i got in the mood . . .

it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, i go with it.
i’m talking about waking up in a cleaning mood. not a serious one, mind you, in which i actually run a vacuum or anything, but an insistent, nagging, dissatisfied one.

lately, i’ve been feeling a little claustrophobic in the house; we’re about halfway through the house renovation (now in its sixth year, more or less) and by necessity, many of the rooms contain a weird jumble of furniture and other stored items (some still in boxes from our move here seven years ago). as we finish each room, we select only certain things to go in it and slowly, our collections of books, art, tools, and oddities are put in place along with the right furniture (i know. that list didn’t include yarn and fiber, but there’s actually dedicated space for that, heh).

and along with the unpacking, we’re sorting and getting rid of stuff too, but still there’s a lot of clutter in the main living spaces of the house (like the baby grand piano in the stairhall that the former owner “left as a gift”). clutter that i can’t do anything about most of the time. my living room contains (in addition to the usual chairs and sofa), a pool table, two spinning wheels, my exercise bike, grandma’s steamer trunk, and a large drying rack. some day they will each have their own proper spot in the house. just not right now.

so i obsess over the small areas i can control—like the refrigerator and freezer. i’m super-organized about those and the cupboards; mine look like they could live in a tupperware ad, seriously. and my yarn—i can tell you exactly where every skein is (fiber, not so much). and my clothes; i have a minimum of clothing items and i go through my closet twice a year to weed stuff out—i hate having too many clothes.

i’m actually not a freak about my desk, but i do like it neat and clean—i can live with piled-up folders as long as that’s useful. but lately, it has felt like prison walls had piled up around my workspace; no free surface to measure a swatch or lay a paper down to write, piles of old project notes that needed filing, piles of old show books and directories, all manner of post-its caught in the tangle of wires surrounding my computer, etc

and the dust—don’t get me started. this morning i walked into the war room and it all came to a head—my area was just a pigsty and i’d had enough of being the owner of it. i saw that the gray outside the windows was actually amplified by the mass inside. so i started in right after i had a cup of coffee. honestly, it only took an hour (it helps a lot to simply chuck most of it in the trash)—why do i wait so long between cleanings when it cheers me up so much?

anyway, now i can see large areas of the desk surface.
a pile of books will always be required, along with a pile of folders. but one of each is enough.

and when i walk in the door now i see this

and for some reason that makes me feel better. i really should do my closet next . . .

well, now that i’ve aired all my housekeeping shortfalls (for no good reason, really), i’m ready to talk about knitting. yesterday, our weekly afternoon class was all a-chatter about sweaters—everyone at the table has one in progress. it’s that time of year—they are actually predicting snow flurries for thursday (that’s our travel day so please don’t let it be worse than flurries).

debbie and susie are both knitting a simple top-down raglan with the same colorway (#121 taupe) of katmandhu aran, our group’s favorite new yarn to drool over. it’s squishy, tweedy, soft, and delish. debbie has a good start on hers and is working down the shoulder yoke and susie is almost done with hers.

janet and debby are each knitting very different jackie sweaters. janet, above, is knitting hers with a space-dyed colorway (sorry, i can’t remember the yarn name)

and debby is knitting hers with a soft brown alpaca; again, i don’t have a name for the yarn, but it’s nice (it might be berocco ultra alpaca light, maybe in the potting soil mix colorway?).

i’m working my way up the back of my little green cardigan (must think of a real name for it) and am almost to the waist. in case i haven’t mentioned it lately, i just love this yarn! it is lanas puras melosa fingering yarn, a soft merino singles that feels as if its been fulled a little bit to control those annoying flyaway fibers that singles sometimes has. i’m knitting with the fern colorway; i used the same yarn a couple of years ago in eggplant to knit my cluaranach, a wrap that i love and wear often because it’s so cuddly.

so far, i’ve not had to rip back even once—i guess i worked out all my inattention issues while working the fronts. i’m definitely taking this project along to rhinebeck to keep beckie’s sweater company.

last week, i started a third ivy vines neckwarmer, this one much lighter in weight. i have a precious skein of fibre isle magique, a cashmere/bison blend in the natural color, that i’ve been waiting for the right project to use. the yarn is amazing (as usual—sylvie is a brilliant miller). the fiber has no spring to it, but somehow she has managed to make a yarn that has a lovely, springy twist without being hard or over-twisted in any way. just incredible.

this is sooo the right thing to make with it. i cast on for the larger-sized cowl with a 3.25 mm needle and it’s knitting up to a sort-of in-between size (unblocked). the lace is more open and airy in the finer yarn, so i decided to go longer, which will allow the fine, soft fabric to pile up in warm folds without bulk. i’ll just knit til my yarn runs out and bind off.

i should finish this to wear on my trip—maybe i’ll take it to knitting tonight. i really WANT to be knitting on my green sweater all the time, but it would be lovely to finish a neckwarmer to wear. and i’d have only tomorrow to block it, so i better try for it. i can knit my sweater while i chat with kim on wednesday evening (24 HOURS!)

another project i started in order to take on the trip, is this mitten with zen yarn garden serenity worsted in the tealicious colorway. it doesn’t look like much yet, but i like the textured stitch i’m using. this will make a good traveling project, for sure.

i’m tucking it into my bag and not looking at it again til we’re on the road.
later tonight i’ll get my second brown sock on the needles to take along too. and maybe a new sock—i’m feeling the need for a pair of red ones. we’ll see . . .

if i’m still working on this gray sock, it’ll also go in the bag. i’ve started the heel flap, so i’m about halfway done and it will go faster from here. i’m a little worried about running out of yarn, but i’m shutting my eyes in denial for now . . .

lots of little projects travel better on this trip, i’ve learned—we do a lot of visiting and eating out and car riding over this weekend, so small, toteable projects work the best.

for spinning projects, i’m taking some white romney wool and some black shetland from the flock that beckie used to keep. my mission is to spin up a bunch of lofty, chunky yarn for a project that david and i have dreamed up to work on after the first of the year. more about that later (oh, it’s a good one).

so david showed up in the office just a little while ago and hasn’t mentioned how clean my desk looks—maybe he’s afraid i’ll ask him to clean his . . . but i wouldn’t. everyone needs to have a certain level of comfort in their work area, i think, and his is definitely his own.