Self Restraint and a Cat

So. It occurs to me that I probably have enough yarn (see above for pretty green things!). More than enough yarn even. Realistically speaking, I could probably continue knitting at my usual rate for an entire year without needing to buy more yarn. This is arguably a rather delightful problem to have, if indeed you could call it a problem, but I have decided that seeing as I don't really need more yarn, but will have a need to conserve money (exams are not too far off, so I won't be working nearly as much as usual), some self restraint might be in order over the next little while.

I'm not going to use the word "diet" because I'm not keen on it. It's not something I do when it comes to food (frankly, I'm young and healthy, so what on earth is wrong with just eating well and exercising?), and I'd really like to keep my life "diet" free. So I'm not going to stop buying yarn all together. However, there shall be creative and productivity-encouraging restrictions put in place: the rule of this Not Yarn Diet is that I am now supposed to knit 500g (so ten 50g balls, or whatever) from my stash for every yarn purchase I make. Blog will keep me accountable. Hopefully this will curb the unwarranted impulse buys.

I considered putting a meterage requirement instead of weight, but decided against it: I'm too lazy to add up lengths, and I don't really care about yarn weight as long as it gets used up. Yes, I know that I'll burn through 200g of bulky yarn in the same time it'll take me to knit up 50g of fingering. I don't much care - it's not a competition. I just want to reduce the space being eaten by my terrifying stash of knitting fodder. To play fair though, I'm not counting any part of Sylvi, as it's been going for so long (shame, because I believe that there's over a kilo of yarn in that monster). To not play fairly, I'm counting all yarn knitted from the point that I received my last purchase in the mail. Which puts me at nearly 100g, all from the Gathered Pullover (which is coming along nicely, thank you very much).

That's the plan. Now let's see if I stick to it.

In other news, well, life is crazy. Beyond crazy. Between uni, work, and social commitments, I have so much to do that it isn't even funny. For the first time in my life, I'm being afflicted by semi-regular insomnia, because I lie in bed unable to sleep because all of the pressing demands on my time are dancing around in my head humming circus music loudly. Thank heavens that knitting is a hobby that you can sort of slot into the gaps formed between everything else - one of the many reasons that I love it.

In knitting news, I have started seaming my Sylvi and have commenced the hood. I am so close to finishing that I can almost taste it - and I'm hoping that that will help me finally knock it on the head. Even the fickle Melbourne weather wants me to finish - the weather at the moment is bitingly cold for October, and it's just begging for a slightly unseasonal woollen coat. The Gathered Pullover is coming along nicely as well - I am still in love with the colour.




Unfortunately all is not well in other areas of life - the furred and finned areas, more specifically. More diligent readers might recall me gabbling happily about Titus, my fighting fish. Well, alas, poor Titus succumbed to a fungal infection yesterday, despite putting up a brave fight while we treated him with scarily green medicine. Poor wee fishy - he was a lot of fun, had a lot of character as far as fish go, and I will miss his hungry little face in the mornings.

If that wasn't enough, my poor old geriatric cat Alex has a large nasty swelling in his neck. The vet is not sure whether it's cancer or just a gland that's swollen up as a result of an inflamed tooth - he's going in tomorrow for blood tests and possibly dental surgery if he's stable enough. Anything involving anaesthetic is risky for a 19 year old cat with heart issues, so I'm trying to be prepared for the worst, just in case it happens. He's content enough at the moment though - asleep on my dressing gown, which I suspect is now officially His dressing gown. At any rate, please send cat mojo for my poor old man!

And that's about it. Hopefully the next post will involve a finished Sylvi - let's just hope that procrastination doesn't strike (again) in the meantime...

Miscellany!

Behold: lots of miscellaneous things that don't really justify a blog post on their own. And also lots of me showing off my new camera:


This was my birthday present to myself! Three tasty skeins of Sanguine Gryphon yarn. Three skeins of 'Free Range' (100% organic wool, DK weight) in the 'Green Jungle-fowl' colourway, to be exact. I love it. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it makes me happy. This was the first time I'd ever handled organic yarn, so I don't really have much basis for comparison, but I can say that this stuff feels absolutely beautiful...


My favourite dip in all the world - spicy hummus from Queen Victoria Market (please don't ask me what stall, because I can never remember the number). It comes with fresh parsley and dried chilli sprinkled on top, and is nothing short of the best hummus in the universe. The fact that I actually buy it is testimony to the awesomeness of this dip. As cluey readers might have begun to suspect, I am usually the type of person who likes to make their own stuff where possible, and my home-made hummus is perfectly fine. Problem is that it's not as nice as this stuff. Not even close. Magic dip!


I tried my hand at felting for the first time. Or rather, it was the first time that I actually tried to go about it scientifically - I am guilty of once maliciously throwing a particularly hated handknit jumper into the washing machine just to see what would happen...

Anyway, this has turned out quite well. It didn't shrink as much as I was expecting, and the strap is a little too long, but that's easily fixable. It's not too far off being finished - now I just want to add a couple of buttons to make it closable, and put some kind of decoration on the front (the jury is still out on what kind). So basically, we're up to the fun part, having progressed from both the drudgy endless part and the soapy soggy part.

Also, in the background of the above shot is a Wisp that I'm working on, with the goal being simply to keep my hands busy during lecture recordings while getting rid of some hateful mohair that I bought in a fit of madness a few months back. I'm actually pleased with how it's coming along, though I'll likely end up trying to fob it off onto somebody else, because mohair is really not my thing...


And here is a birthday card that I made on the weekend for my aunt's 50th. Because I'm one of those people who can never quite bring themselves to fork out $5 for a shop bought card. I do of course like making cards of course, but, um, yeah, tight-arsery weighs in here too. It would be a filthy lie to suggest otherwise...

Anyway, I'm off to the iron. My poor Terra had a very unfortunate run in with some hot wax today, so I'm using all the tricks in my arsenal to try and salvage the poor sleeve in question. I'll be rather sad if I can't get the wax out - I love this one to pieces, and wear it all the time... Wish us both luck!

I survived!

Hurray, the big nasty pieces of assessment are over and done with.


Now it's just one more smaller essay to do, and I'm free...


Except I have a sneaking suspicion that freedom will involve remembering the fact that I'm getting married in two weeks from today... Yet another thing that requires me being organised. And in some ways this requires a worse kind of organised, because everyone is always asking me questions about stuff. Nobody asks me law questions, because they know I'll just bore them to death if they do...

Anyway, when I was literally running out the door to make the train and hand my essay in on time (late submission penalties and harsh and generally bitey), I nearly tripped over a parcel on my doorstep:

Yay! My Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn got here (which surprised me because I'm pretty sure I asked them to send it to my family's PO box, but that doesn't mean I wasn't happy to see it... It's an 8-ply 100% cotton yarn that I'm going to make something summery with, have yet to decide on what. They sent me a colour card as well, which is pretty and highly touchable. I'm liking the look of their alpaca yarn for when winter rolls around again...