Handmade Sock Club

Sock clubs sound like a lot of fun to me. You pay a bunch of money and each month or two you get a package that includes yarn and patterns. To a non-obsessed knitter, it might sound crazy to let someone else decide what yarn and patterns you will buy and knit, but to those of us who never-stop-knitting, hoard yarn, and fall asleep thinking about lines of knitting like a computer programmer might think about code, it sounds like a great idea.

And then I stop and think about it.

Great idea? Why? What is it about my lifestyle that makes me think its a great idea to relinquish control of my knitting? Are things that hectic that I cannot take the time to buy the yarn and patterns that I want to knit?

The truth is, I already own the yarn. Yup, I am a card carrying member of yarn hoarders-r-us. Hello, my name is Julz...

Over the past few years, my knitting friends and I have been on several "yarn crawls." They are like Bar Crawls, only the buzz you get is so much better.
We meet in darkness. The only sound is the soft shutting of doors as we cram into cars ( why are images of circus clowns popping into my head?) in the wee hours of the morning.

Our destination may be 200 miles away, or might include several stops, but one thing is for sure-we will buy yarn. We will buy lots and lots of squishy, soft, smooth, fluffy, silkie, luxurious yarn. And it will cost. Some yarns cost as much as 80 or 100 dollars or more for one skein. We justify its purchase- "it's for a gift" when we know we have just the place for it on the top shelf of our Stash Closet.

These adventures in yarn buying are a lot of fun, but just like all things in life, this too must end. I finally realize at if I keep buying yarn at this rate, my stash will be greater than my life expectancy.

Enter Lindsey. Lindsey is my KFF (knitting friend forever). Lindsey is a genius. She realized she has a lot of sock yarn, and a lot of patterns. She put the two together and made her own sock-of-the-month club. Fo free!!!

I am copying her. I asked her. She said she doesn't mind (thanks Linds).

I spent an hour yesterday cataloging my sock yarn and matching each to a pretty pattern. I found out that I am crazy about lace and need to stop buying fun variegated sock yarns! ( oh wait, the whole point is to stop buying yarn. Period. ) okay, so that should make it easy.

I can't wait to start not buying yarn!!!!

TOK Valentine swap goodies!

Chloe's new ring

Heading out for the Christmas party. Chloe is knitting her new ring that took me exactly 11 minutes to knit and felt!!!

TOK Christmas swap

I just got the motherload! woot woot.
I just opened up my swap package from the Tiny Owl knits Christmas swap and guess who my spoiler was, the wonderful Stepanie Dosen herself! So, I am sitting here listening to her album, looking at all of my goodies and thinking about which wonderful pattern I will knit first!
Check out all of the goodies she sent me!

Knitting Patterns Published!

I finally published my "One Day Ballet" slippers. I sure hope others have as much fun knitting and gifting them as I have had. I might even make a pair this weekend as my tootsies need 'em and I just wore a hole in my third pair of Tiny Owl Knits "Amy March slippers" which are fantastic and wonderful in every way.
I also released a free pattern. it is a super bulky lace scarf. it is so pretty. I whipped it up for Chloe the other night and thought "that was easy, I should share this will the world!!" ha ha :) I may make another as a Christmas gift.
My campaign against stupid use plastic is not going so well. That stuff is EVERYWHERE. I have such a hard time avoiding it. I am still trying though. I bought some cute Christmas gift. I got my friend Caroline a _________ and a _________. I hope she likes them!
TTFN, Julz

Day Three - Sorry Bob!!!

Avoiding single use or "stupid use" plastic is really hard! Today I bought trail mix in a single serving PLASTIC bag! der. I wasn't thinking! I also bought two bags of smartfood (these bags cannot be good) and a lipton Iced Tea!!!! arghh. I bought all of this mindlessly because I was hungry and thirsty and not thinking. But I redeemed myself later in the day when Bob and I took Chloe to Stop and Shop to buy dinner. We gathered up our food and headed to the checkout. The checker rang us up and the bagger bagged. The bagger bagged! ARHHHHHGGGGHHHHH!!!!! I realized this as Bob and I were pushing a cart full of groceries and carrying a fifty pound four year old who was crying because she "wanted that" (one of seventeen things she asked for) I said "Bob, wait"! so urgently that he stopped on a dime and said, with a look of grave concern, "What is it honey? what happened?" I pointed to the cart and said "plastic." At this point his look of concern turned to a look of frustration. He sighed and said "c'mon hon, we will remember next time." Well, we were still in the store, and I didn't see any reason why these bags couldn't be used by someone else, so I begged him to give me "just a sec" while I dumped all of the food into the cart, returned the plastic bags to the metal holders at a closed register (for fear that they might toss them in the trash if I just handed them back to the bagger) and scooted out the store. Great success- sort of...I looked strange, but at least I avoided the stupid bags!

It's Everywhere!!!!! Day Two of Plastic Awareness

If we are friends on Facebook, you know that I am trying to avoid "stupid use" plastic. When I say "stupid use" I mean things that are used once and then tossed out or "recycled"-which is something I will talk about later. Day one went well. Day two went fine also except I got a flat tire and had to pay a disposal fee for the old tire and I wondered why it wasn't repairable and where it would end up. I envisioned taking it home and making a tire swing, and then I thought about how dirty it must be and ended up letting the tire place toss it for me.

Another challenge on day two was that my reusable coffee mug from dunks leaked! It leaked a lot. Granted, it is old, but seriously? I was bummed! Another bummer was the amount of packaging Burts Bees uses for their products. I was going to buy some at sears (on sale while my tire was being fixed) but the package had cardboard and plastic on the outside and more plastic on the inside.
Day Two- Bought nothing but a new tire (ohhh that is a lot of product isn't it?) Used my Sigg water bottle with tap water
bought a coffee from dunks and had them put it in my own (leaky) mug