the floor, tripping all who dared to pass. This wouldn't do at all.

So I have decided to get a bit more organised. I have no idea how things came to be this way - all I've been doing is sitting in front of the pc under a blanket. My first step is to deal with the magazines. I have started scanning them into PDF versions. This is such an elegant solution, as it reduces clutter (I can give them magazines to a library or doctor's office) and I have all my magazines in one place, with no adverts. This will take a long time, but once it's done, I will feel much better.

I've purchased a plastic storage bin (I was inspired by my online knitting friend, mooshie - her hobby room looks stuffed to the brim, but oh so organised! *jealous*) for my yarns. I am ashamed to say that my (what I thought was a small) stash doesn't fit in there, so I will have to buy at least two more. I am also wracked with guilt, as I haven't updated my whole stash on Ravelry. One step at a time.

Here is the storage bin, it's the perfect size.



I want loads more of these, they're great! My needles fit in there, too.

Lastly, un update on the braided hood. I've been avoiding it, since any fool can see I won't have enough yarn for the whole thing. This means I'll have to go out and buy some more. I will then be the genius who managed to turn a one skein project into a four skein one. Oh well, the thicker double-strand effect is really lovely and cosy. I could get away with purchasing only one extra skein, but since I'm knitting with two strands, I'll have to unwind it and cut it in half - thanks, but no thanks. The whole project is still well under R100 ($13), which is still reasonable for such a cutie-pie hoodie.

So that's that. I'm busy getting organised, getting rid of clutter and during this lengthy process I will slowly but surely upload my stash info onto Ravelry. And start knitting my next projects. (That coat! I want!) The multi-coloured Magnum yarn in my stash (there are three skeins, the blue label) will be turned into a baker boy hat:


I will see how long this wave of energy lasts.

Interim Project

I've decided to knit the coat from the previous post, but first I'm going to knit this braided hood from Lionbrand's free patterns. I purchased the materials today and will be casting on tomorrow.
It should be quick, unless the cats have a say in it! The braids can be tied underneath your chin for extra warmth. I think it's the cutest thing. I'll be using this yarn:


It's not the super chunky yarn they recommend, so I might be using two strands to make up for that. I'll see how it goes.

Before I can start knitting, however, a new temptation has reared its ugly head. I was at a nearby shopping center earlier this evening, and I saw a new shop that is opening tomorrow. A new yarn shop. I'll be paying them a visit in a couple of hours. I hope they have only ugly yarns and ridiculously high prices...the shop is located only one suburb away from me - if they have anything pretty, I'm going to be broke in no time.

My mini-stash

I got 500g (in 10 50g skeins) of Elle Carress DK in Charcoal. I also got two 100g Elle Pure Gold DK in Azzure (aqua blue) and in Lily (white). I've expanded my needle collection with 4mm 35cm needles and 4mm circulars.

The plan is this:

Knit a belly warmer in the Charcoal in 2 x 2 rib. I'm thinking of leaving a plain (non-ribbed) panel on the front, for the embroidery. The embroidery will be a little birdie, Swiss darned onto the belly warmer, in the blue and white. I hope this will come out as awesome as I imagine it will.

Harry Potter down, floor cushion to go.

My weekend has gone by in a blur. I finished knitting the square for my blanket this weekend, I just have to embroider a heart on it now. I include a picture of the corner of the square - I have started the embroidery and didn't want to capture a couple of stitches that don't form anything yet.


I started reading the last Harry Potter book early this morning, around 4 or 5 in the morning! It was excellent, although I am sad to see the last of Harry. With that out of the way, I can get back to knitting. I shall start on the floor cushion today and I hope to have it completed within two to three weeks. I have no idea how long it will take to knit nine 50g balls of yarn into something useful, so I hope that is a reasonable goal.

During the knitting of my square, the first thing I have knitted since junior school, I had a question. I searched for the answer online and apparently it was such a stupid question, almost no one had thought to answer it. I did find my answer, though, so I will repeat it here. I wanted to know how to count knitted rows. Not how to keep track, but what actually constituted a row. The answer is to count the ridges on the knitting and multiply that number by two. If you stretch your knitting out a bit, you will see ridges and indented rows (these form ridges on the wrong side of the knitting). Now I know.

Cats. Yarn. Oh Darn.

Why on earth do cats love knitting so much?

We have three cats, but only two are worth mentioning. The third is an emo cat who hates the world and everyone in it. If it could grow its fur long and wear eyeliner and be very very angry all the time, I think it would.

The other two cats generally ignore me. If I want to pet something, I have to go find them and dig them out and they always do the dead weight trick to try and discourage you from picking up their heavy and stretchy bodies.

Since I've started knitting, they are all over me. I mean, they climb on top of me, and my knitting, and sit on top of it. If I dare move, they take a swipe at my yarn. What's the attraction? As soon as those two needles slide against each other, the cats are there.

The only explanation I can come up with is the 'hard to get' theory. When you call a cat, they won't come unless there is something in it for them. Like food. Cats aren't petted when you want to pet. They are petted when they want to be petted. As soon as a cat is unwanted, like when you are reading a paper, the previously cold and distant cat will make itself comfortable on top of your paper. If I have to guess, the cats don't appreciate the amount of time I spend doing things other than trying to convince them to come out and play.

I left my knitting on the table - let's hope it's still in one piece when I get there...