What's in this bag?

Man, I am a bad blogger. Admittedly, there hasn't been much to post about. But still, I could make more of an effort, right? I'll work on it, I promise. Perhaps when I get better internet, it will be easier to remember to post more often.

As a catch up, let me tell you that I'm officially employed as a full-time engineer. Which means that I've been working on finding more permanent housing. It's nice that I was able to stay with friends this summer, but I'm getting a vibe that they love me, but they'd love me more if they saw me a little less. Which is fine, because I think I could really get behind having my own place. I've found an apartment (I move in on the 30th), and I'm working on furnishing it. I don't think I've ever fully appreciated how much work has to go into equipping the entire house. I've always had roommates to share the burden. And all of the furniture I used to have now belongs to my sister... But it's been fun to pick out all new stuff, and visualize what I might want in my new place.

In knitting news, I've been working on decreasing the number of UFOs and WIPs. I don't have as many as some people I know, but there's certainly some that could use attention.

I finished my second pair of "work" socks. I call them that because I take them to work with me, in case I get some free time. Except I stopped taking these to work, since I offered to take the clapotis off of Caitlin's list.

Which reminds me, I finished the clapotis too. Yay! The colors were nice, and I found out that I wrap my purl stitches a little bit differently than Caitlin does. Which is why my stockinette looks different than it should. Always a worthwhile lesson to learn.

Last, but definitely not least, I finished the Highland Triangle! This is a terrible picture, I'll post a better one when I get it blocked. That might have to wait until after I move into my new place. But trust me, it looks nice. And it's great to have gotten one of my effing shawls off of my to-do list. There's 2 more (turns out), but only one of them is gonna get any attention any time soon.






Things that I'm avoiding? Mariah's chuppah (it's not doing anything bad, I just don't want it to turn into a hate chuppah. I'd hate to jinx their marriage), a lace sweater that I don't have the attention for, a chunky cabled vest which has a similar problem (both patterns have so many charts, I'm gonna need a whole table to keep track of it all), and the aforementioned shawl that is in disgrace.

On the list of things that will be getting attention: I just ripped out the start of a sweater that was going to be too small (points for noticing that before I got to the end?), some mystery fingerless mittens that I'm pretty excited about, except I'm pretty sure I can't take them to work (they're on double points), and some boot socks that my sister has requested (I just need to get her leg measurements... not sure how that's gonna happen, but I'm sure I'll figure it out). Alas, none of these are sparking my need to knit. I think I've just got startitis, but I don't want to indulge too much. Starting the mitts and restarting the sweater should count, right?

The first step...

They say the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. Well. I think I may have to admit that I have one. 

I went stash diving today. In the fiber stash, so I could have more fiber to spin this evening for the Tour. I came across a variety of exciting items, but grabbed 2 items: some superwash merino, and a braid of BFL I purchased at the Fancy Tiger, in Denver. Just to make sure, I kept rooting around a bit more to look at everything in the stash bin. My eye was caught by a braid that looked similar to the BFL I had already extracted from the bin. It was odd, I though, since it was in a peachy pink color that I'm not usually persuaded to purchase. 

I pulled it out. It was the same brand, but slightly fluffier. 

I checked the band, it was the same fiber. In fact, it was the same colorway, the same fiber, the same brand. And I knew that I hadn't purchased the two braids at the same time. For one thing, they were slightly different in their colors. And for another, I remembered purchasing both of them at different times. From the same store. And I hadn't realized it until today. 

Like I said. I may have a problem. An impulse problem when it comes to stash enhancement. Now that I'm aware of it, I guess that means I can fix it? I hope...

Anyway, enough true confessions. Let's get to the Tour update! I've been spinning a lot. Doing very well on stash busting. 

Last night, I pulled out some mystery fiber that may have been mohair-silk-something or other. It's really pretty, but not very nice to touch. I guess I'll wash it and see what happens then, but I'm not hopeful. I also plied the Dragonfly singles from this weekend. They are lovely, at least! 

Today, after my stash diving adventure, I plied the mystery singles. Again, pretty to look at, not very nice to touch. Then I yanked out one of the BFL braids. Cuz, hey! I have a lot of it, surprisingly. And I'm a little embarrassed about it. So, spun 2 oz of that nonsense. 

Tomorrow, I have the day off. Caitlin and I are going to see a movie, and I'm going to do some homework, and I shall endeavor to take a larger chunk out of the BFL surprise. Should be a productive day! After I sleep in, of course. 

On your marks...

You know what tomorrow is? The Prologue for the Tour de France.

You know what that means? I need to come up with a Tour de Fleece goal. Other than "spin a bunch of the stash so you look like less of a hoarder." I mean, that's a good goal, but it would be good to be a bit more specific, right?

I've not been getting much done lately. I spun a few things.

Like the Oatmeal BFL-Tussah Silk from Frabjous Fibers that I purchased at Wool Market. Ohmygod it's luscious. I mean it. The fiber is lovely, the color is lovely, it was a joy to spin. Holy cow. I'm pretty addicted. I wish I'd bought more of the stuff.

Then there's the angora-wool blend that I bought from Woodlake Woolies last year at Wool Market. It's pretty, and soft, and a little bit sparkly. But not all that exciting. Thank goodness there wasn't all that much of it. Now what do I do with it?

More exciting, there is some bamboo something or other. Again from wool market. From Your Daily Fiber (I think). It doesn't have a tag on it. But it's lovely to spin. Like spinning clouds. And it's shiny, and soft, and I lurve it. Good thing, cuz there's a lot of it. I still need to spin 3/4 of a braid. Yeah man.





I have been knitting a little bit too. I got the yarn in for Mariah's chuppah, so I've been working on that. It's nice that the yarn is chunky, and goes quickly. The pattern is easy to figure out, and I think that she and her fiance are really gonna cherish it, so I'm pretty enthused about that. Except that it's gonna get huge and wooly, and it's roasting this summer.

I've been trying to finish my highland triangle shawl, but that's kind of slow going. It's pretty, but there are lots of stitches and the pattern is a little bit boring.

And then, I've been suckered in to knitting my 4th clapotis. That pattern is like a disease. There's a reason we call it "the clap." The worst part? Only 2 of my 4 were knit for me or someone I know. Caitlin's grandma wants one, though, and Caitlin doesn't really want to knit another one. So I volunteered. Cuz I'm a good friend like that.

And amongst all this stuff, I still need TdF goals... I'll think on those. And hopefully let you know tomorrow what I decide. We shall see.