It’s one of those mornings. Daylight savings time really threw us for a loop. I’m up by 7:30AM every day (even on the weekends) and today I slept until 8:30. Then G was really late and I drove him into the city so my morning was pretty much shot. Add to that some seriously hurting boobies and a massive sinus headache and I’m just so freaking happy today!! Yeah MONEY!
I did, though, have a very fun and productive weekend. Saturday was CAR day. G and I had narrowed it down to three cars after all our (his) research and spreadsheets and statistics. We had one more test drive Saturday morning: one was already pretty much out of the running because of cup holders (all things being equal, it’s a dealbreaker), one was on the top of the list, and then one needed to knock our socks off. Didn’t happen. Then we went and test drove our first choice again and we were both once again COMPLETELY WOWED!! We love this car. It’s different – not many people have it all – it’s fast – it drives like a dream – it’s safe. Everything we want. We’re not in a complete rush – we have a couple of months before we have to give our car back, so they’re working on finding exactly what we want. (We always go for a weird combination of color/extras that’s kind of hard to find.) On Sunday we actually changed our minds a bit about the interior color and G sent the guy an email. Wouldn’t you know it? They found the original car we asked for at the port, but now we’ll have to wait again for the color combo. I’m so excited!!! I would tell you what car we got, but it’s so perfect for the ABC A-Long Letter R that I don’t want to give it away. 😉 Suffice it to say we’re EXTREMELY excited about our new purchase. It’s going to be a blast!!!
Friday I worked diligently on a job and rewarded myself by starting my Sockapaloooza socks.
And the whole time I’m knitting them (I got about two pattern repeats in after the picot edge) I’m thinking this yarn would look really really good as…
…you guessed it. Some people may claim to be a harlot when it comes to their knitting, I’m just basically a whore. I scraped the sockapaloooza socks and started a pair of picot edge jaywalkers for moi. So crass. I knit the entire cuff on Saturday going from car dealer to car dealer. G was nice enough to drive the whole time – usually I’m the one behind the wheel. The heal has now been turned and I just have to pick up the gusset. Before you go and accuse me of being the worst kind of charlatan, the yarn just wasn’t working with my chosen Sock Pal pattern. I’ve since ordered some new fantastic yarn from Tina at Blue Moon, which should arrive later this week, and this yarn is guaranteed to be PERFECT for the pattern and my sock pal. GUARANTEED. And since the socks I’ve chosen are short, on size 2s with an easily memorizable pattern, we’re good to go by the deadline.
The best way to gain back interest in something you claim to be bored with is to actually SAY you’re bored with it. All I did this weekend was knit socks. I picked up the Embossed Leaves sock again – and found that I had made a mistake with the instep pattern somewhere after I picked up the gusset so I ripped. Then counted wrong and ripped again. FINALLY I’m on my way to finishing the foot. It’s going pretty fast – I think I’ve got a repeat and a half to go before I start decreasing for the toe. There’s only one itsy bitsy problem. I think I like them better on the needles than I do on my feet.
I dont’ know. It’s weird – I think they look really cool off – the colors the yarn the pattern, but on, they seem just eh. Oh well. I will finish them. I think it’s pretty funny that you all got so concerned when I said I was bored with socks. I mean, I don’t really consider myself a sock knitter. Of course, I knit socks, but basically I’ve knit the same sock a million times. I often get questions about socks and sock knitting and I rarely know the answer – unless, of course, you’re asking about jaywalkers. I don’t know anything about heels or toes or short rows – in fact, I put my normal jaywalker heel on my embossed leaves sock. Not that I mind being thought of as a sock knitter, it’s just not really how I see myself. That said, here are the three socks I’ve got on my needles currently. Two need the gusset picked up and one needs a foot.
Yesterday, I finished another job and sent it off to the printer! YAY! And I’m thisclose to getting the taxes done – I just needed some stuff from G which he provided late last night. Today they will be finished. And then I have to at least make an attempt to clean. A bathroom at the least. Bookish Wendy is coming for a couple wild parties with the girls over at MDK. I hope they don’t get sick of me because I plan to go to see them Tuesday, Wednesday (with the LI Crew in da house!!!!), Thursday and finally Friday in Philly! WHOOHOO! I lurve me some Ann and Kay.
Last but not least, I flashed my stash on Saturday. Many of you stopped by to see. When I was taking the pictures I didn’t really think much of it – it’s just another blog thing why not, but after getting all the comments and traveling around to other people’s stashes I actually was kind of uncomfortable about showing mine. The few posts I read about excess and waste didn’t help matters, but I glossed over those. I mean, I know I have a decent amount of yarn. Some of it I should really get rid of because I will never knit with it and deep down I know it but I’m not ready to part with it. Besides STR (which I’ll get to in a minute) I haven’t really been buying a lot of yarn lately. Most of what’s in my stash was bought last year: my first experience with elann.com. My first trip to Maryland. My first pair of socks. Since I’ve gotten rid of all those firsts, the only yarn I’ve really bought had a pattern to go with it. And I’ve been trying to knit from stash when I can. The STR is a whole other ball game. I think of that like a collection. And the truth is that I do knit it up – I’ve got STR socks on the needles (right now three pairs going) at all times since I started buying it. I
‘m going to Maryland next month and while I will probably come home with some yarn, I don’t have any intentions of buying any. I won’t be buying any STR (unless I see something I’ve really been looking for, but I doubt it.) I will be looking for fiber and spinning stuff. That’s this year’s obsession. Right now I’m too busy making my own yarn to buy someone else’s. 😉
The thing is my house is also filled (and I mean filled) with books. I doubt anyone would comment on the excess of that. Just an observation. I could be wrong, and I’m sure my feelings of discomfort are just that – my feelings. No one said anything unkind to me – it’s just the impression that I got from the comments. And no need to stroke my ego in the comments today – it’s all just thoughts off the top of my head.
Off to finish the taxes and clean a toilet or two. Ghost story winner announced tomorrow.
Have a FANTASTIC DAY!
L, C
fa-la-la- doing a dance of happiness. Fa-la-la.
btw – don’t clean….i – don’t – care.
xo.
Those socks are all fab! Especially love the pink ones.
I know what you mean about stuff you bought “first”. Kind of before you knew what you wanted to knit or liked to knit. I have some yarn from those types of plans, too. I make much better purchases now. But have you seen the Destash blog? It’s a great place to get rid of some of your purchases that no longer appeal to you.
Cara, what is the color name for the lovely pink you are using for your new Jaywalkers? I love it. Not that I need to add more yarn to my sock stash either. But I would love to know the name so I can be on the lookout for it.
The pinky yarn gets me every time…Hot Flash? Embossed Leaves look good on your foot, too. It might be the angle you don’t like. Should we be defined by what we knit…socks, sweaters shawls…or THAT we knit. We can do it all…we have to wait until R to see the car!?
You can never have too many books–just too little space. (Believe me, I know!) The same mostly holds true with yarn, too, I think, but given a choice, I’d rather have an excess of books–believe it or not!
I don’t think I can wait ’til R!!! By my figurin’, it could be either a Rolls or a Renault — neither very common here. Are you gonna spill? I finally got to drive Ali’s new Beetle the other day — it’s so cute.
You know, darlin’, EVERYONE has SOMETHING in excess or that someone else would consider wasteful or extravagant (my sister’s rubber stamp collection & accoutrements come to MY mind…). I love your stash. ; )
I hear you about the cup-holders. I need a new car just for that reason, but as I don’t have a payment on my car right now, it seems silly to trade in………Boo Hoo.
i love the embossed sock on you. don’t give up on it just yet! (finish the pair and if you still don’t like them, stick them on a plane to norway ;-))
the jaywalker is too cute!
Two thoughts. First, you are SO crass. My gawd, woman, I think you can’t help yourself anymore. Second, my thoughts of your stash have not changed, and I suggest you get a’shoppin’ right away.
Pats on the back for G! My Number Guy takes the wheel so that I can knit, too. These are keepers!
I didn’t think your stash was that bad at all and don’t think you should worry about it. Sheeesh, maybe they have stash envy. Don’t fret, just knit. And you owe NO ONE an explanation. It’s your life! For some it’s clothes, or shoes, or whatever… For folks like us, it’s books (ohhh…books, mmmm!!!) and yarn! Loved your stash!
is it a rolls royce? it is, isn’t it!?
As one of the bloggers who did comment on excess, I feel I should comment. While I do admit to having a negative visceral reaction to seeing photos of thousands of dollars worth of yarn in a personal collection, I know on a more rational level that it’s not the amount of yarn a person owns that bothers me. What might bother me is the attitude someone has about it. If they’re snotty about it, or showing off their wealth, or express an attitude that they’re a more legitimate crafter because they’ve been bit by the stash bug, that’s when I get annoyed.
From what I can tell, these things probably don’t apply to you. Especially after reading this post. I’m not a person who admires acquisition of goods just for the acquisition of goods. I think people who collect books or CDs or whatever, *just to say they own them*, are just as silly as people who engorge their yarn stashes as part of an ego contest. Based on your posts, this doesn’t seem to be your attitude. While your size of stash is certainly not my thing, I think your desire to work from your stash is admirable. Yarn, as well as books, should be used often, and with love. And heck, the one kind of stash I’d allow myself to overindulge in, if I ever had the money for it, would be sock yarn. 😉
Lordy, I *love* that pink with the picot edge.
Take the “excess” comments with a grain of salt. My own comments weren’t due so much to the size of my stash, as due to the fact that there is a chunk of it that I have realized I will never knit. It’s only wasteful and excessive if you are holding on to stuff you don’t even *want* to knit. What am I doing with a sweater’s worth of Rowan Kid Classic in a place where the average winter temp was 50F this year? I guess I could rent it out to people who like saunas.
And don’t show those Hot Flash Jaywalkers any more please until I finish my Rock Stars. My heart can’t take it ;>
Delurking to say – yuch to the commments about excess! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Since i got totally into the sock thing, I started expanding my stash. And as I did so, I started talking to other crafties people and I don’t know anyone who does not have a significant amount of stash, whatever the craft. I couldn’t think of anything worse than a rainy Sunday and wanting to knit something but not having the right materials on hand to start it – that’s how I see my stash. That, and some of the yarn skeins are just darn pretty to look at – how’s that different to collecting tea pots or art?
In any case, I read a great quote for a book that’s coming to be via Amazon – that Native American women believe that the world will end if a woman finishes all her projects. I’m just sayin’.
Wait a minute now, hold on. Last time I checked, you are living YOUR life. Check. You are spending YOUR money on what you want. Check. Some of that is yarn. Check.
Don’t make me come up there to explain this math again. 😉 (Actually, since I can’t go to MS&W, maybe I CAN come up there!!!! What fun we’d have!)
I admit I felt a little bit uncomfortable when you said you were bored with socks. Ok, so you don’t think of yourself as a sock-knitter. Heck, I don’t think of myself as an accountant!
I was a bit surprised/impressed by the stash but then it was bound to be big given the need for the yarn closet. And I almost snorted tea through my nose when reading about the whole Ikea story.
So, don’t stop doing what you’re doing.
When we have needed new cars, we have gone to a dealer that has been really great to us. We test drive, decide what options we want and then order it from Detroit. Might have to wait some but to get the safety features you want – worth it.