It's Knit Tips Tuesday, Once Again!

Good morning!  I started a new feature on my little knitting beat last week called Knit Tips Tuesday, and since the response was mostly positive I decided that continuing was a pretty good idea.

By the way, "pretty good idea" is right about the height where my bar is set at the moment.  I have huge ideas and no way to make millions off of them, so I'll just make twenties and fifties on that many more "pretty good ideas" a little at a time.

That said, today's tip is a list of ideas for second projects, new knitter projects, and projects that don't involve shaping so newer knitters can think beyond the scarf and washcloth:

http://www.examiner.com/knitting-in-chicago/knit-tips-tuesday-easy-projects-that-involve-no-shaping

I spent the day yesterday, covering DA Receiving instead of Breakpack Orderfilling, and my body is paying for it.  After three days in Breakpack, my arms and back feel like they need a nap separate from the rest of me.  Because of that, my Tuesday knitting projects tend to be on larger needles, easy give on the yarn, and not too much death-grip.  After being in DA Receiving all day, my legs feel like jello so this is the first Tuesday in three months that I can knit complicated, teeny-needle stuff.  I am thinking of sitting by the fire (and without a fireplace, "by the fire" in my case translates to "near a plate with three candles on it") and just knitting until I fall back asleep.  This Tuesday morning feels like a mulligan waiting to happen...I'll just re-live Tuesday tomorrow.

Time to get a few projects OFF of my needles...I'm finishing a Noro cowl, which isn't what I wanted but I'm going to give it to Kelly at the library.  It's actually beautiful, but the yarn is doing all of the work so I could have just knit it in garter stitch...ha ha ha.  Then, I have to start and finish a hat, and finish the first of twelve scarf patterns I'm doing as a series for next year.  The first eight inches of it are everything I pictured in my head, which is a good thing!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83297166/scarf-pattern-of-the-month-series

Also, gulp, I have cast on my first sock.  My knitting went from garter stitch to making stuff up so I sort of skipped the sock phase most knitters either pass through or permanently land on.  I feel like I'm growing!  Especially since I'm using yarn from the trunk of my car...I refrained from purchasing yet another ball.  I'm hoping to completely knit through my stash by...well...2048 or so.

And finally, a funny story...I spent my store credit at my favorite yarn shop in Texas like any Kaspar would.  Kathleen grabbed me a basket, I started throwing in yarn and mentally adding up the price with tax.  When all was said and done, the closest I could get to an exact amount was within $1.20 of the credit, because there is no such thing as a $1.20 ball of yarn.  Somewhere, my stepmom is cringing.