The year of ripping...

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Here is the current state of my Twist sweater:

The hood is done, and I've actually sewn in the first sleeve, instead of saving all of the finishing until the end... I still must knit the second sleeve and the front button/buttonhole bands. I'm concerned about running out of yarn, so there is a chance I'll have to harvest extra yarn needed for the sleeve or front bands from the hood...

This would be fine, as the pattern has an alternate collar version which doesn't require nearly as much yarn. However, let me just say that I am *tired* of this sweater. I had to take out large chunks of the first sleeve on multiple occasions for various dumb mistakes I made, and though I am thrilled that the "third time is the charm" on knitting the entire body of the sweater over again, and the Cascade 220 yarn has been quite durable, I'd like to *conclude* my little experiment about how many times a yarn may be ripped and re-knit without losing it's loveliness...

I also cast on for a pair of "Heilo Mittens," thinking that it would be nice to start a fresh new project which was straight-forward and had not been ripped at all. Here is the cuff so far -- love the braid and also the color pattern:

Ahem. My gauge is way off, and these are going to be way too big, so I have to rip back and start again with smaller needles... AAUGH! The pattern for these may be found in Veronik Avery's book "Knitting 24x7."

I haven't spent *all* of my time knitting stuff and then ripping it out... I've been able to get some things done around the house which I've been putting off for literally years. I *finally* put up my youngest son's baby pictures on the wall, so now he is included in the family "gallery" in our upstairs hallway. I've had the frame for years, but never took the time to put it all together... I also cleaned out my work/sewing/craft/knitting room -- still some work to be done there, but it is so much more functional than it was. Look -- labels on my yarn stash bins!

These two shelves contain the bulk of my yarn stash. At my current rate of ripping as I go, I've got plenty of yarn to keep me busy for a long time!

In other news, after I met my goal of 150 workouts for 2010 on December 17th, I totally fell off of the exercise and eating right wagon, so my big project for next week is to re-group and literally get my butt in gear. It is my last week off before I start my final clinical, so time to really get more disciplined again...

Have a great weekend! Will you be watching the Packer game tomorrow night? If you *aren't* a Packer fan, it is a great time to go grocery shopping, because I guarantee you that the stores will be almost empty starting at about 7:00pm... I'll probably shop early in the day, however, and knit while the game is on in the evening... SuperBowl Fever!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)