Thunder Storms

I've been floating and am now so relaxed my entire body feels like wet spaghetti.  It's a wonderful feeling!  Even though I'm getting absolutely no exercise, being out in the sun makes me tired so I'm sleeping better at night.  Floating is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Hayden's first time in a pool

Hayden even came to float with me.  Turns out, Hayden prefers swimming to floating.  It was her first time in a pool and she took to it like a duck in water.  She was even putting her face down in the water and she'd come up blowing bubbles and grinning.  Michael Phelps better watch out.  He's going to have some competition!

The drawback to floating is that I haven't been getting much knitting done.  Between being sun tired and being so relaxed, I'm going to bed sometimes as much as two hours earlier than normal.  It's pretty crazy!  

I have finished one arm on my Palette sweater and have knit a few rounds on the other sleeve.  I was knitting on the deck after dinner, but it's gotten way too hot and humid to hold that beast of a sweater in my lap.  It's definitely an indoor project now.

Sunburned and the start of a Reyna

Luckily a thunderstorm rolled through Sunday afternoon and interrupted my floating.  I'd been in the pool for about four hours and was getting a little crispy.  I love thunderstorms and enjoy sitting on the covered deck, watching them.  And if I'm sitting, I'm knitting... but that sweater is just too hot to work on outdoors so I started something new.

Lagoon from Organized Chaos Yarns

I started out knitting another Reyna but I'm not 100% positive that is what it will be when I'm finished.  This skein from Organized Chaos has a lot more yardage than the pattern calls for.  I may or may not modify it in some way.  We'll see.

I am over the moon in love with this colorway.  The photo does not begin to do it justice.  The colorway is called Lagoon and it is simply gorgeous!  It almost glows and really does look like deep, clear bluish green water.  My skein is much darker with deeper colors than the one pictured on Organized Chaos's website.  

This new Reyna is supposed to be my deck knitting only project but it's going to be very difficult to keep that promise to myself.  But, I'm also determined that the Palette sweater is not going to be removed from my knitting bag until it's finished.  And I love my knitting bag and there's no room for anything else in there right now so.... I'm vowing to plow ahead on that final sleeve.  When I'm not floating that is.

Sunday Supper - No-Bake Eclair Cake

Since last Sunday was both Father's Day and my husband's birthday, I'm feeling slightly guilty about only celebrating once.  But only slightly.  Only slightly guilty enough to fix something super-duper easy.

No-Bake Eclair Cake

Thank goodness his favorite dessert meets that super-duper easy requirement.  Meet No-Bake Eclair Cake.  It's super-duper easy and yummy!  

The only problem with this dessert is that it's not a make and eat thing.  You need to prepare it the night before so that it has plenty of time to set up.  If you forget to plan ahead and make it just before you eat it, you'll end up with a big gloopy mess.  Just don't ask me how I know that.  Or how many times we've enjoyed an Eclair Gloopy Mess rather than Eclair Cake.

We interrupt this broadcast

This knitting blog is about to go dark.

I have rediscovered floating.  I worked like a mad woman over the summer for the previous eight years and never got in the water once during those years.  Well, maybe I did once or twice but not enough to be memorable.  Well, there was that time when I went water skiing.  That was memorable. Water skiing when you are past 50 and you haven't been on skis in 30 years is not recommended.  I couldn't even brush my teeth the next day.  It was fun, but maybe not worth the pain.

Anyway, I've rediscovered floating.  Floating does not cause pain.  Floating is Heaven!  Floating is THE most relaxing exercise.  And believe me, there is no exercise involved!  

I will miss my yarn and I will miss you but... 

I plan to spend every single waking hour, except when it thunderstorms, floating.  I plan to get UTI's and even crotch rot from spending too much timue in a wet bathing suit.  And it will be worth it!

Three on Thursday - Two Skein Shawls

Well, I didn't get stabbed in the jugular.  Thank you all SO much for all the thoughts and prayers regarding my biopsy.  It was completely painless and blood free... because I didn't have it.   I'm not sure I've ever been so frustrated.  During pre-pre-registration they'd used the wrong medical code and told me my cost was going to be $100.  Very doable.  But late Tuesday afternoon they called me for to pre-register (as opposed to the previous pre-pre-registration) and they noticed their error.  My cost was now going to be $1225, which I couldn't put my fingers on immediately.  We'll try again in July.

Now, on to Three on Thursday and knitting...

If I ever finish that sweater I've been working on, I want to start a shawl.  But I can't decide on a pattern.  I love the simplicity of single skein shawls but I'd use up the stash faster if I knit with two.  Plus, I've bought multiple two color sets of yarn with no particular design in mind this year.  I need to get busy knitting something with them.

All three of these patterns are designed by Helen Stewart.  I had something else picked out for option one but then when my next two choices were both Helen Stewart designs, and it being Three on Thursday, I knew I had to stick with the theme.  It wasn't difficult to find a third pattern from this designer.

Maytham Shawl by Helen Stewart

The Maytham shawl is going on my Must Knit list because it's inspired by one of my favorite books, The Secret Garden.  But I'm just not sure it's the pattern I want to knit right now.  But then gardens, summer.... maybe this is the perfect time to knit this shawl.

Rune Shawl by Helen Stewart

Or maybe the Rune Shawl.  This one looks pretty easy and perfect for poolside knitting plus, I have been reading The Celtic Blood series which takes place in Scotland around the year 1000.  The books are full of ancient magic and references to runes.  I feel like this shawl is begging to be knit while I read the last two books in the series.

Summertide Shawl by Helen Stewart

Summertide, the name says it all.  Oh and did I mention my plan is to read Tidelands once I finish the Celtic Blood series?  Summertide... Tidelands... I Had to choose this one.

I hope you'll join me over at Carole's and let me know what you're knitting today.

On the needles

Palette Sampler Sweater

The Palette sampler sweater is still on the needles but I am making fairly decent progress on it.   I've finished with the body and have started the first sleeve's ribbing.  Before you get too excited about that though, let me remind you that I'm doing Swoncho style sleeves.  Swoncho sleeves start the ribbing at the elbow.  In other words, I still have ten or eleven more inches to go.

This will definitely be a one of a kind sweater.  I used Green Mountain Spinnery's Easy Ragland design for the number of cast on stitches, increase stitch marker placement and a rough estimate for how many ragland increases to knit and the rest, I have made up as I went along.  

I've knit that Easy Ragland design a gazillion times and wanted something a little different this time.  The two yarns held together and changing of one at a time every few inches made it colorful and I'd never be able to recreate the stripe pattern.  And because I used up some of the skeins on the body and other skeins are oh-so-close but just slightly different in color to others, it's very difficult to visually figure out which skeins I used where.  And of course I didn't track them in any kind of way so...  So, the sleeves will not match the body, nor even each other.

This sweater is going to be one wild beast!

Rather than doing standard ribbing at the waist, I decided to do a garter stitch split hem.  I also added a few extra garter ridges on the back edge.

And as for the sleeves, well, who knows how they will turn out.  Once I decided to knit swoncho-style sleeves, I set aside a few full skeins for the ribbing.... And then forgot to plan for the color change.  So now I'll be doing the ribbing in colorful stripes as well.  I do think I might try to end both sleeves with the same yarns though.  While I've never been bothered about my striped socks not matching, I think it might make me a little crazy if the cuffs around my wrists don't match.  

In any event, the sweater is going to be a wild beast of color and mismatched edgings.  And warm, which is another reason it may take me a month to finish knitting the sleeve ribbing.

If you are so inclined, please keep me in your thoughts tomorrow.  I'm finally getting the biopsy done on my thyroid, and not a moment too soon.  I'm starting to have trouble sleeping because I'm having difficulty breathing if my head is turned or tipped forward the least little bit.  Well, that's not exactly true - it just feels like I can't breathe.  At first the growth gave me the sensation of wearing a too tight turtle neck but now it feels more like a steel bar is pressing against my throat.

In any event, I'm excited to finally be doing something about it but I'll admit that I'm a little nervous about them jabbing needles into my neck.  Actually what I'm nervous about is the fact that I won't be allowed to talk or swallow while they jab needles into my neck.  The very moment you tell me not to do either, I start speed talking and/or swallowing.  If I fail to post here on Thursday, you'll know I swallowed at the wrong moment and they stuck me in the jugular. 

Sunday Supper - Father's Day

Wishing all the dads out there a happy Father's Day.  I'm also wishing my husband a happy birthday.  Ha!  I got to combine the holidays this year and only have to cook once.  It's feeling a bit like Mother's Day.  :)

Pulled Pork Rub from tastesoflizzyt.com

And yes, I'm cheating a little bit on today's recipe.  Rather than a 'real' recipe, it's a recipe for Pulled Pork Rub.  I've never tried this particular recipe before but I use this type of thing constantly.  I make giant batches of it and not only use it as a rub, but I also keep some in a salt shaker to sprinkle on chicken or pork chops.  I love the salt shaker method because touching the raw meat sort of whigs me out.

Oh and I just remembered that today is also the summer solstice.  Happy everything day!

Good Days

Yesterday was a pretty good day!

Despite the rain having finally stopped, I spent most of the day inside watching the fish and knitting.  I'm not exactly pleased with that orange stripe, but I wasn't happy with the first orange stripe either and I've grown to like it so there's hope.  Whether I like it or not, I'm continuing on with this sweater.  

I'm deviating from the pattern quite a bit.  I decided to do a garter stitched split hem instead of ribbing at the waist.  The front is finished and the back is only a few rows from being bound off.  My plan is to do the sleeves like a Swoncho with the whole forearm being knit in ribbing.  It may look weird with the garter stitch waist hem but I didn't think about the sleeves until after I'd started the hem and well, the whole sweater is going to look a little weird anyway.  I really don't think it will matter.

I'm sure you are wondering why I was obsessed with watching my fish all day.   Doris and Charlie spawned.  Can you see the teeny tiny white things on some of the leaves?  It sort of looks like course salt was spilled over them.

Is that better?  The camera on my phone just isn't that great and the leaves move in the water and every photo I take is slightly blurry.

I always watch the fish while I do my morning pages and the tank was all clear when I finished writing.  I went for a walk and came back to find the leaves dusted with eggs and the water full of floating ones.  Tetras lay their eggs by "substratum egg scattering" which means they just drop them and let them land where they may.

At least that's what I hope happened.  Charlie and Doris were showing typical breeding behavior the night before so I'm fairly sure they were eggs and not something horribly wrong in the tank.  What ever they were, they are gone now.  The corys won't need to be fed for a week because they ate every single one of them.

And yes, my tetras have names now.  Charlie is the leader of the pack and is named after Charles Manson.  He's the only cult type leader I could think of and while I hope he doesn't turn out to be a fish murderer, the name sort of fits.  His followers seem to love him, but he has a bit of a mean streak and as much as they love him, they are also slightly afraid of him.  And he's definitely the leader of the group.  

Doris is Charlie's girlfriend.  The two of them have definitely paired up.  Doris gets her name from Greek mythology.  She is Amphitrite's mother (Amphitrite was Poseidon's wife) and daughter of Oceanus.  I chose the name Doris because I could pronounce it.  :)

Then there's Fabio, so named because he's pretty and isn't as camera shy as the others.

And since Charlie and Doris had hooked up and Fabio seemed a little lonely, I bought another female - Viviane.  Viviane is another name The Lady of the Lake went by.  Besides being a King Arthur fan, the tank Viviane was in at the pet store looked a bit like a lake so...

As for the corys, they don't have names yet.  I can't tell them apart.  I can't even tell if they are male or female.  Despite being from the catfish family, they will probably get typical dog names because they remind me of puppies.  They are fairly round with shortish tales and they look like excited puppies the way their tales constantly wiggle.  They are either wiggling or grouped together on the bottom sleeping.  Either way, I haven't been able to get a close enough look at them to compare their details.

Sorry, but I warned you that you were about to know more about fish than you ever wanted to know.

And...  I bet you'd forgotten - this is a post about good things that happened yesterday...   

Hayden is learning to laugh.

Three on Thursday - Crazy Things

A while back someone, sorry - I don't remember who, posted three crazy things they had done throughout their life and I thought it made for a fun post so...

Choosing three things to go public with turned out to be more difficult than expected.  During my youth I was reckless, fearless, and a little stupid, but I did have a LOT of fun.  It was hard to choose which crazy things to talk about.  What did I do that was crazy, but not so crazy I don't want my kids to know about?  That one took some thought.

In date order...

1.  Water skiing at night.  First, let me point out that I was never a good skier.  I could get up easily and stay up as long as I went in a straight line, but I was never good enough to jump waves or even really steer myself out of danger.  And I never fell. In all the years, I don't think I've ever just fallen.  I wipe out WIPE OUT!  As in, my body somersaulting in the air, skies flying off my feet, the people in the boat thinking they'll need to call 911 type of wiping out.  Yes, there were a few times I got tired and simply let go of the rope, but mostly, it was me totally wiping out.

So, with my skill level explained... Skiing at night is fun.  The water tends to be calmer and flat water is my kind of water for skiing!  There are less boats out on the water which means less waves, less obstacles to maneuver around, less people to see you wipe out and well, let's face it - less people to notice if you're drinking your weight in beer.

Besides drinking my weight in beer and attempting to water ski, the other thing that makes night skiing so crazy is that you can't see well.  And when you can't see well and you can't steer, at all, you tend to crash into buoys, docks and crab pots.  And sometimes, when you wipe out and your skis go flying and you go under the water, you come back up out of the water just as the ski falls from the sky and it slams you in the face.  Yes, I have a scar in my eyebrow from getting hit in the face with a ski and now my eyebrow grows funny. 

Jason Momoa, photo courtesy of rottentomatoes.com

Yes, Jason Momoa and I have matching eyebrows.

2.  My best friend in the world moved to Key West and I used to go down to visit her frequently.  On one of my trips, I met a boy, as you do when young and on vacation.  The boy drove a motorcycle.  The boy also won a raffle and the prize was a bunch of liquor from a store on Islamorada.  Islamorada is only 80 miles from Key West.  

Being young, fearless, reckless and slightly stupid, I thought nothing of jumping on the back of that boy's motorcycle while wearing flip-flops (you know the kind you buy at the grocery store for 99 cents,) shorts and a tube top, (remember tube tops?) and heading off to pick up his prize.  

photo courtesy of realestatescorecard.com

When we got to Islamorada, we stopped off at the bar because we were thirsty after that long ride.  In 1981, Islamorada only had one bar and it was the kind of bar where the patrons did their lines of cocaine straight off the table tops and no one thought anything of it.  We did not do lines of cocaine, but we did have a drink or two before heading across the street to the liquor shop to pick up our winnings.  

We got to the store and they handed us three large, paper grocery bags full of liquor bottles.  Glass bottles, of course.  So we climbed back on the motorcycle with me on the back, wearing shorts, a tube top and flip-flops and holding a bag full of liquor in each arm and one wedged between the boy and myself.  And we drove all the way back to Key West like that.  Without issue, I might add.

My good luck didn't hold out though.  That same trip, I had a windsurfing accident and broke my back.  But that's a whole other story.  

3.  My best friend in the world was moving back to Virginia from Key West and I drove down to help her bring her stuff back.  She drove a Mustang and I drove an EXP (a two-seater hatchback) and she didn't rent a moving van.  We crammed her car so full we couldn't have crammed a single extra grain of sand in it, then filled mine with the rest.  Liza's car was so full she couldn't see out either of her side or rear windows.  We made the entire trip from Key West to Richmond, Virginia with me following her and whenever she wanted to change lanes, she'd put on her blinker, I'd change lanes and honk my horn so she knew it was safe for her to change lanes.  Good Lord!

Oh, and did I mention that Liza's car had been having overheating issues for several weeks before we made the trip?  The car would get over heated and she'd just have to turn it off for a while and let it cool back down.  So that added to the adventure.

So, there we were, sitting on the side of Interstate 95, somewhere near the Georgia/Florida line waiting for the car to cool.  We laid our beach towels on the back of my car, got out the cooler and were just having a fine old time waving at passing cars and enjoying the sunshine while we waited.

Suddenly there was a loud screeching of truck tires and brakes.  A tractor trailer pulled over to help us and moments later, another one pulled over.  They were buddies and happened to both be in the area and had heard we were there on the side of the road.   Apparently we were quite the topic of conversation among the truckers. 

photo courtesy of 123rf.com

So, the crazy part of this adventure was that this time, Liza's water hose had sprung a leak and the truckers offered to fix it.  And here's where it gets really reckless, fearless and slightly stupid - Liza got in the truck with one of them and drove off to buy a new water hose while I stayed with our cars with the other trucker.  Unbelievably, they turned out to be really nice guys, not serial killers.  After they made the repairs to Liza's car, they even took us to dinner.

All I can say is that my Fairy Godmother must have some Very gray hair.

And thank God my kids are nothing like me.   Or at least they don't share my fearless, reckless, slightly stupid traits.  Or more importantly, I don't know about it if they do.

The Pool

Bliss!  We finally got the pool up and running.  Well, not running per say - we still need a replacement part and a ton of salt.  But there's water in the pool and that's what's important.

First, the pool guys removed the old, mangled liner then they added a new layer of sand.

Then they installed a new liner.

Then the tanker truck showed up and brought us a load of water.  Can you see the ice cubes coming out of that hose?  Okay, there may not have been actual cubes, but that was some seriously cold water!

The next day the tanker truck brought us a second load of water.  It was a beautiful day and Zack and family showed up for a visit and we all ended up getting in the pool.  It wasn't bad once your heart started beating again.  It was a little chilly but really, within minutes of getting in, you were so numb you didn't feel the cold.

And yes, I was kind to my family and didn't take any photos of anyone in their bathing suit.  Well, no one except my own foot.

And the next day the temperature dropped 15 degrees and it rained all day.

Palette Sampler Sweater

Even if we couldn't get in the pool, it was nice to sit out on the covered deck and knit while watching the rain fall into the pool.  Definitely didn't have to worry about being too hot!

On a completely different note... How many of you are Blogger bloggers?  What is up with Blogger??  I chose to switch to the new format early so that I could get used it it but didn't notice much difference.  A slight change in layout for Stats and such but no big deal.  Then the other day, the entire site was completely different. Completely confusingly different. It took me an extra 45 minutes to write a simple blog post because the new format was so convoluted.  And now, I'm back to the old, original format with no changes what so ever.  Is it me, or is it Blogger?

Sunday Supper - Parmesan Zucchini and Corn

Yes, we eat a lot of zucchini around here.  It's cheap, it's fairly versatile, the whole family likes it and it is in every store and vegetable stand this time of year.  Not being very adventurous in the kitchen, I tend to fix it the same way almost every time and even though it's only mid June, we are all getting a little sick of it.  I thought I'd try something new and different with today's batch of zucchini.

Parmesan Zucchini and Corn

This recipe for Parmesan Zucchini and Corn sounds like it might even be easier/quicker than my normal way of cooking it.  I am All about easy and quick when it comes to cooking.  The recipe is healthy and best of all, all the ingredients are on the approved list for both my husband's and my diets.  I hope it tastes as good as it sounds!

Fish

I hope you like fish because you are about to be bombarded with blurry photos of my newest passion.

I have wanted an aquarium for as long as I can remember.  I've wanted a giant, wall sized one full of big, beautiful salt water fish.  But I never, ever wanted to have to take care of such a tank.

Since moving out of the house several years ago, my son has become impassioned with fresh water fish tanks.  And every time I'd visit  him, I'd think about how much I wanted a tank and how much I liked his tanks and....  And well, he set me up recently.  

First he brought me a tank, a bunch of rocks and some plants.  I mastered setting the light timer, (it's more difficult than expected!) watched the plants grow for about a week, and yesterday, he brought me fish.

Pepper Corydora

There's only one young one in the photo, but I'm now a proud mama of four Pepper Corys, or Corydoras.  I just Love the name Corydora.  It's so much fun to say.  Anyway.... Corys are tiny, miniature catfish and mine are even smaller than normal because they are still young.  They also seem to be very camera shy.

Emperor Tetras

I'm also a proud mama of three Emperor Tetras.  Two boys and a girl.  Know how to tell the difference?  The girls have green eyes and the boys have blue. They don't show up that well in the photo but in real life, there's a huge difference in their eye color.  There are other ways to tell the difference, but that's the most obvious.

I was so excited to become a fish mama, I barely knit yesterday!  I pretty much spent the whole day obsessing over watching them swim around and become acclimated to their new home.  The tetras were so cool because they were fairly stressed when they arrived and they were almost completely clear with no color at all.  Within a few hours, their stripes had shown up, they'd turned fairly purple and the gold on their fins was shining bright.  And no, their colors aren't showing up well in the pictures.  I have a Lot to learn about trying to take photos of fast moving fish!

Now, don't be surprised when the next thing you hear me talk about is trying to knit sweaters for my fish.

Oh, and I'd like to wish my sister and her husband a happy 44th (I think) anniversary today.  They are fish parents too.

Three on Thursday - Single Skeins

If you've been knitting longer than two weeks, it's a safe bet that you have a few single skeins of gorgeous, possibly hand dyed, maybe even hand spun fingering weight yarn hanging out in your stash. They are too pretty to put on your feet so what do you do with them?

You knit shawls of course.

Copilot by Dominique Trad

Copilot would be a fantastic summer project.  The open mesh design wouldn't feel quite so hot in your lap if you are lucky enough to be knitting pool-side.  That open mesh also means that you could wear it earlier in the fall and later in the spring.  And it doesn't hurt that it's a free pattern.

TGV (High Speed Knitting) by Susan Ashcroft

Or what about TGV from Susan Ashcroft?  I'm planning to knit this pattern with my skein of Riverrun from Cozy Color Works.  Or at least I was.  I just realized that the skein has much more yardage than this pattern calls for.  It's too pretty to waste so I'll probably choose a different yarn.  It's not like I don't have a pile to choose from.

Close to You by Justyna Lorkowska

Everyone at my LYS has knit at least two of these Close to You shawls.  Well, everyone except me.  I still haven't knit one, but it is on my To Knit list.  From listening to my fellow LYS shoppers talk about the pattern, it sounds like it rates up there with the simplicity of a Hitchhiker, which I think we all know by now, I love.  The stitch pattern is supposed to be easy to remember and somewhat meditative.  This is also a free pattern so, Awesome!

Hope you'll join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday gathering.

The Palette Sweater

Remember my yarn stash post last week?  Remember the box of 22 skeins of red, orange and brown Palette from Knit Picks?  I purchased the majority of those skeins as a value pack ages ago.  I think the pack was called Fire but I really don't remember.  It may have been named Ember, or Fire and Embers.  I don't know.  It had something to do with fire and the name really makes absolutely no difference here.  

So, moving on....

I had the big value pack of reds, oranges and browns and I had a few more of the same colored skeins already in the stash so I combined them all together.  Some are not full skeins, but most are.  What to do with them?

Palette Sweater

I decided to knit a sweater with them.  I'm holding two skeins together (one red/orange and one brown) and I'm doing a not so great job of fading them.   I started off with the first skeins of red and brown and knit until I got bored, cut the brown, added a different brown and kept knitting.  When I got bored with that combo, I cut the red, added a different one and kept knitting.  

I was pretty happy with it until I wasn't.  I can't decide.  There are three skeins of "orange" that are more coral or pink and are much lighter than all the other reds and oranges.  While I LOVE the coral colors, I'm not sure I love them in this sweater.  But, I'm going to keep going with it because I didn't think I loved the first color combo either.  

I think this sweater may be like a scrap yarn mitered square blanket.  Sort of hideous when you look at it close up and none of the colors coordinate well, but gorgeous from a distance.  If that turns out not to be the case here, then well, I'll have a sweater to wear around the house when I'm doing housework, painting or doing some type of dirty, clothes staining work.

Hopefully I'll have a sweater I won't be too embarrassed to wear in public but if not, it's not a great loss.  The idea, after all, is to use up some of my yarn.

I am lightly kicking myself for not simply knitting an original So Faded sweater but.... I am using up more yarn at a faster rate this way.  And that is the goal.

Sunday Supper - Summer Vegetable Soup

Why is it that I always instantly want what they tell me I can't have?  Potato chips, cookies, booze, yarn, tomatoes....  The very moment someone says I can't have it, I want WANT it.  

This Hashimoto's no tomato thing is proving to be much more difficult than expected.  But hey - what's better for me?  A few slices of tomato or a box of pity party cookies?

I'm thinking tomatoes are a much better choice.  So....

Summer Vegetable Soup from tasteofhome.com

This Summer Vegetable Soup recipe really doesn't even have that much tomato in it.  Or calories.  A cup and a half only has 210 calories according to the recipe.  It does contain quite a bit of sodium but hey - it's summer.  I'll sweat that out pretty quickly.  Or at least I would if I put down my knitting and went for a walk.

No more, no more, no more!

I can't buy any more yarn.  I just can't!  I had a bit of a reality check yesterday.

Wool of the Andes Worsted

I keep my yarn separated by weight and if I have enough of a certain brand, by brand.  My Wool of the Andes drawer was a mess and I'd stashed a few new skeins of fingering in there just for somewhere to put them.  I decided to clean out the drawer.  

And, because I'm currently mad at my knitting and someone recently mentioned wanting to see my stash, I thought it would be fun to spend the day sorting and straightening all my yarn and taking photos of it.

Bad, bad idea!  I must not buy any more yarn!

Okay, so the Wool of the Andes pile is not that bad.  Thank goodness I knit that shawl a while back because that used up a lot of my WoA.

Worsted

My non-WoA worsted collection wasn't too bad either.

Sweater Quantities

Oh, that's where most of my worsted is - in the Sweater Quantity box.  There's enough there for nine sweaters and all but two will be knit with worsted.

(Don't you like that confident way I said those sweaters will be knit?)

DK and Sport weight

My DK/Sport collection is embarrassingly small.

Knit Picks Hawthorne fingering weight yarn

Yeah, okay, okay.  I might have a slight addiction to Knit Pick's Hawthorne.  They don't show up well in that photo, but there are some Gorgeous colors in that pile!

Stroll and Paton's Kroy sock yarn

I obviously like dark and/or blue socks.  That's my Stroll and Paton's Kroy sock yarn collection.  Thanks to the blanket I knit last summer, my Kroy pile is much smaller than it used to be.

Palette

Yes, the Palette collection is ....  Well, let's just say, I probably don't need to buy any more for a while.  I didn't dump them out all together because I have several projects started and I didn't want to mix up the skeins.  The blue box is holding 22 skeins of various shades of reds, oranges and browns.  To the left of it is a pile that will one day be a striped cowl. Under it is a pile of browns and a few greens that will be a scarf.  To the right of the blue box is a container of blues and "watery" greens.  Under that is Christmas set - Peppermint Icicle, I think it was called.  It was going to be a Kaffe Fassett Coins scarf but I don't really like the way it was turning out so...  Who knows about that one.  Then to the right of that is a big drawer full of mostly whites, blacks, grays and greens.  Under that is the scrap pile.  Yep, I think it's safe to say I don't need to buy any more Palette for a while.

Fingering weight

Obviously I like knitting with fingering weight.  I'm actually a little bit embarrassed by this photo.  Good grief!  The grouping at the bottom is from "people" while the top section is "store bought."  That's a whole single bed covered in yarn.  Ha!  And I thought I had a problem with Hawthorne yarn.  (Let's just don't think about the fact that the giant pile of Hawthorne yarn way up there in the list is also fingering weight.)

So that's my yarn stash.  It's all of my yarn.  Well, all of my yarn that's not in one of the 8,000 project bags I have.  Or the two big boxes of scrap fingering weight that I'm sitting here looking at as I type.

Good grief!

Oh my Lord!  I just remembered that I have another sweater quantity coming if the post office ever finds it.  It's currently lost.  Perhaps the post office is actually looking out for me.

No more, no more, no more!  I really mustn't buy any more yarn for a while. 

Three on Thursday - Rambling Rows

First, there was a snafu.

Slight snafu on my Rambling Rows afghan

Argh!  That multi-colored square attached to the yellow rectangle and blue square was not supposed to be attached to the blue square.  It was supposed to just hang down under the yellow.

Snafu removed

Second, I tried to fix it the easy way.  Although it would make the mitered angles go in the wrong direction, my plan was to cut off the offending square, leave the white and brown blocks hanging and work backwards from there.  It was late at night when I made this decision and that's never a good time to make decisions.  I didn't notice that I was pulling on live stitches while I was yanking on the bits of multi-colored yarn trying to get them to separate from the brown and white squares.  By the time I realized what I was doing, I had messed up most of the stitches on multiple rows.

Starting over

Third, it was easier to just cut off the white square and start the whole section over.

I hope that you are having better luck than I with your knitting and that you'll join me for Three on Thursday.

Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands Shawl

I feel like all I ever do is apologize for my photos... but please, accept my apology for this one.  I finished my Scottish Highlands shawl and celebrated by spending the rest of the afternoon sunbathing with a bottle of wine and I didn't think to photograph the shawl until the sun had gone down.

Hopefully I'll get the ends woven in and get it blocked today.  I'm looking forward to the lace section looking like lace instead of crumpled up, wrinkled fabric.  The yarn is So soft and squishy and despite it being only June 2nd, I cannot wait until fall gets here so I can wear it.

I guess I need to apologize again.  There are no links in this post because I'm working with VERY limited internet.  I barely had enough to open Blogger so that I could write this.  I'm afraid if I attach links, I won't have enough left to publish this post.

And with that, please note that it may be a few days before you hear from me again.  I've got a week to go until my Hotspot resets.  Yikes!