In which I begin

Having far more in-work projects than I care to admit, and a healthy yarn collection, I think I'd better lay out my current operating rules.

1. Knit from Stash only

2. Strict Yarn Diet (almost a Yarn Fast-- but not quite-- in case of crises unspecified) (yes, I did mean crises, as in plural of crisis)

3. No new projects without finishing others.

There is a difficulty I should point out.

Our house is on the market, and I had it on good authority that my healthy stash of yarn would detract from a buyer's ability to see the house. Since I would like to keep the yarn, and sell the house, well.

(Bear in mind that my husband has described our house as the one with all the yarn coming out the windows.)

The yarn's temporary home is up the hill at a friend's house.

Anybody see a difficulty with adhering to Rule 1, in view of Stash Departure? Right.

Look here:This is Cherry Tree Hill's Possum Lace yarn. Now, in my defence let me say that I was legitimately trying to finish a project. (a secret one, at least for the moment) I needed another skein and, in view of the fact CTH had cancelled its Possum Lace, and my yarn had been bought in 2001, it looked pretty desperate.

After some communication with Cherry Tree Hill's Cheryl Potter, I discovered they had recently gotten in some more, dyed it, and it had been scarfed up by various US yarn stores. Obviously I needed to make some calls, send some emails, make some effort in order to finish (see rule 3) this project. Obviously, in view of the wonderfulness of the yarn and the general scarcity thereof, a skein or two more makes sense, right? Right. In reality, this photo doesn't even show the skein I was (ostensibly) seeking: that, with (urk) two others is still enroute.

All of this was preceded by some genuine, self-controlled finishing of things. In fact, I was downright proud of my self control. Really! Look:

Estonian Garden Shawl, by Evelyn Clark ( available from Fiber Trends). Just under 3 skeins of Madil's Kid Seta (which to me is indistinguishable from Rowan's Kid Silk Haze) in a sort of pale mushroomy color. This baby was started right after the pattern came out (I forget. Anyone remember?) and then sat ignored for some time because of other projects (see below). Also, I have to say, I got totally bored with the middle section. Not enough going on -but- that made it perfect to finish while watching soccer and baseball. Once I figured that out, I enforced the finish-it program by taking no other knitting with me for several days. Magic. Amazing how working on a project results in finishing it, no?

Also, these:

The one on the left is from the Faroese shawl book (the one written in Faroese: Foroysk Bindingarmynstur) which is available from Meg Swansen's Schoolhouse Press
...along with an English translation done by Marilyn van Keppel. (Who, let me tell you, is a delightful and talented knitter). It's called Ata, and is supposed to be fringed, but I dislike fringe on my shawls so I fabricated an appropriate edging instead.

The one on the right, called Hyrna Herborgar, is an Icelandic shawl, from the Icelandic Shawl book titled, roughly Thrihyrnur og Langsjol. (more Norse characters poorly represented by my keyboard, sorry) In English we say, Three-cornered and Long Shawls. This book is also available from Meg's Schoolhouse Press, again with a translation to English done by, yes, Marilyn van Keppel.

That shawl is discussed by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer extensively on her site, which is where I first saw it, in the fall of 2000. At the time I was pregnant with my baby girl (not so baby-like these days) who was born that December, so it probably doesn't surprise you that I laid it aside half done.

When you know me better, you won't need the "baby girl just born excuse" to understand why it got laid aside half done. :) I got, um, bored with the middle section... it just went on and on and on...

I finished it just this past weekend, after working on it for 4 days.

Folks, I was FOUR days from finishing that baby when I stuffed it in a bag; what was I thinking?! And no, not four days non-stop (such knitting time I meet but rarely). I have four children ages 6 thru 12. I love playing with them. We homeschool them. 'nuff said.

I do want to say that in 2001 it would not have taken 4 days. I was not the experienced lace knitter that I am now. Also, there wasn't a translation published yet, so I was stumbling thru the Icelandic on my own . I used a handspun white merino with a bit of sparkle, which I got through the (then) lace knitting list.

It is a truly lovely design which I will have to knit again with some Cascade silk I have in my stash, now let me see where I put it... oh yeah... it's up the hill... Rats.