Well, I haven't been a very dedicated blogger, now have I? I've been doing alright, with the book diet, I think I am going to implement a new rule of 2 out, 1 in. Once I use patterns from 2 books, I am allowed to buy another one. I haven't really stuck completely to the book diet, but since the diet began I've only bought 3 new books, which is a lot better than I was doing in the past.
Along the same theme, I'm going to also implement a stash diet. I sent an email request to join the stashalong, but the person who runs it only adds new people the first of the month, and I'd like to set down my goals and start my stash diet before that. As of today, July 17th, I am joing the stashalong for 3 months, until October 17th. I will allow myself one free day a month, with a rule- I can only buy yarn for no more than one *specific* project (ie, no yarn just because) and yarn to complete projects I've started from the stash. I'm also not going to allow myself a free day til I have reduced the stash by a bit. I've been working on using up my peaches and creme cotton collection on dishtowels, I am down from 2 ziploc bags to just one, and I'd like to get that one used as well. I also ordered yarn from knitpicks for 2 sweaters recently, so I'd like to finish those. I also have a sweater and a shrug that have been languishing on the needles for awhile. I am also 1 repeat and the edging away from being done a shetland triangle. I need to make a dent in all that before I get a free day, so I may skip my free day for the first month.
My over all goal for myself is to finish these WIPs, and also, most importantly, to reduce the stash and then start only purchasing yarn for specific projects.
If I do well, I may join for a few more months, but as of now I'm going to see how it goes.

well, I am on the second row of the 7th repeat of the tuscany shawl (I'll post pics when I'm not being so lazy) and I like how it's turning out so far. Though I will admit, I'm not wild about the colors. They looked different on the monitor...if I had to go back, I would look harder to try and find silken in a solid color. Note to self: you do not like handmaidens paris colorway. I'm also not *that* crazy about variegated yarns it seems, I don't mind if it's variations of one color or similiar colors, but sometimes it just seems kind of gaudy to me. But it looks so pretty in the hank, I can't help it.
I had another yarn buying accident at colorsongyarns.com...they had the big hanks of sea silk in blackberry, a colorway I've really been wanting, so I ordered it. It's shipping today so it'll probably be here within a few days. I swear after this...NO MORE YARN!

tuscany, day 1...again

So i messed up on my tuscany and had to restart 4 times. Today I restarted for the fourth and hopefully the last time. i have completed 2 repeats so far, and I guess I'm going to try and get it done 11 days from now. :) We'll see.

tuscany, day 3

I have begun the tuscany shawl, as of two days ago, and I am two repeats into it. THat should change when I get some knitting time later though. I don't know if this is feasible, but I am giving myself a knitting challenge with this shawl: there are 11 repeats, so I'd like to finish in 11 days, averaging 1 repeat a day. I know the repeats grow in stitch count, so I'll probably do more than 1 a day til they get really big, then take a few days per repeat. THe last shawl I made took 3 months, and I'd like a little more instant gratification on this one. :) plus I am a much faster knitter now.

baby blanket finished

I am extremely excited...I finished the baby blanket this morning. well, I didn't weave in the ends or wash it, but I will do that tomorrow. I was to anxious to get to my tuscany shawl, the yarn has been teasing me since it arrived. I'm not sure how I feel about the color way though, it looked a little different on my screen. Also I'm not that wild about variegated yarns, but I wasn't able to find silken in a solid color.

a pictureless update

I'm going to try and really use this blog, but we will see. Since my last post, I have not finished either of the things I posted about. Instead, I pretty much made a bunch of scarves and dishtowels, and am now working on a baby blanket, which is half done. I'm trying to go on a yarn diet as well as a book diet, but it hasn't exactly worked out so far. I've only bought 2 new books since I started my book diet, fitted knits and no sheep for you. However, I did fall off the yarn diet wagon pretty hard. I recently purchased 3 skeins of handmaiden silken to make the tuscany shawl in no sheep for you and 3 big skeins of sea silk. I now have enough yarn, including what I already have for at least 4 shawls. At least I have plans for most of it, the silken I already mentioned, 1 of the big sea silk skeins is going to be a shetland triangle from wrap style, the sea silk I already have is going ot be a shawl from victorian lace today, and as for the other two I'm thinking maybe something out of a gathering of lace or traditional knitted lace shawls. We'll see. But first, I'm making myself finish this baby blanket. I know if I don't finish it before I start other stuff it will take a lot longer to do, and my cousin is having the baby in a few weeks, so I want to get it done in time.
Hmm, I just looked back at my first post in november about the book diet, and I think I did pretty well only buying 2 in 5 months. (I was trying to buy NONE but I'll go easy on myself.) I am now back on the wagon and I'm not buying any more books or yarn for awhile. Also though, I have used up some stash yarn. The baby blanket will use the 2 balls of bernat baby I've had sitting around, and I made 4 scarves mostly out of stash yarn (a few more balls of yarn had to be purchased to complete, but those don't count, they were knitted up right away) and I've also made a few washclothes from the peaches and creme stash. Alright, off to work on the baby blanket (I hope to have it finished in about a week, the silken is calling to me....)

works in progress

Right, now I have two works in progress on the needles: I'm knitting the simple shrug from speed knitting (I really think I am addicted to that book, it's awesome!) in Rowan cotton tape in Hazy and the swirled pentagon pulllover from knitting nature by norah gaughan (a really, really beautiful book) in Lion Brand Microspun in black. Yes, I know Lion Brand sucks, but I love microspun. I think it may be their only yarn that has any redeeming value. It's so soft, and since I'm not using wool right now it seems like it would be the best choice for this project. Plenty of commercial sweaters are made of acrylic. I also hear really good things about Lion Brand cotton-ease so I will probably try that if I ever see it in a store near me. *shudder* When I first started knitting I did a project with lion homespun and lion suede and both were completely awful. Even more awful, I have leftovers of both yarns that stare at me whenever I go into my stash. Maybe I can give them away....
And now for a pic:
beginnings of the sweater: