DONE

[yuuago]

Random stuff found while cleaning out the top of my closet:

-Many, many skeins of yarn
-An exceptionally large embroidery hoop
-T-shirt from Ursula Vernon's Digger kickstarter
-A sword (ornamental)
-A furby
-Enamel mug from the Fram expedition replica series
-Three empty cell phone boxes
-A zip sleeve full of floppy disks

...Among other things, much (but not all) of which is useless junk.

I also found my poor Marimekko messenger bag, which I'd abandoned because of some stains that it acquired somehow and were set before I noticed them. But I'm not ready to give up on it yet! I'm going to make another attempt. We'll see what happens. (If it were white, I'd just bleach it to smithereens, but it's dark fabric, sigh....)

Anyway.

Upside: I have (somewhat) conquered the horror that is my closet!

Downside: I sure do have a lot of yarn to go through. Wait, that's not a downside. The downside is that it takes up a lot of room, so I'm going to have to work my way through it. Luckily, I plan on doing just that. ...Anybody want a hat? xD

Some of it, well, I'm going to have to think of something special to do with it. See, that one time I was in Estonia, I bought some very nice yarn in red and white. Problem is, it came with no label whatsoever, so I have no idea what the yarn weight and yardage is. The only thing I know for sure is that it's 100% wool. I can guess at the weight by comparing it to other stuff in my stash, but yardage... hmm. Looks like it might be good for some kind of scarf - that way I can just knit until I run out of yarn. Upside, I have a lot of it, so I probably wouldn't need to worry too much about running out. :D

Speaking of knitting, I am totally not sure about the project I'm working on right now. It's a hat pattern that I like a lot (Man Slouch) but the yarn I'm using is... uh. It's some self-striping stuff and it's exceptionally hideous. Oh god. What was I thinking when I bought this?! What on earth was I planning to do with it?! Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll turn out looking cooler than it is right now - I've only just started this thing - but hooooo boy.

OH AND I used up my second skein of Malabrigo Arroyo, with the same pattern as above, and it's lovely. Oh man, I love this yarn, I love this hat, and I can hardly wait until I can block the scarf that matches it. :D

Aaanyway. I'm so glad that this part of the cleaning is over with. Next challenge will be my clothing drawers. I'm prepared to discover 20 t-shirts that I completely forgot that I own.

Comments

[allekha]

If you can't manage to get the stains out of your bag and you want to keep it, are they too big to embroider or otherwise sew stuff over them? (It worked out for Momoko in Kamikaze Girls.)

[yuuago]

:O

You know what, I didn't even think of that. If these last attempts don't work, I think I'll give it a shot. THANK YOU.

[minutia_r]

\o/ Good on you! Look at you, being organized and all.

[yuuago]

\o/ GO ME. I'm just happy that my living space is slowly becoming more usable. orz

[dhampyresa]

FLOPPY DISKS?!

*hisses*

[yuuago]

I KNOW EH

I think... they're my mom's... Maybe I'll just put them back and pretend I never found them and after a while quietly make them disappear and hope that she's forgotten they exist. I don't think we have anything in the house that can read them any more.

[(Anonymous)]

:D I would like to see a breakdown of how much time a knitter spends knitting vs organizing their yarn, buying new yarn, getting rid of old yarn, and generally agonizing over how "this house is not enough for both me and my yarn".
(Disclaimer: some of my dearest people have this hobby, I really find this cute)

LK

[yuuago]

Ffff. :D

I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF the amount of time actually spent knitting is... very, very small. xD

(I managed to avoid the temptation of buying more yarn today, I AM A WINNER)

[(Anonymous)]

You have the most willpower and I'm impressed :D

LK

[kiraly]

Niiiice, finding unexpected yarn is always exciting! (I just bought a bunch of yarn to make a sweater, but it's acrylic which I hope I won't regret).

Also I am thoroughly amused that the hat pattern is called "Man Slouch" and that they picked the Manliest Man to model it. "This hat MUST be for men, look, he even has cool guy sunglasses on!" XD
That said, it is a nice hat! If I could knit I would totally make an attempt at it, I love slouch hats.

[yuuago]

Oooo, sweater! Good luck with it. <3 I'm sure it'll turn out fine? :Va What are your concerns there?

Also lol yes. The MANLIEST OF SLOUCHES. But at least it looks neat, instead of having the suuuuper-plain design that I've seen for most "manly hats". (Apparently guys dislike ~ornamentation~, to that I say, PHOOEY)

[kiraly]

Heh, well my main concern is that I've never made a sweater, so it's gonna be a learning experience regardless. BUT also I'm a little leery because I really prefer working with wool, it drapes nicely and the finish is nice. But it's expensive and the only cheap-ish stuff they have at the place I was buying yarn is a bit scratchy, so I was worried about making a whole sweater out of it.

The particular yarn I bought is the recommended yarn for the pattern though (caron simply soft) and it drapes better than a lot of acrylic yarn. (I had actually bought a bunch of a different kind when I visited my family for Christmas, because one of my gifts was an offer to buy me yarn, but as soon as I did a gauge swatch with it I knew it would be too stiff. Sooo back it went, except for the skein I'd used some of. My only complaint is, the yarn I bought instead tends to be shinier than I like, and sometimes it snags while I'm working with it. But I guess we'll see how it turns out!

[yuuago]

AH I see. Well, hopefully it'll turn out okay! Trying something new for the first time is always nerve-wracking. I've had good experiences with acrylic, but... I've never done a project as large as that one.

Upside, if it does turn out well, washing/drying it will be a breeze. :D