As I am nearing the completion of the rice stitch cardigan, and no, I haven’t sewn it up yet or blocked the sleeves, I am starting to think about the next project.
I know I had a list, but the list seems to be composed of winter things that don’t interest me right now. I want spring sweaters.
There are many possibilities, including some Adrienne Vittadini I bought in an onslaught of "stress buying" last month after I learned about DH’s current health issues. Don’t worry you will get to see everything in time. Needless to say, I should not be allowed to carry credit cards in times of emotional distress.
I also want to knit that cotton vest I wrote about last week. The original sweater is knit in a wool cotton mix that knits at about 4 1/2 stitches to the inch. I probably don’t have anything like that. I have Rowan Wool/cotton, but that knits at a finer gauge and I would rather not do the math. I would also rather use stash yarn than buy something new. We’ll see.
Once upon a time I would diligently snip samples of my yarns and wrap them on cards to keep a little sample book of yarns in the stash. I have not been so diligent about that lately. I still have the cards, and they give all the relevant information, except where the yarn is stored. (I store things in boxes in closets) I have also maintained a spreadsheet which lists yarns, what I intended to make, all the relevant gauge information and storage location. All the yarns are on the spreadsheet, swatched or not, or at least they were until about a month ago. New purchases have not been added, and now……
The spreadsheet has gone missing!
Egads! I cannot begin to tell you how long it took me to inventory all my yarn and make that spreadsheet. I haven’t the foggiest idea about the what’s and where’s of my stash without it, much less the when’s or why’s.
It all began with my computer troubles last fall. Those eventually ended with a new computer. The new computer came with a test version of Microsoft Office 2007. I decided to use it, and I really like it. Besides I am planning on a knitting pattern spreadsheet or database and I know I can run Paradox or Excel on my Palm, with pictures, if I ever get around to creating the databases. Getting pictures into Quattro Pro and actually being able to see them on the Palm is either impossible or requires far more work than I am willing to invest.
The old spreadsheet was on Quattro Pro because that is what the office used. The office used Quattro Pro because the secretary we had at the time knew WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, I had both, and it was easier to use what she knew than to teach her something new.
Well, I didn’t put Quattro Pro on the new computer, but I had it on DH’s computer so I just kept it there until I got around to converting it to Excel. But then, about 2 weeks before we closed the office the main office computer went down. I needed a new one between 4 PM one day and 8 AM the next, and I didn’t want to buy a new computer because DH was about to retire. So DH’s computer went to the office, with all my stuff still on it. Since no one in the office deletes anything or backs anything up, I figured it was pretty safe for a few weeks.
Ha! Past behavior is no indication of future performance!
It is not there. None of the data is there. Everything in the "My Documents" folder has been wiped clean, erased, deleted, disposed of……..you get the picture. Finis. I suppose this was the same helpful thought that encouraged someone in the office to tell the post office we were closing and to hold the mail. We weren’t closing yet, I hoped to pick up mail at the office while I figured out what the new address would be, we still have a few more months on the lease and at least another month before it is likely that anyone will be able to take possession of the office and free us from our leasing obligations. I was letting the staff go — but close the office, nah, I wanted time, precious time, and a place to go hide, you know, a place that allowed me to say "sorry dear I must go to the office to get mail" and collect my thoughts with a three-shot grande latte and a good book or a little knitting. Oh well.
Now I don’t know where the office mail has gone. Hopefully that will turn up eventually at our new address. And I don’t know where my spreadsheet has gone, but that is probably gone for good. It may be on one of the zillion CDs and floppy disks that have been carted home from the office, but since those are lost in piles of 40 years worth of medical journals, files, paperwork, and various odd bits, I think it unlikely that I shall resurrect it in this lifetime. A cataloging I will go.
But what will I knit? Back to the Vittadini idea? Buy yarn? Make something else entirely? The Skacel yarn is available. I could probably also use Rowan All Seasons Cotton, it might be light enough not to drag terribly. But both of those require purchase, I know I have some All Seasons Cotton, but I don’t know how much, and I am not certain where it is. Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt. But I don’t know that I have anything else either. Wool will be too warm. Cotton will be too heavy, and I prefer my cottons, unless they are blended with something else, in smaller gauges. But there is so much chaos around me right now I am loathe to add to it by buying more yarn — well perhaps yarn that I will use immediately might be spared. But if I order the yarn I will start something else while I wait so the yarn will end up sitting in the stash anyway. Yarn Central might have something Thursday night, but wait, no yarn buying. Back to Vittadini.
Or…..
I am getting strangely reobsessed with Twisty Turns again and the yarn I purchased from Decadent Fibers last fall at Rhinebeck. Even though I gave up in disgust, I am once again thinking of that yarn and what I can do with it, perhaps even giving Twisty Turns another try. But then, I must have been very upset last fall because I can’t find the pattern, which I am sure must be in my copy of Wrap Style which I also cannot find.
I would probably be best off just giving up.
