Budgeting (AKA don't buy so much yarn!)

 (My new scarf, pre-blocking. Fantastic pattern is here: Pax )

I have never been good at budgeting. When my big brothers went and put their money away in their savings accounts, I took mine out 75 cents at a time to buy candy (I must have driven my poor bank tellers a bit nuts- they were right on the way to the Quick-check where I got my penny candies!). I'm terrible for buying impulsively and just getting too much stuff.
I like my stuff, and there is very little I regret buying, but that doesn't change much. I know my spending habits need to change. I've never lived outside my means- close to the limit, sure, but my credit card bill is always fully paid by the end of the month. It's time that I started saving, though, and that means that I've written a budget and I need to stick to it.
I did my first budget in March. I didn't really stick to it, but I'm not surprised- it was just to figure out what I needed in each part of my budget, and what was realistic. In April, I let it slide. Got a bit lazy, needed a few things, decided to just spend "normally" and figure it out at the end of the month to compare. I did spend too much in April, although I still came out a bit ahead (and the Webs order on the way was totally worth it!).

Now in May I'm planning to seriously crack down. I have my budget, and I want to try and be under it by a little bit at the end of the month. It will be a lot of work. Some things will be no issue- I rarely eat out or buy drinks out, so keeping that down will be easy. It's not a habit. I pack my lunch every day.
Some parts of my budget will be hard. Cracking down on craft supplies will be really, really hard. I love new craft supplies, but I really don't need any more. I have enough projects to last a year at least.
May is no new yarn month. I would like to push that further and buy no new yarn in June, too, but I may permit small amounts of yarn. We'll see.
It's going to be really, really hard. I have enough yarn, though. I need to work my way through some of what I have before I buy more. It's getting out of hand, and I know it. It's so hard to resist when amazing yarn comes into the store on clearance and I really, really want it...
This brings me to a new rule I've made for myself. I am waiting at least a day before I buy anything (with reasonable exceptions, like that I need it or that I can't go back for it). Most of what I buy is from the mall I work at anyway, and clearance at work can always be put in my basket for awhile. A cooling off period will help me decide if I really need it or just want it.
So here's to hoping I can stick to my May budget. If I can really stick to it this month- keep entirely to my budget and not buy any yarn- I am splurging for one of the cheap back rubs at the back rub place in my mall.

On another note, I just published April's pattern. I want to try making this in fine weight yarn with just the petals in a band now. This one is more kid-friendly, I want to see if I can make it a bit more elegant for me!
Spring Flowers Headband- free pattern!

Bargains

So I was on a yarn buying ban in March. Ok, that's not true. I was on a spending money on yarn ban in March. I actually brought home a lot of yarn in March. Mostly sock yarn. I mean, sock yarn is sensible, right?
But April started and my temporary ban was over.
How foolish of me.

Then I was much more foolish.
I went to Romni.

These are all from Romni. 10 balls of the Cantata. I love the colour, it's going to make the perfect summer top. The bright blue cotton thread is what I really went for- I'm making a little shrug out of it and I knew they had the perfect colour on clearance.


I realized that I hadn't gotten the right weight of cotton with the Cantata, though. Here I was thinking my project was DK, and it was sport! But not to worry, I have DK projects too. I just needed to get some sport weight, too. I couldn't decide on a colour, so I pulled both of these out of our clearance section. Stripes!


And then last week I went in and they told me we had a washable merino and silk blend on for 1.97$ a ball. So I bought a dozen. Enough to make a sweater! A beautiful cabled sweater!
The pattern I started with this failed, so I'm just going to use the cabled panel and make up the rest of the pattern. I think it'll be nicer, anyway.

And then I went away this weekend, and we happened to pop into Goodwill to buy a corkscrew for my Uncle (Protip- in a pinch, a screw and vicegrip will open a wine bottle).
This yarn was so cheap. The crochet cotton was 1$ a ball. The three balls of Bernat Alpaca were 3$ total. And then the black Verdi cotton. It's a cotton/viscose acrylic blend. Each bag was 1$. So that's 2$ of yarn and it's more than enough for a big summery cotton cardigan. I am so excited for that project!
So that's 7$ of yarn. Oh, and no tax on that, I guess because it's Goodwill. Score.

I also got a bunch of flour sack dishtowels and embroidery supplies from work. That's right, I'm learning to embroider! Not that I really actually did anything properly here. I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing with embroidery would cringe at this, but I think he's cute! I'm going to make a set of nerd-themed dishtowels for our new apartment. We don't move for awhile yet, indeed we haven't even started looking. I'm hoping that will mean I can actually get a few of these done before we move.


I also finished this project, my Sailor Blues Shawl. Isn't it cute? I think it's going to be perfect for the summer. Just enough density and weight to protect you from cool evenings and A/C. Also, I love the colour combo. This laceweight is hanging where I can see it from the counter at work, and I am always sitting there looking at colour combos in my mind.
I stared at this one a bit too long, and I had to bring it home!

Getting Around To It...

I have a lot of things I've been putting off. I've been really tired lately and just haven't felt like it. I've actually gotten some of them done now, and it feels pretty good.

The other night, I read the Yarn Harlot's post about moths. I then saw a moth in my house. Nevermind that in three years it's the second moth I've ever seen, I knew.
It was time.

I finally bagged up my yarn. I'm sad not to have it sitting out all nice and pettable, but being safer from the moths is more important.

You can see I've bagged my fibre sitting on the side, and some of my cones up top.
I haven't done the rest- a lot I won't bother with because it's acrylic and it's in a bin anyway, or the stuff in my little footstool container because it's just bits and bobs. But the wool and the nice stuff is bagged, so I feel better.


I also finally grabbed some pictures of these socks. Even those these are a little big on me, I love them. I know it'll be a bit of a slog, but I am definitely making a pair in sockweight for myself. They're done vertically with sl st blo and sl st flo and they are so snug and nice and cozy.
You can see the rest of the yarn I made these with above- I have enough to make at least half a dozen pairs. They may be christmas presents for my ski-loving family next year.

This is a job I'm only partway through. I made this sampler scarf for a class I'll be teaching. It's 24 different shell and cluster stitch patterns. Now I need to write them down and make charts for each of them. Why did I agree to the charts? Oh, I know why- I need practice making charts. It's going to be a lot of work. I have 4 charted now, and it took me about an hour. Hopefully I speed up, because that is a lot of freakin' work for one 2 hour class. And I still have to block the thing, and write up the pattern.

I've been making a lot of progress on big, long term projects that have been sitting around for ages. I feel good about it, but I have a feeling I'll be jumping to some smaller projects soon enough. I'm also planning on starting some embroidery, which is exciting. I've never done any, but we sell these great floursack tea towels at work that would be perfect. We really need a set of good tea towels, and tea towels with nerdy embroidery would be such a nice touch for our kitchen.

On My Way!

Tomorrow we head off to holiday things. Some time at Andrew's parents for Christmas, then off to Cuba for a week! I can't wait.

I pulled out my yarn last week to tidy up. Isn't it lovely?


I may have acquired more since...

I finally blocked this shawlette for Andrew's Nan, who is totally awesome. It's made with merino/silk laceweight yumminess. I also got her a dpn case because she makes lots of little baby hats and things.

These practical and lovely little neckwarmers are for my parents. They ski a bunch and I know it's a pain to have water drip down your back... so voila, lovely superwash wool neckwarmers with a bit of a dickey attached.

And my present to me... my dress is only half finished but I am very excited. I needed more yarn and it just so happened that there was more at the warehouse! I am just about the luckiest person ever.
I still have a few more presents to finish... I finished legwarmers for my brother's girlfriend today and I'm working on a few more things for my parents. I also have a sweater with just the arms left to do that I'm bringing along to finish (though I must admit I'm not sure about that... I mean, a whole sweater? I can just leave it in the suitcase that's staying behind and I really want to get it done, but still...)
Anyway, I need to get to sleep. We're catching the train out tomorrow. I need to wind some yarn up first, but bed is calling me...

Christmas Presents and Pretty Yarn

So my stitch night had a party and we did a gift exchange. I got this Noro Retro- I'm so excited! I've never used any Noro before and this seems like a nice one. I mean, it's got angora in it.
I need to find something really special to use it on. Isn't the colour great?



I've really been raiding the discount section at work. This Teddy yarn is super soft. I'm making a cardigan with little ears on it for my adorable little nephew. He's gonna be 1 soon!


These are for various Christmas presents. I only got the two balls of the mulitcolour superwash- I am kicking myself now, because I think they would be awesome and quick to work up socks. The other is a merino blend and it's probably going to be hats. Hats hats hats!

Most likely more of this hat, the Best Guy Hat Ever. It really is. I'm gonna make one in a nice girly colour for me once the holiday is over.
I can't believe I'm not sick of making them yet, but every one is still fun!


Speaking of manly things, I finally wove in the last ends of these mitts awhile ago and just recently handed them over to Andrew as an early christmas present. He's actually been wearing them :D! They look quite nice on him. He says he looks like a hobo, but he likes them.


I also made myself a Boteh scarf out of this Chroma that's been sitting in my stash just waiting for a project. I saw one in a different colourway on the blocking thread over at Rav, and I knew I had to make it. It's finished now and just needs blocking.



This has been put aside for my dress (which fingers crossed I will finish today!) and I think I might need more yarn for it, but I am super excited for it. It's going to be a giant fluffy soft mohair wrap. I'm using Debbie Bliss Angel and Party Angel (basically the sparkly version of the same yarn!) striped in a nice ripple pattern. In hindsight, I probably should have made it less wide to get more length, but I kinda love the ridiculous width. I just don't think I'll have the yarn to make it as long as I want.
Gee darn, more yarn.

An order...

Last week I got a Knitpicks order in the mail. A wonderfully ridiculous order that included 55 balls of yarn and a gift for someone else.

It included yarn for some projects I can't wait to start:

Wool of the Andes for a sweater, as yet undecided. Probably a cardigan. I keep having ideas and then forgetting them on this one!

Telemark for a lovely relaxed cabled sweater- probably the green one from the latest Crochet! (Which, might I add, was surprisingly amazing!)


Some laceweight. The red is for another Dahlia shawl. I love the red version in the magazine and need some more lovely red in my wardrobe. Did you know that red has been proven to make you more attractive? I want to wear more of it- it doesn't hurt that red also looks pretty great on me.
The yellow I've just adored for a long time. The golden colourway is really appealing to me. Although it has more bright green-yellow in it than I expected, I love it and I'm really excited for deciding what pattern I'm going to use.


This is for a plush ARG toy. It's gonna be part of Andrew's christmas present, but I don't really know when I'm gonna get to it. He's already gotten fingerless mitts and a hat, though, so I don't feel too bad.


Then some crayon for a blanket. Not until I finish the other crayon blanket I'm making! That behemoth is gonna haunt me for awhile...
I had to order it, though... they're discontinuing crayon and I LOVE crayon! I'm a little sad- it was what made me make my first KP order.


And this I'm really excited about... Sugarbunny. I am making mitts and a hat and maybe a cowl out of this. Angora. Super soft and lovely and a delightful pink, I can't wait!

I'm not working with any of it yet, though. Right now I'm working with yet more new yarn. I was shelving the new clearance yarn and a bag full of cashmere blend with the help of an enabling coworker ended up coming home with me. I'm making a dress to wear when I go away over New Year's.
I have some more pictures to share- other new yarn and some fun things, but for now I'm gonna get back to the dress. I want to finish it tomorrow and maybe get some other projects a little further along.

Christmas Gifts and Treats

So a few days ago I officially got my yarn discount at work. I didn't buy anything on day one. I was being good. I have no yarn budget.

But I need stuff for Christmas presents, and that totally doesn't count, right? The grey is a nice workhorse yarn for a hat for my brother. The red and black are for my parents- they'll be ski neckwarmers, the kind with a dickey (heehee) down the back. Nice and fine for those hot days when the snow seems to melt all over you.


It really is beautiful merino- and a great price, too.


I also had to get myself this set of Chibi needles. After all, they're so cute and perfect for my purse. Loose needles in my purse seem to vanish. This set will mean I always have the right needle with me.

And then I caved. I finally bought this yarn. I've been drooling over it for longer than is appropriate. This combination for a crochet featherweight cardigan? Yes! Yes yes yes.
I'll be getting some Christmas money soon, and this actually was pretty reasonable. The rest of the money I'll save, but I'm so glad I got to bring these babies home.

The start of my cardigan. No surprise, it's slow going. I'm gonna do raglan style increases, although super-lazy like. Those stitch markers are at the beginning, and I sorta increase wherever is about closest to them. It seems to be working so far. Hopefully it still looks good further in.
The purple will be a button band and possibly cuffs and collar- I'll see when I get there.

I'm using the crochet stockinette I figured out. Not sure if I have a small enough hook, though.

What do you think, are those holes way too big? Keep in my here the scale of my finger.
I don't know...

New pretties, WIPS

So I spent the weekend at the Creativ Festival. I was working at the store's booth and so I was totally not going to spend any money. But then I saw some yarn, and you know how that works. Besides, my bank account was healthier than expected. So just three little skeins I was going to take home.Isn't it pretty? Party Angel, I love it! I adore light fluffy mohairs, pretty soft pinks and anything that's sparkly. Match made in heaven.
But you can see that there's only two skeins there. Not because they were out, though...

... but because before I got those, I found these. Kidsilk Haze. 50% off. The softest, dreamiest of pinks.
They were so sweet. They had to come home with me!

I don't know yet whether they'll be two small shawls or one big striped one. Thoughts?

And then the booth across from us had this. I had to take something really special and unique home, you know? And this is incredible. It's 70% mink, 20% merino and 10% silk. It is so soft and wonderful, the grey is just amazing and working with it was incredibly fun.
I got it from Knitca.com. They don't have it on the website, yet, though. Not that I can see, anyway. I want more. Ok, I can't buy more. But I want more.

I finally finished my first tunisian mitt. I started these as a way to practice gauge and tension in tunisian before I began my Betty's Tunisian Tee. I think I ripped them out 3 or 4 times, maybe more. I even finished and seamed the main body before I ripped it out the last time because they were too small. Finally, finally I have one finished.
The other one will join it soon- hopefully in less time than it took to do this one.

This is the beginning of another project. I fell in love with some wall art I saw on Ravelry and now I have to make some for my house. Think big, bright flowers and granny squares and motifs. I have a part skein of Chroma left that might go in the mix, too. We'll see.

Tiny Things and Big Things

So my boyfriend does a webcomic called I am ARG (http://iamarg.com/ totally NSFW!) and I'm a pretty big fan. I've already promised him a big plushie for Christmas- he wants to go to local cons next year and have him to put on the table.
Well, I've been reading MochiMochi Land (http://mochimochiland.com) and I don't think you can do that without some urge to make something teeny weeny and adorable, so I decided to make a tiny practice plush with some DMC.
Isn't mini-ARG cute? He looks so sad, but that's how he was requested! Big ARG will have more of a menacing look, but that's hard to pull off on a little guys who's only about 2 inches tall.

I finished some big projects too, like this pink fluffy alpaca sweater. I've had my eye on this alpaca in the clearance section at work for ages. It's soooo soft. I've been running a really tight budget, though, so I put one skein of bright turquoise in my shelf in the back to buy someday, sighed longingly at the other colours and went to pet them once in awhile. Then we had a 25% off clearance sale, and all was lost. I came home with 9 skeins of pink, the turquoise and some pink bamboo sock yarn I'd also fallen for.
This sweater was about 7.5 skeins of the pink. I think I'm gonna make legwarmers with the rest.
Not sure if I love the sweater- I'll have to wear it a few times to know. It's a bit shorter than what I wanted, but wiser heads have informed me that alpaca will grow. Here's hoping!
Now to wait until it's cold enough outside to wear this. It'll be a really cuddly skiing sweater.

Mini-ARG is not the only DMC project I've done. Since I started at work, I've been in love with all the incredible colours you can get it in. It's so inexpensive, too. So I started a few jewellery projects with some of the beads I have lying around and some DMC I got at work. Just simple pieces that I can throw on with anything to brighten up an outfit!

My aunt (ok, my Dad's cousin's wife, but close enough!) liked this one so much at Thanksgiving that I ended up making her one. She's a knitter and it's their cottage we all get invited up to for Thanksgiving- I can't say no to someone that nice!

This little pink necklace is a favorite of mine. It's simple and light and adds a nice pop of colour to plain fall outfits.
Did I mention that with the exception of the three coloured necklace, I'm doing these as one floss skein projects? I might publish a little pattern book of inexpensive simple jewellery. They're super quick, too, so they're make great presents. Even with beads the cost for each would be no more than a few dollars, and that's only dependent on which beads you choose.

Ps, here's a picture of my yarn corner as it stands right now in celebration of yesterday's I Love Yarn Day! I tidied it a little and found some yarn that I adore but had somehow forgotten about. But... I need to get through some of my long list of WIPs first!