First of All,

I must pat myself on the back because I made----ta! da!----a gauge swatch.  I normally don't make them because:

A.  I don't want to.

B.  The Yarn Harlot says that swatches lie.

So why bother? says I.

However, the sweater that I might make (still intimidated by the pattern) looks so complicated that I don't want to do all that work and have the sweater not come out the right size.  So I made a gauge swatch, washed it and dried it, and it had better not lie!!!  Or I will never, ever make another one.  That will show it.

And while I am struggling to understand the sweater directions, I am also trying to learn how to read a crochet chart. Knitter/crocheter extraordinaire Lucille color coded the chart for me, and I still don't get it and that really frustrates me. There are only three easy stitches in this chart, but I just can't get the hang of it. The yarn is fine and I can't see the holes I am supposed to link (or whatever it's called) to and counting? OMYGAH!  I can't count the things.

I have practiced with worsted weight yarn and a larger hook and still no success.

I have, in the past, sworn that I don't swear, but I swear, I soon might start!

Now, That Is Just Not Nice...

I bought this little Fit Bit Zip to record my steps taken and exercise done daily.  It came pre-set for 10,000 steps a day, and I wondered how many I actually walk on any normal day.

Well, it's nowhere near 10,000 steps, and I think I would have to be a serious walker or runner to get that many steps.

But I don't think it's very nice that the little zip sticks its tongue out at me when I don't measure up.

Someone Stop Me

before I need drugs for OCD.

It all started with entering my stash into my Ravelry library.

And then continued with learning about the spreadsheet that automatically puts my yarn into a huge spreadsheet with all sorts of information on it.

Including the yardage of all my yarn:

I think I need to knit now before I use the spreadsheet to analyze the yarn in even more ways.

BTW.  This isn't much yarn compared with other Ravelers' stashes.  I had thought that a Raveler's 30,000 yard stash was a lot until I read about another Raveler's 700,000 yard stash.  Yikes!  That's not a stash; that's a store!

Ravelry is Awesome!

Today I entered all of my knitting books and magazines in my Ravelry library.  It was much easier and took less time than entering my yarn took.  And that is because Ravelry is ...again...awesome.  I didn't even have to type in entire titles before Ravelry matched my book or magazine with the one in their library.  All I had to do is click enter and it was done.  It even matched, in the blink of an eye, a magazine from 1954.

I did have one book that it couldn't find, so it told me to find the Amazon link for it and enter that link.  And up popped the book.  In my library! 

And look:

Ravelry totalled up all of the patterns in all of the books and magazines in my library:  2,617.

I will never have to buy patterns again.  Right?

HAH!!!

Yes, I know.

That I shouldn't post late at night, after smelling YARN FUMES all day.  I know that now.  But I'm not taking down the Llama, Llama, Duck post.  Someone might WANT that song stuck in their brain.  And they are very, very welcome.

Anyway, I am so glad I decided that I should not buy just one skein of anything, just because I liked it and wanted it for my yarn collection stash.  That prevented me from buying a skein of yak yarn.  It was beautiful, but expensive, and one skein might not have been enough for anything I would eventually want to make.  Plus I can always order it online; I have the business card.   :-)

I only made one yarn purchase:

It is three skeins (but counts as one purchase in my system) of Miss Babs Yummy sock and baby yarn.  All three skeins will eventually be this Color Affection

The colors will be dye-no-mite together.  I know this because Lucille and I both dove for the same color collection hanging from the display, and she has excellent taste in colors.  So says everyone.

And because everyone needs a little laugh, a couple of us bought these for our cars:

Just in Case

you wanted a song stuck in your head:

Stash Rx

Rx for teeny, tiny stashes:

Stitches South!!!

Tomorrow!!!

More fiber and fiber-related accessories than the mind can comprehend.

Note to self:

Do NOT buy one skein of anything.  You already have lots of one skein amounts of yarn. That you don't know what to do with.

Do NOT buy more:
a. lace weight yarn
b. fingering weight yarn
c. sock weight yarn

Do NOT try and guess how much of any yarn you should buy to make .........a whatever from.
i.e. Have an actual pattern in your hot little hands (or in your ipad or in your files) for any yarn you buy.

Good knittergran.

Stash

Ravelry, that wonderful website for spinners, crocheters, and knitters that has now gotten over three million members from all over the world, has a feature that allows members to enter their stash.  No, not that stash...yarn stash.  It took hours and hours to do this, even though I have a relatively small stash compared with other members.

Large stash:

Large stash:

Large stash:

My stash:

Yep. That's it.  Teeny tiny.

And yet it took all day to enter it into Ravelry.  I thought at one point that I was finished, and then I remembered---

Sock Yarn.

Now knitters know that sock yarn doesn't officially, legally count as stash.  It's true.  But I did want to know what I had, and oh, my, I had more sock yarn than I had realized.  But it's ok.  I love knitting socks.  I just need to move someplace cold enough to wear all of the socks that I can knit.

I have mentioned before that I think all computer technologies are amazing and magic.  I learned that there is a function on the stash page that takes all of the stash information and automatically enters everything into a spreadsheet.

This is a screenshot of part of my spreadsheet:

The thing is, I have no idea why I would WANT a spreadsheet of yarns.

And Now for Something....I don't know...weird?

I was just reading the fascinating thing that is the internet and came across the word "Neuticles," while I was reading a cat post.  No, a post about a cat. That had been neutered.  The owner, being a caring, diligent person, was concerned that there might be a problem with self-esteem in some neutered cats and discovered "Neuticles."

I googled the word and this came up:

I am NOT clicking on "I'm Feeling Lucky."

And I am NOT clicking on "Neuticles for Men" or "Neuticles for Humans," although I am curious about why the two are listed as separate categories.

Or maybe I'm not....


But now, on to Neuticles!

These Neuticles allow the pet to retain his natural look and self esteem?
Who knew?  Do pets study themselves in mirrors?  Do they mourn lost body parts?

Maybe they do!

But I don't think so.


I do, though, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the motto and am a little tempted to buy the bumper sticker.

It's Like Nothing Ever Changed.

(Poor Baxter.  I hope he will forgive me.  I didn't know.)

  

The Beach at Cancun

My only surviving video.  Look at the color of that water!
This was taken from the ferry---not the one that tried to drown us/this is from the one we took later in the day.