Three Bags Full

Dear Mom,
With your help, the yarn stash went through an Epic Purge a couple of weeks ago.
All those partial skeins of yarn that I thought could some day be….. something…… and all those yarns for projects I started and did not like, supplies for project ideas that IwillNeverInMyLifetimeIfILiveToBe103HaveTimeToDo- all of that- went in to Three- yes. THREE! Contractor- sized garbage bags, into the back of my car, and donated to Goodwill.
EDITING is my new mindset. Edit out those projects that I do not Love. Life is too short and free time is too precious to do anything but the Really Good Stuff. And just because I Have An Idea, doesn't mean I have to act on it. (Until I find a way to stop the clock, or function on 45 minutes of sleep.)
I have to say that some parts of the purge were painful, but not many, and mostly it was liberating to rid myself of the burden of those "this could be ….. something…." projects and to have all that under-the-bed and closet space cleared out.

However.
Some of those projects and yarns were just too good to donate to the Goodwill, even though they are things I don't want to knit anymore, or yarns I can't decide what they should be, and I've decided to offer them here for any blog readers who are interested. Free. I'll even cover the shipping ( US, please). Such is my desire to see this stuff in good homes and not in the bottom of a craft bin at the Goodwill.

First thing up for grabs:

 A Spillyjane Cupcakes Mitten pattern and the KnitPicks Pallette yarn to knit them.

Next:

Spillyjane's Heather's Mittens pattern and KnitPicks Pallette yarn to knit them- FYI- I swapped out white for the brown thinking  I would make a Shamrock Mitten for St Patrick's day.

And then there's:

Spillyjane's Carrots and Beets Mitten pattern (why, yes, I did lose my mind one day and went Spillyjane crazy) and the KnitPicks Pallette yarn for knitting them.

And there's this too:

6 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk. (50 grams, 146 yards per skein) 2 skeins of Blueberry,  color #140; 2 skeins of Slate, color #100; 1 skein of Iron, color #134 and one skein of a light lime green color, tag missing.

And finally:

2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Handpainted Baby Suri Silk  (80% baby Suri Alpaca 20% silk Color #21/ 100 g, 218 yards per skein) AND this handy Circular Solution Port-a-Pocket.

IF anyone out there is interested in any of these. please leave a comment and tell me which thing you want. IF there are more than one interested knitter, I'll draw a name out of one of the Young Lady's North Porch hats. Is a week long enough for any/every one to get their dibs in? Let's see how things look next Thursday. Tell your friends -unless they might want what you want and then we'll just keep it a secret, okay?

Love,
Kim

Hello Sunshine!

Dear Mom,
It is so nice and warm out there that I've set Mrs. Yoder out on the back porch and hung the jeans out there to dry. Rugs are in the wash and they'll be on the clothesline as soon as the spin cycle is finished. After that I'll do a big batch of wool socks and let them soak up some sun too.
I even cracked open some windows to let in the fresh air.

The down side to all this is MUD and huge muddy dog prints coming in from the back door, but I'd rather have mud than snow.

I made time yesterday to get into the stash and organize a few projects that I would like to finish this year. Almost a year ago,  I lost my head over Spillyjane and ordered 5 of her mitten patterns and the yarn to make them. I've made one mitten. Not one pair.  One mitten.

I matched up the yarn to the patterns, put them in bags and intend to finish all the mittens this year. It may be that I can only manage one mitten each month because while they are adorable, inspired mitten designs, the knitting of them is  a bit fiddly and requires full attention. These are not a mindless pair of socks.  And one mitten a month will pretty much get me through 2012 with a little breathing room.

I also reacquainted myself with some treasures in my knitting stash and feel reeeeeaaaaalllly motivated to see the promise of those yarns and patterns realized. We'll see how long that focus lasts before I distract myself with something new.

Easy to feel hopeful on a bright sunny day.

Love,
Kim