346/366

346/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

I got a fantastic surprise in the mail today! A skein of gorgeous (and SOFT!) Knit Picks Shadow (must get more of this!) and some lovely stitch markers! Apparently Monthly Adventures 2008 group (on Ravelry) is celebrating our year anniversary and has been selecting random members to send prizes to. Woo!

334/366

334/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Some delicious sock yarn I picked up at Stitches East - love that color purple!

331/366

331/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

The second installment of the Shalimar Sock Club. While the colors are still quite bright, I think this one has more possibility. And the pattern for this yarn sounds really interesting. I think I may actually follow it! (*gasp!)

326/366

326/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

This delicious sock yarn is destined to be Bacchus. I just need to finish the rest of my Christmas knitting first...

Yarn details on Ravelry.

324/366

324/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Mmm, new yarn! This will be for a wrap of some sort. This brown is so deliciously chocolate-y...

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323/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

One of the stash enhancers I came home with from stitches East is this beauty from Cherry Tree Hill. Now I need to find the perfect pattern for this!

Details on Ravelry.

208/366

208/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Still in love. This is my take on Ribbed Leaves from Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury. I am LOVING this book! I really like the way the yarn is knitting up and the pattern is keeping me interested. This is about halfway through the first repeat.

Do you think the yarn is too busy for the stitch pattern?

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207/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Yes, another project has been cast on. LOVE this yarn! Don't the colors just look so desert-perfect?

I used Charlotte Schurch's Short Row Toe and really like it. It also fits the shape of my foot better than the Magic 8 toe on the Baudelaire's (its interesting that I don't seem to have any pictures that show the entire toe... hmmm).

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201/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

This lovely yarn is from Loribird of From the Wool Room. Mmm. It is so gorgeous!! I think this is my next pair of socks.

200/366

200/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Patagonia Nature Cotton from my dishcloth swap. I'm thinking this should be made into a shrug? Cowl? Scarf? Regardless, this is staying out on my to be used soon shelf.

What do you think I should make with this yummy yarn?

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155/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

I got my package in the mail!! It's the yarn for Yosemite, and my harmony sock dpns. Woot!! Now I just have to finish the mosaic soaker before I can get into this yummy yarn. Nothing like the motivation of a fun pattern and yarn to spur you on.

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151/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

All this mosaic knitting has me stash diving for my next project. I think these two go together very well and the variegations should make the mosaic even more interesting. Now I just need to finish the one I'm working on.

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150/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

When I first saw this label, I could have sworn it said "Yarnhill Valley". Yarn on the brain, anyone?

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105/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

My leftovers. This is what happens when you have a ball winder and leftover yarn (and a touch of OCD) - a yarn tower. Now what can I use these leftovers for?

Yarns you can see:
Classic Elite's Wool Bam Boo
Elmore Pisgah's Peaches & Cream
Fearless Fibers Sock yarn
Paton's Merino Worsted
Background - unknown worsted cotton

103/366 - Waste not, want not

I've been reading Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth and I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. But that discussion is for another day, another post.

One of the things he suggests is that Americans have entirely too much stuff, and that we are wasteful with it. How many times have you lost something you know you have multiple versions of (scissors, pens, etc.). He suggests that we lose things because we have too much stuff for it to get lost in. And often, if we can't find it, we just go buy another one to replace it. Which adds up quickly.

How much stuff do we have? Do you know how many items you have in your home? Anyone taken a count inventory lately? Me neither. The task is daunting. So what about a smaller space, the garage, maybe, or the attic? Still too big? What about your closet? Ok, ok, the silverware drawer?

Suffice it to say, I have a lot of things in my house, way too many to count. And I'm thinking of the permanent objects (like books, dvds, clothes, shoes, etc.), not stuff like toilet paper or trash bags, jars, cartons, packaging - things that are meant to be thrown away. My daughter in her short life has already accrued enough toys to outfit 3 children well, not to mention the stacks and stacks of clothes she'll never get a chance to wear unless I change her outfit 2-3 times a day.

I recently came across this 20 minute video called the Story of Stuff. You should take the time to watch it. Not only do we have ridiculous amounts of stuff, but we're less happy, and incredibly wasteful with it, not to mention the damage that we are doing to the planet and our fellow human beings.

Books like Not Buying It and Affluenza address this topic as well. We frankly have too much stuff, and its taking us into debt and making us miserable. And Christians are just as susceptible to this illness as everyone else. One of our elders at church has talked about talking a long, hard look at our things and asking God if we should really have them (honestly) and being willing to give it away if we shouldn't.

I could do that with some things, especially things that aren't mine (specifically), like my husband's clothes, Little Bit's toys, etc. But ask me whether I need all the yarn and knitting needles I've acquired over the last 1.5 years and I'll protest loudly - but I might NEED those! What about those philosophy text books collecting dust on my bookshelf? Someone else might need it for class, or want to read it, or... Do I really think I'm saving it for my daughter to read? What am I supposed to do with it for the next 20 years while she grows up? And what if she thinks philosophy is a load of &*^%.

Sleeth says we ought to continually be lending and borrowing instead of buying. If you need a lawn mower, borrow a neighbor's (or her goat). Not Buying It tells the story of how you really can survive without buying things (unnecessary things), it certainly wasn't the end of the world for them. How about waiting a month before you buy something? Set the money aside for it instead of going into debt? If you have to make the sacrifice now (and it's optional instead of forced - by having to pay the credit card bill), is it really worth it? Do you really need it?

What I'm getting at is I am seriously considering putting myself on a stuff fast. I'm not going to force my husband to do it, but he just might join me in it if I do it first. I didn't do a lenten fast this year because it came up too fast and it was already over by the time I'd figured out what I should be giving up. But here are a few areas where I can take action right now:
1. I can go through my books and seriously cull out the ones that I'll never read again and donate/sell the rest (by the end of May).
2. I will wait at least a month before making any knitting purchases. I will only buy yarn that has a specific project in mind that I will be casting on for within the next month (right now). I will also donate/sell yarn that is currently in my stash that I has no project in mind. This will help me be more intentional with my yarn acquisitions as well as productive with the finished objects. By the end of the year, I want to have donated at least 1/10th of my finished objects to charity.
3. It's time to clean out my closet and donate/repurpose my clothes. (June)

I'm asking you, readers/community, to hold me accountable to this. Please join me if you feel so called. This is just a beginning, but I feel the need to start doing something about it now. Stay tuned for more.

093/366

093/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Love this yarn! It's Rio de la Plata Wool Solid, it is deliciously soft, but it stood up to being frogged and reknit wonderfully. I've got 2.5 skeins leftover from the sweater... what to knit, what to knit?

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058/366, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

I realized there has been a dearth of knitting on this knitting blog, so here is my attempt to spice it up. This hand warmer is done using the Pinnacles stitch pattern, and my standard hand warmer setup.

I used the leftovers of the Wool Bam Boo I used for the scarf, and I really like the way the smaller gauge yarn knits up. It fits my hand very well - no looseness or sliding around here. I also really like how light the yarn feels - it will definitely work well in all seasons.

044/366 - Firestarter

044/366 - Firestarter, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

I have cast on the Firestarter sock. It's my second pair. Perhaps a bit ambitious, but this yarn (Paca-Peds) spoke to me, it wanted to be a Firestarter. I had no choice but to listen.

Thanks to Ravelry, I was able to translate the euro-chart into something I could understand (even after a glass of wine!), and I'm moving along swimmingly.

Doesn't the stitch marker look beautiful? Plans are to knit 4 repeats of the cable, then to start the gusset as my foot is nearly 9 inches long (which according to my trusty google calculator is 22.86 cm), whereas the pattern calls for a total of 24 cm. Four repeats instead of five should do the trick nicely, I hope.

And I'm loving this yarn. It's soft and gorgeous. And knitting up nicely on my 2.5mm KnitPicks dpns... although I'm drooling after the Harmony wood ones. Perhaps when our refund comes in? (although the husband has said that I don't get to buy anything else knitting related until I finish his sweater... so, add the frogging to the to-do list)

I can't wait to wear these socks!

And I thought I was well travelled

I guess I have a lot of the world yet to visit. Not even 10%!! Wow.

How much of the world have you visited?

I'm uploading a bunch of pictures from this last week, so be sure to check out the new posts below :) If you're reading via a subscriber, then you should pick them up, and I know I have at least one subscriber (who is not my mom) :) Shout out to KT, who has the awesomest dishcloth patterns ever. I'm a verified stalker-fan.

I actually won KT's ideas contest and am now the proud owner of two patterns!! I chose the Pinnacles scarf and the Patchwork Tote, both of which I can't wait to cast on for! I'm actually heading to my LYS this afternoon to pick up my first installment of their sock club (SWEET!) and I'll see about getting the yarn for the scarf, before it gets too warm.

First Sweater

I'm off, originally uploaded by hannah8ball.

Little Bit can finally wear the sweater I knit her when she was just a belly bump. This was my very first sweater, and near to my first project. Being a Debbie Bliss pattern, there was no drawing showing me how to put it together, so it took me a little while to figure out how one ought to attach the sleeves to the body and in what order.

I'm thinking its time to knit her another sweater, one that has been finished well, and one that will fit her the rest of the winter...

lucky for me, my contest yarn from Theresa of Knitting Underway arrived today with just the right amount of baby sweater yarn. Now, I just need to find a pattern.