It Begins...Edited

I really must have blinded myself to the whole thing.

I don't know how it happened...

I got my Pure Knits order yesterday - with more little samples thrown in by Yahaira's superhero alter-ego, Evil Enabler - and while I was putting away nine skeins of Malabrigo, four of Fable alpaca, and four of Blue Sky organic cotton (oh, that was a destash acquisition), I opened my eyes.

I looked in the cedar chest. I looked on the shelves. I looked in the cubby holes. I looked in the cabinet. I looked at the chairside table. Travis chose that moment to walk into the room.

"I...I...I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with all this yarn."

Tears in my eyes. REAL TEARS in my EYES. It's all beautiful! The ten skeins of Noro Silk Garden that are so beautiful (but so godawful scratchy you could never knit anything that touches skin). The ten skeins of mohair for a hoodie. The twenty skeins of silk/alpaca that has no intended purpose and never did. The UNBELIEVABLE collection of single-skeins from when I was first starting out. The yarn you buy when you're new. (You know the yarn - the sock yarn that to your now-trained eyes is hideous and scratchy and not fit for human feet...that stuff)...and so much more, so VERY much more.

AND I CAN'T FIND THE PERFECT PATTERN FOR MY PERFECT MALABRIGO SWEATER! (*sob*)

You know what else, though? I find myself wandering into my knitting room sometimes, and especially before bedtime and in the morning before I go to work, and just sort of looking around, maybe squeezing a few skeins. My cotton and my wool, they comfort me.

I'm not saying I need less yarn. That's crazy. I'm not saying I'm going to stop buying yarn - also crazy. That was Travis' suggestion, and he got very frustrated when I told him that was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. How is that a solution to my problem??!!

You know what I need? I really need more babies. I've cast on for a teddy bear from my adorable Toys to Knit book in that deliciously soft (inelastic and unforgiving bitch-goddess that it is) organic cotton. Increase after increase after increase...who classified this stuff as worsted? This is a bulky weight yarn! And why am I still knitting it on 6s? Because I'm stubborn.

I started those Greenwood socks for Travis, knitted three inches on the cuff, slipped it over his foot and up to his damned kneecap, and pulled the needles out right then and there. Clearly, the 72-stitch cast-on that would be fine for me doesn't work for Travis' twiglike slender gams. (I never saw anything wrong with muscular but slim legs - I just failed to plan properly.) BUT! On the bright side, I only have to work 56 stitches now instead of 72. Nothing wrong with that.

I guess I'm just in a teensy rut. Maybe I should start doing some stash-buster projects, like that Mason-Dixon log cabin blanket I like so much. But I have to stay focused! Especially since I have 15 pair of socks I NEED to knit, with intended recipients and everything, and absolutely no idea to whom I would give a knitted teddy bear.

Also: I outed myself to my One Skein secret pal (I left a comment on her blog, and I SIGNED IN. Duh. You can delete the comment, but the name still hangs around. I guess I can hope she's not the curious sort. Sure. Hi Emily.) Also, the Knitter's Little Helper that my secret pal sent me, the hand balm I ADORE? I figured out what it smelled like - that Aveda shampoo with the scent that I lovedLovedLOVED (but which I had to get rid of because it dried my hair out so badly.) Yippee!

Edited to Add:

Hourglass! Hourglass, Hourglass, HOURGLASS!!! Yahaira mentioned it (I think) in her note, and then I see a blogger who's knitted one (that is GORGEOUS on her) and I MUST HAVE IT! It is my Perfect Malabrigo Sweater. Now I'll just need the book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Thankfully, it can wait (no sweaters for another six months 'round these parts) because I just made an Amazon round yesterday. (I still have that lightweight Hempathy Elsebeth Lavold sweater to do anyway, and I still need two new sets of circs for that. All this crap, and I still don't have the materials I need to start stuff.)