Saturday, January 23, 2010

What to do? What to do?

I can tell you right now, I am much more focused on what I DON'T want to do, than what I do want to do, unless you're talking about a few hours from now, in which I will be taking my spinning wheel with me to a friend's house, along with some kind of wool and perhaps a project--

But which one?

I have so many projects going, it's a little mind boggling.

I have TWO crochet child sweaters, one just needs buttons, which first have to be baked--the other one needs one and a half sleeves and buttons, and it's done.

I have a lapghan in a wave pattern, also crocheted, and about 15-18 skeins of yarn to add to it.

I have the Princess Shawl border DONE, but now have to pick up stitches, but I'm not sure if I pick them up "in the round" or if I pick them up and work back and forth. Also need a new addi lace needle in the correct size and probably 60" length to work on it. So that's on the back burner until I can order the parts.

I have a felting project, which is definitely going, because the person I'm going to see is a needle felter, and I'm looking to get a little help for my issues with this poinsettia that doesn't want to felt together. I'm a little more than frustrated with that. Front loader machines just don't felt things well.

I learned twined knitting Thursday night (it's fun!) and have a wristlet going--but before I go much further, I want to make some texture stitches, and get those "down", the wristlet is going well, otherwise, and I'm excited about starting some gloves at some point--however, I know that I'm going to have to locate some of the longer dpns--because twined knitting is much TIGHTER than regular knitting, and so requires more stitches (as well as more yarn). I do love the effect, though, and the finished product resists water (read that, good in a rainstorm) and is quite a bit warmer than regular knitting (even fair isle!). So, the wristlet is a possibility, but not a probability--reason? The guy who knows how to do the texture stitches is going along with us, and he could work with me.

Speaking of him, he showed off his newest fair isle sweater Thursday night, and OMG! It's in brown hues--rich browns that show off the beiges and make the pattern look like one of those deep pile rugs from India! IT was GORGEOUS! I asked him if he was going to put it in the fair, and he said he didn't think he could because it wasn't his original design, to which I scoffed--you can put that in--original or no--because it's your work. You just give credit where credit is due. I honestly believe that sweater could make it all the way to Convergence!

I meant every one of those compliments. And all the yarn was hand spun and hand dyed with NATURAL dyes found in nature. REAL stuff.

It was gorgeous.

I cleaned off my computer desk the other day too, looking for all my check stubs from JoAnn's. I'm not sure if they will send me a 1099 or not, so I kept all my stubs, just in case, so that I could report the income on my taxes. Since I started so late in the season, I don't expect the money to add significantly to our tax base, but a year's worth might--so I have to deduct a certain portion and save it for paying taxes, should the issue cause a problem. Also, hubby's not presently paying taxes on his retirement stuff and I think he's going to owe. This is irritating, because I ALWAYS overpay, and so if he owes, all my overpayment goes to paying off his taxes, and then some! This won't make me very happy at all, because my income taxes go toward the house payment, as they have for the last 10 years, and this year, they won't. I'll have to tell him that they will go against the bill, and not HIS bill either. So the underpayment comes out of his money and not mine. It's complicated. I'll have to figure out what my taxes will be without his money, and adjust accordingly. I do know that my overpayment will more than cover the money I received from JoAnn's though. So, I am not the slightest bit worried. The taxes will need to be done separately, anyway, so I'm not expecting problems.

Hubby's schoolwork is coming along fine. He's a bit frustrated with his programming class--he was discussing the problem he was working on with a friend, who diagnosed the problem without much thought and gave him the answer to the issue he was having, which made my hubby even more upset! As if! How dare he come up with the answer so quickly when I've been trying to figure it out for hours! (um, hubby--watch out! Your jealous vein is beginning to pop out the side of your head!)

It was just too funny.

Well, I have to go downstairs and pick out the wool I want to work into z-twist yarn. The fire went out last night, and the house is really cold this morning, so I'm not looking forward to going to the wool room to get wool for this endeavor, as the downstairs is even colder. Surely, I must have some wool upstairs!!! I'll peek in the closet.

Well, in the meanwhile, I'm a busy soul, so everyone have a good weekend!

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