Knitting Caboodle

I finished the bobbly, cably Frivol and my muse left.

Just like that - poof!

I tried to knit some socks with the nice, new yarn MC bought for me. The first try was too small… the second, too big… it gave me a headache to think about so I put it aside. The yarn probably needs to age in the stash before it can be knit.

I’m still waiting for inspiration. Seriously, a person might be driven to organize her craft area.

No, not that.  I’m going to read a few books.

I’ve been busy here at Chez Caboodle.

Not too long after the last post, I took the kitties to their vet. Since these kitties are senior citizen cats, I had a full blood panel done to check for any problems, and to give us a baseline for their remaining years.

Marble is 12 years old. He’s my one-eyed, old-man cat. Even though he is a very strong, robust cat, he has always had delicate health so I was quite surprised when the vet announced him the apparent picture of health! Except that he has gained weight the last few years. He is mostly an indoor cat now, he used to be a mostly outdoor cat. Very little tree climbing goes on inside the house.

Frazzle is 13 years old. She is exceptionally dumb but so sweet, I don’t really care she can’t figure out that I moved the litter box over 2 feet. She has always been our healthy cat so I was surprised to find that she has signs of kidney problems. I’m not totally surprised since this is fairly common to cats. I lost one cat several years ago due to kidney problems. She lived many healthy years before it got the best of her. I anticipate that Frazzle has several healthy years ahead of her. In the meantime, I have banned our neighbor’s cat, Sammy, from sneaking in since he likes to chase Frazzle. She doesn’t need the stress (I don’t either).

Mr. Caboodle and I also managed to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We went to a nice restaurant for drinks and dinner. It doesn’t sound like much but it is because BC stayed with the in-laws without any drama. That is huge for us… and it’s a fairly new development.

MC gave me yarn for our anniversary. Isn’t he the sweetest? He obviously didn’t get the memo that I’m trying to do some stash busting. Oh well, I’ll suffer through it!

I managed to use some stash to complete a hat. Here is a very sick BC modeling it (he has a virus, a black eye, and a dirty face… the trifecta of childhood):

The pattern is Frivol. The stash yarn is Lionbrand Woolease.

I got the idea to knit Frivol from Nuttnbunny. Her version is much more colorful. And you can see the cables and bobbles better in her pictures.

Frivol is a very fun knit. I finally learned to make bobbles. I didn’t make them according to the directions but they seem very bobble-like despite that detail.

Since I’ve managed to mention just about every member of our family besides her… I leave you with the world’s most lickingest dog:

Yep, I ripped this camisole out too. It makes me very sad but the gauge was off and it was too heavy with cotton yarn. On the upside, I have more lovely yarn for the future.

At this rate, I may never have to buy new yarn!

My stash is steadily growing even as I am trying to shrink it. It’s not my fault, really.

First, I was remiss in posting a big “Thank you!” to Kristen at AudioKnits. I won a contest and she sent me this prize of pretty blue bamboo yarn and scarf book several months ago. (There were some other things but I couldn’t put my fingers on them for this photo.) When Kristen has a contest be sure to enter because she sends the best packages! Thank you, Kristen!

Second, Pyewacket gifted me with sock yarn for Christmas. Considering the difficult times she has been going through, I thought it was the sweetest thing that she thought of me. Thank you, Pyewacket!

Finally, I frogged some old projects. Purple and gray. Time proved that I was not going to use them as knit, so I ripped them out for future projects.

I am done with shrugs. If it is cold enough for a shrug, I am cold enough for an entire sweater. There is no waffling. So I never wore the short purple thing or the gray shrug. I tried to convert the gray shrug into a Tubey but there was too much bagginess in the back. By the way, I love Tubey. One day I may attempt it the entire pattern.

Sycamore leaf versus 12-inch ruler. Leaf wins.

The leaf is bigger than the dog.

Shark jammies… seriously, who would want to change into jeans when you have shark jammies! (I did end up changing out of my pj’s yesterday. I had to buy food. I’m still in them this morning and it’s getting late.) I made the pattern up from an old pair of the world’s most comfy pj’s that were falling apart a couple of years ago. I must remember to add more tush next time…

This is the latest scarf from the Sirdar stash. I knit it lengthwise… ouch. Now I know why I avoid lengthwise knitting, it takes forever and ever to finish a row. And this was a short, 5-year old size.

A better shot of the stripes.

It is a two-sided, broken rib pattern. Basically, you knit two or three rows of 1×1 rib then offset the next two to three rows of 1×1 rib… repeat, repeat, repeat. I still have enough Sirdar yarn for another scarf or a couple of hats but I was getting bored with it. So I started a new scarf last night using the remains of the Noro Cotton Iroha from the sweater Banff. It’s so soft and lovely to hold and cuddle while you knit.

Oh, resolution #2 has been modified. Green tea in the afternoon has been making me green. So it’s either white tea (black if I’m desperate) or nothing. Or water. Water is good.

That was some list yesterday, huh?

I have to be honest about it, I cheated. I listed things that are important to me that I don’t do consistently but which I have been working on for months (even years). New Year’s resolutions seem so absolute but I prefer ongoing goals. I frequently reevaluate where I am through the year… there is no one starting point.

The one item that is new (but which I identified a couple of weeks ago) is #17. I can never tell when MC is talking to BC, the dog, the cats or me, so I usually tune him out. I’ve asked MC to make sure he has my attention before starting a conversation since it annoys both of us when he thinks I’m ignoring him.

For the record, I’m still in my jammies today so #7 is shot… I don’t feel bad. In fact, I’m pretty darn comfortable. I did get dressed yesterday to take BC to the park… where I froze into an Ice Caboodle. Coffee was a dogsicle. BC was fine but we found catsicles when we returned home. The young are so indifferent to temperature!

I worked on #21 this morning. Heart attack inducing sights like this may prevent success…

There are two of these in our house and they give me a start every time I find one.  It is part of BC’s plastic insect menagerie… the only one that fools me, and creeps me right out of  my skin.  I stomped this one pretty good this morning!

I made more progress on  #9.  Another scarf has been made from the neverending Sirdar stash.  Pictures tomorrow.  Maybe I will even show you the shark jammies I’m so comfy in.

2008 resolutions are in…

1. drink at least 2 quarts of water a day (about 2 liters)

2. switch to green tea or white tea in the afternoon

3. walk, walk, walk

4. walk the dog outside at least once a day

5. take my supplements/vitamins/minerals/meds without fail

6. including the ever yucky cod liver oil (it’s so yucky it has to be a separate resolution)

7. change out of my pj’s everyday… there are limits

8. spend the 15 minutes a day it takes to teach BC to read

9. use the yarn stash

10. use the fabric stash

11. keep simplifying where possible

12. make peace with a budget, any budget

13. find humor… it’s gotta be here somewhere!

14. keep foods allergen free

15. eat foods I enjoy… in moderation

16. eat fewer foods I don’t enjoy

17. give MC and BC my full attention when they talk to me

18. demand MC’s full attention when I talk to him… turnabouts are fair

19. clear out the garden and yard before it gets too hot (I’ve already made headway here)

20. plant something, anything, this year

21. get the house into some kind of presentable shape, and keep it there

22. keep up with the blog

23. keep up with your blogs

24. find joy in everyday, and not so everyday, happenings

25. fewer resolutions!

Look! It’s Autumn in Florida.

My maple tree shed its leaves this past week.

Last year, the weather was so warm, the maple shed its leave one week and put out new leaves the next. It’s a bit colder this year.

Today the high is going to be in the mid-40’s. Tonight, the lows will be in the teens. If it is that cold here, you all farther north must be completely frozen. Drink lots of hot chocolate and stay warm, ok?

I’m still knitting my way through the Sirdar yarn in my stash. I knit two versions of My So-Called Scarf. I got the idea to do a solid version after seeing the one Sandra knit. I knit the striped scarf after seeing one on Ravelry.

I hope Sandra sees this because I cannot leave comments on her blog… my computer crashes everytime. I’m not sure whether it is my computer, Firefox, or my internet provider. Anyway… Hi, Sandra!

In closing, I want to introduce Organization to Chaos…

In this case, Chaos’s name is Frazzle. She is sitting on the bags I was attempting to keep away from the cats.

I finished the reconstruction of Banff. I added 3 inches of stockinette then reknit the 2×2 rib bottom. It fits! And it is so comfy and warm. I have been wearing since the cold blast of arctic weather arrived this week.

If you look at the middle of the reconstructed sweater (on the right), there is a horizontal line where I started the reknit. The line was not created by as a result of reconstruction. It was created by accidentally using US3’s instead of the larger size required.

I used the smaller circs to pick up the stitches before cutting, and then forgot to replace them with larger needles. If I wasn’t lazy, I would have unknit back to those stitches and started again. But I am lazy. And the lazy in me has decided that the stitches will loosen themselves up over time without my help. This yarn is so limp, it might work.

Pattern: Banff
Yarn: Noro Cotton Iroha (70% cotton, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon). Probably discontinued.  I have 5 skeins left in my stash.

Next up, a scarf:

The lace is a simple, 2-sided pattern: yo, k2tog, repeat.

I think the yarn in my stash is multiplying on its own. I keep knitting using this Sirdar yarn but the pile never seems to get smaller. I used all but one skein of navy to make this scarf.

Pattern: Openwork Scarf from Vogue Knitting Scarves Two (a big thanks goes to Kristen at AudioKnits for this book!)
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Aran (55% nylon, 45% acrylic)

And my clutter revisited. You all had great suggestions on how to handle clutter.  Thank you so much for your ideas.

I may have mislead you though… I do have storage. I have very little organization but I have storage. Like the smalled plastic drawers on wheels that Lisa, the Domestic Diva, suggested. I have other types of plastic drawers as well. By the way, if you need help reorganizing your craft space, definitely visit Lisa!

I also have shelves on the wall next to my sewing machine. Ribbons and fabric scraps are in ziploc bags. Larger pieces of fabric are folded and stacked (oh so carefully too). The green pillow on the bottom says something about cats at work, but the dog sleeps there.

I have more shelves behind me and across the room. The wire shelves hold my son’s toys (smaller toys are contained in baskets).

I still need to reorganize all these shelves.  I can never find what I need.

Currently, I have decided to keep the bag parts on a big board that I can pick up without disturbing the fabric. When I want to sew, I can move it temporarily.  After I put use this stash, I won’t be cutting out multiple bags parts again… only what I need for one bag at a time.