Progress!

I'm done with the sleeves for my Lowry Pullover!

 Completed sleeves :).

This is unbelievably exciting, since (as I've previously stated) sleeves are my nemesis.  I'm almost done with the ribbing for the body of the sweater, too, which means I might actually finish the sweater sometime this century.

 Body ribbing almost done.

Actually, my goal is to finish the sweater in time to wear to SOAR and Rhinebeck in October.  I've got about 5 weeks left, so there's a chance.  I'm really getting excited about SOAR (my 2nd time going), and Rhinebeck (my first time ever), and since SOAR is in New England this year it also means I get to see family.  I'll be posting more details in the future about what classes I'm taking and everything.

Lately, in addition to my fibery pursuits, I've been working on canning tomato sauce.  The tomatoes from our garden have been incredible, and every week I'm getting enough for another pint or three of sauce.  I'm definitely no expert on home canning (yet), but it's really doable with a little work and the right tools.  So enough blogging for today, I've got tomatoes calling to me:

These tomatoes need canning!

 And these ones, too.

 And some of these (especially the one in front!).

Organizing the Chaos

I've spent most of my weekend (and a few evenings last week, too) organizing my craft room.  Over the past several months it had become a total mess, since I spent more time just throwing things in there to keep them away from the cat than putting things away so they could be found later, and it was at the point where I could barely walk through.  I totally forgot to take the "before" picture, but imagine this with more stuff all over the floor:

 My (kind of) clean craft room.

And yes, I do realize that this looks like it could be the "before" picture.  It's still a work in progress, I promise :).

In the process of cleaning things up:

• I frogged several projects that I decided I would never finish (including my recently-abandoned Radian Yoke), and returned the yarn to my stash.  I think I have a few more that still need to be frogged, but I'm making progress.  I always feel like UFOs weigh me down, so it feels good to get rid of the ones that aren't ever going to get finished.

• I worked on de-stashing some of my yarn, and packed up a big box to send to my mom.  It also makes me feel better to get rid of yarn that I'm pretty sure I'll never use.

• I finally broke down and bought more plastic drawers from the Container Store.  I love these drawers for storing my yarn and fiber, since they keep the dust off my yarn but let in enough light to keep the bugs away (so far, at least!), and the drawers keep things stackable but still accessible.  It turns out that unspun fiber takes up a ton more space per ounce than yarn, so when I started acquiring a fiber stash a few years ago I quickly outgrew the drawers I already had, and I just now decided I should get more drawers rather than keeping fiber in cardboard boxes on the floor.

 My yarn/fiber storage solution.

• My cat stole several balls of yarn from my recently-frogged Radian Yoke and proceeded to chew through the yarn and, in general, make a mess of the yarn.  Again, no before pictures (I'll learn eventually!)… but I did spend an hour or two trying to untangle the yarn, tie it back together, and rewinding it into balls, all while trying not to cry too much over my cat kind of ruining my very nice (merino/silk/bamboo)  hand-dyed yarn.

• I located some projects I'd forgotten about, and wanted to immediately start working on them again, but restrained myself somehow.  I have discovered over the years that it's necessary for me to keep my WIPs in clear bags (with closures, so the cat doesn't steal them!) so I can see what project is in the bag, otherwise I completely forget about some things.  I relocated some WIPs to clear bags, in hopes of finishing them sooner rather than later.

I also found a few completed, or almost-completed, items that I know I will absolutely never wear/use, and I wouldn't dare give someone as a gift (think knitted bikini--don't ask!).  Any suggestions on what to do with these?

I still have a lot of organizing to go, including updating my Ravelry stash (that hasn't been updated in at least 2 years), but at least now I can move in my craft room!  Though all the organizing has been seriously cutting into my knitting time...

Stitch-n-Pitch, and a New Sweater

Every year I look forward to the annual Stitch-n-Pitch game at Dodger Stadium, and this year's game was last Friday.  My husband, Chris, and I went with the group from Wildfiber in Santa Monica.

 Dodgers welcoming Wildfiber.

We both enjoyed the yummy stadium junk food:

 Chris with a peanut.

 Me and my cotton candy on a stick.

And I got some knitting done on a pair of socks for myself:

 Look at my hands moving too fast for the camera!

The baseball game was not terribly exciting, unfortunately.  No one scored in the regular 9 innings, and since we came with the Wildfiber bus we didn't get to stay for the 10th inning (where the Dodgers finally scored a run against the Astros to win the game) or the Friday night fireworks.  But at least the knitting was fun, and I got some cool swag.

 Play ball!

In other knitting news, I've frogged my Radian Yoke.  I was really enjoying the pattern, and I liked the way it was knitting up, but I realized before I finished the yoke that I was definitely going to run out of yarn.  And since it was yarn that I hand-dyed myself, there's no way to get more (at least not yarn that matches!).  So the yarn is going back in my stash, and the pattern is going back in my queue.  Oh, well, it's better to know when to quit, I guess!

With days now getting shorter, I'm starting to feel fall coming on, and that means it's almost time to wear actual sweaters again (vs. the lightweight cardigans I wear all summer because everyone keeps their AC way too cold).  So the happy news is, now that I've put the Radian Yoke aside for the moment, I'm getting to start on a sweater that I think I will absolutely love to knit and wear. 

I fell in love with the Lowry Pullover as soon as I saw it in the latest Knitscene, and I've been kind of looking for yarn to make it from ever since, because my stash doesn’t currently include a sweater quantities of sportweight yarn.  And while I was at Wildfiber on Friday waiting for the bus to the game, I managed to also fall in love with the perfect yarn for this sweater: Madelinetosh Pashmina, in the Tart colorway, a gorgeous deep red.  The yarn is not cheap, but it's so wonderful I couldn't resist (and for the number of hours I'll spend knitting the sweater, and the number of times I expect to wear it, it's worth it)--I actually walked around the yarn store hugging the yarn like a teddy bear before I bought it, it's that scrumptious.  Pashmina is a blend of superwash merino, silk and cashmere, and it's unbelievably soft, and machine washable to boot.  It's also plump and squishy, and is going to show off the cables of the sweater really nicely.

I'm starting this sweater from the sleeves.  Sleeves are my nemesis, because I usually knit the whole body of the sweater and then get stuck finishing the sleeves; I'm hoping that doing the sleeves first will solve this problem for me.  We'll see how that goes.  For now, I'm almost done with the ribbing of the sleeves, and I'm expecting to start the cable pattern this afternoon:

 Sleeve cuffs in progress.