1870 pearl

Time Savers Part 1

Often I read the knitting blogs and I see so many knitters telling their woes of having to rummage around to find the right needles, dig around in three piles to find that one special pattern, or spend several hours untangling yarn before they can start a project.  This is a sad waste of prime knitting time. I work full time, come home and proceed to clean the home, cook dinner, help with home work, etc...until about 8:00 p.m. when I can sit, knit and visit with my family.  I just don't have time to waste searching for this or that when bedtime comes so quickly at 10:00 p.m. I need to have my knitting and notions ready when I am.

One of my favorite knitting helpers is my small tackle box that I found at Basha's for 99 cents. I adore this kit. I contains all the knitting supplies that I need and lives at my feet when I'm knitting and in the T.V. Armour when I'm not.

It contains everything I need to knit and I mean everything.

Un-adorned stitch markers. I put these on a key ring so they don't get lost.

Waste cord for provisional Cast-on.

A nice length of crochet cotton to use as a life line, size 10.

Clover row counter.

Bobby Pins used as row markers.

Chibi with several sewing needles and a needle threader.

Scissors.

Tape measure.

A fold-able calculator.

Needle point protectors.

Metal Gauge ruler.

One pencil and highlighters.

A nail file.

Lip gloss. It's very dry here.

Two complete sets of US size 0, 1, 2 metal dpn's

One US size 000 dpn and a crochet hook size B - both very helpful tools for tinking.

The day will come when I will have some very handy dandy carpenter make a fancy sock notions kit for me, but for now 99 small copper pennies bought a enormous amount of time. I also have an additional case filled with the duplicate items that lives in the car! I will never be caught without my knitting.

Coming together

The days are flying by rather quickly now and the Sea Sock cruise will depart this Sunday!!!!!!! And I'm so ready. I spent Saturday evening putting together my sea sock knitting kit.

I think I'm ready for every contingency. The binder has all my itineraries and travel information, paper, pens and empty document protectors for all the yummy patterns and goodies I shall pick up on the way. Lucky me I found a matching notebook and I know I will fill it - we shall have two knitting classes each day! One of the workshops will be focusing on color knitting so I purchased 5 skeins of yarn, for that very purpose. Its very soft.  My coordinating purple pouch is my on the go knit kit.

 

Tucked inside the little tin are loads of stitch markers, waste cord, my famous bobby pins, a needle threader and point protectors. Oh and yes, I do have a calculator. I forgot to put it in prior to the picture taking.

O.k. there you have it. I'm Martha and I'm proud of it. But don't smack me yet - one day you just might need something I have:D

In case you were wondering if I still knit, well I do. Here's a sneak peak of Rosebud - almost done.

Oh, sorry you can't see the socks. One of my teens snapped this blurry picture on her cell phone, while I was at lunch duty this week. She calls it 'Deep in thought." I call it "Avoiding looking at teenagers when they eat!"

Cheers, Abigail

Liberation

My Spring Break has brought on a flurry of house cleaning and that has included my personal LYS, otherwise know as my stash. Lot's of knitting and much tossing instead of the usual put it back in it's proper place has been happening as of late.

First thing I did was sift through the remains from previous socks. I was amazed at the how much was there was. The remains are just too overwhelming for me deal with and nothing really coordinated with anything else, so out they go. I decided to keep only the yarn bits for socks that actually live in our home.

Next up was the assortment of knitting needles and cable needles. People have been gifting me with "junk" (otherwise know as El Cheapo needles) since they found out I can knit. I have never used any of them as I prefer Denise Knits needles and my treasured DPN'S, that my husband bought for me.   

(Say goodbye to this motley collection of needles, plastic crochet hooks and yarn! This simple act of purging my stash has left me with a tremendous feeling of liberation!)

All of my treasured needles, crochet hooks, sewing supplies, stitch markers, and assorted notions were reorganized and now live in a hard plastic storage container that I already had. The stash is now contained in individual plastic bags, and the darning yarn lives in a small sewing box!  I also frogged an assortment of socks that were causing me fits, including these. I have reduced my UFO's to 2 dishcloths and 1 Dickey destined for my husband. But if dishcloths don't count as a "real" project then I think I'm sitting pretty!

A few hours later I tallied up the survivors and found enough sock yarn to knit 41 pairs of socks. I swear the yarn must multiply in the trunk! And more is coming, thanks to my book trade! There are a few books left, so snap them up or they will be going to the local library.

Truth be told, it was Tarilyn that inspired me to tackle this job. She tore apart her craft room and made some fun discoveries along the way. A job very well done, I think!

Cheers, Abigail

P.S. Our beloved knit blogger the Knitty Ref passed into glory today. I shall miss her. She was a sweet and kind soul. But now I believe that she will continue to be a blessing on the other side - something that came so easily for her.

A Years Worth

Last week has been crazy busy with work and my Sockret Pal has been getting antsy for me to get my q&a done which I did and sent it to her via e-mail and then she made another fun request. She wants me to flash my stash. So here goes.

 

41 pairs of socks waiting to be assembled.

14 pairs of anklets from left-over yarn. More assembly required:D 

Hey, I could knit a pair of socks each week for 1 year and 3 months. Crazy, but if I had to I stop buying yarn I would be set for a little while at least.

I have discovered that keeping my yarn in a communal living storage space

without individual compartments leads to a very dangerous co-mingling of yarn tales thus I have enforced segregation on my sock yarn. Thus, the plastic bag. Truly, a wonderful invention. They must be contained or I will be spending hours untangling entwined yarn when I want to toss my stash.  This method of protection has two added benefits. 1. If we have a flood my yarn is safe. 2. My dogs have no interest in molesting sock yarn encased in plastic:D I have digressed again.

My Sockret pal also requested a pic of my most favorite sock yarns. I think I picked every jewel toned color in the rainbow.

Here is a close up of the yarn in the center back. It's deep forest green. So pretty. But all of them are.

I do hope the helps you "Cat of Willem":D 

TTFN, Abigail

P.S. More sock and gift p0rn is coming on Monday.

My Bag of Tricks

In the Harlot's recent book Knitting Rules! she mentions the infamous knitting bag and items that should be found in them. But I have a few items that she did not mention. By the way, you could call me "Diane", if you have read the book you know who I am referring too:D

Bobby pins are the cheapest row markers I've found. The blunt tip is extremely kind to yarn and if you loose a few, you won't cry a river because they are ridiculously inexpensive.

 

I also keep a 12 inch piece of flexible weed whacking line in my bag. I stole it from TBC's weed whacker. It's the size of a 0 dpn and is perfect for holding stitches in abeyance when I'm working a heel flap or short row heel turn. Due to the fact that it is a firm yet flexible material it makes it very easy to transfer stitches to a dpn when I'm are ready to work them again. Should you need to pilfer needles from a project the plastic line keeps your stitches safe until you bring the needles back. Did you know you can use it for firm base if you need to make a provisional cast on? It works perfectly.

600 grit sand paper and a bit of wax paper are just what you need if you have wood, bamboo, or plastic needles that require an emergency repair. The wax paper can slick up the needles and the sand paper is very handy for smoothing a rough spot in a dpn. Did you know that the sand paper can be used as a temporary nail file? As an added benefit you can carry these items on a airplane!

You will always find knee high stockings in my knitting bag. They make the best ball bras that I've ever seen. At my local Wal-Mart I can pick up 3 pairs for a buck. That's a lot of yarn protection for such a small investment and you can wash them.

Small colored rubber bands can also be found in my bag. I uses them as stitch markers. Certain colors tell me what to do in tricky spot.  For example:  Red means K2together or stop here and make an increase, green tells me that I'm at the beginning of a row or to keep on going, blue is my ssk indicator, and yellow alerts me that this is the stopping point for a short row heel turn. Wal-Mart sells 200 in a packet for 2 bucks. You can also wrap them around the ends of your needles when you need to stop for a while. It will prevent the stitches from slipping off the ends. I enjoy tools that multi-task:D

A few other items that are not necessarily knitting related but are essential to keeping this knitter happy are: Eye drops and tissues. I have allergy's. Mary Kay Satin Hands is my favorite hand lotion. It's not greasy and drys quickly. Lips gloss because its dry as an old bone in Arizona and so are my lips. My glasses, simply because I can't knit without them. Highlighters are a gift from heaven and I mark up my patterns with them. Pink for a right decrease and green for a left decrease. You get the idea.

Note: When I do travel, the hand lotion, eye drops, and lip gloss reside in their own little bag far away from the currant WIP. If you have never experienced the thrill of having an entire tube of hand lotion squirted all over your knitting because a child (who's name I shall not mention) sat on your knitting bag, then by all means go right ahead and tuck it with your knitting. Dare to live life on the edge. I'll pass, thank you!

Now do tell me, what odd things do you have in your knitting bag of tricks?

Checked in and ready to go!

The hour has arrived. Check in to the Knitting Olympic Village. But before entry one must be subjected to an inspection by the Knitting Olympic Committee. This over zealous group inspected my knitting kit with a fine tooth comb. They played with my row counter to verify that it had not been tampered with. They questioned why I had lip gloss. The steroid police were on the warpath again. With much scrutiny they examined my dpns and determined that they are Olympic quality. The worst was yet to come. They had the gall to ask for a knitting demonstration to confirm that I was capable of participating in the 2006 K.O. Whew! I passed.  Though a few of the committee members remarked that my knitting style was unconventional. Apparently pickers are frowned upon by the judges. Next we moved on to yarn and the quality proved to be acceptable. Though some complaints were made about the looseness of the ply as a few splits were discovered. Finally, there was much discussion on the amount of chocolate that can be brought to the sock knitting event. After an seemingly terminal discussion, 2 pounds of chocolate was deemed to be the maximum amount a knitter should consume during the event. Knitters are not permitted to put themselves into a chocolate coma. After all of that nonsense I was given my 2006 KO I.D. key card and certificate and promptly fled to the local spa and did not look back!