Stashbusting.
11.09.09
Yeah. Sorry. I’ll do a technerd piece in a little while. For now, it’s needles all the way.
Mondays suck. This one in particular. It was bloody cold getting up this morning; I was tired because I did Dublin/Cork/Dublin twice in just about 24 hours, and I was later back than I intended to be, and the drive was harder than it usually is. I don’t know why. I ate loads of junkfood on the way back – Taytos unpeeled crisps are a) addictive and b) indescribable. I use that word to describe things I can’t quite find a good reason to eat and yet, can’t stop eating when I start. I wish they had not been invented.
Today then, also I left work early with the intention of getting double pointed knitting needles. I don’t knit as a general rule which means most of the needlework toys I have tend to be crochet related rather than knitting. Although they weren’t strictly necessary, I desired a set of double pointed needles such as I would probably never need again (but probably have to buy in a different size the next time I bought them). There was a minor glitch though at 10 to 5 when I discovered that the knitting shop was closed. Early/for the day. I don’t know. I had to live without the dpns to finish the item I was finishing and can’t now talk about. As items go, it wasn’t a total disaster. I learned a lot from it. I discovered I could, actually, knit something without the benefit of a pattern. This is no bad thing because frankly I find the knitting patterns to be in a foreign language (compared to crochet patterns which are generally crystal clear).
I decided to have a second go, but with a different set of yarn, and I remember that in one of the stash boxes, there was the remnant of a ball of wool which I bought last year to make a shawl with. That shawl was a) very expensive and b) highly useful as it kept me warm in work and given I sit next to a 1960s window, this is a Good thing. But it left me with a useless amount of very expensive wool which I didn’t know what to do with, until today. It meant I had to look into the stash box.
Stash boxes are bad. I have a problem. I buy yarn. I even occasionally buy it for specific projects. This is why, for example, there are 30 balls of Schewe microfibre in that box, along with 6 balls of something by Patons and a load of 2 ply for a skirt which I need to rip out. There are 2 balls of some sort of mohair along with 2 balls somewhere else which is probably not enough to do anything much with. Anyway, I digress. I decided, in my wisdom to start registering the stash on the Ravelry site. It was depressing.
I have yarn all over the place. Right now, beside me, are two balls, or ends of balls; the remnant of expensive wool which I mentioned above, and the remnants of the ball that I used to make the experiment last night. There are four balls in another bag beside me in the process of being turned into a scarf, well, until I run out of it, that is. I will because when I tried to calculate how much I’d need, I got it wrong. There is a little box of very light thread that was bought for the purpose of making very fine lace jewellery and in my craft room I’m not entirely sure what there is but definitely the start of another half a dozen projects. I need to stop buying and start crocheting.
Which is why I’m doing something off the wall with this ball of blue stuff that was bought for a shawl last week and actually Knitting with it. Two fecking needles. Well, circular thingies actually because only the best will do and anyway, last night, they were the only 4mm needles I had. Everything else – the paltry selection, that is, is for thicker wool.
I’d love a craft room that doesn’t look like my craft room now. As I rent, I don’t get to choose my furniture so there’s a bed in the craft room that’s “fitted” as in “ain’t coming out, girl”. Can’t even get it out of the room and down to the shed, for example. It’s high and soft. I hate it. Even though it has 4 drawers in which I can stash more yarn (all the Noro, for example), the tapestry (seriously), my diplomas (at least 3) and work documentation, and a pile of newspapers that published my photographs. I really want wall to wall shelfing and an armchair, and an iPod docking station. I’d be happy then.
Anyway, the 4mm needles are too light for this latest ball of yarn, so I must see if the others are any bigger (5.5mm would be useful. And then I will try not to feck up the pattern this time and, more specifically, the sewing together of the four little bits.
It’s a labour of love, this thing, a labour of a bit of love. I must be mad.