Above - some beautiful armwarmers that I won by coming 2nd in the 'Guess the Yarn' competition at my Stitch n' Bitch meet - we have a month of competitions, quizzes fun and festivities because we have been going for 2 years and have just surpassed the 100th meeting!

These lovely soft armwarmers were knitted by the organiser, Karen - whom I want to say a big public thank you! Both for my prize and also, more importantly, for taking the time out to organise this group that has made such a massive, positive improvement to my life and from which I've made oodles of new knitty pals!


Progress on a hat for my sister, to go with the scarf I made her for Christmas. It's from the Simply Noro pattern book, by Jane Ellison, and only uses 1 ball.

I've made loads of these hats, here [Noro Aurora], here [Noro Silk Garden and Rowan Kid Classic], and another for my sister last Christmas - which she loves!


And progress on Central Park Hoodie from Fall 2006 KnitScene - knitted in Cascade 220.

It's going well, and is a fairly easy knit. I'm preparing for Rogue - some of the girls from the Glasgow Stitch 'n Bitch are planning to have a knit-a-long this year.

I have to say the narrow-ness of the front side panels are un-nerving me a bit - I'm hoping that it will widen out with the horizontal ribbing that gets added at the end. Nonetheless I am trying to eat less so that I can fit into it better should it be snug.

The top of the left front foxed me a bit - 10 stitches are put on a stitch holder till later and the panel continues up a bit until the shoulder shaping. Methinks this will leave big hole to be seamed once hood is added? I've tried to read the pattern but I can't visualise how this is going to work - knitting blind for now and trusting the designer.

It must be the New Year or something, but I have gone into an organisational frenzy, akin to Monica from Friends. I have sorted my side bar and updated/removed links.

I bought some big re-sealable bags in varying sizes from eBay which arrived on Monday. They are clear so that I can see my yarn - just got to buy labels. Also when you press down on the full bag the air gets forced out and a vacuum is created - so that I can get more out of my yarn storage space.

I have to say, looking at it all spread out over the living room at midnight [as I say, a frenzy!] I confess to feel a rise of panic. How did this happen? How have I bought so much? There is yarn there that I was so desperate to get I paid extra for speedy shipping, and subsequently let it lay dormant in my stash for months. "Why don't you say something?" I said to the boy, "It's quite clear I have a problem." His response was a very tired, resigned "What would be the point?"

In a bid to utilise stash I completely forgot existed I suddenly had a genius idea - see here. A work in progress, this is the librarian in me shining through. A cross-referencing cataloguing system of patterns in the queue and stash - organised by yarn weight [and soon garment type].

I've been so excited about this - A few months ago I had this idea of cataloguing pattern versus stash but an effective method eluded me. This is perfect!

I'm not saying that from now on I resolve to knit entirely from my stash or anything - I do admit that I have no willpower whatsoever when it comes to purchasing yarn - but at the very least, if the ideal yarn is already in my stash it would be good to use it. Less destructive on the bank account.

Organisation and cataloguing rock! Sometimes my job has it's uses.