Dead fish, sockyarn and a cashmere cowl

In anyone else's vehicle, that'd be a strange combination. In mine, it's just another day.

My husband, the outdoorsman, got a Happy Crappie Christmas this year! This is the shot after I returned home from the Craigslist exchange. I found a taxidermist online, that happened to have two mounted crappie's (pronounced "croppies" for the non-fisherpeople out there), fish we often pull out of the Lake of the Ozarks. I had to drive about 45 minutes to meet the wife of the fish mounter, hence the sockyarn for the sitting & waiting in the parking lot. The cashmere cowl? Well, these fish are actually just fish SKINS (and eyeballs) and are unbelievably delicate. The slightest bump means broken fins, etc. The cowl was the only thing I could find to cushion the fish from bumping into each other on the ride home.

I know it. I shuddered too when I thought about it. Then I realized that I spend most of my life with goat & sheep hair rubbing up against my face and loving every minute of it. The cowl is handspun from Spunky Eclectic fiber, a 80/20 blend of merino and cashmere, knit into the ZOMG Cowl pattern. Still my favorite handspun yarn and favorite knitting pattern ever. It's funny how you can say things like mmmmmm cashmere mmmmmmm merino mmmmmmmm alpaca mmmmmmm mohair..... and not think of them as the outside layer of smelly critters. Oh. Now I can. Sorry about that.

Merry Christmas from our Kin to Your'n

Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy and all that! Hope you've got plenty of good vittles in the pot and a little homebrew to wash it down with. We'll be celebrating our first Christmas in the new house!

My holiday weekend may not be filled with much knitting. I woke up the other morning with SO MUCH PAIN in my right shoulder. I've either got a knitting related injury or I was abducted by aliens in the night to do manual labor. I'm thinking it must be aliens as my husband woke up the SAME MORNING with his RIGHT collarbone area hurting. Each night I go to bed and it's just a light ache, I wake up with it on FIRE with PAIN. Aliens. Gotta be.

May any travels you do be in a time warp where it feels like no time has passed while massive knitting is done, may you have good weather, safe roads, good food, good company and may the aliens leave you alone.

New Ennea Collective is out! Late Fall -- Deep Sea

The Late Fall issue of the Ennea Collective is out! Click the logo above to go check it out! Very cool fingerless mitts and a sweater have been added to my queue! They've got some great FREE articles on spinning as well as awesome knitting patterns for a small fee. I'm a big fan.

Dialog in my office building's elevator today...

--strange looks being given to me I noticed because the walls of the elevator are like a fuzzy mirror--
ME: Um, it's a legwarmer.
Office Elevator Rider #1: Of course it is.
Me: 'Cause it's Christmas, you know?
Office Elevator Rider #2: Of course it is.

I snapped a shot of myself as I walked out of the building towards the nice patch of snow behind a truck at the end of the parking lot to see why I got the strange looks. I try to get maximum blockage between me & the 6 floor office building built out of SOLID WINDOWS for any yarn related photo shoot. Damn. CYG strikes again. LOOK AWAY from the bad hair. It was a photoshoot for the other end of me. My family's christmas party is TONIGHT. I've not got the luxury of doing my hair or having someone model the legwarmers and THEN take photos. These could have HYPOTHETICALLY been just completed minutes ago during a conference call. hypothetically.

Introducing......Aunt Angie's Legwarmers!

See? They're Legwarmers. OF COURSE THEY ARE! It's just hard to tell when they're fitted over a paper towels roll instead of on actual LEGS. More action shots from the coffee break photo shoot...






Project was knitted out of less than one skein of sockyarn. I used Mountain Colors Crazyfoot which I LOOOOVVVVEEEEE! I'll be writing up the pattern for sale on ravelry and etsy, but think I'll be offering it free to anyone that would sign up for a newsletter here from the blog, what do you think? I'd be nice and not spam or send stuff very often (heck, I barely even post on a regular basis). I'd include patterns, cyg stories or recipes once in a while from the world of TreasureGoddess. I'll also offer the pattern free to any blog readers because you guys rock. REALLY REALLY rock. Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and may all your holiday knitting be done and you STILL get to sleep at some point! (we can dream, right?)

** I just realized someone may wonder WHY on EARTH I'd put my legwarmer onto a paper towel roll. Well, after I FELL OVER after trying to balance on one foot with my butt up in the air, that crazy bad hair day hair getting in my face and holding my arm at a strange angle to get a close up of the legwarmer ON the leg to show the stitch pattern, I went back upstairs to the office to find something to model the legwarmer. Why don't offices have bottles of wine in them? That would've worked awesome! It was pretty much business as usual for my photoshoots.

Could you imagine being Anne of KnitSpot? Having a creative photographic husband doing lovely photo shoots in your beautiful garden or in your rustic home while the sun shines "just so" on your lovely lace wrist cuffs, shawls, hats, etc? A photoshoot where you neither fall on your HEAD or your ARSE and actually have hundreds of photos to choose from? Where you don't have to cram these shoots in on a coffee break in the parking lot of your office building because that's the only time the light is right when you're slaving away like a corporate drone? *sigh* Yeah, I'm sure I'd get bored with all that. Ah well! Until then, it's CYG Photo shoots or nothing!

PS--Aunt Angie's legwarmers are designed with just enough shaping to allow you to wear them 80's style all scrunched down on top of your jeans or sneaky-style under pants or skirts and stay up well to keep you warm!

What can you do with holey socks?

The very first thing you can do is DARN them! There's lots of tutorials on how to do this, so I'll just leave a few links below. I'm not fancy schmancy about it, I just thread a darning needle with some sock yarn that may or may not match the socks in question and weave back and forth until I've created a little fabric to cover the hole.

What do you do when you've darned and darned and DARN IT the whole foot of the sock is too weak to darn any more? Do you throw them out? NO! DON'T DO IT! There's lots you can still do! I've got at least 4 ideas to share here. If you've got more ideas, please leave a comment to share too!

DARN-IT! TreasureGoddess Tutorial--How to knit a new foot for your sock!
Did you knit the Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern for replacable sock feet? Good for you. You don't need this tutorial at all. Go off and feel smug in your preparedness and leave the rest of us alone.

This tutorial is actually designed for socks knit top-down, but would also work for toe-uppers. You may have a little ridge at the join if your sock was knit toe-up.

Step 1: Pick the yarn for your new footed socks. I picked a yarn that would stand out for ease of the tutorial (and because these socks are so old that I've not got the original yarn anymore anyway). You can pick something that coordinates or go for a contrast for shock value. Whatever floats your boat. or rocks your socks.


Step 2: Make the snip. Snip ONE STITCH just above where your holes or weak spots are. If it's just the toes, snip right before that area. These socks have entire week bottoms, heels, toes, etc, so I'm gonna snip just where the heel flap begins after the cuff. Because I never really close that little eyelet left from my turned heel, I started there.


Step 3: Use a knitting needle to work that snipped yarn through all the way around the foot, separating the good part from the holey part.


Step 4: Put loose stitches from cuff onto double pointed needles.


Step 5: Knit yourself a new foot for your socks (or new toes if you only had to reknit that part).


Step 6: Parade about in your NEW non-holey socks! Impress your friends, bore your family, tell everyone you know about your resourcefulness and sock knitting prowess.

I've not finished my new/old pair of socks yet so I'll post that photo with next week's super cool thing to do with holey socks tip!

Darning Links:
Darning Tutorial from Knitty
ehow to darn socks
Youtube Darning Socks video

Why you need to knit 3 sleeves too!

The Serenity mohair sweater is COMPLETED!

Details: Pattern by Sarah Famer (purchased for $5 on ravelry)
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze in a lovely lavender bought for almost nothing at the guild's swap & shop from my dear friend Chelle!
Sleeves: 3, because I'm an idiot. But a GENIUS idiot. Because I ended up with....drumroll please.......

A matching Serenity slouchy hat!

See? Doesn't it look like it was planned? Like I totally MEANT to knit myself a matching hat? And not at all like I was a total idiot and knitted one sleeve on dpns and one sleeve on a circular needle to make one 3-4 inches larger than the other, so I had to knit a 3rd sleeve on dpns. RIGHT? TOTALLY PLANNED.



You know, for a woman that hates knitting sleeves, I'm thinking this was a pretty damn cool idea. I may just have to knit myself a 3rd sleeve with a few extra stitches for all my sweaters! I have to say, it rocks. It really, really does.

My Molly Weasley Scarf

It rocked. There's nothing better than going to a midnight Harry Potter movie with good friends, knitting the night away. What? There were two women "of that age" snorting inappropriately in laughter while waiting for the movie to start? What? FORGETICUS! BIG TIME FORGETICUS! Michief Managed. --I do know the actual spell is Obliviate, no worries!--

I do love Molly Weasley. Dearly Dearly love her. You know, redheads named Molly rock! I'm priviledged to resemble either Molly Ringwald or Molly Weasley, and actually have more in common with the mother of the clan of redheads where small explosions and off-kilter inventions are a daily way of life.



My most favorite yarn deserves to be knit into my most favorite pattern. "I love this cotton!" given to me by my youngest Weasley boy for mother's day. I thought this yarn that was picked out, purchased and hand wrapped by my son deserved to be knit into something to be worn and loved. I was making the mistake of having it sit by my bedside table, being admired. Looked at. Then, on our Weasley Weekend (my two redheaded kiddo's and I watched Harry Potter movies #3-5 all day long on Sunday) I pulled out that yarn and a size 10.5 circular needle and cast on. Joey was so proud of his yarn being knit. I now realize I have the perfect pattern for this perfect yarn!

The way these crazy colors are working into this fluttery lacy scarf, it looks like something that would be right at home around Molly Weasley's neck for sure. It suits her style, and apparently that of my own as well as I am absolutely loving it. I'm using the same stitch count and pattern as I used to make all FIVE of my sockyarn feather & fan scarves (I knit two of the red ones shown below), but with a larger needle. Want to make one with me?


Pick up a skein of sockyarn and size 8 needles or a couple skeins of worsted weight yarn (I'm guessing about 300 yards) and a size 10.5 needles.

Cast on 36 stitches LOOSLEY (use a larger needle if necessary)

Knit 6 rows or 3 ridges in garter stitch (knit every row for 6 rows)

Row 1: K2tog 3 times, [YO, K1] 6 times, K2tog 6 times, [YO, K1] 6 times, K2 tog 3 times.
Row2-4: Knit across

Repeat rows 1-4 until you're close to the end of your yarn. End with 6 rows of knitting (3 garter stitch ridges) after the last Row 1 of the pattern.

Bind off LOOSELY.
Block lightly and WEAR in a true Molly Weasley style, with many colors mixing together, and ends fluttering about. Hug your children and their friends, cook a lot of food, whoop up on death eaters that threaten your family.



The original pattern I used to make my first feather & fan scarf is the Old Shale Scarf from Tiennie, who I just adore. She said a while back to go ahead and print my version of the pattern. I just changed stitch count and not much else, but I've had lots of requests for the numbers I use, so knock yourself out. I'm just trying to make it through the day without falling asleep and then plan to finish my Molly Weasley Scarf over the weekend!

Molly Ringwald

I'm casting on for a new sweater. I'm going to knit this.
Molly Ringwald

Then I will dance about like this.

And then I'm sure my teenaged dream will come true. Hollywood will realize that they really and truly DO need a double for Molly and they'll call me. Because I rock like that and because I still occasionally dance like that too. The fact that it mortifies my children is just a bonus.

I'm pretty clumsy, so a stunt double is out of the question, but if they need a Molly Look-a-Like that KNITS because you KNOW that the next big uber movie for the brat pack will feature a perky, quirky slightly pouty redhead with fabulous taste in hand knitted accessories. Hollywood NEEDS me. They just haven't figured that part out yet, but I'm patient. I'm a knitter. I have things to do while I wait.

I may have enough of this handspun silk to make the sweater, otherwise I'll have to go shopping!





See? We were freaking TWINS. No, we didn't just have red hair, freckles and big toothy grins, we were TWINS.

***GASP*** I just lost the uber cool link for the dance medly on youtube and now have to find it again and it doesn't show up in my history. *sigh* There will be a uber cool link soon.

The link is fixed. Click HERE and dance about like you're an 80's girl again. You know you wanna.

Third Verse...same as the First!

I had no idea when I was a Violent Femmes fan in the 1980's that they were such a wise band. Now, looking back, I realize that not only were they wise before their time, but they also MUST have been singing about KNITTING!

You know those times when you're sitting amdist a CRAP TON of yarn and have no idea of what you could possibly knit? You feel pure angst and the need to knit but just have no knitting mojo what-so-ever? How could one person have SO much yarn and not want to knit ANY of it? This happened a few days back and I swear when the song "Prove My Love" came on my ipod, it all just clicked.

Just last night
I was reminded of
just how bad
it had gotten and
just how sick
I had become.

Then a glimpse of an old project formerly gone bad sparks a little glimmer of knitterly hope. For me, it was the Serenity Sweater. Does anyone remember the two sleeves I knit for it? I thought to myself, THIS time it could be different. I could knit this lovely sweater out of my true love mohair.

but it could change
with this relationship
de-de range
we've all been thru some shit
and if it were a thing
I think this thing's begun

Yup, I decided I WAS going to knit that sweater. I was going to do it and it WOULD work. But first, an appeal to the Knitting Gods that the shxt that made me crazy last time around on this project doesn't come back to bit me in the arse again.

Tell me now
what do I have to do
to prove my love to you

Seriously Knitting Gods, do I need to sacrifice something else? I've already knit an entirely extra sleeve for this thing. Because yes, I was an idiot and no, never thought to compare the thing to the original sleeve BEFORE I completed the entire thing. Yes, it's also knit out of mohair, lovely, floaty, hairy, almost impossible to frog mohair. Surely the gods would be happy with just one extra sleeve, right? That's a pretty damn big sacrifice I'd say.

I'd do anything
I'd do it all
I'd climb a mountain
I'd cross the ocean
I'd knit an entire extra sleeve just to satisfy your sick needs of sacrificial fiber... (wait, that's not in the original song, is it?)
I'd do it all
to prove my love for you

So I did it. I got out the mohair. I cast on with the SAME double pointed needles I'd used on the first non-freakishly large sleeve and knit. and knit. and knit. And THIS TIME I compared the sleeve to it's partner after about a 1/3 of the way.....

And my very favorite part of the song? When they say
Third verse, same as the first


See? Oh baby. I'm back to love love loving my knitting again! And I'm totally bouncing around in pure 80's style singing that song in my head. I did draw the line at going back to my blue eyeshadow days of yore, but just barely. Man, bright blue eyeshadow would totally rock that purple mohair sweater look, wouldn't it?

Creative Hand sale in KC!

Friday, Nov 19th from 4-9 and Sat, Nov 20th 10-5
Click either the photo or the map to get to the Creative Hand website.

OH this is a fabulous sale! There are some seriously talented artists out in the KC area! Come for the fasion show Friday night at 7pm! Shawls, hats, mittens, dish towels, capes, felted soaps, note cards, patterns, HANDSPUN YARN!, fiber, HAND DYED YARN!, more patterns, toys, stockings, holiday gifts, silk hand dyed scarves, you name it, it's THERE! I'll have some patterns, handspun yarn, art yarn, hats and cowls for sale amidst the rest of the glorious stuff. I was blown away last year at the sale and instantly signed up for the fiber guild.

Cool article in a local paper about the upcoming sale! Creative Hand Sale article with neat descriptions

What the hell is a Hackle? And WHY don't I have one yet???

As I was reading the Yarn Harlot's latest blog post, I saw she took a cool class on combining fiber using combs and hackles. I have been busting my arse trying to combine fiber with some lovely borrowed hand carders, which is a HELL of a workout, let me tell you. AND it makes these itty bitty rolags (cigar shaped tubes of fiber) which are cute, but I think a royal pain in the butt to spin. Ok, the spinning isn't hard, it's the creating ENOUGH of the little buggars to have anything worth while spinning. If I were a laceweight spinner, that'd probably not be an issue, but I like dk weight, sport weight, worsted, chunky and UBER chunky weight yarn.

I remember distintcly learning to blend fiber with combs at yarn school. I also remember almost impaling myself and how no one would get too close when I was working the fiber through these Freddy Kruger implements of destruction. Though I loved the results, I knew that I'd kill myself of someone near me (or both) and I'm quite fond of having all four children, my husband and myself with all our fingers and various body parts intact. I must have forced myself to totally forget about the existence of these things, which are basically small pieces of wood with very long, very sharp metal implements sticking out of them that blend fiber for spinning.

After googling, I realized that a hackle is basically a giant long comb, but you attach it to a table or counter and blend enough fiber that you can then pull through a diz (thing with a hole in the middle like a button) and create actual spinnable fiber!! Click the photo below to go to a gorgeous etsy shop full of hand crafted fiber tools that I would LOVE to own....


Now, after coming to the realization that yes, I have a crap ton of fiber that's just begging me to blend it into new creations and spin into amazing artyarn but we all know that at some point I'd be impaled upon these tools I almost gave up.

God Bless YOUTUBE! After watching tons of very creative and not-at-all-clumsy people create amazing spinning fiber with these sharp metal and wood creations I hit upon the ultimate Hackle for me!
Yarn Zombie's DIY Hackle V 3.0 using plastic picks. Here's the videos that have inspired me. I know what I want the husband to make me for my birthday!!!!





More DIY Hackle Tutorials:
DIY Hackle from All things Shea

Aran Brew's homemade Hackle

Have you seen it? Ennea Collective is out! Spin Knit Weave online magazine!

I have to say, it's pretty dang awesome. The world NEEDS more of this! Spinning, Knitting and Weaving patterns, cool calculator things and articles! ARTICLES! I *heart* reading about knitting & spinning (and weaving is growing on me as much as I'm trying NOT to go there) almost as much as knitting and spinning itself!

I also happen to have my first published article and pattern that's not self-published. YAY! There's also some beautiful fingerless mitts and a shawl for handspun that's to die for. Already added to my queue on ravelry!

The patterns are for sale, but are priced pretty low and the articles are all free. Did I say how much I LOVE reading articles about spinning and knitting? Or even articles of knitting WITH yarn you've SPUN? It's genius. Please go check it out. :) Next issue is due out in December. I can't wait.

Here's a few more photos of my Sidewinder Cowl. I have to say a HUGE thank you to my dear friend Carmen of GirlyPurls for taking the fabulously atsy shots that were used in the magazine. The regular, boring photos are from my daughter & me. :) I love that big warm cowls can also be plopped on your head and become fashionable ear warmers/hats without a top.







The article I wrote was how to spin the yarn to create this cowl. My personal technique for plying off both ends of a center pull ball. There's also a link to a video I created to boot. Go read it & watch it and tell me what you think. And now, my very favoritest shot.... (thanks again Carmen!) Do you think it's too crazy to use it as my avatar? MAN I have a big mouth.

Raining balls of yarn

OK, I promise to stop with the videos soon! MAN I'd be out there playing with the cats!

You know, one nice thing about moving and packing up all your things is that you have much less places to LOSE your knitting projects. I'm almost finished with the 2nd sock of the last of the sock yarn still in the house, and I can't find the first one. I know it's not been packed. It HAS to be here somewhere. I've only got about half the furniture and NONE of the clutter, so how could I possibly lose the thing? *sigh* Will have to finish packing the last little bits tonight and see if it turns up. I'm not very anal about knitting my socks (compared to almost other piece of knitting I do). I actually LIKE fraternal socks. I love how one may pool in funky manners and the other diagonally stripes. I love that. I do, however, enjoy two socks that are the SAME LENGTH. I need to find the first completed sock so its mate will be reasonably the same length when worn. Yes, I wear long pants with my wool socks. No, nobody will be able to verify if one is longer than the other. Yes, I'll know. And Yes, it WILL make me insane. So maybe I'm not as relaxed about my sock knitting as I thought I was.

Save the Wool!

This amazing, wonderful wooly stuff is in danger. Local mills are almost a thing of the past and even in England where wool is king, wool is hitting an all-time low, making it too expensive for many farmers to raise sheep for this amazing fiber. Go hug a sheep and buy some wool from a local yarn shop or online.

Another interesting post of wooliness is from Brooklyn Tweed. Have you heard of his new yarn adventure? Brooklyn Tweed's New Yarn Line is amazing. Not just putting a famous name on a line of existing yarn, this man went out and created his special blends of wools and has amazing patterns to showcase these new yarns (many featuring my true love--garter stitch).



Go on, pull some good old wool out of the stash (or even better go BUY MORE at a LYS, online shop or Etsy Store!) and revel in this amazing fiber. No static electricity, no plasticky scrinch feeling as you knit it, it floats, it stays warm even when wet, it breathes, it wicks moisture away from your body and it's WOOL people. I *heart* it very much. Knit a pair of socks for someone you love. Lets help keep this industry alive.

PS, I totally blame the Stashbuckler for the Sesame Street video. She posted a fabulous Grover clip on her blog and I've been yearning for SS all day long. :)

Sneak Peek! Ennea Collective plus online knitting magazine directory

Ennea Collective Sneak Peak

OH, I'm SOOOOOO excited for this new online magazine! Have you heard about it yet? The Ennea Collective's first issue is supposed to come out around Oct 15th! Featuring articles, patterns & tutorials for spinning, weaving and knitting! Can I get a WOO HOO? WOO HOO!!!!!

Plus, I have a pattern and article coming out in the first issue! YAY!

Click HERE to go to the website. There's a sneak peek at a few photos to whet your appetite. There's also a Ravelry Group and Facebook Page for those non-ravelers out there.

I just love good online resources for knitting, spinning and crafting of all sorts!
Here's a few of my knitting online favorites:
Knitty

Twist Collective

PopKnits

Knotions

KnitCircus

Petite Purls

Knitch



Do you have some favorites to add to the list? I'd love to know! Please post in comments.

4! Ounce! Challenge!

Have you heard of the 4! Ounce! Challenge!? Adrian of Hello Yarn, David from Southern Cross Fibre and Amy of Spunky Eclectic joined together for a cool contest. Spin up 4 ounces of fiber from any of the three, design & knit something using the 4 oz, submit it to them and get in a drawing for a crap ton of fibery goodness. Guess when the last day was to submit a design? Anyone? Sept 30th. Um, TODAY. Anyone want to guess when good old, organized, well planned out Christine submitted her design? Um, 5 minutes ago. Awesome!

Go check the ravelry group for a bunch of cool ideas and patterns for ideas for what to do with just 4 oz of fiber/yarn.

Here's my pattern, (ravelry link) the ZOMG Cowl. I spun up some spunky eclectic fiber, 80/20 merino/cashmere and knit up the softest, squooshiest cowl EVER!

ZOhMyGosh this is the softest, warmest, squooshiest cowl EVER! The ZOMG Cowl is just the thing to keep you warm on a cool autumn afternoon/winter day while zooming around the suburbs on a dune buggy with a rusty old muffler pulled from a wrecked car to keep your neighbors from calling the cops because the thing is SO. FREAKIN. LOUD.

Or, um, just the thing to wear on a cool autumn afternoon/winter day walking through the neighborhood like a normal person. That works too. But seriously, you totally need a dune buggy. PS, I know the ZOMG is the snarkier version of OMG, but I'm a bit snarky that way, so it just seems to fit.

PS, my favorite way to wear a cowl is to plop it on my head and wear it like a uber-trendy earwarmer. I amaze myself with my fashionista awesomeness. I also embarrass my children with that very same fashionista awesomeness. Wonder why the kids don't ride with me?

ZOMG Cowl

More finding goodies while packing

I found this little baby under the bed (in its ziplock bag of course) when I was packing over the weekend. I figured it was a sign to sit down and relax for a while, so sat and knit it up into a Chickadee Cowl by Kristen Kapur. I modify this cowl to fewer stitches (I cast on 59 instead of 79) as linen stitch tends to grow sideways and I like a snug fitting cowl. It was spun from merino wool hand dyed by Nikol at ArtClub, and from Yarn School, which is coming soon! Sure wish I was going this year. *sigh*

We had a wonderful weekend at Chez Weasley, spending time with lots of family, packing, sitting and remembering fun things as we found buried treasures under beds, in backs of closets, etc. AND the KC CHIEFS are 3-0! Can I get a WOO HOO? MAN there's nothing better than football knitting in the fall.

It's amazing what you find when you start packing!

I pulled this little project out of the back of the craft closet. Wow, I used to cross stitch. It's been ages. Probably at least 4 Halloweens ago I started this baby. Found it with the "Boo to You" and the eyes stitched. Finished this up just in time for Halloween! I love quick projects, especially those you tuck into something for NO finishing whatsoever!

Oh, and I'm totally screwed as when I shipped off all the sockyarn, I apparently forgot just how fast it is to knit socks when you knit a few rounds waiting at football practice, a few rounds waiting after choir practice..... Holy crap. One down, one to go and then I'm out of sockyarn. Figured I'd better cast on thread up another cross stitch project. Found this one that was probably also started about 4 autumns ago... This ought to keep me busy once the 2nd sock is completed. Only issue is that you can't really cross stitch those itty bitty beads a few stitches at a time like you can knit socks....ugh. I'll be glad when the move's all done!

That ain't right

**They may not look like much, but those are the LARGE sized space bags all sucked down to blocks of wool. You can fit a king sized comforter in each one of those babies.**

That just ain't right! Look at 'em. Layin'there. TOUCHIN'each other. No protection, just rubbin' all up against each other with nary a sheath of rubber/plastic/ziplock in between. All kinds, all types, all mixed up together. Associatin' with each other. sockyarns with bulky, handspun with commercial, solids, stripes, laceweight, cotton, wool, alpaca......

Boggles my mind. I know NORMAL knitters have yarn all in pretty baskets together. They have them on shelves together. I, myself, had some different types toghether, sort of. BUT they all were in ZIPLOCK freezer gallon bags. Every single colorway, every type, each freakin sockyarn had its own. Yes. It may be overkill, but it keeps me and my yarn bug free and happy.

Even worse than seeing them all sucked into bags together, even worse than the fact that one of the space bags has apparently sprung a leak and isn't even protecting the yarn as a whole while its all mashed in there together, is the fact that it's NO LONGER IN MY HOUSE! I KNOW! Insane, right?

Well, we happened upon the perfect house for the Weasleys. And we happened to buy it. Within 4 hours of finding it, the owners accepted our original offer. And within another 24 hours, our freaky Weasley Burrow split level house CRAMMED with CRAP (and a great deal of yarn) had to be mostly emptied out as people were in here LOOKING at it. Yeah. We do nothing planned out and organized. That would make sense.

Of course, that's not the whole stash. It's just what happened to be in my extra dresser. Each in its individual freezer weight ziplock bag. Husband had to get rid of 2 dressers, so apparently extra yarn that isn't being knit immediately does not earn much respect in the whole taking up space thing as CLOTHING that IS being worn on a daily basis. I know. It doesn't work for me either, but in the spirit of not trying to kill each other through this little upheaval, I caved. I said goodbye to a good part of the stash. It now lives at another knitter's house in her guest room. I couldn't take the risk of sending it to the inlaw's. It had to be somewhere that if the place burns down, a knitter would save it.

I actually helped carry the cedar chest to the garage to be shipped away. The cedar chest is home to all things malabrigo and cascade 220 (also each in its own freezer weight gallon ziplock bag.) Yes, I KNOW it's a cedar chest but you just can't be too careful. No, that's NOT crazy. Just well prepared. For those few non-yarny readers of the blog, that chest is my life-blood of yarn. It completes me. I made it through about half a night. I couldn't take it. It was just SITTING THERE. In my garage. Waiting to be driven away. I woke Jeff (there may or may not have been tears flowing down my face at this point) at about 1am. I couldn't sleep. I wanted my yarn back. We weren't going to be moving for another month. I just couldn't do it. He agreed and in a very non-grumpy manner after I made him promise and sign his name that he would, in fact, help me find a way to put it back into the house, let him go to sleep. Hey, sleepy promises don't mean shxt. A CYG's gotta do what a CYG's gotta do. *CYG=Crazy Yarn Girl A great deal of other crap was moved out of the TOP floor's closet which is now home to the cedar chest of glory. The husband earned extra points for not grumping about the fact that it is down 3 sets of stairs and took some serious finaglin' to fit into the closet and caused a few bumped knuckles. I do love that man.

Though it's sad to leave the Weasley house of many levels and exploding things, I figure the new house will have more room for yarn AND children. Plus all the animal skins, dune buggy, ultra wood stove and the husband with a penchant for exploding things are coming along. It may just feel like home after all.

For those of you not impressed with the level of my moving-crap-out-to-sell-this-house, let me point out that at this very moment I have NO extra sockyarn in my house. The only sockyarn I have is an almost knit first sock and the remaining sockyarn to create its mate.