At a loss

Losing important items is at the top of the list of things that concern me of late. I feel a bit like I'm losing my mind--and believe me, with a family history of Alzheimer's, I worry about this losing of things. Michigan lost today, but that doesn't bother me as much as losing my driver's license, the charger for my camera battery, or the neatly bundled double point needles which is what sent me into finally organizing my knitting room in the first place. The needles are still missing in action, but believe it or not, I'm not done reorganizing all that I apparently own.


I've outed my yarn and fiber stash before on this site, but even I'm a little taken aback at what seems to be the beginning of a yarn store. I honestly believe that if I never bought yarn again, I'd still have enough to knit until the end of days. The last time I showed photos of my yarn stash, my sister told me she wouldn't buy me yarn for Christmas because she wasn't "going to feed into that." Sheesh...like it's a problem or something. Ha.


Someone who does like to feed the yarn beast is Sara. She made me this project book using ideas from Martha Stewart's website. I've not used it yet, but now that I found it (buried in the mess), I will.

This room is the smallest bedroom in the house. In fact, if I had my bedroom upstairs and had no need of a knitting room, I'd have probably converted this space into the mother of all closets. Before I began reorganizing, that's sort of what it was. Oh who am I kidding? It was turning into a junk room.

I read an interesting article about organizing yarn by color weight. So instead of separating by types of yarn, like lace weight, DK, worsted, or even fiber content, I organized by color family. This is the right side of the shelves with the creams, beige, greens and multi-color blends.

And here is the left side with reds, blues, purples and the bottom shelf which has yarns grouped for special projects. Once I started putting the yarn up, my hands just automatically went to where my eye thought they belonged. Interestingly, when I look at the pictures, it makes sense. Don't red and blue combine to make purple? I didn't plan it this way, but using what I'd read, I just let it happen. It looks good to me, and I have to say, this space feels so right and incredibly special even thought it isn't quite done.

I still need to find the perfect rug and window treatments. I did think about a piece of furniture I had built to fit a mudroom over at Rachel's house. It was a built in bench that a woodworker made for me. We never secured it into the walls and it's not being used now, so I'm re-purposing that piece for bench seating beneath the windows and built in storage. I'll have cushions made for that spot so it'll be cozy.

Grouped together, I think the colors are kind of appealing to the eye.

Now here is the interesting thing...I always thought I bought a lot of green yarn, but apparently, I just buy, and make, an extreme amount of all colors of yarn. Did I mention that this is in no way all of it?

It's a start to being better organized and creating a space that's all my own. Here's hoping those needles show up one of these days.

Blue and Green

Today is a huge day for Michigan football fans as the unbeaten University of Michigan Wolverines take on the unbeaten Michigan State Spartans at, The Big House. That would be U of M's stadium, but to most Michigan fans, it's a place of worship where in Rod (coach, Rich Rodriguez) they trust. Maize and blue or green and white flags are flying everywhere. Pumpkins are painted with an M or an S, people are clad in their team's colors, and the weather, a glorious 71 degrees and sunny, is cooperating. My daughter is coordinating a party today for a couple who were married last night. The couple are interscholastic. She went to Michigan and he went to State. That should make for not only an interesting party, but a marriage with lots of spark.

My son, who is a rabid Michigan fan, will be in the crowd--first row of the student section--and I always love seeing his face on the ESPN post game clips. Look for the kid with the wacky bright blue wig. My son will be the young man standing just next to him. He has yet to miss a home game and has become a regular at a tailgate party hosted by a woman who lives 200 yards from the stadium. For some reason, the boy thinks I should go to one of these tailgates and then to a game. It's not really my thing, but since he keeps inviting me, perhaps I should go. The problem is, I have no maize and blue gear. Maybe I could knit something up...

I have no football plans today. In fact, I'm going to take advantage of the fact that everyone else will either be home watching the game or taking up a seat at a bar, and I'm heading off to look for a storage system to go into my freshly painted yarn room.

I'd be disowned if I didn't add this:

Go Blue!

Puddle of Love

First thing this morning, I was forced to make a snap decision on the paint color for the knitting room. I went to the home depot web site and selected a shade called, Sonata. I loved the name and it's a beginning for this very special room. Still not convinced what I'll do with the rest of the room, I'm thinking basic shelves from Ikea and a rug from my favorite tchotchke store, Leon and Lulu's.


The chair I'll use is the rocking/glider I used to rock my babes when they were just itty-bitty creatures. And I'm on the hunt for a funky desk to use as a work station. Think George Jetson, or rather, Jane.


The windows will be a challenge, but for an organic look, I'm thinking bamboo.


It's coming together, and it all started with a promise from my sweety to get the painting done today. I'm so glad he did.


Thank you, honey.

Of course, it doesn't escape me that he likely wants a place for me to hide my yarn away, but I like to believe he's painting that room because he loves me.

The Universe

Something is amiss in the cosmos. We've been slammed at work since late last week and I have to tell you, I'm exhausted. I worked 2 hours on Saturday to catch up from Friday, and on Sunday, a friend plead with me to attend the semiannual hospice memorial. I haven't had a break from hospice stuff in a week and a half. Last night, I ran from 4PM until 1 AM and stopped only once at a local coffee shop to stock up on caffeine and use the facilities--it was the little girl's room that was most important. I then hit the road and put 150 miles on my ride. Once home, I reported off to the next shift and went to bed without shutting off my phone.

That's a mistake I won't be repeating tonight.

I can't believe the day shift people, people. Why would someone call my home at 8:12 AM when report made it plain that I'd worked overtime? There wasn't just one call, there were 3 between the first and the last at 8:35 AM. If people could READ, they'd see that everything they wanted to know had already been reported. Hello? What's the point of killing myself to get my documentation done if nobody looks at it?

Believing the universe to be done crapping on me, and since I was already up early, I went to the Secretary of State to get a driver's license to replace the one I lost. I waited 2 hours with a sea of humanity, many with bad hygiene and some looking too sick to be out mingling with the healthy. I had number 34, which I didn't think was too bad, but when I heard them call number 68 first, I realized there were 66 people ahead of me.

What's a girl to do? I knit. I got two solid hours of knitting done on those socks and so I guess in the overall scheme of it, things weren't all that bad. If I'm sick tomorrow, I'm going to be angry, but at least I'm ahead on the socks.

As the midnight hour is approaching, I'm overcome with desire to call the three women who awakened me this morning and ask them each something stupid, like, is your refrigerator running? If so, you better catch it before it gets away. Better yet, "did I wake you?" That's the one stupid question I like best at 8 AM. Yes, you did. Nobody ever offers to hang up and each only has a quick question. By the time they're done asking, I'm up. For good. I just hate when I forget to shut off my phone.

It's childish, but I really want to call them right now. Instead, I'll just shut off my phone and go to bed as soon as the big and little hands are on the twelve.

Sweet dreams.

Unease

I don't like that some people know what I don't and can't know, but feel they must share cryptically with the rest of us in order to keep us safe. Half a story is all they'll share. I'd much rather have the whole story. Really. I think I can take it.

And I don't like that my sister is in London right now. I wish she'd finish up her business and get home.

Once again, terrorists win with tactics and behavior typically used to incite fear.

Bastards.

Food for thought...

While it was so damned good on a cold autumn day, I should have had only one bowl of the bean chili that I made.

There is a possibility that one can have too much of a good thing.

Trust me.

Splitty. Is that a word?

True to their word, and maybe a little quicker than they said, Knitpicks sent me three skeins of Swish. What better way to decide if I like it than to cast on a swatch? In this case, I did two. Mitre number one.

And half mitre number two. It took as long to knit the half mitre as it took to knit the full mitre.

The yarn has beautiful stitch definition, but it is a little splitty. One moment the yarn has great twist, and the next, I'm accidentally sticking the needle between 6 plies of yarn. I could learn to live with that given the price of this yarn and the fact that it's 100% superwash merino.

It's the colors I'm not sure about. I like the medium and dark shades, but I think the light shade, Sugarplum, is a bit too light. Yep. I'm not diggin' it. I noticed in the bright light and in the photo that the light color makes the medium color look brown. Besides, don't you think that the lavender is so predictable for the light color?

I will say that after the way my week wound up going south in a hurry, I'm glad I have nothing more difficult to ponder than what colors to use for my next project. Besides, it's wet, cold and dreary around here today. Just the kind of day to stay wrapped and draped in wool.

Now how will I choose to spend this week's overtime? Splurge on Trendsetter's Merino VI? Or save a bundle and buy Knitpicks' Swish?

Decisions, decisions.