I feel as if I’ve been knitting since rocks were soft.  Ok, I’ve been knitting since I was in grad school, which seems like yesterday but was not quite that recent.  I’ve made socks, hats, scarves, shawls, bags.  I’ve made all kinds of stuff.  But I’ve never made a sweater.  Crazy, right?  See the disclaimer above.

I’ve always been a bit impulsive when shopping for crafting supplies, hence the development of Crazy Lanea’s clothing basket.  I buy fabric and yarn in whatever yardage I can afford at the moment, and figure out later what I should do with it.  It’s perfect for quilting and for card and inkle weaving–get small amounts of yarn or fabric and mix them together, et voila: the loveliness.  Moreover, since I started knitting while I was in grad school, I started knitting when I was broke.  But that still didn’t break my obsession with expensive natural fibers.  So when you buy small amounts of quality yarn and you shop impulsively, you don’t end up with the kind of stash that feeds nice healthy sweaters.  You end up with the kind of stash that feeds felt.  BUT, Scott and I bought a house when we were newly engaged and I was fresh out of grad school, and while that certainly extended the period of broke-ness, it turned out to be a fantastic choice.  It has tripled in value in a little over four years.  I’m not sure how that’s legal and I’m afraid the Powers that Be will notice and will come confiscate our little Cape Cod, but in the meantime, we apparently earn equity without spending any actual money.  I don’t know how the fellah does it, but he makes debt vanish *poof*.  Which means I can now buy whole bags of yarn occasionally without selling any organs.  Which means I should make some fricking fracking sweaters already.  Sheesh!

I think Im going to make Rose, aka Soleil with sleeves, out of Rowan DK Soft in Paisley.  Don’t hate me because I have the DK Soft–I only have it because a kind knit-blogger decided to sell off some of her stash.  I never even met DK Soft until the box showed up on my doorstep.  I chose Rose over Soleil specifically because I have a whole bag of this yarn, and I want to really embrace using a lot of the same yarn in one single project.  Inventive concept, no?  Ok, no.  I know.

I’m all a-twitter planning the annual Potomac Celtic Festival Volunteer Appreciation Party.  Last year . . . last year the party was an insane amount of work in the D.C. July heat, with the schlepping and the BBQing and the cleaning and cooking and UGH it was a lot of work.   This year Dana proved she is a genius.  She lined up Jammin’ Java for us right before Halloween, for a mere pittance.  And she convinced Tinsmith to play for us.  So all we have to do is . . .
* Invite the peeps
* Show up to the venue a little early with some appropriately spooky decorations
* Say “Howdy” to the folks as they show up
* Generally make nice
* Watch other people make and serve the food and drink
* Drink a ten-foot beer (optional)
* Draw names out of a hat and hand out door prizes
* Observe Tinsmith rocking the neo-Picts
* Allow some nice JJ employees to clean up after us
* Go to another party afterwards out at Mathom’s End
I tell you, having them do the actual physical work for the party is like Christmas in October, but without threatening Sandy Claws’ life.

This is the weekend we begin tiling our kitchen floor.  With this.  It’s a big deal–we’ve been remodeling out kitchen in fits and starts since 2002.  The floor and some trim work are pretty much all that’s left.  I am trying to prepare myself for the knee- and backaches that await me.  I think I will prepare myself with egg creams and pastrami.

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