Cheating...

Ok, that's it! I can't take the PS3 FIRE theme anymore! Even though it's not April yet. But I still have these red/orange/pink UFO's left. Bugger!

 

(Basic sock, Catriona, Morning Surf Scarf, Anemoi mittens)

I'm going to try to finish at least some of them before the end of March, but I just had to move on.

To more EARTHy yarns. My favorite colors! Green and brown. But holy SHI..........EEEEEEP!!!! I strongly suspect that my yarn has mutated and developed reproductive capabilities. How else do you explain this?

  

And now you're thinking, "well... that's not too bad", right? Ok, so what if I show you this then?

Some nice dark brown yarny yummyness. Still not rocking your boat? Alrightie then, take this!

If you still don't think I have a slightly abnormal yarn habit, you're probably either immune to yarn, or have a stash the size of a yarn store. And if you know me in real life and you thought I had knitting as a "hobby", I'm out of the closet now. For the love of wool (or alpaca, or heck qiviut, if that's what gets you going), how did this happen?! And keep in mind that this is just part of my stash. Add the red yarns to the mix, and the yarn that belongs in the remaining two PS3 categories, and you have a pretty substantial amount.

To distract you from the yarn madness, I give you two UFO's in the EARTH category.

Little Miss Green Sweater

Or she's not so little anymore. She just needs another sleeve and some sewing, and she'll be done.

And the other star is Miss Ruffled Jacket.

She's pretty much at the same stage as her green sister. Just the sleeve and some sewing left. I can't wait to start knitting with these colors! The FIRE colors make me see red (haha).

Not much left

March is coming to an end, and that also means the end of Project Spectrum's FIRE theme. I've started a lot of projects in February-March, finished a few, and used up quite a lot of my red/orange/pink yarn.

This is what I have left. 20 skeins.

It's nothing compared to what I had at the beginning of February. 31 skeins.

This means that I've used 11 skeins. Some of them are finished projects, and some are works in progress. I'm pretty pleased with myself. Now I just need to finish as many of my red WIPs as possible, so I can focus all of my attention on the EARTH theme. Can't wait!

Still at it with the FIRE theme

It feels like I haven't finished anything in a loooong time. But look, a pair of socks!

I managed to knit up every last scrap of the pink/green yarn by using an afterthought heel. I had the same yarn in a perfect green color, so it worked out great. I really like that these are short. That way, they won't be too warm to wear in the summer.

And what kind of sock knitter would I be if I didn't immediately start another pair?

The yarn for these is Tofutsies, and I really like that it kind of self stripes. I'm reinforcing the heel by knitting with the yarn doubled, and it almost looks like it's a different yarn because of the nice and even stripes. The pattern is a really basic make it up as you go along sock pattern.

My Morning Surf Scarf is also moving along nicely. I really like that this pattern was so easy to memorize, but still looks interesting.

And look at the difference when the fabric is stretched. I think I'm going to do some serious blocking on this one when it's finished.

Problem yarns...

My goal for Project Spectrum 3 is to get my yarn stash organized and knit away a fair amount of it. I especially want to use up my "problem yarns". You know those don't you, the ones you just can't seem to find a suitable project for. Lately, my knitting has been focused on those yarns.

Socks for charity

The yarn is Novita 7 Veljestä, hand dyed by me. I just can't stand these colors together, so I'm trying to knit up every scrap of this yarn.

Morning Surf Scarf

Lace yarn hand dyed by me. Do you see a pattern here? There's a reason I only tried dyeing yarn a few times...

Basic toe-up socks for me

Again, yarn hand dyed by me, Novita Nalle. This can't really be classified as a "problem yarn", because I really like the colors. I just want to use it up.

 

And then we have the yarns I haven't gotten to yet...

A pair of What Was I Thinking?

Both of these are 100% acrylic. I could maaaaaybe manage to knit the one on the right, because it's not quite as squeaky as the fire engine red blob on the left... But meeeh... There are so many other yarns that I really adore knitting with, so why suffer through knitting with these?

Leftovers from my orange Resoleable Socks and my pink basic striped socks

I'm sure I'll find some use for these four little balls of 7 Veljestä. Most probably, they will become socks for charity.

There's not that much left of March now, and I'm already itching to start knitting with yarns in the PS3 EARTH category. I really like the elements/nature theme for this round of Project Spectrum. I'm also trying to implement this approach in my daily life, being more conscious of the world around me and the impact (both positive and negative) I can have on it.

Organizing my yarn stash is making med realize that other areas in the home could also benefit from a little spring cleaning. I'm slowly trying to get rid of all the unnecessary clutter we have everywhere. My approach is one room at a time, so it doesn't get too overwhelming. It's really refreshing to see empty shelf space!

Cro-what?

I don't crochet often, because I just don't find it as relaxing and rewarding as knitting. But I actually finished a crochet project. Look!

For Project Spectrum 3, I've been trying to get to those "problem yarns" that most of us have somewhere in the back of our stashes. I really hate knitting with stiff, dk weight cotton, because I'm an insanely tight knitter and my hands start to hurt. I didn't know what to do with the two small orange and red skeins of cotton I had, so I just crocheted a basket.

I didn't reinforce the corners, so it's very soft and bendy, which means I can cram a lot of yarn in there. (It has also been test worn as a square shaped hat by the man in the house, with more or less satisfactory results.)

To my surprise, I really love the combination of orange and red. Maybe I should start using more orange in my knitting, since I've liked it in every PS3 FIRE project I've knitted so far...

Slow going...

Not much has happened here on the knitting front lately. I've had other things to do... Things that interfere with knitting. Too bad it's impossible to do both at the same time...

I have a bunch of things on the needles, but my Catriona vest is the only one worth photographing at this stage.

I'm so glad I charted the cables! Knitting these from written instructions would have been really annoying.