Saturday, December 30, 2006

A Clean Start

I managed to be home these last two days in a row...one because I scheduled myself off, today because I awoke this morning to 12" of fresh snow.  Another snow day!  What to do?



Well...it was one of those days when I had the urge to organize.  I never know when one of these is coming, and I am thinking that maybe year end is my excuse today.  First...the drawers in the little chest that sits next to my rocker.  Filled with old yarn labels, snippets of yarns, empty needle packages and literally stuffed with scads of circular needles...these were my first targets.  I dragged out the tape measure and needle gauge and set about putting all the circs back into their original packages, tossed the trash, put all the stitch markers back in the goody bag...and horror of all horrors, went searching for all the missing pieces of the two sets of Denise circulars.  (Note to self:  never, never, never buy another 16" size US 9 circular...you own 6 already.)



Finding this too satisfying to describe, I then headed upstairs to fiber world.  Picture a 48" square table with drum carder and baskets of dyed fibers and rovings for blending...and then picture the entire room with scraps of same all over it...not quite like confetti, but close.  Monte and I have compared notes about the other associated side effect of all this spinning stuff...finding sparkly dust bunnies all over the house (or hanging off my socks like little hitch hikers). 



Two hours later, I had put all freshly washed fleeces into bags, picked up all knitting mags and patterns that were strewn all around and organized them, and (ta da!) rinsed and blocked the Charlotte's Web shawl from last winter's group project with Joan and Linda.  It's made of several colors of Koigu handpainted yarns...a couple of solids and the rest variegated...and I must admit to being quite taken with it even though it was a nasty pattern to try to decipher. 



Last, but not least...I gave myself permission to stand at the ball winder and dismantled UFOs that I fearlessly admitted would never be anything but UFOs...sigh...and that felt good...I feel like I'm ready to face a new year of knitting.  How about you?  Do you have a year end knitting ritual?  --Martie



1 comment:

Kay in Dallas said...

Don't know if I have a year-end ritual but do know I dodged the bullet of frequenting two very wonderful year-end sales at LYShops. Hard for yarn shop owner to hear, but I am fast growing my own little one here in the studio so more fiber would be feeding the beast.
Can identify with getting circulars into their own sleeves. I have way too many #6,16 inchers myself. All those baby hats caught up with me.
New Year's resolution: get back to my spinning wheel and do some fun stuff! I am ready!
Kay in Big D