Baaa Baaa Baaa

Good intentions

Now that MOST of my good intentions are out where I can see them it's time to pick one and stick with it to the end. Tough decision. No wonder I keep running out of knitting needles. Some are with socks, different sweaters or scarves and the rest are finally in the bin.

Another day - another handcrafted necessity by my industrious DH. This is his version of a "swift". The spindles are adjustable by sliding their bases out and turning them around. It will be a blessing to him, (no human hands are needed), as it will be for me when I get a HANKerin' to wind one. (Yeah, I know..........sorry). All I "need" now is a ball winder - or not.

Again, my DH was busy crafting things to make life easier for both of us. Using the wall bin will keep me from misplacing projects and yarn so he won't have to take time to participate with a search party. Beneath the bin are other twiddly things in their assigned places - stitch markers, stitch holders, darning needles and other various small notions. In the plastic shoe box lies the circular needles. There just doesn't seem to be a better way to store them. Now, everything is easy to find. The little green basket is a catch-all for small things. (Have you noticed the picture of my DD, Sammy?)

Sweaters

The agenda for today is to lay out all zillion of my partially finished knitting projects to see which one I want to finish first. I often get side-tracked from one thing to start another due to you-know-what and/or the attraction of making something quick-to-knit from start to finish. I've given most of those things, (scarves, handbags, dish towels/cloths and hats), away. The third and only sweater I've finished is my trophy for persistence. The first sweater was too holey because I substituted, (mistakenly), yarn and needle size for a pattern that called for such expensive yarn that no beginning knitter would want to chance wasting. The second finished sweater turned out bigger than expected so I gave that one to my sister-in-law to wear. She rewarded me with a gift certificate to Yarnia, a way cool yarn shop that I frequent. This picture is of my third finished sweater that I wore to Jenn's for Christmas. The pattern is "The Perfect Tee, #67, by Ann Norling, using a cotton yarn, Ulmo Multy by Araucania. (The turtleneck came from a long lost and then found bin in the basement with tags still on it from the store). Maybe by next Christmas, I'll have made something to wear with more appropriate holiday colors.

Straights

My knitting storage room is now shaping up nicely. My DH who has terrific talent as a woodworker made a knitting needle holder for my Christmas gift from some oak and maple wood he's stored for years and it's one of the best things I have for my knitting organizing plight. It keeps all the straight needles in one place with the sizes visible at all times unless I block the path to it with baskets of yarn or other items that didn't get put away and it's heavy weight keeps it from tipping. The dividers slide to accommodate different sizes. Nifty, 'eh?