Wednesday, February 17, 2010

more beer drinking is in order.

I'm getting bored with knitting. I think, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I have no decent yarn. I have pretty much used up my stash, not that there was much in there to begin with. The two major yarn sources near me are a pain with two small children. When I bite the bullet and try, in the rush to get the crazy grabby boys out of there, I end up with something too expensive that I don't really like. My easy source, Ben Franklin, has finally reopened. So perhaps I'll head over and pick up some not horribly wallet busting Cascade.

Which leads me to the second problem. Funds. No yarn fund. Jay doesn't drink as much beer lately, so the recyclables are sad. And this hasn't always been the best solution anyway, since in order to have enough, I let the cans and bottles pile up. Grumbles insue. And frankly, it isn't that much money. There's nothing worse than spending an hour loading the car, going to the stinky gross recycle closet, then feeding the cans and bottles into the machines to walk away with like, maybe, six bucks.

And recently, I can't find anything to knit that doesn't make me wince. I hate double pointed needles for longer projects. End of a hat? Fine. A whole sleeve or sock? Hell no. Cables? Ah, maybe. I've been wanting to make these designed by Jared Flood (aka Brooklyntweed).



But I've never really done any cabling. I should be challenging myself a little more, but I'm always so hesitant. I'm a immediate gratification knitter and troublesome techniques can make me put down a project pretty fast. I guess lately I've just become impatient and unmotivated. Bad combination.

SO I think I've found the solution to get my knitting mojo back. Why not a class? In a lakefront cabin? In front of the fire?With Jared Flood?

You can actually do that at Squam

It's like art camp for adults. Can you imagine? Cozying up in a lakefront lodge and finally diving into stranded colowork with the designer of this?



Of course that particular class is already full, but it's not like I was actually going to go. But seriously, I think I'm putting Squam on my life list. I will go at some point. It's only 3 hours away, and just a long weekend. Since I am no longer a source of nutrition for either of my children, things like this are once again possible. The $1000 (meals and cabin included) price tag is undoable at this point, but I'm thinking perhaps next year? Or the year after? The fact that they just introduced a "Squam by the Sea" in the Outer Banks feels like the universe is speaking to me. Like "HERE, you should do this." Too bad the OBX session isn't more like the textile oriented one in New Hampshire. It's a little more yoga, make an animal totem kinda session. Hey, I'm open, but if I'm dropping a grand I better be pretty stoked about what I'm going to get to do...and it sounds like there might be alot of um, sharing. And I ain't paying for that.

So I guess that's not really a solution to my knitting funk. At least not my current knitting funk. I was eyeing some of my old scarves last night, thinking of perhaps unraveling one or two. I never wear them and the yarn is nice, though a bit fuzzed up.

Ugh, is it too early to start planning the garden?

5 comments:

Danielle said...

Sounds like it is time for a visit to Florida! :-) Then maybe it will be garden planting time when you get back.

K said...

If I stay for 3 months. :)

And unfortunately I think plane tickets are more expensive than yarn. I'm actually not hating the winter, I just wish we had some snow!

anniebel said...

I'll bring you up my gray yarn stash next week! It's nice and soft and I'm sick of the color. Start checking out some patterns. There almost 900 yards. And I'll show you how simple the cable stitch is. You'll be amazed!

KL said...

worsted?! Will do. Thanks!!! Looking foward to seeing you guys. And FYI, It's Mardi Gras!

anniebel said...

It's the baby alpaca that I had brought up last time I was up. It's a little lighter than worstered. It's a 3 ply. More like a sports weight. I made a scarf with I think #7 or #8 needles. You would have to knit a little swatch to figure out the gauge. The label says 6 stiches equal 1 inch on #4 needles. Can't imagine knitting anything on #4 needles though, it would take forever. Personally I don't have that much patience!