Oh ... my ... god!

I'm really not religious, and should probably change god for entity, but hey!

13820 yards = 7.852 miles = 12.6 km

That's what came out when I calculated my sock yarn stash. It looks like that:


It consists of:

Esty bough yarn:
Gypsy knits: 3x 380 yards
Sophie’s Toes: 3x 350 yards
Cinnamon Stitches: 2x 500 yards, 1x 400 yards
Pigeonroofstudios: 2x 185 yards + 3x 170 yards
Miss Violet: 450 yards
Ruby: 3x 550 yards
Yarnahoi: 3x375 yards

Ebay: 3x 420 yards

Regia Bamboo & Silk: 4x 440 yards
Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton: 3x 415 yards
Socks That Rock: 2x 370 yards
Lisa Souza: 2x 560 yards

Now is this crazy or what? And it is stored in here, bought two days ago for other stash, but as the previously used box became too small I had to move it!

I'm a sock yarn whore!!

This really is bad. I never thought it to be that much. I knew it was a lot as it kept growing in size, but I did not even see it at the level on money it cost as last year was the first year I earned money every month with varying intensity, so I never saw what was spent on yarn directly. uuuh yeah :)

But now I'm set for the marathon, and that's my goal: 10 pairs of socks over 3 months, using up 1.5 miles or 2650 yards. I calculated it at 250 yards per pair of socks, plus some as some patterns use up more or I might go for higher socks when I try out knitting them from the toe up. And only 8 hours till the start is for me, here, but I will likely not cast on for another 10 hours - sleep and such.

I surely could have gone for more, but I also want to do the cardi for arwen, and the melon shawl, and I also signed up for the Hidcote Shawl KAL today, so ... yeah, I'm a busybody!! Terrible, really. I'm already really worked up about this whole issue, you know? Giddy and all. Now I'm alreda ytsrating to act like my poor cats in heat - my bf really is the only one around here not being mad at the moment. Poor boy ;)

Progress, of a kind

To be true, I did not really have any great kind of christmas knitting stress this year. As all the years before, as I have only been knitting "seriously" for a year now, so last year it was struggling with a cardigan I have since frogged and reknit about 3 times, and will likely never finish. And, I might have posted it already, I generally don't make a lot of christmas presents, just my parents, the kinda boyfriend of my mum (the pendant for my dad does not even get recognition, you know, the whole "that b*tch destroyed the marriage of my parents" kind of thing), and my own highly cherished boyfriend - that's it. Why so few, no friends on the list? Because 7! of them have birthday between 3rd of december and 6th of january, so if I had to buy christmas presents too I'd be broke till July. But some of those guys and gals require knitting, and this year I did the icarus, already showed here. And mom got a birch, and binary from the current knitty has been in planning but was stopped after about 15 cm. I like fair isle (novice still), but I had neither nerve nor time for that, this year. Maybe next - I know a whole lot of geeks anyway. So I resorted to starting knitting socks, and the medlon shawl.

Why do I post, you ask now? Because I used up my first skein of KSH for said melon shawl, and now it's already 23 repeats long, 23 of 62 or the likes. So I might even be left with one unused skein should the border not eat up 2. Well.
And my jaywalkers are nearly done, too. Just a few more rounds and the second toe will start, after that (fits) I just have to redo the first toe, too - not that stubby toes after all, it seems ;)

Today I also created a new profile at yahoo for flickr, and joined the Lime & Violet Sock Marathon - so tomorrow I will go stash diving, yards counting, and probably set some spare yarn up at ebay. I'm the only gal in the world who has opal yarn and does nt like it. But for a defense, I did not know how ... squishy it was, and sounding, as I did not get it beforehand, and well ... we'll see.

We will spend the next two days alone with our cats - who just became randy like hell - being in heat for the first time ever - and the last time, if I can help it! When the first one started this morning it was still funny, but now they are both singing and showing us their cute little bums, and it really gets on my nerves. I just hope I don't have to spend all my christmas money on the vet, but better now than in 2 months when my paychecks will stop for a while. But they are still so cute! Just a little too horny ...

Photo update

I redid my picasa web album, here: Peachy Knits

Now there's albums for my cats, socks, lace and the fibers I recently acquired.
First, my etsy "I gotta get 'em all!" spree, using up my christmas money:


Plus some Lisa Souza


and my swift, a gift from my bf:


Here's a closeup on the Birch I knit for my mom for christmas:

The full view of the monster is also in the web album, I'm just too lazy to post that, too. I knit it bottom up, but nearly never ade it - it was so boring, and I din't like the yarn after half the shawl was done. It was just like ... I don't know. We didn't match.

Aren't they adorable?

Here for more catsy cuteness:

Oh no, bad knitter!

That's about how I feel, right now, or something like that.

The last time I thought something like "oh yeah, noiw your stash is so large, you should do something for yourself/some else/accomplish someone to earn new yarn" it ended with several hundred dollars (in the low range of "several", but still) burned on etsy yarn, mostly consisting my current stash in sock yarn.

And now, the Knit from your Stash 2007 is launching - and what do I do, just 4 days before the new year? Buy yarn of course!!

To be true, I really needed it. No, that's not the lame "oh I want it so I need it" thingy, but I really didn't have yarn for the Arwen Cardigan - it will now be knit in Jaeger Shetland Aran #38 Lilac - and the small words "reduced" and "free shipping" was what made my poor paypal account scream once more.
And there were these words some more, and some Rowan Cotton Glace also jumped into the shopping card - probably used for the new stitch diva pattern Sahara. And the best - good yarn I don't get here, 1kg each (for a laaarge sweater, about 20 usual skeins worth), for under 100 dollars. I just love Jannette's Rare Yarns!! Both my yarns here are discontinued, but I got enough for like 1,5 projects each, and she's so fruiendly and all, and also cheap in still available yarns. I got a lot of rowan kidsilk haze some weeks ago from her, and now this - she's definitely my number 1 ebay seller, ever, UK based so no customs troubles and costs either.

But that's it for now. No more yarn this year, and none until october next year, likely. I figure my Lisa Souza order pending still on my side will probably contain lace wheight yarn too, so it should count, but somehow I will get raound that "no yarn till september ends" anyways ;)

And I should update this sidebar, definetly. And do the photos, picasa is already waiting ...

overly ambitious

It's not as if I didn't have a little time to spare most evenings for knitting, but this ...

There are so many, many KALs going on right now that I simply cannot join them all. But I have joined / will join these:

- Knit From Your Stash 2007 - Wendy called for it, and I will answer, mostly because I'm drowning in stash yarn, and more wants to come in - I could even afford a little more, but well - and I will also try not to do that buy sock yarn thingy for quote some time.

- Victorian Lace KAL - if they wanna have me But I will knit the shawl on the cover anyways, in the exact same yarn but a bit wider, to go with my ball gown (in dark blue and vibrant green).

- Lime & Violet Sock Marathon 2007 - but I will be doing it rather like the usual marathon runner - participating and finisheing's the goal, not topping anyone else. Knitting just for myself.

- Miss Violet's Pink Ribbon Along - I keep this up as I plan on getting the yarn, but have to save up a bit - so that Lisa Souza will likely be my green card (and sock yarn besides) from the whole not-buying affaire.

- Arwen Along - I soo fell for this pattern, and now there's the kal ... do I have to say any more? But I will likely modify it as my hips and butt are already large enough and don't need cardigans stopping just between the two.

So, for anything further, I alreday have the yarn for Frost, Flowers and Leaves from A Gathering of Lace, and Heere be Dragone Shawl (independent pattern). I will knit both. Some. Time. Should I ever have a day off. Hm, hey, wait, there's christmas holidays ... noooo! X-Mas 07 more likely.

And still too lazy to take pics with the cam.
Well, okay, here are the cats:

From katz

Éowyn, most active and clumsy cat in the house (of two).

From katz

Eillistraee (Ellistree spoken), worst Diva. Ever.

Horrible, terrible ...

Yeah, it was, two days ago when I found a notification in my post telling me that yarn had arrived - and went straight back to the post office. Plus taxes to pay, meh. THis thing happens from time to time as it is on the brink of being legal to just "import" yarn from the US and not pay the taxes we put on all things here. Most people, like Sarah from sarahsyarns.com adds "gift" to the sign on the package, or writes a much lower value so that even should someone pick it out of the hundreds of other packages, it slips through. Well, this one did not, and the postage paid was a little too low - so it got stuck. But I'm more unhappy about the beautiful yarn having to have stayed at customs for two weeks, not coming into my caring stash box reserved for its likes, and not about the price. It wasn't that high, and as the yarn had been relatively not soo high priced ... well. Now it's here, and I'm happy.

Now all but 3 of my madness induceds etsy purchases for christmas self-satisfaction are here - oh yeah, and I'm not lazy here, I have been ill for the better part of the week, and stupid enough to work on Friday, so hgh fevere and constant diarrhea it's been for me instead of christmas party there. Meh².

I did finish the first lime & violet KAL jaywalker, but pics will follow later, I promise.

And I honestly think about doing two "knit from your stash only" thingies - I have a terrible amount of sock yarn from etsy now, and even with a sock a week rates I will just for that use several months - and there's the lace weight drowning in boxes, and that one package of rowan kidsilk haze ... I cannot afford to buy yarn next year anyways, because I will be out of job from about march to september, and trusting on the alimentations my father then no longer has to buy to continue is such a thing ... well. At least I have the yarn already ;)

As knitting is still a bit hazardous with my health status - dpns and started socks ready to fly when I raze towards the loo, cats well behind me to catch the yarn and/or sock, go figure ... maybe I take pics of everything, wind it, and then take more pics. This blog is still so pristine, that has to end! And yeah, I should start customizing that sidebar, too!

Confessional, and such

So today I receied three (in numer, 3) packages of sock yarn. Yeah, a few days back I went a liiitle bit, just teeny weeny bit crazy on etsy ... and now yarn drops by here nearly every day - I'm in heavene!

Well, technically I should be in bed. Because I am ill, again. For the like 10th time this year, no exaggeration. The new year will hopefully bring less stress, and a visit to the doctor looking at my vital signs and what roams my arteries, blood-vise. I've been ill a lot as a child, consequently having had an immune sysrtem like a VIP club bouncer - until last year when my parents went crazy, one after the other. Some might call it divorce, I call it just plain crazy. And from September 05 on I've been more often hogging the bed than since my last OP when I was 7.

Weehe - more knitting time! If it can be called knitting when I'm having a hard time between coughing up tea and not snotting my jaywalkers full of, yeah, well, snot. Meh. Not so good - but I can at leats stare at the yarn that just arrived, today.

Which is - 2 pairs of socks that rock! Nodding Violet and Puck's Mischief. One is in light and the other in medium weight, just to see the difference. And I'm soo drooling over the yarn - had to repack it swiftly so no damage can come from that.
Also my yarn from cinnamon stitches (argyle, mer and blueberry pie) and yarn ahoy (Old Earth, Carribbean Gold, and MT Vernon Ave) came - and now drowning in sock yarn. And I'm so itching for more Lisa Souza ... but as I spent about double my christmas money already, I should probably at least wait for the credit card bill to drain my bank account before ordering more.

So for the rest of the year, and possibly a lot of next year too, I'll be knitting socks. I already printed out a lot of patterns, so that should not lessen my progress. Hopefully. But then I also hope for the promised Lime & Violet book, so I'll have to buy more yarn when that come out, and so on. Meh, I have to get a better job to buy more yarn!

FO: Snakes on a Sock

Snakes on a Sock!!

Kreeping down my legs, just now. Yesterday I finished those cuties:

From socks for blogs

took me about 1 week, and 57 gr. of Lisa Souza's Sock! Merino yarn, in Mahogany. Enough left for another pair of socks, bf already shouted for a matching pair for him.

I just love the pattern, curtesy to Miss Lime, and the yarn! The colours! Sadly the yellow parts are at the sole part, but the darker portion line up nicely on both socks.

And I started Jaywalkers for the Lime & Violet KAL. Looky here:

From socks for blogs

Fly away ...

... on icarus!

From lace

Took me about 2 months on and off, and 104 gr. of uruwool lace merino - just 4 rows before BO the first skein ran out, so I had to reorder some - colourway luckily fit perfectly.

Sadly not for me, but a gift for a good friend - luckily she' a bit taller than me, because I would get a kinda devil tail from the bottom - looking cute, at least my bf said so, but then he is not the right one to ask such questions!

And the new knitty now poses a problem for me - time-vise. I had planned on being nearly finished with my pre-christmas-birthdays-knitting, but then the binary scarf went online, and I happen to know two geeks who have birthdays on december 3rd and 25th respectively - so off to the LYS I go! And as for getting into the right mood we were weatching the whole matrix trilogy this weekend again. Just love it.

innnnovation!

My dear readers, I guess all who have made the following experience will be with me - and those who have not, get one!

I'm talking about my ball winder that finally arrived yesterday!

So for years, or at least one year, I was perfectly happy without both swift and ball winder. I mean when knitting only balls of yarn, who needs fancy stuff like that? And then my first lace project came, and with it 400 gr (about 15 oz I guess) of superwash sport/sockwheight yarn came, in a huuge hank. 1300 yarnd of yarn. Yummy. And it took me about 20 minutes to get everything tangled up badly, and 1 week to finally bring it into ball shape. So after that, the forearms of my boyfriend had to jump into the water, making things easier but me also bitchier because of constant yarn tangling because of urges to move on his side. How dare he?!
After 3 rounds of that he was martyred enough to build me a swift - not an umbrella swift, but just two parts of wood, forming a cross, another one like it underneath, the top part rotatable with sticks extending for yarn holding. Cost about 10 bucks, and 2 hours of work. Now things went rather swiftly, pun intended. But still, my fingers always ached after unwinding a whole hank of sock yarn, or even worse, lace weight yarn, and the outcome was rather ... well, bally in the least, offly shaped at best.
And last week, finally, my greed succumbed to my aching fingers, and a ball winder ebayed it's way into my life. Yesterday, the prestine thing, attached to a small stool next to my chair, was first taken into service - and the first hank was wound within 10 minutes, cat action included. 10 minutes. For what had taken me hours until then. So the followiung was that I spent another hour winding, and now nearly all my yarns are wound - sadly, so I had to endulge myself on etsy a bit more, to get more yarn. Just for winding practice ;)

After that I was positively restless, and completed the first snake sock, and cast on for the next without hesitation - no second sock syndrome yet, I just wanna wear them! Next will come Lime & Violet coloured Jaywalkers. YXet without the knitted cast on. Yeah, I know, I've read about it being bad for socks, but as my usual long tail CO was to messy last weekend for whatever reasons, I resorted to this, and it's not too tight - at least the sock stays up. And looks rathger nicely, although the pattern does not look great on pictures. Maybe it will come out better when both socks are finished.

Snakes biting my toes

At least that far the first sock is going - look for yourself:

From socks for blogs

From socks for blogs

Here you also see "the hole" - I tried to avoid it when picking up the stitches around the heel, but then ankle ventilation rocks!!

Oh, and here the most beautiful Lisa Souza yarn (Mahogany) before winding:

From socks for blogs

Hello world!

... or the likes. This is take two on my second blog, or something.

Why take two? Well, making a new blog on blogger NOT using blogger beta is horrible! But now everything should be fine ... or at leats I keep telling myself that.

So who am I? I'm me!! Now that was the answer to everything, wasn't it?
For the rest, I'm a 23 year old university student in Vienna, Austria, Europe. I'm a yarn addict, thanks to the lovely Ms. Lime & Violet now also to etsy bought sock yarn, and I actually knit when neither my boyfriend or my two cats keep me from it. Or work, or something.

My old knitting blog can be found here, but it's mostly in German, so enjoy the pictures and forget the rest. I moved from there to here because I want an English knitting blog, too. And hide behind the great annonymity that being European often conveys ;)
And it also explains the stupid times my posts will show up here - I don't usually blog in the wee hours of the morning, but only live in a time zone that can be queer for American folks. I know, because one of my best friends is in the US right now, and we usually skype when I'm not really awake in the morning, and he's staying up pretty late.

Last weekend I finally got my hands on my Lisa Souza yarn, and signed up for the L&V and the Snakes on a Sock KAL yesterday - pictures will follow, today. I promise. Sometime. Maybe they are even up before anyone reads this. By the way, I don't even know if anyone WILL read this, ever, or something. But I hope so - keeping a blog just so people can read it. Sounds queer? That's me!

Oh, and as a last warning, I'm really into changing templates of my blogs, so don't wonder when you come back and everything looks different. It comes from having had to learn html pretty well at school, never oggling css or php more than an hour - so to bring it to the point, I know some of the stuff, but keep on messing with the rest. A LOT. Because at wortk I cannot knit, because people think me crazy when I bring my sock yarn with me, so I have to do other things, like redesigning my blog. Oh, yeah, and working, but that's not that interesting, too.