Because he loves me

I know, I know... if I've been married almost 9 years, then by now I should know for sure that my dear hubby loves me, and I do! But there's nothing like receiving a bouquet of flowers on the day of love from my hunny to help seal the deal, or at the very least make me feel special. I find myself looking at them every time I go into the kitchen, and thinking about my husband, how much I love him, and about the years we've been together so far. I love tulips; they're cost effective, and they remind me of Holland, the home of my ancestors. Plus, they come in so many beautiful colours and they signify spring.

It's been starting to feel more like spring out there. My husband asked me the other day if I thought it might still snow this winter. This is a typical topic of conversation for the people of Victoria. We don't get much snow, but we often get one or two "dumps" in a season, typically after Christmas, and usually when we least expect it (let's be honest, we rarely expect snow in Victoria). Then the whole city goes into practical lock down mode as we really don't have the infrastructure to deal with more than a couple of inches of the stuff.

But, why am I talking of snow??? It's beautifully bright and sunny out as I speak! I've managed to get out in the garden in the past few weeks, clearing away the dead and making room for all the new little shoots that are starting to pop up. On the crafting side of things, I've managed to finish this giant pink cardigan I've been knitting. I know it sounds atrocious, but it's really quite lovely, a pattern I've been meaning to knit for a number of years, and a project that I started back in June. Considering since then I've finished a school year, finished a pregnancy, and endured/enjoyed the first 6 months of my son's life, I think I've done fairly well! I'll take some pictures once I sew on the button (those who know me know that could take a while... ugh, finishing!). Since that project has been off the needles, I've been working on frogging (ripping out) a sweater I never wear to reclaim the wool.

You may recall, I held the yarn doubled for this project; that's a heck of a lot of yarn! I was hoping to hold off posting about this until I had the entire sweater frogged and the yarn re-balled.

So far, I have ripped out the entire sweater, but separating the yarn (since I had it held doubled), re-skeining, and then winding into balls has proven very labour intensive (aka huge pain in the ass). Suffice to say, I have about half of the sweater/yarn done and I already have five good sized balls! I think I should be able to get at least two sweaters out of this yarn.

For the record, I don't think it will snow again... bring on Spring!!

Stash

I am a knitter.

For those of you who knit, this is all the explaining I need to do. For those who don't knit, there is a whole culture associated with knitting that you may or may not be familiar with. Cue the secret knitting terms (really, they're not that secret):

UFO - unfinished object
FO - finished object
Frogged - object that has been ripped out (rip-it, rip-it... get it?)

and, my all time favorite?

Stash is how knitters lovingly refer to their collection of yarn. I believe it's used commonly in other crafts as well (ie stash of fabric). Dictionary.com defines the word stash (noun) as
- something put away or hidden: a stash of gold coins buried in the garden.
- a place in which something is stored secretly; hiding place; cache.
- (slang) a supply of hidden drugs.

Sound familiar my knitterly friends out there? Secret, hidden, drugs? Heheheh... seems to describe STASH to a T! Sweet Georgia, MadTosh, Sweatermaker, Indigo Moon, pretty much any hand-dyed indie yarn I could die for! Cascade, Berroco, Drops, commercial yarns that I looooove to use! I always say to myself, "yarn never goes bad," especially if you keep it in ziplock bags like I do (a residual habit from when we moved). But sooner or later, as the STASH builds up and inevitably outgrows your storage, one starts to wonder if maybe things have gotten a little out of hand.

Like many of my knitting friends, I have accumulated quite the stash, and it's always tempting to buy more, especially when you have visions of new projects dancing in your head and your LYS is having a sale. But, with all the wonderful yarn in my STASH, buying more can leave you feeling a little guilty and I've come to wonder if I might be better off simply buying yarn ONLY when I need it (and by "need" I mean actually need... like I'm about to start a project right then and there, because let's be honest here, "need" can be a slightly subjective term).

So, here is the challenge I am giving myself, call it a resolution if you will. My aim this year is knit primarily from my STASH, and to not buy ANY yarn (I cannot believe I'm saying this) unless it is absolutely necessary for a project that I'm going to start right then and there. I have some really GREAT yarn in my STASH that keeps being put aside for the newest flame. To help me out, I have given myself the goal of pairing the great yarn I have with the equally wonderful patterns I've been hoarding. And, because I think goals should be measurable (I think this one is), and should have a time frame, I am giving myself until the end of January to pair these fibres with their pattern destinies!

This article was originally posted on http://ayeartoexpand.blogspot.com/ Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.