The Thrifty Knitter

One more down! Not yet blocked; hopefully that will minimize my occasional weird baggy stitches.

Pattern: knit.1 ribbed tank

Yarn: Lion Cotton-Ease (discontinued color), about 3 balls, I think.

Notes: A nice little tank. Not an exciting knit, but a solid basic with some cute details, and it would be super speedy knit in the round–no finishing, fewer ends, and I could skip the endless counting to make sure the rows lined up (and I was still off a couple rows and had to correct for it in my seaming). I may well make it again, but I’d definitely work it in the round and make in longer. I’d also probably make it about 25% tighter. It’s a one-size pattern, but has a little more real estate than I need. I’d just as soon get rid of the extra width & make it longer. I’d like to make a couple of cute tablecloth A-line skirts to go with it, and maybe make myself some matching ties of the same fabric.

The pattern was simple and accurate & the only problems I had were entirely the fault of finishing late and sleepy (I seamed the shoulders with kitchener but spaced and had the tank inside-out, but with the ribbing, it’s just not enough of a big deal for me to sweat).

And I finished this last month, but forgot to post it!

Pattern: basic raglan

Yarn: Peruvian Highland Wool + my handspun

One more WIP down!

Pattern: Basic raglan, with graduated decreases/increases shaping at two spot in the back, and 2-color ribbing (corrugated ribbing?) at collar, cuffs & hem, double-stranded cast-on, and slipped-stitch edge at cuffs and hem. Alternating rows from 2 different balls to break up the color transitions a bit.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Lite (45% Silk, 45% Mohair, and 10% Lambswool), 7 balls

Notes: it took me 2 tries at the body and many tries at the edging to get this right. The back shaping is nice and subtle, makes for a tailored but relaxed fit. One weird thing: my decreases were placed evenly but seem a little off-center. This happened both times. I counted my stitches repeatedly and I’m positive I put them where they belonged. I think it may be because my knitting is just slightly tighter at the start of the round w when changing strands/colors. Anyway, it’s barely noticeable flat and not at all noticeable on, but it does annoy me. I’m eager to see if the problem disappears when I’m using just one color.

This is a lightweight sweater that should be good for spring.

Next up from the WIP queue: The knit.1 ribbed tank I started FOUR YEARS AGO. Amazingly, I found the magazine, thanks to the little rolling Yarn School library. I should be done tonight, then it’s on to Ron’s bunny slippers!

The pattern’s nice and easy, with some pretty bust shaping to the ribbing. If I knit it again, I would definitely knit it in the round. When I started working on it, I wasn’t yet obsessed with seam avoidance and round knitting.

After I finish all my WIP, I’m really going to make an effort to start knitting at least every other project from a pattern. I was inspired by a passing post on Parallax Knitting. I, too, think I could learn a good deal from knitting other people’s patterns. And I like the idea of a break every other pattern, not having to think about every stitch, not having to do the math and swatch and try different things, no ripping and reknitting, ripping and reknitting–instead, just letting someone else do the work. I think it will be fun. And it’s perfect that my current WIP isn’t my pattern.

My first pattern when I’m done with my WIP and my crocheted potholder swap will be this.

After purging my ratty old potholders as part of my kitchen organization, I’m in dire need of some new cute ones, so I’m going to participate in the famous crocheted potholder swap this time around. I was bummed to see that wool wasn’t an option this year, only 100% cotton, which meant I couldn’t knit from stash, because my only 100% cotton is Blue Sky Alpacas, which I think is too linty for potholders, though it’s soft and lovely for garments. So for a minute, I thought I was sunk.

Then I remembered my $20 elann.com credit! It was enough to cover 6 balls of Sonata and shipping! Hurrah!

The only problem now is that I have to finish my current WIP. My Silk Garden Lite sweater only has one sleeve to go, plus the cuff of the other sleeve, which I’m going to frog so I can do the 2-color ribbing and slipped stitch edge I finally decided on for the hem. But either way, I should be able to crap out a sleeve and a cuff in the next couple days.

But then I still have 5 single slippers (one a day if I keep my head down), half a tank from a years-old UFO that I don’t even know where the pattern is anymore (2 days if I can find the pattern), another tank of my own devising (almost done–we’ll say 1 day there), almost as old, and a raglan that’s not even to the armpits. But it’s in bulky yarn, so I guess that’s not so bad, a week, maybe? And then I’ll be able to tick off another Überlist baby. That would put me at the 2nd week in March, giving me about 2 weeks to crochet 5 double-sided potholders in time to send them off to Adrian. It’s possible. And if I can’t finish all 5, at the very least, I’ll have some swanky new potholders I can just keep myself! Done and done!

This started out as a laptop sleeve for Ron’s macbook early last year. I kept forgetting to felt it, and eventually found a really nice felt laptop case from Julia Hilbrant at Rhinebeck instead. But I’d already lightly felted it, so I couldn’t frog it for my Finish or Frog uberlist item. Instead I crocheted 4 tapered sides to make a bed for Freddy, who loves boxes. My first try underfelted it, so I went a little nuts and did an uberhot heavy-duty cycle and ended up with something a little too wee for a cat bed. But Freddy still seems to be enjoying it, so I’ll leave it in play for a while and see if he stays interested. If not, it will make a nice magazine tray or yarn box for the counter.

In OYTAOL (One Year to an Organized Life) news, I’m done with my kitchen–as much as I can do on my own, anyhow. I still want some improvements–the native limestone counters we had cut 3 years ago still aren’t in place, and I want a new pass-through counter and some custom shelves for my cookbooks under it plus floor-to-ceiling display shelves for my S&P collection–but I’ve got my lovely corner lazy Susan back in place, and all my stuff sorted and organized, and all the seldom-used item organized, binned, labeled, and moved to the utility room.

The lunchroom is still crazy–I’ve got a work station in use and several hampers of clean laundry on the cafeteria tables in anticipation of the sorting/organization soon to be underway in my bedroom. My bedroom is chaotic enough as it is, so I’d rather hold off then just have to empty it all out again this weekend.

The pool table is covered with the DH merch Marta is sorting and inventorying for me (we’re trading labor). I’ve also got several boxes destined to shove off to Goodwill and tons of styrofoam block headed to the recycling center this weekend (weather permitting), both proof of my tedious progress in my hellscape of a storage room (which actually has 2 unmortifying areas now).

(And I have to stress, for the record, how woefully messy and disorganized everything that I’m not explicitly showing you is. I’m building little pockets of order, but it’s mostly madness. And for everyone who has asked: our kitchen is a salvaged hodgepodge of commercial & residential stuff. The wraparound stainless counter & sink came from the old state hospital they tore down in KC, the blue cabinets came from the old home ec room in our other building, the big fridge and home-built island from the kitchen in the same building, the filing cabinet, along with the one in my sewing nook, came from the state surplus place, the surgery light from an old hospital in MO, etc.)

So! Presenting my freshly organized kitchen:

Main kitchen (main work space)

Decluttered counters and appliance storage:

Junk drawer:

Onion drawer (potato drawer  beneath):

Freshly-labeled Modular Mates for at-hand staples (backups and less-used items live in the pantry):

Both sinks now have their own bucket of cleaners and brush basket, the idea being that not having to haul my fat ass back and forth between rooms will make me more apt to tidy up.

Freshly cleaned, culled, and organized drawers in island cart (the cart’s from the Eskridge school, a homemade table made of 2x4s and 4x4s; Ron refinished and distressed it & added new hardware, then we topped it with an IKEA butcher block countertop):

Organized condiments:

From the other side (with the pass-through window behind):

The fabulous lazy Susan corner cabinet is back in place, and I made magnetic labels for all the drawers and cupboards.

Corner cabinets:

Organized drawers:

Cleaned and organized fridge:

A stack of custom grocery lists (snag mine here if you eat what I eat) let me tick off what I need as I notice it:

The perpetual calendar holds the week’s menu any any notes on groceries or prep. It’s been a great help eating through the freezer.

Kitchen storage/washing room (backup storage, dishwasher, main wash sink)

Down to one freezer from three last fall. We’ve been eating our way through. Now there’s a whole cleared-out deep freeze I can use for Yarn School!

I made an inventory of everything in the freezer so I don’t forget what’s in there, and tick it off as it’s used up. This should also cut down on wasted electricity from groping around or staring blankly into the open freezer:

There’s a tight little spot in the corner where we keep our pantry in a lateral file. The shelves pull out and let you access the full depth of the drawer, so you can pack it with far more stuff than a regular shelf. And the drawers are mouseproof, critical when you live in the country. Having the shelves pull out is especially handy at the bottom and top, where stuff is normally a pain in the ass to get at.

The other general storage is an open shelf, but I plan to replace it with a lateral file like the pantry. But I did clear out a good deal of stuff, so there aren’t as many precarious towers of crap.

So. Yay me! Onward to February, my bedroom!

Holy shit! Hoarders is getting raw. The first couple episodes I watched were people who were just a little crazy and paralyzed by their compulsive accumulation of crap. But I’ve got a stack of them tivoed and they’re getting progressively scarier. It’s gotten so I can only watch about 15 minutes at a time and then I have to jump up and clean something! It’s really heartbreaking. (Not my cleaning; the desperate people in their garbage-filled homes.)

[P.S. Interesting notes on the moral/social implications of the show in the comments. I was replaying it here, but I was on kind of a shaky soapbox. :) ]

Today it was so windy that one of the posts holding up my hay shelter BLEW OUT OF ITS CONCRETE FOOTING!

I guess a gust must have gotten under the cattle panel & tarp roof and blown straight up, because the post was completely out of the ground next to the concrete. It wasn’t set as deep as our fence posts, but it was a good 2 – 2 1/2 feet in concrete! I’m hoping the wind will be down tomorrow and we’ll be able to get it back in the hole, but it’s going to be rough with the pressure that the arced cattle panels put on the rail that’s attached to it. My plan was to install some guy wires when when I replace the tarp (the pressure was making the posts bow out, which in turn reduces the tension of the arc and makes it more likely to strain under snow). I hope that that, coupled with some more reinforcement, will be enough to do the trick. I might need to dig out around the original hole and pour in more concrete, and maybe bolt some angle iron through the posts and into the concrete.

If you’re looking for a last-minute Valentine to knit, try my new pattern on Craft!

It’s a super bulky cabled gaiter that knits up in about 2 1/2 hours if you’re a confident cable knitter. The heart is nice and subtle, or you can knit the heartless version. The gray one used just one skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky & the red was just multiple strands of stash odds & ends to get gauge. Except for one row on the heart, you’re only cabling one stitch at a time, so I didn’t even use a cable needle.

I’m really happy with these cables! There was much dicking around getting them just how I wanted, and I’m eager to use them again. Maybe I’ll write up some socks!

The best part is that since this was for work, I got in some loophole knitting! (I’m only knitting WIP until they’re all done, and my WIP progress has been tedious since I frogged the better part of my Noro Silk Garden raglan).

We have been getting a crazy amount of snow this winter. I’m not complaining–except for Christmas, ours has been fairly moderate and steady–we’ve had nothing like the 2 feet dumped on DC last weekend–and it’s been pretty and slow-melting. It’s been fun watching the sheep grazing through and frolicking in the snow.

And I don’t know if it’s just the cold, but their fleeces look delicious. I had to move Fudgy up to a bigger blanket yesterday–not because she needed it, but because my only spare was a size 4 and Honeybunch had pretty much destroyed his size 2, so I wanted to swipe her 3 to swap with his rags. In the process, I got a peek at her incredibly luscious, pristine fleece. With the new hay bunk, maybe next year, the unblanketed portions of their fleece will be almost as clean (though still dirty and weathered). I washed her old jacket (above) last night and I’ll be patching it up before replacing Uncle Honeybunch’s disaster (below).

(Here they are under all that fleece, just for reference!)

Speaking of cleaner fleeces, the fabulous new hay bunk for the sheepies arrived yesterday! At first, only the youngsters got it and all the grownup sheep didn’t seem to know what to make of it. I snipped out some of the crossbars in the grid to make bigger gaps for bigger noses (I’m looking over at you, Fudgy). I’m really digging the new setup. For one, I can already tell there’s going to be WAY less waste. With the open bunk, they could knock out and trample a whole flake with no effort, and so far with this one, they can only pull out about what they’re eating. I’m guessing they’ll cut their hay by almost half–that’s about how much was ending up underfoot before. And with this feeder, there’s no way for them to mash their heads deep into the bales (and the hay deep into their fleeces), one of their favorite pastimes. Plus having two separate troughs that are visually divided by the hay bunk makes for way less shoving and bullying when it’s time for grain. By contrast, they seem almost polite. Gasp! Delightful!

So  my new favorite game is to watch an episode of Hoarders and then go organize something for an hour.

I’m not typically keen on reality shows, even the real-life voyeuristic ones, but Rachel turned me on to that completely heartbreaking and addictive train wreck of a show and I must say it’s the biggest gorram cautionary tale I ever did meet. Watching it makes me feel equal parts understanding and relief. Just a hair’s breadth more crazy and I’m there.

Actually, for the last 4 months before I moved to Harveyville, when all my stuff was packed up and stacked to the ceiling in my living room and den (lunatic collections take up a LOT more space in bubble wrap and peanuts than they do all clustered adorably on shelves everywhere) and you had to maze your way through, fighting for space with two deranged, shedding dogs–one of whom required a labyrinth of rugs because she was old and couldn’t negotiate the slippery wood floors–I was those poor folks. If I hadn’t known it was just a temporary state, then the alarm and horror on the face of everyone who came into my house would have made me ashamed and depressed instead of amused and sheepish. Even now, with no excuses, if it weren’t for my excessive space here and our guests, I could easily seep into the crazy. I can totally relate.

Right now, half of my office totally looks like an episode of Hoarders. I dragged everything out of my “storage closet” (ahem–aka, where I shove everything when I’m sick of my office looking like an episode of Hoarders) so I could get to my filing cabinet at the back of it to look up my washing machine’s warranty info (it’s still under warranty! hurrah!), and I decided to leave the overflowing boxes out over my office because I didn’t want to just cram it all back in there, Fibber Magee and Molly-fashion. But I have a feeling I’m going to jam it all back in tonight, because I’ve still got bigger fish to fry and I’d just as soon not sprain my ankle hopping over stuff in the meantime.

This topic is very much on my mind right now because one of my uberlist goals is to work through One Year to an Organized Life. I’m a little behind, thanks to my vacation, but I am making really marvelous progress on my kitchen (January) and respectable progress on my bedroom (February) while also attacking another Uberlist goal, to sort through a box of crap from the storage room each week. Although with the size of this place and the scope of my crap, the time allowances in One Year to an Organized Life are just adorable. I’m working at about 10X the recommended time for everything beyond simple list-making.

My big issues are my craft stuff, my collections (most of which I’ve never even unpacked because they need homes first & I have neither mad carpentry skills, piles of money, nor access to an IKEA) and the fucking recycling. You city dwellers don’t know how lucky you are. Years of living in Austin, with breezy single-stream recycling, conditioned me to recycle. Now, despite how inconvenient it is, I simply can not not recycle. But there’s no pickup in the sticks, so recycling means accumulating and constantly maintaining and organizing tons of crap and hauling said crap off to the recycling center (which on principle, I have to combine with another trip, of course). It just never freaking ends.

The one thing I am capable of keeping perennially organized is my stash. Here are some pictures of my stash from a craftzine profile. I’ll photograph new organizational oases as they arise from the chaos. These are in a corner of my bedroom, the former Mathematics room. It’s about the only part of my bedroom I like right now.

With just one sleeve to go, I had to frog the whole body of my Noro Silk Garden Lite sweater. I think I had my back decreases all freaky deaky and off center, because the fit was weird.

Also, I’ve gotten impossibly fat all of the sudden an everything looks shitty on me, so there’s that. If I were smart, I’d put away the sweater and work on something else. But, alas. Not smart.

Now I’m skipping the side decreases and working 2 back darts (counted several times; they’re definitely where they should be in my mind, and hopefully my body will agree).

I’m not sure how it is that I let myself make huge mistakes like that and don’t notice until I’m well past fixing them. I’m striving this year to measure twice and frog far less. I’d say on average, every sweater I knit, I’ve actually knit 1.75x due to frogging and reknitting. Sometimes my reknit rate is as high as 3x. If I pulled my head out of my ass every once in a while, I could get twice as much finished in the same time.

On the other hand, I’m glad that I’m the sort who will frog a whole sweater rather than keep chugging away at something I’ve decided sucks. No use beating a dead horse, right?

But what I don’t get is why you’d want to beat a live horse, either? Or is that what frogging is? Poor horse.