Cataloguing and Other Projects

I am almost done with cataloguing my yarn stash. I admit that I've taken a couple days' break because it is a bit overwhelming. Also, having 25 huge plastic bins looming over you in ominous towers can be a bit, well, ominous. So I moved the finished bins back to where they belong, and the living room (where I've been doing the work) is a lot more manageable. Here's what I've got so far:

• 22 bins of yarn catalogued
• 1 bin of WIPs catalogued
• 1 box of FOs that need to find their ways to their new owners
• 2 bins of yet-uncatalogued left over balls of yarn (this is this weekend's project)

The box of WIPs gave me pause. These were projects that once thrilled and delighted me. I'm glad I've got them all in one place now, and can finish them up. Even the Noro Striped Scarves, which don't so much thrill and delight me, but are really excellent television knitting. I also found a double knitted dragon piece that I'd completely forgotten about, in green and black. I wonder who that was for, and did I promise it, or was it to be a surprise.

My regular knitting continues. I've cast on a cowl for my cousin Claudia, in Malabrigo Mecha. The colourways are Londonderry Sky, Paysandu, and Polar Nights. I love Malabrigo yarns, but their colour names are so bizarre.

This scarf for Rudy is in the time-out corner, while I rethink it. I've been told that it will probably continue to curl, even after blocking, and even though I've got my ever-nifty garter border. If that's the case, I'm going to rip it out and make something else, maybe the Irish Hiking Scarf, which, while no longer all that interesting to me, at least doesn't curl. I've never knit with Swans Island yarn before, and this is so soft, but it does leave my fingers dyed purple, and the needles have obtained a permanent hue.

It's really too bad the pattern isn't working out, because it's very pretty: Nine rows of stockinette, an on the tenth (a purl row), a series of yarn overs, purl 2 together stitches. I like the look but the curl is fierce!

The Death of the Moon shawl is on hold, 'til I can figure out how to get enough light to knit the green yarn on the green needles. I must admit, I love the intensity of the colours in the Baah La Jolla yarns. At this point, I don't want to change, and also, I love that Knitter's Pride cables don't get all twisty like other circular needles do. I'm wondering if this need for more light is an age related thing, or if I would have been this way 10 years ago. Of course, 10 years ago I wouldn't have attempted the shawl, so there's that.

I have to say, now that I'm nearing the end of the cataloguing project, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by how much yarn I own. I really need to step up my knitting if I'm going to get it all knit up before I die, assuming I don't shuffle off this mortal coil tomorrow or next week. And as New Englanders are wont to say, "Knit fast, die warm!"