Unexpected Victories

Today was dubbed by my parents a day for housework all around. Of course with that came cleaning my room; and my room is full of...yarn! So in the hopes of becoming more efficient and reducing the number of yarn containers I use, I grabbed a huge Tupperware bin and rearranged all of my other baskets and boxes into new categories. Yet somehow I still have the same number of boxes and baskets as I did when I started, only one is too big to keep on my bookshelf and has no other place to go. At first I sat there and tried to comprehend how a larger container could yield the same amount of space-but then I realized that the others were no longer spilling over with their contents, and the skeins were no longer falling on the floor every time i went to take one out. Whatever, I guess it's a fair trade-space for time.

More surprising-in a good way-was what I gained cleaning out my WIP basket. I sorted thought, tossing the projects I new I would never finish: a beach bag with screwed-up bottom, a flower washcloth that was abandoned after three petals, a scarf who's yarn somehow disappeared. Some others were not abandoned, but altered into sudden completion. A shawl for my mom was first-one of my dogs had chewed an end of the circular needle off 15 inches into it. But with a separate size 11 needle I bound it off, fringeless, for my sister's American Girl doll :) Ta-da!!! I had yet another shawl in the works for my mom anyway after that, so no biggie. The other improv FO was a super funky scarf, the Fibonacci Numbers Scarf from Knitty Gritty. I only had a foot or two done, but it was made of about ten different kinds of yarn, most of which have been misplaced or used. So...I bound it off, sewed the ends together, and got a cowl out of it!

So-instant gratification has a whole new meaning now. Wait long enough to go back to a WIP, and it's almost like you never actually had to knit on it in the first place-just bind off and wear. Cinchy.

Ahhh...Zen!

I had forgotten how calming a simple garter stitch scarf could be. Mindless-there's no charts to follow or lace patterns to memorize. Cinchy-a colorful yarn does the job all on it's own. Still entertaining though, as a smooth yarn = great stitch definition which means you need to pay some degree of attention to the stitches as you loop them across the needles. It's a nice change from lacy cabled fine-gauge socks. Although I'm sure after a dozen of these scarves will slow my heart rate during a hectic first quarter of school, I'll probably be craving something obnoxious, like cabled-lace-entrelac kilt hose or who knows what for winter break. (If there is such a thing as cabled-lace-entrelac kilt hose, the designer should be dubbed the unchallenged Dalai Lama Knitter, and the socks in question should immediately be put on display in the Smithsonian next to the Hope Diamond). Yes, this Banana Berry Scarf is being strung together for a friend. But the Zen that comes from it's creation is mine for the keeping :)

Oh By the Way...

Um if any fellow bloggers know anything bout comments...

How do you get them to show up on your blog? And how do you set it up so you can respond to comments via email?

I can't figure it out and I feel bad leaving the few commenters I have in the dust. WitchyOne in particular considering she's the only one commenting! Haha and cuz I'm sorry you haven't been receiving fabulous alpaca gifts in the mail...I guess Aunt Nan just likes me better! ;) Just kidding glad to have at least one fan. And my mom says hi to her fellow dem.

But seriously if anyone has any idea what I'm doing wrong leave a note I'm clueless!

Another Convert! At Last!

Ya'll know bout my bud I gave the stumpy-yet-stretchy scarf to today? Well for one thing she loved it-and for another she informed me she used to knit herself, and after digging out her old needles and yarn and pulling up a YouTube video she got a few feet into a scarf herself as well :) I'm immensely proud, even though I had little to do with her learning process. (Although it can be argued without the spark there is no flame...alright I'll allow myself cockiness. I helped indirectly). So-I gave a gift and got one in return. Gotta love it-early holiday spirit is here along with the fall air! Mmmm...I love it! Haha enjoy it yourself too before it's gone!

Together...Together...Together Everyone...

Yep, our school is working on a production of High School Musical and I'm in it. No big lead for a freshie like me, just an extra, but still a ton of fun. I must confess the movies never made my list of flicks to obsess over, and I believe that was due to my annoyance with everyone's infatuation over the actors and actresses. It's a whole different story now, as instead of covergirls dancing and singing along it's my friends and I, not to mention we have some songs in the musical version that were missing from the actual movie. Our director rewrote almost all of the songs for four or five part harmony so the guys wouldn't have to kill themselves to reach the higher parts of their range for the whole show, and when we work on the songs they sound pretty good, some almost operatic. The challange comes when we get back up on stage and need to concentrate on dancing and just having enough breath support as well as not slipping up and singing whatever part we hear. The show isn't until the week before Thanksgiving and we've already completed act one and part of act two, so out director is also writing an extremely lengthy medley, (we call it the megamix) with every song in the show in it, just like last year when the classes before mine did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

And along with musical has come knitted requests :) A hat for my friend playing Martha, who also pretty much sings for our whole alto section. Everyone listens for her, so if she doesn't know it? Neither do we. Things get ugly when she misses a practice. A scarf in Super Saver Banana Berry for another bff, who isn't in musical this time around but has done it in the past. And finally another gift for the alto-playing-Martha, who needed a quick scarf for a party and ended up with a shortish one made of Lion Brand Homespun in lack and some kind of slightly graduated tan strung together on size 19 needles. The stretch has almost made up for the stubbiness caused by trying to stretch leftovers. Should get it to her by tomorrow. Toodles.