I learned three very important things this weekend--

1) When a box says "simply snaps together," it really means "get out the hammer."

2) I'm really bad housekeeper.

3) I need a maid.

Speaking as someone who's put her fair share of furniture and other stuff together, I can tell you that these simple wire cubes were a bitch to assemble. They kept wanting to pop apart; however, once I got the hammer out and started using it, they behaved much better.

The room's not finished, but I can show you the "wall o'fiber":


It looks nice, doesn't it? But what an eye opener. It's really scary to see just have much stuff I've accumulated, and most of it's been within the last six months. I would say that the fiber stash on the right isn't so bad, but it's all squished in there pretty tightly, so there's really more there than meets the eye. And the second and third cubes from the left on the top row? That's all sock yarn--good grief! I didn't count to see how many pairs of socks that represents, but let's just say it's substantial, especially given how slowly I knit.

Seeing all this in one place has made me realize I need to put the brakes on my fiber buying for a while (yes, I'm saying that, but don't hold me to it!)--at least until Missy and I go on our next yarn crawl. It's a good thing I'm into knitting small stuff that doesn't take a lot of yarn, or I'd be in big trouble. I do have a large garbage bag full of acrylics and other stuff to take to Gourmet Yarn for their charity knitting. No more stuff for me unless it's the good stuff (famous last words).

The plan from here is to move my unused dining table in here for my sewing machine, but I need to wait until I can get the bags of trash and boxes out. That will probably be in a couple of days, since our dumpster is overflowing right now (I think the trash guys have forgotten us the last couple of weeks). I still have a lot of books, etc., to move in from the living room, which has turned into Stash Overflow Central, but that's stuff that can be moved once I actually have a path into the room.

I'm so glad to have today off--for some reason, as I've gotten older, it's not as easy for me to get a room as messy as this cleaned up. I have to take breaks. I can't do as much in one day as I used to--I get so stiff and sore it's not funny. That's not normal, is it? I dunno.

Speaking of socks, there is an actual FO on this blog today--WOO HOO!


Plain Vanilla Socks, Toe-Up Version
Trekking Sock Yarn, Color #100
Started May 6--finished September 3

Four months to finish a pair of socks--how sad is that? I've got to get better at knitting while I'm doing other things. Speaking of that, here's what I started while I was watching "Mystery" on PBS last night:


These are going to be Wendy Johnson's Feather and Fan Socks--that's a pattern that even I hopefully can't screw up! The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck in Blues/Purples. I've had this for a while, but wow, do I love this yarn, and not just because it goes along with my "I love everything from and about Vermont" thing. It's so beautiful to knit with--it's just as nice as Koigu, I swear. I'm using Size 2 needles, and the knitting's moving along really fast. I'm determined to get up to a pair a month, especially seeing all that yarn I have stashed away. These were cast on with the figure-eight method, and I love it. Yes, you do have to futz with it a bit in the beginning, but it's so easy. And believe me, if I can do it, it must be easy.

(Funny--I just realized the pair of socks Wendy just finished in this pattern were also made from CTH Potluck in Blues/Purples. I guess great minds think alike, huh?)

I haven't touched the wheel at all this weekend, so I think I'm going to enjoy my last afternoon of freedom and the nice, cool, overcast weather by sitting by the window and spinning for a while this afternoon and maybe watching a movie. And at some point I've got to clean the kitchen.

But that can wait a little longer, right?