Shhhh we don't want to startle her

I was on vacation the week before last and I finally started cleaning out my craft room. I was ruthless and went through all (well almost - sock yarn still needs to be done) of my yarn. I tried to be realistic and realize I was getting into SABLE status (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) which leads to the question - what in the world am I going to DO with all of this yarn????

(Sorry no before pictures of the stash - it was too unruly to pose)

Luckily for me one of my online friends is a much more prolific knitter than I am and does a great deal more knitting for charity than I do as well. I aspire to knit for charity the way that she does but alas I am not there yet.

Anyway, I sorted the wild and unruly stash into four categories: 1) stuff to use to knit for ME, 2) stuff to use to knit for gifts and/or charity 3) stuff to go live with Ann and 4) stuff to give to the St. Vincent DePaul society for resale (most of this is partial balls - enough to do some small things with or for kids crafts).

This is the yarn that is going to St. Vincent DePaul - yes that is five bags of yarn.


















Now this is why we don't want to startle Ann - she knows that I am sending her some yarn but she has no idea HOW MUCH yarn......
This is what it looks like looking into the packed box.

Now for reference this is the box next to the foot stool (according to the box itself and the lovely lady at the post office who had to measure the box because of it's ginormous size it's about 20 inches high)

As a side note, please please PLEASE someone remind me the next time I decide to mail a package the last weekened for Chrismoose mailing. The line was literally half an hour long. Luckily there were several nice people in line with me and we had a nice time chatting. Plus I got in some nice knitting time on the purse sock.

You might very well be asking yourself at this point "Gee I wonder if Mary has any yarn left for herself at this point?" Don't fret about that .... this is the no longer unruly stash.
I think casa mary will be OK in the yarn department for a little while.

Chris-moose knitting

Chris-moose is coming and I have my first knitted gift done!!!


It's the gelato bag from Fiber Trends and I made it with Paton's Classic Merino in Look Pink!




















It was pretty darn close on the yarn. This was all I had left of the two skeins I purchased for the project. Believe me I was starting to sweat it near the end!




















This is a close up of the button I found for the decorative closure. There is actually a magnetic snap under the flap to really close the bag.

OK this is insane

I went to Wal-mart yesterday to pick up a few things (yes I know they are evil and horrible and all of those things but they have products I can afford to buy so whatever). I really wasn't paying attention to the cashier and how she was packing my purchases (I was too busy making sure all the prices scanned correctly) and was STUNNED by how many bags I had when I put them into the car.

Was it that I bought that much stuff? Nope (although I did spend more than I planned but that is another story). I came home and counted - I bought ELEVEN things and came home with...... FIVE bags!!!!

What did I buy: a diet coke 20-oz not even a two litre (she put this in it's own bag, actually this purchase got TWO bags since there was a new bag stuck to the one the soda was in)

underwear (three pair), some razors (two packs), chapstick stuff, concealer (gotta look all pretty sometimes!), tooth brushes (one pack of two) - this she managed to squeeze into TWO bags. Apparently brand new undies might contaminate everything else since they were sequestered in their own bag.

a gift bag for Chris-moose which was placed in it's own bag.

a digital key chain photo frame (again in a bag alone).

and a mailing box which was too big for any bag.

This is INSANE!!!! I know I could have solved part of this problem by taking my own reusable bag with me but I didn't have any in the car with me. I do try and take my own bags to the grocery store each week but don't always remember to keep an extra bag in the car for stops like the one yesterday.

Even so I think that I could have easily left that store with one bag (two at the most) - there is no way that I needed 5 plastic bags. I do recycle my bags (those that I don't reuse for small garbage bags) so I try to reduce my impact on the planet. But all I can think of when things like this happen to me is what about all of the people that DON'T reuse or recycle their bags.

As I learned from Martha (Stewart for those unfamiliar with my obsession) there is the equivalent amount of petroleum in 14 plastic bags as there is in ONE GALLON OF GAS!!!!

OK I think I'm done now... does anyone have a ladder so I can get off the soapbox?

It's here!!!

My Shaun the Sheep kit finally arrived from England on Friday! If you want to see a picture of it for now there is a picture further back on the blog from when I first ordered it. Edited to note I fibbed - I don't see a picure of it on here so here goes -

Of course I have my first Shaun to finish before I start this one. And I have some Chris-Moose knitting to get done as well. I'm making a Gelato felted bag for someone (refusing to say for whom in case they are reading).