Game Over

 

10 weeks. That's how long we lasted. A couple days ago Cris and I mutually decided to end the game. You read the rules. Here's how it actually went. When we first started this both of us were getting ourselves organized on Ravelry. We were uploading our stash, queuing patterns, finding yarn for the patterns. But sometimes we didn't have the yarn for the pattern. So when Cris wanted yarn for her Urban Aran she gave me a bag of Silky Look and I let her buy it. Then when I wanted yarn for my Sahara I gave her some Suri Alpaca and she let me buy it. And when I had to use (or lose) my frequent knitter's card from The Knitter's Studio she bought yarn with me (I mean, what are friends for). Before she left for camp stitches I bought yarn from Webs so she would have a budget. While at Camp Stitches she bought extra yarn so I wouldn't be so far behind. See what such good friends we are? Through it all we knit. We had to and that was the problem. We HAD to. But that's all over with now. Now I can knit what I want (and not weigh what's left or base any considerations on the game). And what I buy, I buy, period. Although I do like the idea of keeping track of what I knit. And weighing that against what I buy's not a bad idea either. Ravelry helped us both examine are stash and use it. This isn't the year to reduce the stash for me. But maybe, I'll make better selections. Maybe I'll buy smarter. I'm going to keep track this year. See what I do knit. I'll adjust the stash reduction to count the whole thing as I finish (not just what was knitted since March 5th -- so there'll be adjustments). The Lamb's Pride above? That's what I picked up at Green Planet Yarn last night at our knit group. Cris and I both let loose. I'll use it as the main color for Candy, the contrasting color I already have in my stash. ;) Oh, and when we ended the game, I immediately ordered a lace sampler from Knit Picks and some odds and ends from Discontinued Brand Name Yarn. Not sure if I'll continue to track of stash additions...I don't think the side bar is long enough.

Strength is Irrelevant

IMG_2409
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Remember the Webs 2 month sale? The one where they would announce one set of sale yarns in April and another whole new set in May? I perused the list in April and came out unscathed. I resisted, I was strong. This month's list? Not so. Firstly, there was the last 20 balls of soft pink chunky cashmere from Debbie Bliss. Perfect for a Wanderlust Hoodie. And having just finished Lady Eleanor, I just had to have more cashmere -- even if it was a mere blend. DB's is extra soft and cushy. 1420 yards.

Then we have Sulka from Mirasol. More of a heathery lilac pink. Who could resist this alpaca, merino, silk blend? I can't believe this is worsted -- it's pretty thick. At 1870 yards (yup that's 34 balls) this will be enough for the Tweedy Aran Cardi by one of my favorite designers Norah Gaughan. Right, the game. Yeah, I've fallen way behind. The knitting machine's looking mighty attractive these days. However, my buddy Cris is at Camp Stitches this week. She purposefully left with no room for yarn in her suitcase. However, I received a text message that she arrived safely and that she was encouraged to buy another suitcase and fill it with her purchases. That could even things up!
And yes, I've noticed -- only pink yarn is worth losing the game.

Lady Eleanor

IMG_2348
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

All done with my version. Since I only had half the amount of yarn I reduced the pattern from 7 rectangles per row to 5. I estimated this would make it about 6 ft in length. I was close, in the end it came out to 5.5ft. I love how the colors change and I'm glad I found a pattern worthy of this yarn. The yarn, Classic Elite Embrace is 100% aran weight cashmere.

This is how close I came to running out of yarn. That little bundle to the left of Elsa's nose is 4yds. The thing is, if I didn't have enough for the last row of triangles then I would have to go back 2 full rows of entrelac in order to finish. Each row of rectangles is offset from the other, causing one row to have 2 end triangles. The shawl must end with a row of 5 triangles. This caused much consternation while knitting. I was on the last row of 5 full rectangles when I thought I may not have enough. As I knit I watched the ball slowly wind down. Half way through the finishing row I didn't think I'd make it. I knit faster, needing to know the outcome and this is how it ended. I actually knit the last row twice, the first time I knit it the gauge was all wonky and it ruffled as seen here w/ Elsa. The next morning, knowing I had enough, I frogged the last row and reknit it, s-l-o-w-l-y, and w/ smaller needles.
Since I started this before the game only the remaining 4oz of the ball count. Less the 4yds, 280yds.

The Lure of Pink

IMG_2310
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Definition of lure from m-w.com:
Main Entry: 1lure
Pronunciation: \ˈlur\
2 a: an inducement to pleasure or gain : enticement b: appeal, attraction

Yeah, so much for goldmines. This weekend I dropped by Knitting Arts on a errand. They were having a bag sale, 50% off, shawl kits and just bags of various overstocks. I resisted and left w/o buying any yarn. I also went to Yarndogs to pick up a prize I won (a set of Euculan Woolwash) and also left w/ no yarn. So today, when I went to Commuknity to pick up a pattern I felt confident. As I was browsing the books (I can buy all the books and patterns I want, notions too), I spied a shiny pink mass on the bargain shelf. I tried to ignore it but I thought I'd just check what it was and I touched it. Then I counted it. 6 balls of Bouton D'Or Ksar. Silky soft. Pink. On sale. I'm such a sucker. Total yardage 546.

No points for re-knitting

IMG_2253
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Lately I've been hanging 'round the frog pond. When I took this sock on a trip to Paso Robles for Easter weekend all the knitting I did the entire weekend I ended re-knitting because of a mistake I made early on. Then I got to the toe and knit a little too long...can you see my baby toe? Nope.

IMG_2254
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

See the needle on the left? That marks how long the sock should be. But because of the change in the way the pattern ends (as a single, unnested heart, not all that visible here) I have to frog all the way to the needle on the right. Ugh. Good thing I like knitting.

IMG_2176
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

I finished this sock this morning while waiting at the doctor's office. It's about 173 yds so I'm adding that to my points now and I'll be casting on it's mate at my UFO group tonight. Here's the finish caloriemetry, it's a little big -- but works well and was very fun to knit.
Addendum to game rules. Cris sold some a lot of yarn recently so we ammended the rules to only allow 20% of yds sold to count as points. She's ahead, of course.

The Knitting Game

I'm done buying yarn. I ended up buying more after Stitches West than during! Don't get me wrong, buying yarn is way fun! But I need to be reminded of the main reason I buy it and that is to knit with it -- and I've got plenty to knit. So Cris and I thought up a game to help us (mostly me) not buy anymore yarn for the rest of the year. Yeah, yeah, I know, been there done that. We all know how Knit From Your Stash 07 went...badly. We also know why, there were too many exclusions. This time it's different. While there will be no restrictions on buying yarn, it will count against you.

Very simply it goes like this, starting March 5th (because I was buying yarn up thru March 4th) to December 25th we get 1 pt for every yard hand knitted. For every yard purchased it's -1 pt. Here are some guidelines that we discussed over im:

Jocelyn said: only finished projects count and projects in progress at the beginning only count per remaining balls

Cris said: we need to keep track of: how many yards we knit and the number of yards of new yarn we buy

Jocelyn said: just purchasing yarn counts as a negative

Cris said: and you get points if you knit with it. so if you buy yarn and knit it up the result would be 0

Cris said: fiber counts

Jocelyn said: (reluctantly) ok let's go with a worsted count for fiber so buying 4oz would be -200yds, and if it counts then knitting handspun would count too

Cris said: charity knitting will count

Cris said: I'll be knitting some scarves for charity and I'll be using my machine so instead of 1 point/yard it should be 1 point/2 yards

Jocelyn said: I'm planning to sell some yarn that should be by half as well

And finally, the prize:

Cris said: the winner gets to choose ANYTHING from the loser's stash!!! and the amount they get to choose, will depend on how many points they won/lost by

I still can't believe I agreed to that. But it's been 10 days and I haven't bought a thing (and dudes, that's good, because I'm constantly bombarded with opportunities to buy). And while I'm still uncomfortable with what's at stake (I do so love my stash), I don't plan on losing...Game On, Cris.