Oh, What To Do

It's dark and...dare I say...cool outside, despite the fact that there is a wildfire burning 150 miles west of here.  I was up at 5:30am because one of the several beasts in the house was stirring.  So here I am.  My natural inclination in this situation is to knit.

However, I think writing up the pattern to Bluto's green scarf is a better idea.

The next store sample I'm making for Yarntopia is on size 15 needles, so I'm hoping to finish it in lightning speed.  Maybe even faster!  It's a beautiful pattern, and the yarn is just plain fabulous.  See, I really enjoy knitting for myself, but two things make that concept take a backseat to other projects:  the first is that I am a sucker for great yarn.  Yes, I do my share of knitting with Lion Brand and Bernat and other acrylic-based yarns, but there is nothing like an animal fiber that's been groomed by the processing-plant version of a high-end spa and salon to make an alpaca hair feel like heaven through your fingers. 

Other than that, it's about time I finished the three larger projects I have.  One of them is sleeveless, and it is getting to the time of year where it will have to either be worn over a turtleneck when it IS finished, or it will have to be packed away for the year (which, any knitter can tell you, is pretty much no fun at all to finish something and then not get to swing it over your neck or head right away).  The lacy hoodie will obviously be useful, but I have to feel motivated and every time I look at it, I think "Is there something else I'd rather knit?"  It's even an easy knit and I'm STILL not feeling it.  Then, there is the shawl.  That is at least useful year-round when it's done, but it the colors and style of it will probably be no longer fashionable by the time I cast off.  That would be just my luck...the 2011 version of puffy sleeves coming off the needles JUST after 1984, the year people stopped wearing them.

I think I'm just going through an instant-gratification phase.  Ooh...I should look on the bright side!  Maybe I can finish a billion little projects before Christmas and slowly but surely knock my stash to a respectable size!

Although, a note on THAT concept:  go ahead and ask your fellow knitters what a respectably-sized stash would be.  I know two camps of knitters.  One camp is of the philosophy that if you have too many choices, you have too much yarn.  I actually have a friend who buys yarn for the project which she is working on that day, and then she buys more when she finishes.  Essentially, her "stash" consists of remnants of yarn balls, that is until she can think of something to make small enough to use up that little ball.  She is a model of efficiency.

Then I have another friend who claims to have a yarn-room...I have never seen it, but I am assuming everyone gets the same picture I do:  the third bedroom has no bed for guests, but it sure does have a chair and four walls stacked with yarn.  THAT is a stash.

But these two camps could, if they were of the mindset and not docile beings to begin with, rumble like the Greasers and the Socs from "The Outsiders" over the respectability of the stash:

"THAT's not a stash!  That's a couple of half-balls of yarn!"
"What about YOURS?  You have a ROOM!  You can't even hide YOUR stash from your husband!"

On the contrary:  the husband can probably hide in the stash and never be found.

Have a good day!