Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 79
June 14, 2018
The Scarf
When I signed up for my first knitting class in April of 2017, I bought the yarn for both class projects right away. I knitting the first scarf right away as I was learning, but the second one languished. Since I had the yarn and the pattern, one of my goals for 2018 was to knit scarf 2.
Ravelry started a new thing where you could set challenges for yourself. I think of them more as goals than challenges, but whatever. I had five projects I wanted to finish this year. Three shawls, a blanket to give as a gift, and the scarf from my beginner's class. I didn't feel too hopeful about getting to it even as I set it as a goal. It has a lot of seed stitch and that's not something I enjoy knitting.
Then the Olympics were coming up and I learned there was something on Ravelry called the Ravellenics where knitters/crocheters/weavers/etc could compete in their own mini events. My original plan was to do a shawl, but I knew I didn't have much knitting time and might not finish.
Then the light bulb went off over my head. Duh! The scarf!
I entered myself in Short Track Scarf with the added laurel for using old yarn. Yes, my project yarn had been sitting long enough to be considered old stash because it was more than 6 months old.
It was actually kind of amazing how the competition made it easier to want to finish the project. I spent a lot of time watching figure skating and knitting with a little bit of bobsled, luge, snowboarding, and skiing thrown in. Mainly figure skating, though. :-)
And voila! I actually finished knitting my scarf! I still need to block it, but the hard part is done.
Ravelry started a new thing where you could set challenges for yourself. I think of them more as goals than challenges, but whatever. I had five projects I wanted to finish this year. Three shawls, a blanket to give as a gift, and the scarf from my beginner's class. I didn't feel too hopeful about getting to it even as I set it as a goal. It has a lot of seed stitch and that's not something I enjoy knitting.
Then the Olympics were coming up and I learned there was something on Ravelry called the Ravellenics where knitters/crocheters/weavers/etc could compete in their own mini events. My original plan was to do a shawl, but I knew I didn't have much knitting time and might not finish.
Then the light bulb went off over my head. Duh! The scarf!
I entered myself in Short Track Scarf with the added laurel for using old yarn. Yes, my project yarn had been sitting long enough to be considered old stash because it was more than 6 months old.
It was actually kind of amazing how the competition made it easier to want to finish the project. I spent a lot of time watching figure skating and knitting with a little bit of bobsled, luge, snowboarding, and skiing thrown in. Mainly figure skating, though. :-)
And voila! I actually finished knitting my scarf! I still need to block it, but the hard part is done.
June 12, 2018
Small, Boring Pleasures
I discovered a feature on my new programmable thermostats that I didn't realize it had. I can select a temperature range and if it drops below the low end, the heat will come on. If it climbs above the high end the air conditioner will go on. This is so smart and the feature I always wanted, but didn't know I wanted. :-)
This is perfect for the transitional times of year--spring and fall mostly--where the temperature can be cold one day and hot the next or vice versa. And since my dad won't touch the thermostat, not even the old one we got replaced, now I don't have to worry about checking my app to see if the house is too warm or too cold for him while I'm at work. Totally cool.
I actually discovered the option when I was looking at the app on my phone, trying to figure out if it showed the actual temperature inside the house, not just what I had it set at. That's when I saw it, the heat-cool mode.
Prior to spotting this, I'd liked the new thermostat, but wasn't wowed by it. Now I'm wowed. Great feature. Yea!
This is perfect for the transitional times of year--spring and fall mostly--where the temperature can be cold one day and hot the next or vice versa. And since my dad won't touch the thermostat, not even the old one we got replaced, now I don't have to worry about checking my app to see if the house is too warm or too cold for him while I'm at work. Totally cool.
I actually discovered the option when I was looking at the app on my phone, trying to figure out if it showed the actual temperature inside the house, not just what I had it set at. That's when I saw it, the heat-cool mode.
Prior to spotting this, I'd liked the new thermostat, but wasn't wowed by it. Now I'm wowed. Great feature. Yea!
June 7, 2018
My First Binge Watch
***I received no compensation of any kind from anyone for this post.***
I never binge-watch television shows. As much as I loved Limitless, I could only manage to watch 2 or 3 episodes at a time. It was an hour long show and time is short. Smugly, I was sure I could stop with only a few episodes of anything. And then I discovered The Good Place.
The first thing is that it's a half hour show, and because it's a broadcast network offering, each episode is only about 22 minutes long. And second, I started watching early enough on Saturday evening that I was able to binge all the way through season one and have it finished by about midnight or so. I'm a night owl and tend to stay up this late anyway on Saturdays.
I'll confess, however, that I probably wouldn't have quit at the very reasonable hour of midnight if season 2 had been available on Netflix. I howled with frustration when I realized only season 1 was available.
The first thing I did was search online for when season 2 would be available. Speculation was September 2018. This was in April. Seriously? Wait 5 months?
Eventually, I discovered that episodes 8-12 were available On Demand through my TV provider. Problem is partially solved, but what about episodes 1-7? Even Hulu only had episodes 8-12. Grrr. So frustrating to only have the back third of the season.
This is the kind of luck I have with TV shows.
I loved Limitless and discovered it only had one season because it had been cancelled. ::Sobs:: This is what always happens to me--if I love it, it's guaranteed to be cancelled. My only hope with The Good Place is that it's getting raves, so it should last. I hope. If not, sorry other fans of the show.
I never binge-watch television shows. As much as I loved Limitless, I could only manage to watch 2 or 3 episodes at a time. It was an hour long show and time is short. Smugly, I was sure I could stop with only a few episodes of anything. And then I discovered The Good Place.
The first thing is that it's a half hour show, and because it's a broadcast network offering, each episode is only about 22 minutes long. And second, I started watching early enough on Saturday evening that I was able to binge all the way through season one and have it finished by about midnight or so. I'm a night owl and tend to stay up this late anyway on Saturdays.
I'll confess, however, that I probably wouldn't have quit at the very reasonable hour of midnight if season 2 had been available on Netflix. I howled with frustration when I realized only season 1 was available.
The first thing I did was search online for when season 2 would be available. Speculation was September 2018. This was in April. Seriously? Wait 5 months?
Eventually, I discovered that episodes 8-12 were available On Demand through my TV provider. Problem is partially solved, but what about episodes 1-7? Even Hulu only had episodes 8-12. Grrr. So frustrating to only have the back third of the season.
This is the kind of luck I have with TV shows.
I loved Limitless and discovered it only had one season because it had been cancelled. ::Sobs:: This is what always happens to me--if I love it, it's guaranteed to be cancelled. My only hope with The Good Place is that it's getting raves, so it should last. I hope. If not, sorry other fans of the show.
June 5, 2018
I Fail at Socks
In April, Marly Bird had another Knit-A-Long (KAL) and I was all excited. She's super good at teaching knitting and I'd been interested in learning how to make socks. And how hard can it be, right?
Well, for me, incredibly difficult.
The cast-on technique was easy enough and I started knitting my first row around the double pointed needles (DPN). Only when I reached the end of the row, I'd somehow ended up with a huge gap. I assumed that some stitches fell off the needles and I took everything apart and cast-on again. And yet again, everything looked right, but when I reached the end of the row, there was a gap. This one was smaller, but still a problem.
When I tried for the fourth time (Fourth time's the charm, right?) I made it around the row and it stayed the way it was supposed to. Hurrah!
Only I celebrated too early.
As I finished knitting row 2, I spotted a gap. I might have cursed. Profusely. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, but I ripped it out and cast-on again. And again. And again.
I'm not sure what I'm doing that gives me a gap when there's none in my cast-on, but apparently if I ever want to make socks, I better learn the magic loop method.
Well, for me, incredibly difficult.
The cast-on technique was easy enough and I started knitting my first row around the double pointed needles (DPN). Only when I reached the end of the row, I'd somehow ended up with a huge gap. I assumed that some stitches fell off the needles and I took everything apart and cast-on again. And yet again, everything looked right, but when I reached the end of the row, there was a gap. This one was smaller, but still a problem.
When I tried for the fourth time (Fourth time's the charm, right?) I made it around the row and it stayed the way it was supposed to. Hurrah!
Only I celebrated too early.
As I finished knitting row 2, I spotted a gap. I might have cursed. Profusely. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, but I ripped it out and cast-on again. And again. And again.
I'm not sure what I'm doing that gives me a gap when there's none in my cast-on, but apparently if I ever want to make socks, I better learn the magic loop method.
May 31, 2018
The Wonderful World of Books
I finally found someone at work who likes some of the same books that I do. I discovered this when she was reading a Sandra Brown book during lunch and we started talking authors we enjoyed.
Before I started writing seriously, I spent years combing through used bookstores and library sales, looking for the hard-to-find titles by my favorite authors. There are some books that I never did find. Like the Jayne Ann Krentz McFadden romances. I only found one omnibus version in all the time I searched. For the most part, though, I manged to find all the titles I was looking for.
Of course, because these books are old Loveswepts, Harlequins, and Silhouettes, they're out of print and some of them are worth a lot more than half of the cover price. Or they were. I'm not sure what the value of collectible paperbacks is any longer.
The other quirk I have is that I like my books to be as perfect as possible. When I go shopping for an actual physical book, I will study each copy to ensure I buy the one in the most pristine shape. After I read a book, you literally can't tell it was ever opened. I'm that careful and particular. It's also part of the reason why I keep a database because I can't tell by looking at a book whether or not I've read it, so I needed some way to know what was TBR and what wasn't.
So back to the woman at work. I was showing her my books database and she spotted Sandra Brown books she'd never read. They happened to be old Loveswepts and were difficult to find. We're talking original Loveswepts, not reprints.
The last time I loaned a book to someone, it was a LaVyrle Spencer single title book and I'd bought it new in the store, so it wasn't a collectible. This woman ended up buying me a brand new copy because she'd messed up the cover.
Which is my long way of saying that I don't want to loan out my books, especially not my collectible titles. They were too hard to find.
Before I started writing seriously, I spent years combing through used bookstores and library sales, looking for the hard-to-find titles by my favorite authors. There are some books that I never did find. Like the Jayne Ann Krentz McFadden romances. I only found one omnibus version in all the time I searched. For the most part, though, I manged to find all the titles I was looking for.
Of course, because these books are old Loveswepts, Harlequins, and Silhouettes, they're out of print and some of them are worth a lot more than half of the cover price. Or they were. I'm not sure what the value of collectible paperbacks is any longer.
The other quirk I have is that I like my books to be as perfect as possible. When I go shopping for an actual physical book, I will study each copy to ensure I buy the one in the most pristine shape. After I read a book, you literally can't tell it was ever opened. I'm that careful and particular. It's also part of the reason why I keep a database because I can't tell by looking at a book whether or not I've read it, so I needed some way to know what was TBR and what wasn't.
So back to the woman at work. I was showing her my books database and she spotted Sandra Brown books she'd never read. They happened to be old Loveswepts and were difficult to find. We're talking original Loveswepts, not reprints.
The last time I loaned a book to someone, it was a LaVyrle Spencer single title book and I'd bought it new in the store, so it wasn't a collectible. This woman ended up buying me a brand new copy because she'd messed up the cover.
Which is my long way of saying that I don't want to loan out my books, especially not my collectible titles. They were too hard to find.
May 29, 2018
This Just Happened
Back in March, I blogged about the ridiculous security questions websites/companies ask to confirm your identity. And recently I had the point driven home forcefully.
My power flickered on and off for a split second after I got home from work. It was enough to knock out the internet and the telephone. I unplugged the box and plugged it back in again. Nothing. Tried that again. Nope. There's a white box in the laundry room. I tried rebooting that. Still nothing.
I decided to sit and wait for my neighbors to call it in, but then I started worrying that maybe they weren't having problems since it was that brief power dip that caused this. I hesitated a little longer, but I was supposed to work from home the following day and I had to have internet. I gathered up all the courage my little introverted heart had and called my provider. Thank goodness my new house has cell phone coverage because my old house had zero bars.
After managing to get through the automated question process, I finally talked to a human. Who asked me what my four-digit security code was. Gah! I didn't even remember having a code, let alone what the numbers were. She gave me a few guesses and then suggested I go with my security question.
Okay, yeah, that's good. Thinking it was one of the questions I'd actually be able to answer. I wasn't that lucky. The question was: Who's your favorite actor?
Cue scream here. OMG! I don't have a favorite actor. I think I mentioned that in my blog post that I linked to in the first paragraph. I tried Johnny Depp, but that wasn't right. She offered me another guess and I was like, you could give me a thousand guesses and I might never come up with the right name. She then went back to the four-digit number. I made guesses and somehow hit the right one.
I was like are you seriously not going to fix my internet because I can't remember a number from six months ago? But apparently it simply had to do with remotely connecting to the modem or something like that.
This totally drove home how asinine the security measures taken by these companies actually is. Favorite actor? Really? even if I was into Hollywood and celebrity, that could change depending on the last movie or TV series that I'd seen. Sooo frustrating! There has to be a better way.
And in case you were wondering, a circuit breaker had popped that hit the laundry room and the mysterious white box. Once I reset it and rebooted the box, everything worked again.
My power flickered on and off for a split second after I got home from work. It was enough to knock out the internet and the telephone. I unplugged the box and plugged it back in again. Nothing. Tried that again. Nope. There's a white box in the laundry room. I tried rebooting that. Still nothing.
I decided to sit and wait for my neighbors to call it in, but then I started worrying that maybe they weren't having problems since it was that brief power dip that caused this. I hesitated a little longer, but I was supposed to work from home the following day and I had to have internet. I gathered up all the courage my little introverted heart had and called my provider. Thank goodness my new house has cell phone coverage because my old house had zero bars.
After managing to get through the automated question process, I finally talked to a human. Who asked me what my four-digit security code was. Gah! I didn't even remember having a code, let alone what the numbers were. She gave me a few guesses and then suggested I go with my security question.
Okay, yeah, that's good. Thinking it was one of the questions I'd actually be able to answer. I wasn't that lucky. The question was: Who's your favorite actor?
Cue scream here. OMG! I don't have a favorite actor. I think I mentioned that in my blog post that I linked to in the first paragraph. I tried Johnny Depp, but that wasn't right. She offered me another guess and I was like, you could give me a thousand guesses and I might never come up with the right name. She then went back to the four-digit number. I made guesses and somehow hit the right one.
I was like are you seriously not going to fix my internet because I can't remember a number from six months ago? But apparently it simply had to do with remotely connecting to the modem or something like that.
This totally drove home how asinine the security measures taken by these companies actually is. Favorite actor? Really? even if I was into Hollywood and celebrity, that could change depending on the last movie or TV series that I'd seen. Sooo frustrating! There has to be a better way.
And in case you were wondering, a circuit breaker had popped that hit the laundry room and the mysterious white box. Once I reset it and rebooted the box, everything worked again.
May 24, 2018
The Bucket List
I've been thinking lately about bucket lists. I don't have one, and when I try to make one, I can't come up with more than a few items, all of them travel.
I guess I'm lucky. I already did most of the things I would have added to a bucket list before I'd ever heard of them. I did have a Pinterest board for this topic, but I mostly repinned other people's items, and while I thought everything was cool, none of it was anything I was truly passionate about pursuing.
So if I include the things I've already done, what would my bucket list look like?
Write and publish books with a New York publisherVisit EuropeVisit HawaiiVisit AlaskaGo to AustraliaTake a CruiseOwn a home Go Whale Watching Complete a 5K race Stay at a Walt Disney World Resort and ride the monorail to the parkGo to IrelandVisit French PolynesiaVisit New ZealandSee all 50 US States (I have about 14 left and I possibly went to one or two of them already, but I'm unsure, so not counting them.)Oh, one more! Knit a sweater.Maybe I'm getting this list thing wrong. Maybe I'm supposed to have different types of things on here? My understanding, though, is that bucket lists are the things you want to do before you die. This is it for me.
I don't want to jump out of airplanes. I don't want to meet a celebrity. I don't want to bungee jump. And maybe I have this wrong because I don't have anything I consider highly unlikely to happen, like visiting Mars (although, yes, I would like to do that if it were completely safe and there was no hardship involved. I am not a pioneer type.)
I guess I'm lucky. I already did most of the things I would have added to a bucket list before I'd ever heard of them. I did have a Pinterest board for this topic, but I mostly repinned other people's items, and while I thought everything was cool, none of it was anything I was truly passionate about pursuing.
So if I include the things I've already done, what would my bucket list look like?
Write and publish books with a New York publisherVisit EuropeVisit HawaiiVisit AlaskaGo to AustraliaTake a CruiseOwn a home Go Whale Watching Complete a 5K race Stay at a Walt Disney World Resort and ride the monorail to the parkGo to IrelandVisit French PolynesiaVisit New ZealandSee all 50 US States (I have about 14 left and I possibly went to one or two of them already, but I'm unsure, so not counting them.)Oh, one more! Knit a sweater.Maybe I'm getting this list thing wrong. Maybe I'm supposed to have different types of things on here? My understanding, though, is that bucket lists are the things you want to do before you die. This is it for me.
I don't want to jump out of airplanes. I don't want to meet a celebrity. I don't want to bungee jump. And maybe I have this wrong because I don't have anything I consider highly unlikely to happen, like visiting Mars (although, yes, I would like to do that if it were completely safe and there was no hardship involved. I am not a pioneer type.)
May 22, 2018
Tweezer Tragedy
Am I the only one who has a favorite pair of tweezers? I can't be, right? I loved these tweezers--the way the tips lined up, the fine point, the ease of using them--and then the alignment went askew. This was my own fault because I was using them as a tool to readjust a pin in a drawer unit.
I'm heartbroken that I did this to my faithful and perfect pair of tweezers. I've had them since college, carried them with me to university and to jobs and to new homes and new cities--all without incident.
Maybe that's why I took them for granted to a degree. I'd used them before for small jobs and they'd always come through for me without incident. Not this time. The tip no longer aligns. They're off just far enough that only a small fraction of the tips are in contact with each other. I tried forcing them back into alignment, but sadly, it didn't work. It's as if they need to be tightened and there's just no way to do this.
I went online shopping for another pair of tweezers, one that could replace perfection. I wanted the widest variety of choices available and there's always more selection online, however, there was a problem with this--I couldn't see the tip of the tweezers. Many of the other scissor tweezers I've seen have a wider, blunt tip and I don't like this.
In the end, I ordered three pairs of tweezers--two scissor tweezers and one of that other kind (the common one that you see everywhere). Now I have to wait for them to arrive and give them a test run, hoping that just one of them will replace my beloved pair.
Of course, while I wait, I noticed a great big dark eyebrow hair growing below my brow and I have nothing with which to pluck it.
I'm heartbroken that I did this to my faithful and perfect pair of tweezers. I've had them since college, carried them with me to university and to jobs and to new homes and new cities--all without incident.
Maybe that's why I took them for granted to a degree. I'd used them before for small jobs and they'd always come through for me without incident. Not this time. The tip no longer aligns. They're off just far enough that only a small fraction of the tips are in contact with each other. I tried forcing them back into alignment, but sadly, it didn't work. It's as if they need to be tightened and there's just no way to do this.
I went online shopping for another pair of tweezers, one that could replace perfection. I wanted the widest variety of choices available and there's always more selection online, however, there was a problem with this--I couldn't see the tip of the tweezers. Many of the other scissor tweezers I've seen have a wider, blunt tip and I don't like this.
In the end, I ordered three pairs of tweezers--two scissor tweezers and one of that other kind (the common one that you see everywhere). Now I have to wait for them to arrive and give them a test run, hoping that just one of them will replace my beloved pair.
Of course, while I wait, I noticed a great big dark eyebrow hair growing below my brow and I have nothing with which to pluck it.
May 17, 2018
Backyard Makeover
It wasn't my plan to do anything with the backyard of my new house. Sure, only 2/3rds of the yard was sodded and the rest was dirt, but I could live with that and landscaping is hugely expensive. But it didn't take long before it became clear that I didn't have a choice. Every time it rained, the erosion was horrifying. All that soil being carried from my yard into my neighbor's yard.
The erosion was so bad that the poor trees already had their roots partially exposed and all I could think about was how vulnerable that made them. A good strong wind and one or more could fall--probably onto the house since some of the trees were tall. We called the landscaper.
The cost was as horrifying as I'd feared.
Watching the dirt leave my yard after another rain storm made it clear there was no choice. First, the trees that were in bad shape needed to be removed. This caused me pain and not only because of the cost. I love trees. They're beautiful, they give oxygen, they provide shade. But the landscaper said that they were in bad enough condition that they'd probably come down on their own at some point. I didn't want them coming down on the house and so they had to go.
I don't have a picture of the backyard from the fall, but here's a picture I took when it snowed here last winter. You can see there were a lot of trees back there.
After the trees were gone, the yard looked sad and stark with that bare dirt just sitting there. But it was too cold to put down sod so we had to wait for it to warm up. The tree guy also broke one of the light posts in the yard and had to order a replacement. You can see the gap. This was our view while we waited.
In the meantime, more rain, more erosion. At last, it warmed up enough for work to commence! Hurrah! It took a week longer than anticipated because it kept raining. On day 1, they extended the irrigation system into the dirt area. Day 2, sod was put down and those guys worked late! Day 3 was much shorter. They put down pine straw around the four remaining trees.
I hate pine straw. It looks cheap and ugly beyond belief. It's not anything I've ever seen in Minnesota and I didn't want it in my yard now, but it's about the cheapest thing there is. I'm saving up for bushes and hope to get those installed next year because yuck! Pine straw!
But the yard turned out super nice. Here's a couple of shots of what the yard looked like as the landscaping team pulled out of my driveway. No more erosion!
The erosion was so bad that the poor trees already had their roots partially exposed and all I could think about was how vulnerable that made them. A good strong wind and one or more could fall--probably onto the house since some of the trees were tall. We called the landscaper.
The cost was as horrifying as I'd feared.
Watching the dirt leave my yard after another rain storm made it clear there was no choice. First, the trees that were in bad shape needed to be removed. This caused me pain and not only because of the cost. I love trees. They're beautiful, they give oxygen, they provide shade. But the landscaper said that they were in bad enough condition that they'd probably come down on their own at some point. I didn't want them coming down on the house and so they had to go.
I don't have a picture of the backyard from the fall, but here's a picture I took when it snowed here last winter. You can see there were a lot of trees back there.
After the trees were gone, the yard looked sad and stark with that bare dirt just sitting there. But it was too cold to put down sod so we had to wait for it to warm up. The tree guy also broke one of the light posts in the yard and had to order a replacement. You can see the gap. This was our view while we waited.
In the meantime, more rain, more erosion. At last, it warmed up enough for work to commence! Hurrah! It took a week longer than anticipated because it kept raining. On day 1, they extended the irrigation system into the dirt area. Day 2, sod was put down and those guys worked late! Day 3 was much shorter. They put down pine straw around the four remaining trees.I hate pine straw. It looks cheap and ugly beyond belief. It's not anything I've ever seen in Minnesota and I didn't want it in my yard now, but it's about the cheapest thing there is. I'm saving up for bushes and hope to get those installed next year because yuck! Pine straw!
But the yard turned out super nice. Here's a couple of shots of what the yard looked like as the landscaping team pulled out of my driveway. No more erosion!
May 15, 2018
Full Tilt
I have a compulsive personality. When I enjoy something, I'm all in. It's why I own thousands of books and why my To Be Read pile numbered over 1500 before I moved from Minneapolis and donated a ton of books. No exaggeration; I literally donated over 2900 books to my local library.
This is why I have a ridiculous amount of scrapbook paper, enough to create about 50 scrapbooks, even though I haven't done this craft in years. Part of it was because I didn't like taking all my stuff out and putting it back away again, but even after I moved to a place where I didn't have to put anything back, I didn't get back into it. The paper actually hit on two of my areas--number one was the scrapbooking hobby and number two was my love of office supplies.
So I'm sure it's no surprise that I threw myself headlong into my latest hobbies--crochet and knitting--the same way.
I started with crochet because knitting seemed too hard. After all, I'd have to manipulate two sticks instead of just one. I enjoyed it and bought a ton of yarn. I didn't know yet that this was called a stash, but I collected one with gusto anyway. So pretty, must buy more!
And I started to purchase a ton of patterns for sweaters and such that I would make some day, once I was better at what I was doing. The thing was, though, that as I browsed crochet patterns, I'd stumble across knitted items that were just so adorable! And I thought well, why not learn to knit? Then I can make clothes and such no matter if they're crocheted or knitted. Win!
I took a knitting class. I started accumulating needles and patterns and yes, more online knitting classes even though I hadn't finished all the crochet classes I'd already purchased. And ooh, look, this designer is having a pattern sale. And wow! It's a Knit-A-Long (KAL)! The only thing that tempts me more than a Knit-A-Long is a Mystery Knit-A-Long. I don't know what I'm making? Let me buy that pattern right now. Never mind that I can't keep up the pace with more experienced knitters. I want in!
I'm trying to overcome this behavior. I managed to go a good four months or so without buying any new yarn, but the patterns were more difficult, especially when they went on sale. Sale might be the magic word for me, and if it's a Mystery Knit-A-Long pattern that's on sale just for one week? I'm there and trying so hard not to be.
And yes, I recently caved in and bought yarn for a KAL and then made a huge error that was impossible to recover from and didn't have enough yarn to start again, so I had to visit the Local Yarn Store (LYS). While I was waiting for the lady to help the woman in front of me--and it was taking forever--I found more yarn. Yarn I didn't need. But it was pretty! Curbing my compulsive buying habit is clearly a work in progress.
This is why I have a ridiculous amount of scrapbook paper, enough to create about 50 scrapbooks, even though I haven't done this craft in years. Part of it was because I didn't like taking all my stuff out and putting it back away again, but even after I moved to a place where I didn't have to put anything back, I didn't get back into it. The paper actually hit on two of my areas--number one was the scrapbooking hobby and number two was my love of office supplies.
So I'm sure it's no surprise that I threw myself headlong into my latest hobbies--crochet and knitting--the same way.
I started with crochet because knitting seemed too hard. After all, I'd have to manipulate two sticks instead of just one. I enjoyed it and bought a ton of yarn. I didn't know yet that this was called a stash, but I collected one with gusto anyway. So pretty, must buy more!
And I started to purchase a ton of patterns for sweaters and such that I would make some day, once I was better at what I was doing. The thing was, though, that as I browsed crochet patterns, I'd stumble across knitted items that were just so adorable! And I thought well, why not learn to knit? Then I can make clothes and such no matter if they're crocheted or knitted. Win!
I took a knitting class. I started accumulating needles and patterns and yes, more online knitting classes even though I hadn't finished all the crochet classes I'd already purchased. And ooh, look, this designer is having a pattern sale. And wow! It's a Knit-A-Long (KAL)! The only thing that tempts me more than a Knit-A-Long is a Mystery Knit-A-Long. I don't know what I'm making? Let me buy that pattern right now. Never mind that I can't keep up the pace with more experienced knitters. I want in!
I'm trying to overcome this behavior. I managed to go a good four months or so without buying any new yarn, but the patterns were more difficult, especially when they went on sale. Sale might be the magic word for me, and if it's a Mystery Knit-A-Long pattern that's on sale just for one week? I'm there and trying so hard not to be.
And yes, I recently caved in and bought yarn for a KAL and then made a huge error that was impossible to recover from and didn't have enough yarn to start again, so I had to visit the Local Yarn Store (LYS). While I was waiting for the lady to help the woman in front of me--and it was taking forever--I found more yarn. Yarn I didn't need. But it was pretty! Curbing my compulsive buying habit is clearly a work in progress.
