Foolin' around

The pity party is done, though I am still wishing and hoping that paper can fly.  Instead I shall focus on the knitting.  Knitting is always a consolation.  There is always something to knit around here.  And always something new to cast on.  This is new, but it just replaces something I was unhappy with. Therefore, it is not 'new' new.

The fir cone pattern for the center of a Shetland shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls, knit from a cone of unnamed yarn that looks suspiciously Shetland like. It looks a little stringy and gray right now, but once washed after it is knit, this yarn blooms and becomes something very fine. I am looking forward to the finish!  And the gray is not so gray.  It really is a soft heathery green, perfect for a Shetland style shawl.

This is being knit instead of that lovely Onerva, for my daughter in laws Grandmother.  I love the Onerva pattern and will finish it for myself, but I just was not happy with the quality of my knitting.  The reverse side of stockinette is always the true test of a knitters skill, and I am not there yet. My skills are not ready for that challenge.

So here I am back in the land of Shetland, with a slightly bigger yarn, and a much faster to knit pattern.  Well maybe not a faster knit, but surely a more fun knit than a large centre of stockinette (and yes, there is a wee bit of wussiness involved here). It is a stockinette lace but the pattern hides my knitterly flaws.

I am not going to knit the same border on this shawl as what is shown in the book. I like the border from another just a few pages farther on better, so traditional without all the traditional parts.  The goal is to make a beautiful shawl for a sweet lady.

I have a trip to town and a hundred errands but this afternoon is reserved for knitting on Mr. Needles vest.  I'm looking forward to it.  

A Shout Out to the World

I am the mother of sons.  While I loved being the mother of sons, and was probably best suited to being the mother of sons, I have always longed for a daughter.  

Sons, on occasion, bring daughters into your life.  My eldest did.  

My very treasured daughter is still in Kiev, and we are still waiting.  This is so hard for me.  I can barely begin to imagine how hard it is for my son, Tony and Olga.  Married but not together, trying to build their life together, but just waiting.

I am sorry.  I am having a wee bit of a pity party today, sitting here wishing that government paperwork moved along faster.  Wishing that the good paperwork fairy would clear the visa process faster for us.   

Please world, wish for me my daughter.  Wish for my son his wife. Here.  In Canada.   Cross your fingers and toes.  Send Canadian Immigration a pack of pencils so the stuff that needs doing can all get done faster.  Please world, if you can spare a moment, think of my daughter and wish her to us.

If wishes were horses...maybe it would all happen sooner.  

Knitting From Your Closet

I took a course a while ago with Sally Melville, and while I disagree with some of the things she discussed in class, there was much in the class that I took home with me.  

One of the things she said was to knit the things you wear.  Favourite shirt?  Consider re-interpreting it in knitting.  Favourite sweater? Consider repeating it.  Favourite hemline on a garment?  Put that into your next innovative piece.

So there I was yesterday morning, digging through the laundry in the laundry room, trying to find a top to wear with the other garments I intended to wear.  I have enough summer short sleeve tops, with necks designed to wear pretty necklaces, great for showing off small shawls.  They have been fine up till now.  Our weather has been stunningly lovely for this late in the year.

But this week, everything changed.  Winter has arrived.  No point in gradually getting colder, gently acclimatising us.  No it lands in one fell swoop.  From +10 C down to -20C in one fell swoop.

As I was getting dressed yesterday I dug and wished for a turtleneck or at least a fake o' turtleneck.  It is time to cover my neck and wear it close so no body heat escapes.  Sort of.  

I need short sleeves.  Why short sleeves?  Because when it gets busy at the yarn store, you have to toss your layers, and get down to as little wool as possible.  There is also the middle aged woman thing, that means there are times when...well, just trust me.  If you are a middle aged woman, I need not explain about suddenly warm.  

In my eyes, the perfect winter top is a short sleeved turtleneck or high crew neck. The ones I used to wear are just not fit for wearing in public.   It hit me.  Knit the things you wear.

So I am on the hunt for finer yarns that will make great tops for wearing under sweaters.  It has to be just the right blend of fibres.  Pure wool very likely will be too warm.    

This is what I came up with.  Duett from Sandnesgarn, a washable wool cotton blend in a fine fingering gauge.  As soon as Mr. Needles sweater is done, as soon as my green vest is done, as soon as my black Elysium is done, I will begin the knitting of fine turtlenecks.  

And I just might get them done before the winter is over.  

Wishing I was inspired

But alas, I am not.  

I haven't really picked up any knitting for a few days.  I can tell.  I have a cold in my head and it isn't any fun.  I am going to stop for the appropriate drugs on my way to work today.  Here is hoping that they are strong enough and that they work all day.

Tuesday works

What is this working on Tuesday thing?  I know not of this Tuesday working thing.  

I picked up a day filling in for someone else, and my week feels just slightly skewed.  It feels like Thursday but it is only Tuesday.  That will make my Wednesday be on Thursday and my Saturday be too far away.  If you know what I mean.  (if not, please accept this is how my brain works.  Scary isn't it?)

But, driving home last night gave me the opportunity to hear something on the radio in a time slot I normally don't hear.

There was a musician being interviewed, an interesting man, who said he had never quite been able to see himself as just musician, as a teacher, but that he also felt like a student, a band member, a player. He felt there were just so many ways, big and small that his music touched his life, was interwoven with his life, that one word could never possibly contain all the many layers he feels from his music, within his music.  That he was passionate about music was not in doubt. 

That is exactly how I feel about knitting.  It is not just one thing, it is so many small things, and big things.  It is not easily quantifiable, but it is so right, so much a part of me.  

From the memory of that brownie swatch where the instructor said I was doing it wrong, but could not tell why my perfectly knit (for a 6 yr old) square was wrong, to the funky knitted Christmas socks, to my first pairs of socks before I realized that I was still purling twisted on sock ribbing... 

Yesterdays knitting adventures were yet another way that knitting has touched my life.  I picked up my small machine, a Singer LK 100, a hobby knitter, from an old Club Z program from Zellers, in the late 80's or early 90's. I really wanted to knit sweaters.  I really needed to knit, but somehow the machine lagged and it lay, not forgotten but in the state of getting around to it for all those many years.

All of these things, all of these attempts, these desires, these lame and lacklustre efforts were supposed to happen so that I could land in the world of knitting now.  Perhaps something magic was supposed to happen if I landed in the world of knitting now.  That must have been it. Magic it is.  

I am not who I was, I am not where I was, I am not what I was.  In so many ways, knitting changed me, and in all the ways it has completely filled all the places that needed filling, it has not changed the core of me. It has added spice, colour, grace, forgiveness, acceptance and patience and it has made me a better person.  

How lucky can a guy get?  I live in the land of knitting.  Teacher.  Student.  Explorer.  Practitioner.  Participator. One word.  So many layers.

When Distracted

When I am distracted, I really ought to stay far away from wool.

Yesterday I knit about 3000 m of yarn.  I am making a blanket for my bed,a big warm blanket, simple rectangles of the basic natural tones of Lion Brand Fishermans Wool.

I was not sure if I would like this yarn.  I assembled it over several years.  It was a reason to go to the big box stores.   If there was no sock yarn I wanted, then I came home with this.  It is after all an incredible price and for a project of size, you do want an incredible price.  It isn't fancy, it is a wee bit coarse, but when knit up, I am  impressed with the fabric it makes.

No magic here.  It is a quickie machine knit.  I have two more rectangles to knit and then a border to add on, probably in crochet, to stabilise the whole thing and to help the edges lie straight.  

This isn't included in the Knit Metre totals on the side bar.  That is strictly hand knitting.  It would seem wrong, like cheating to add machine knitting to that.  They are after all 2 completely different sorts of things.

'Monday, Monday, so good to me'

I am a wee bit distracted today.  I have so many things I want to accomplish.  And so few hours in which to get it all done.  

But mostly, my head is in the dirt today.  I have been thinking about all the things I want in my garden next year.  

It is time to pull out the old garden notes.  Every year, I used to cut out the blurbs from the seeds I planted and paste them into a journal.  Then I wrote notes about how well they performed.  I tried to assess plants and production for the conditions I had.  I had hoped that over the many years I planned to garden, that I would be able to figure out which varieties of peas I like the best, which potatoes I preferred, which zucchini.  I had hoped to have thick journals with many details.  And then it all ended.  And I have not had a vegetable garden since.  

It sounds silly, but it won't be long now and the seed catalogues will be out.  I know I have time to think about it all, but if you want to start seeds indoors, you have to be ready to begin by late January or the beginning of February.  

In that long time ago, I had peas, carrots, onions, potatoes, corn, cucumbers.  Just ordinary things.  And zucchini.  I always seemed to have an extraordinary crop of zucchini, but then, who didn't.  My biggest adventure was asparagus.  It would have produced its first crop the year we moved.  

I want more this time.  Much, much, more.  I want turnips and garlic.  I want a few tomatoes.  I want cucumbers enough that I can pick them small and pickle real honest to goodness baby dills. ( I want dill and herbs in this garden too).   I want raspberries and apples and gooseberries and plums and strawberries...

And I have to begin to figure out just how I am going to store all these things too. This current house does not have a cold room, unless you count my study.  And I may yet consider that, though there would have to be some adjustments.  I'm not sure yellow is a good colour for storing vegetables and it is nice and sunny in here.  

And the big question, if the vegetables move in here, just where the heck will all this stuff go?  

Seriously, I am considering building a good old fashioned root cellar at the farm. I have a suspicion that Mr. Needles is not even remotely thinking of it.  Indeed I think he would be appalled.  

Such is the set of my thoughts today.  Today garden paths are true garden paths.  Simple knitting accompanies it all.

Or it will once I fix this mess.  

(Song lyrics in title:  'Monday, Monday' by John Phillips)

The land between

Sometimes, there are so many things I would like to knit, that I am left wishing for more hours in the day, more in the month, more in the year.  Sometimes I have the overwhelming need to learn to knit faster.  

Yet some things require slow.  Some things are best done deliberately, with great care.  Some things are best savoured, best when you really slow down and taste the goodness.  Knitting is like that too. 

Somewhere between this slow dance of savouring each moment, and the desire to knit faster, to knit more, is where I am.  

I love this Watershed pattern.  I really really love the yarn, Renaissance from Classic Elite.  With these, I dwell in the land between.

Of Rights and Wrong Again.

Have you ever completely lost your sense of direction?  You know, where north becomes south and west, east, where familiar landmarks approached at a slightly different angle become something completely unrecognizable?  

That is exactly how I feel as I work on Watershed.  I have lost my sense of direction over some small but very important words. This is not a criticism of the pattern.  I cannot see how she could possibly have made it clearer.  No the fault, as usual lies with this knitter.

I am onto the body knitting now, which has lace panels at each front edge and a lace panel up the centre of the back.    There are three charts, a centre chart, a left chart and a right chart.  

Which do I follow when?  Right side of fabric or right edge?  Reading charts from the right or reading charts from the left?  Left edge of right chart? Right edge of left chart?

Its not a difficult knit. The lace is simple, but you do have to do the right thing at the right time, and the right time to do the right side is not always the right I am thinking of.  

It is a pattern that feels intuitive but I am already aware that the moment I feel comfortable with it, is the moment I have to watch carefully.  I am about to commit knitting that cannot be corrected.

The funny thing is that the re-knitting I am doing is Ok.  Really Ok.  I feel good when I do it because I know that when I do it again, I will be doing it right.  (Maybe left)     

It occurs to me that just like when I get comfortable with a pattern, that the moment I am really really OK with re-knitting is probably a warning sign.  It likely is the moment that I should recognize I have completely lost it.  

A Matter of Time

I don't usually work Mondays or at least I haven't for a long time. Working Monday made it feel as if something unusual happened.

It felt like we took lunch late in the day.  I had no idea what time it was, but it felt like late.  A couple hours later, I asked my co-worker what time it was (she wears a watch) and it was 3:30 p.m. That hardly seemed right.

I think I asked her a dozen times after that.  Something felt so wrong.  Completely wrong.  It was just wrong.  And hour later, after I was sure we had worked long and late I asked her again.   

What the heck was wrong with me, that the day felt so late, yet hardly any time had passed.  She said the same thing.

Ahhhh.  Time change. That was what was going on.  The light from the south window was telling us it was later than it was. I had been  been following the light cues all day and the long, long DST adjustment made everything feel wrong. 

I hate time change. And this fall change is the easy change. You get to sleep later.

The real measure of time is experienced more than measured.  If we are knitting something that is deeply valued by us, time moves at lightnings pace. If we are waiting for our pot of tea to boil, time moves slowly. If you are waiting for a treasured daughter in law`s paperwork to clear the governments bureaucracy, time moves at a glacial pace.  

Our ancient ancestors would have marked the passage of time by the rise and fall of the sun and where that sun set on the horizon.  They would have watched weather and temperature as well to mark the times they needed to measure to survive.  Small measures of hours were pretty meaningless.  

We no longer allow ourselves the luxury of experiencing time the way our ancestors did, large scale watching the movements of the sun and the earth.  We have mangled the whole notion of time. Time is measured and ordered and sorted within an inch of our lives.  Our species likes this sort of order, I suppose but really, does that harshly measured time mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

And that wasn`t enough.  We invented Daylight Savings Time, and try to convince ourselves we actually gain rather than just shifting our measure of time to start at minus one rather than one.

 It is a way of thinking that is slightly less logical than this map of  the legislated time zones of Canada.  It looks goofy.  I mean, half hour later in Newfoundland.  It is goofy.

Still it is the way we measure our lives.  And goofy measure or not I have an appointment this morning that I have to keep.  Maybe if I take my knitting, the pleasure of it will offset the tedium of the wait and 10 minutes will only feel like 10 minutes.  

I did not knit on the vest.  To be truthful, I didn't even look at it.  A lot of concentration will have to happen to knit that vest and I'd rather do it when I have a feeling of time.  

Right now, I don't have the feeling of time.  I am working 3 weeks in a row where a.) I am working 5 days a week, and b.) my 2 days off are split by a work day.  I wish I were stronger.  I wish I was not such a wuss, but of the 2, it is surely the split days off that are difficult. It is what it is, and I shall work on things I have to focus on after these few weeks are done.

 In place of the vest, I am knitting this, my version of Amy Swensons Watershed.  Nice wee cardi/vest pattern, complete with enough challenges to be interesting, but not enough to be painful.

I am also knitting a small Baktus,a sideways knit triangular scarf.  This one isn't for me, it is for the store.  Every once in a while, in any yarn store you get yarns that don't move quite so well.  The multi colour stuff,  is one of them.  I'm knitting a small sample so that scarf knitters can see what it could add to their multi yarn scarves.  

So many things, so few hours.  Insert one 32 hour day, please.  

Post Sweater Lull

There is always a period after completing something large where my hands just sit for a bit.  The urge, the itch is quieted and calm as I sit and dwell in the land of satisfaction.

In the quiet, I took out Mr. Needles vest and had a good long look at it.  I have been worried that one section of the perrie patterns was going to be too tight and would need to be reknit.  That idea was so strong within me, that I have spent weeks avoiding looking at this vest.  In that strong avoidance, I emptied a basket of sock WIPs started 2 other simple sweaters, finished one.  Not too shabby, even if the motivation for these was a negative sort of motivation.

There is nothing wrong with the vest.  One section is a wee bit tighter, but not what I had it built up to be in my mind.  My bit of blocking last night showed that clearly.  

Taking stock of just where the vest was at was easy.  There is a bit of the shoulder to knit, about 8-10 inches, then to steek, and knit the button/zipper and armscye courrugated ribbing, and then to knit the pockets.  (The pockets may get knit before the bands.) I think my hands are ready to tackle the vest again.  The Cascade 220 felt good, comfortable in my hands. 

A Leisl sweater is a speedy easy knit.  An Elysium is a hypnotic knit.  Socks are regular and comforting knitting. I am ready after these things for the intensity of the vest.  Bring on the charts.  Have at it.  Conquer it.

Knit Night

Though last night was my knitting evening with friends, that is not the sort of knit night I am talking about today.  I`m talking about the kind of knit night that means I have been awake since 1 a.m., out of bed since 2 a.m., at which time I decided there was no point lying there, so I got up to knit.  It is now 4 a.m.

Knit all night. You wonder how I get so much knitting time in.  This is how.

But knitting at night does have its advantages.  My sweater is done and blocking 

and I am back to working on my black Elysium.

I am also contemplating this.  

Shelter, the new specialty yarn from Brooklyn Tweed.  In case I forget to mention it, I forgot to show my knit night ladies this yarn.  They can shoot me next week.  I will even promise to show up. I have no excuses.  

A friend brought it back from New York for me.  (I have lovely friends)  I would like to crawl right inside this warm cushy woolen spun yarn before I knit with it.  

My new camera, a wee SD1300 IS seems to let me.  

And that is the kind of thing I do when I am up all night long. I will go back to bed shortly and will sleep till the 8 o`clock alarm. I think.  I will probably not be the sharpest cookie on the block at work tomorrow.

Almost a Sweater

One sleeve done.  A realistic estimate.  BUT, I also managed to get the hem of the sweater done.  So even the wild far out wing and a prayer dream I had was not that far out.  

If you ever need an emergency sweater and you have 3 days of sound knitting (by the time I complete this, it will be about 16 hours) to do it in, think Liesl.

The new camera is just fine. It will take a little time to get used to its features, but so far so good.  And it has a macro setting!  I always wanted a macro setting.   

How I was goin g to take photos

It is completely possible that you won't see this sweater till it is done.  

My camera is misbehaving.  The on off switch is misbehaving.  I can view photos but not take them.  Sigh.  This might mean that I need a new camera.  Which really is ridiculous.  Sigh.  My adventures today will mean a new camera.   

The sweater I am currently knitting (one of two) is a Liesl .  I have knit this once before and just like that time, this sweater almost seems to knit itself.  This is a speedy knit.

In the pictures I would have taken for you, you would have seen a sweater almost at full length.  When the current ball of yarn is done, the body will go on holders and the sleeves will be knit, and once those are done, any and all yarn remaining will be used to knit the body of the sweater longer.  

The real world says there is time today to knit one sleeve today. The deep inner me that lives a rich knitting fantasy life thinks I will be able to knit both sleeves and finish the sweater to wear to work tomorrow.    

Oops

I would show you what happened except I am downloading 'The Gentle Art of Plying' right now and it is going to take a couple of hours. 

I'm doing it via Internet Explorer because Abby Franqemont's 'Drafting" video took 10 hours via Google Chrome.  I think.  I went to bed.

Besides giving me a headache, waiting and watching this happen so slowly gave me a very long time to knit yesterday.  I just wasn't knitting on the black sweater.  Had I done so, I would be almost done the black sweater.  Instead, I have sitting here in front of me, two partially completed sweaters.  (with Mr. Needles vest sitting not too far away, partially complete.)

This second sweater is going to be fine.  I'm doing it in a yarn that has been hanging around the store from Needful Yarns.  The yarn is Super, a chunky, fine, fine, many plied superwash merino.  

I'll show you tomorrow. After the download is done.

Black is Black

Black is Black.  Yet another sweater connected 60's song reference!  This yarn sure is black.  I hope the deep black lets you see what I see close up.

 I think you can see the beginnings of the shape of this sweater.  Very simple.  The short rows do all the shaping to take the form of a round yoke.  

It looks a wee bit sack like without the benefit of blocking but it is going to look great when it is done.  Already I can see that.  

Looking great is not enough.  It can look great in principle even when it has serious flaws.  If you read project posters on Ravelry, the one comment is that the sleeves are really narrow.  And oh my goodness that is what I am finding.  The upside of this sweater is how very easy it is to adjust to make it fit.  It is all in the short rows.

The pattern says to knit the shoulder, and then to join with the bottom and to immediately begin knitting the back. ...Not likely.  

Not unless you were very, very slender, 12 year old girl slender, could you do this and have a nice fitting sweater.  Most women will need to knit something of an underarm. My first sleeve version had 2 more short row sections than the required number over the shoulders and 8 garter ridges for the underarm.  Too tight.  

A few more rows of underarm were knit. I tried it on again, but it still was not quite right.  The sleeves are fine, but it is pulling too tight, right where this sweater is most vulnerable, where the yoke and sleeve join.  

It has been taken it back one more time and another garter ridge or  2 will be knit and and I shall try again. That ought to do it.  

My other major modification is hip shaping.  To fit nicely I need more inches at the hips.  Flaring at the center might look good for those without hip issues but too much flare just draws attention to what is not one of my better features. It will look far better if it hangs gracefully down from the neckline.  At two points on the front and 2 points at the underarm, I knit 35 stitches and turned, and then 40 stitches and turned, and then back to the regularly scheduled shaping. To keep it tidy, I am doing this hip shaping on the first row of a 6 row shaping set. And it is working.  It gives flare at the front without excess.    It gives just the right sort of shaping.

So onward I go, knitting some, trying it on.  By Monday this sweater will be substantially done.  Or I think it will.  Its pretty hypnotic and an amazing amount is being knit without me even noticing!  

Decadent

Mr. Needles left early this a.m. for a work trip.  He will only be gone a couple of days which is nice.  I stayed in bed.

Before he left, he made some coffee so I am sitting here late for posting, sipping a coffee someone made for me, feeling very quite content.

  

Having someone make coffee for you in the morning feels very decadent.  

To everything there is a season

It has been a few days now and that crystalline white stuff is still here.  Drat.  The weather is supposed to warm next week, but the chances of it melting after this many days on the ground is zilch.  It is here to stay. To everything....

Because it is here to stay and because I could not get some yarn back in the closet, I am working on yet another sweater.  Who knows, maybe it will be an almost 10 sweater year.

I am knitting Elysium.  I saw this soon after the pattern popped up on Ravelry.  Cascade 220 in a rich murky green heather was my first choice of yarn but yarn and pattern did not feel like an urgent project, though the sweater was always on my mind.  

As I tidied, I came across a yarn I have had out of the closet since spring.  I came across it again when I was tidying up after the great stash out.  The yarn is Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2 ply. Contrary to what Ravelry's yarn database says, this 2 ply is a dense and full worsted weight (the database thinks a 2 ply must be sport).  

It is a funny yarn.  It feels a little ...I am trying to think up the right word here...Sigh.  OK trying again.  When it is wound in the skeins it feels hard. Dense. Reserved.  It feels a little prairie if you will.  It looks like a simple yarn.  It looks like it could not possibly have any secrets hidden within, as if it had no layers. It looks a little dour.  Prosaic.  

Like prairie people, it hides its true nature from those who will not stop to look deeper.  It might feel thick and hard in the skein, but the moment you wind it into a ball, magic happens.  When you wind it into a ball, it begins to breathe and fluff up and becomes this deliciously soft thick stuff.  It feels very sheepy, rich with lanolin, and ... really wonderful.

The true gift is that when you wash it, it blooms even more.  In garter stitch, it becomes this thick deep fabric that you just need to wear.  

In all the cleaning and sorting and goings on round here, one of the bits I did while waiting for the computer, was wonder what the heck I was going to do with this yarn.  I did not like my original plan for it.  I liked but did not love my next sweater try.  The yarn felt like it wanted to be different. After listing it in my stash, I searched through all the projects made with it.  Not a soul used this yarn for a sweater like Elysium, but Elysium is what came to mind.

Elysium is designed for Malabrigo, one of the softest yarns on the market.  Mule Spinner 2 ply is one of the earthiest.  But this yarn, this earthy dense rich warm yarn seems somehow, just right for this sideways knit garter stitch sweater.  Just so very very right. You would not believe what is going on here. 

The yarn is black.  So there are not going to be a whole lot of photos.  It isn't going to take long to do this one up either.  It has only been two days and I am past the first sleeve section.  Its hypnotic to knit too.  Knit in 6 row or 3 ridge repeats, it just zips along and the sweater almost happens without your knowing it.

I think I am fated to like these simple yarns, yarns that feel like home.  There will be more knitting with them.  To everything there is a season and winter in Canada is the right season for Mule Spinner 2 ply. 

I almost...

I have finished the mammoth task that was entering my stash on ravelry.  My shoulders are stiff and my mind is sort of blank, and I am tired.  Tired yes, but I think I am going to like it.

It is so easy to see exactly what I have and how much of it I have.  The benefit was immediate.  I played on it looking at patterns at yet another way. Like all the other cool things about ravelry, you can search by starting with your stash.  Click on a yarn and you can search for all projects in that yarn, or for just cardigans or baby things or shawls or whatever you want.  I love the search versatility of ravelry.  

Bu it has also been a good thing to see what I have in there.  Right in front of me.  Sorted by quantity.  (shivers) Sorted by metres. (shivers twice) It is probably a good thing.  By my rough calculation I have large quantities (over 700 metres) for almost100 sweaters.  And that isn't counting the lace.  

How long would it take a person to knit 100 sweaters?  If I knit 10 sweaters a year for the next 10 years, I will just be catching up.  I don't plan to knit 10 sweaters a year.  That would be almost all my knitting time.

I have enough lace to last me a very very long time.  I could knit many many shawls of size and IIRC, without looking, I can knit close to 100 lace scarves or small shawlettes. 

And then there is a whole host of scarf yarn and mitten yarn and small project yarns.  

And sock yarns. Which is mentally don't count as stash, but really it is, isn't it?  I have enough for a whole new sock wardrobe of socks for 5 years.  I will knit for a very long time on what I have here and I will love every minute of it.

By the by, I have not listed a bunch of coned yarn that I have, Jaegerspun something or other and several cones of various colours from Webs cone sales. I also have not listed things already in projects.  Seriously I had to stop somewhere and I drew the line at yarn on the needles.  And I think I forgot to list my Zauberball and a few yarns in the drawers of one small cabinet.  I'll get those done in a few days.  

I have always been a wee bit ashamed about my stash, but only when I am talking to ordinary people.  I have always been comfortable with it around knitters.  A knitter understands about stash. Still, even for knitters, it is a large stash.

The very good thing about digging deep like this is that it is packed up nice and tight for the season.  Until I need to get some out to knit that is.  In the digging and the sorting this weekend, I somehow managed to get a lot more yarn into the closet.  

Which means that I have some spa....Slaps self upside the head.  Cut it out.