Tuesday, March 24, 2009

…but it would make such nice placemats…

First of all, BEST BLOG READERS EVER, thank you for reminding me about Ravelry!!! So much better than eBay…

But you know what? GAH!! I’m trying to do the Turbo-Lister thing today with all the yarn I’ve got set aside, right? So, I’m taking pictures of all this yarn and then writing descriptions.

And my descriptions are totally selling the yarn back to me.

“You know what? I’m right! That would make a devastatingly elegant shrug! I’m keeping it!

“Hahahaha! Yeah, that burnt red is wicked awesome in among all that deep yellow and falling-leaf orange…I’m keeping it!

“…surely somebody I know is going to have a baby girl who needs a hand-painted superwash wool blankie…those purple highlights really are kind of to swoon for…”

This is ridiculous. The only thing I’ve been able to put into Turbo Lister without any qualms at all is the Knit Picks Dancing, which is one of those yarns where I loved the colors but not the yarn – it’s a cotton / wool / nylon blend and I just…didn’t feel the love for the finished socks. Other people tell me they’re fabulous and perfect for warm weather and so forth and so on, but…well.

I wear wool socks in hundred degree weather. I know that’s weird, OK?! I just like wool socks. I’m either going to wear wool socks, or I’m going to wear sandals and NO socks.

ANYWAY. I think I need an Intervention or something. Or somebody else to write the descriptions. Or possibly I need to not write descriptions at all. Just put it up with the stats.

“Rowan Tapestry. Five balls. 50 grams. 131 yards per ball. Variegated gray. 70% wool / 30% soybean. Hand wash / lay flat to dry. US 6 needle = 5.5 sts per inch. DK weight.”

See? I can part with that. But I have trouble parting with a yarn that “makes me think of San Francisco fog rolling in, light and dark shadows with a slight fuzzy quality that invokes the air of mystery, glamour and sangfroid of the 1930 movie starlet.”

And now I totally want to make something with it. You can’t have it, it’s mine, MINE I TELL YOU BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I’ve got all this super-basic kitchen cotton, worsted weight. I made a bunch of kitchen towels with it some years ago. Good, basic stuff. Absorbent. Sturdy as heck. (Those simple little towels are almost a decade old now, and still going strong.) Inexpensive. And I have so much of it I could probably make a few king sized bed covers from it. It needs to go.

But then I think, You know, I bet this would take dye really well…and then, you could make PLACEMATS!

SURE! Because goodness knows what I need more of? Placemats. Hand-dyed by ME placemats.

…I’ll just add that to my to-do list, shall I? Run business, run household, figure out taxes, work 40 hours, help with homework, hand-dye a bunch of cotton, make placemats…

Now, What. Did. I. Just. Say?!

Does this sound familiar?! It’s not as sensitive a sore spot for me as it might be, I suppose. I learned my lesson about being attached to Things years ago, when we purged the Den of all kinds of “precious” collectibles during our leanest years.

Or how about my casual implication that I was so no longer in love with this yarn and off it could go, la la la?

Yeah, fine…until I start reminding myself what’s good about it. Then suddenly I’m like some kind of insane person.

You know? It’ll probably be easier to do this on Ravelry. Right? All I have to do is click on the little button that says, “Willing to trade or sell” in my stash. No having to discuss what’s so awesome about it and so forth and so on. And it’s other knitters! Who know what’s so groovy about it, so I don’t have to tell them, you know, that this is Koigu which is, you know, Koigu…which is mine, all mine, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(seriously…send help) (but not really…it’s mine, MINE I SAY…) (…help!...)

9 comments:

Trina said...

Did you say superwash purple baby blanket yarn?

Off to stalk you stash....

Bullwinkle said...

Will write descriptions for yarn.

Just sayin'

Otoh, I have discovered that in moments of intense stress (not when sharing a lovely sunset with my best pal and favorite guy), I buy yarn. I have reduced the impact, somewhat, by only buying small quantities of the best yarn. (Define best however you want.)

Now I am stuck with lovely lovely yarn, that says: Small nephew struck by drunk driver. MRI was o.k.

At least he still needs wool socks. And his mother.

PipneyJane said...

That Rowan Tapestry? The colour is "Lead Mine". I knitted a sweater in it Christmas 2007. (One of the FO's I haven't photographed yet... Or have I?)

What are the details of the knitted kitchen towels? What sort of cotton did you use? (Do you remember that pink stuff I have? The Paton's DK cotton that feels like string, has absolutely no give, etc? Maybe kitchen towels are its destiny. And a dye job.)

- Pam

- Pam

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.

Just do Ravelry. We'll be watching.

Yarnhog said...

Oh, put it on Ravelry, post to the "ISO and Destashing" thread, and I'll end up buying it all. Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Put . the . yarn . on . sale .


Seriously Tamara, you need a yarn intervention.

Long time lurker

Tola said...

put it on Ravelry, with its basic stats (name, colour number, dyelot, number of balls) and dont forget to name your price and whether or not it includes shipping. nothing i hate more than to click on a picture of a yarn i'm interested in, and there is not only no yarn info, but also no price.

JanTink said...

I think we were separated at birth.

All the stuff you're describing are all the reasons I have resisted ebaying my yarn to this point.

At one time, over the past couple of years, when I had almost stopped knitting I contemplated ebaying everything. Then when I started up again, I was glad that I hadn't. I'm in the process of putting it on Ravelry and figuring out what I wouldn't mind getting rid of.

My husband said to me a couple days ago, "I found where you can get rid of all your yarn!" He has a vested interest in this, since the yarn wall is on his side of the basement, where he assures me it interferes with his plans for expanding his recording studio. I just looked at him sideways...get rid of yarn? Why ever would I want to do that! "Where?" I said and he proceeded to tell me about a coworker who told him about a charity for knitting hats and mittens for underprivileged kids. Phew! "Well," I said,"I have some yarn I can give her, but most of what I have would be totally unsuitable" as I rejoiced in a place to offload all that Wool-Ease I bought in a moment...or several moments of madness. My beloved sock yarn, my hand-painted will be a vest someday yarns are safe!

Science PhD Mom said...

You must let it GO. You need spending money and some breathing room in your budget. Go post on Ravelry. Cry if you have to. But get thee on there, even with the bee-yoo-tee-full descriptions, and put it up. You can do it. Go!