An actual conversation in my house

Every so often, I look at my knitting and think “Well now. I understand all of this. This is proceeding in a really straightforward way. What a relief to know all I need to know about this.” and that usually means that it’s time to knit something that Cat Bordhi designed and give my boring brain a shake.

Cat’s the opposite of straightforward. Cat thinks around corners and in crazy spirals and Cat doesn’t give a crap about how it’s always been done. Cat’s like….my opposite.

I think “There has got to be a simpler way” and Cat thinks “Screw simpler – get curious. There has got to be ANOTHER way.” and then all of these door swing wide open and it turns out that there really are whole new ways to knit stuff that you I thought were pretty firmly established. What I think is most interesting about it, is that it turns out that some of them really are simpler…though I think that Cat would be the first to admit that true beauty and organic knitterly authenticity aren’t always about simple. Doing something in a beguiling or particularly graceful way matters too.

I heard someone say something about Cat that made me laugh….and Cat’s my friend, so I know that she’ll laugh too. They said “It’s like Cat Bordhi looks at knitting and says There has just got to be a harder way to to this.” It made me lie on the floor convulsed with laughter, because they are sort of right. Learning new things is hard for humans. A lot of us hate it. We like knowing what’s going on and having things predictable and although in the end most of us love learning, cracking that door open to a new way of doing something, even if it’s a better or more beautiful way of doing something is sometimes hard for us. We confuse “that’s new” with “that’s harder” because our wee human brains like it better that way. It’s a shame, because what our brains want (same thing all the time no changing anything ever) is actually not what our brains need to stay young, healthy and forming new synapses. Our brains need new ways of thinking about things….and dudes, that’s what this book is for…

Catsnewbookpath1311

and it’s harshing on my mellow in the biggest and most wonderful way. The whole time I’m reading New Pathways for Sock Knitters I have to keep picking myself up of the virtual knitting room floor because Cat’s thought of some other way to screw with the way I thought everybody knit socks. Cat’s done some squirrel-assed crazy stuff in this book. Crazy. These socks? The Milkmaids Stockings?

Milkmaidsockscatsb1311

You won’t believe where the gusset increases are. You won’t believe it. (Or maybe you’re a lot more openminded than me and you won’t sit there waiting for plagues and locusts and a lighting strike.) Cat totally thinks outside of the sock, and I am so interested in this that I picked one of the patterns “Ocean Toes” (Sorry Cat. I’m totally ripping another picture out of the book here.)

Oceantoespiccb1311

and went hunting through the stash for appropriate yarn. This pattern calls for Socks That Rock Mediumweight , and I thought to myself “HA! I have like..a million skeins of STR (Well, not a million, but a lot.) and for once I can use the yarn the pattern calls for and won’t that be good?” Whereupon I proceeded to begin tossing the stash in order to locate my choices. A transcript of what followed is below. (Amanda, Megan and Sam are my daughters. 18, 16 and 13)

Me: (*&^%$#!!!!

Amanda: What’s your trouble?

Me: I can’t find the yarn that I need.

Amanda: Did you check the Back Room stash?

Me: First place I looked. (I’m ripping up the living room stash as we are talking, making a big mess.)

Megan: Did you check the Upstairs Stash?

Me: Of course. Why can’t I find it?

Sam: Did you look in the Bin Stash? Maybe it’s there?

Me: I totally looked in the Bin Stash.

Amanda: What are you looking for? When was the last time you saw it?

Megan: Is it old stash? Maybe it’s at the bottom?

Sam: Is it blue? I saw some blue yarn in Megan’s stash that I think she stole from you.

Me: Megan – are you stealing my yarn again? What have we said about Mummy’s stash, I’m happy to share with you to a point, but you just can’t go off and……

Megan: You’re loosing focus.

Amanda: You were looking for some yarn?

Me: Right. I’m not looking for any specific yarn….I’m looking for my supply of STR medium weight. I found one skein, but I was going to round it all up and see what my choices were.

Samantha: That’s how you should organize it.

Me: Thanks Sam. I’ll keep that in mind. WHY (ripping up kitchen stash) CAN I ONLY FIND ONE SKEIN OF THIS?

Then I stopped. I’d gone through all the stash in the house. The house was trashed, yarn everywhere, I’d made a huge mess and the truth was before me.

Me: Wow. Do you know what this means?

Girls: ??????

Me: I’ve only got one skein of this kind of yarn.

Then we all just sat there, staring around at all that yarn and thinking about ripping it all up again, because, really?

That was totally unbelievable.

168 thoughts on “An actual conversation in my house

  1. Well, it’s obviously time for more!
    I’m still a one-sock-at-a-time on DPNs girl myself.

  2. That is hilarious and unbelievable. I hope you hopped up and ordered some more. But really, with the sock kits flying in, how can you only have one skein?

  3. PS – I LOVE how Meg totally interrupted the rant about stealing your stash by pointing you back at your stash, and it worked. That kid is a force to be reckoned with, I think.

  4. unbelievable, indeed. how about tearing up your stash for a yarn that it turns out you didn’t purchase, but held lovingly in the store long enough to have a fibrous imprint on your tactile memory, thereby allowing that sense to overrule its dominant visual counterpart while the search continues, only to be reminded by the BF that, oh, wait, you put it back when we were there and decided to just purchase needles?

  5. That is hilarious! And, wait? What’s this I hear? The faint, faraway mouse clicks of a BMFA shopping spree for mediumweight? 🙂

  6. Obviously, you need to top up.
    In the meantime, have you been through all the coat sleeves?

  7. That book is totally worth ripping up the house for. I surmise that you decided to skip the learning socks. I am so not surprised. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite you on the ass!

  8. Children are so good at distracting their mothers. Can it be that you have perhaps knitted up all the STR mediumweight in the gazillion pairs you already knit this year? Hmmm? I don’t have that problem because I haven’t socked–yet, but there’s a sock class at a LYS this coming Saturday. I’m trying to resist going.

  9. I’ve been petting my copy of that book for a little while now and have resolved to, despite their apparent impracticality, make every one of the wee little socks in the book. Maybe they’d be good Christmas tree ornaments or something. It’s the only way to experience them all in a reasonable amount of time.

  10. I had a friend over for dinner on Monday night who has heard tell of the stash but never actually seen it. When I started showing it (them!) to her she started looking at me very oddly. The funny thing is, I never realized how much yarn I had until I had to show it to someone else.

  11. Totally unbelieveable. That just can’t be so, I’ll bet you’ve just forgotten some of the stuff that is stashed in the bookshelf, or the gravy boat, or the piano or the . . . well, there must be some there. Did you check all coatsleeves – especially in the summer coats, or perhaps the summer housecoat that you put away? No, huh. Darn, guess that means you need more. Quick, while the loonie is still up, get some more!!!

  12. hee hee hee hee…my daughter and I would have that exact same conversation. (without the two other people…) Do you need two skeins of STR? I’ve got one skein of medium weight and I could swear it’s enough for two socks…

  13. I’ve been trying to find a good excuse to buy that book. I almost sarted on the free knitty gritty ones but decided to wait until I buy it.
    Love the ocean toes!

  14. Cool. I totally envy you for having your 18 y.o. in the house. Mine is 350 miles away at college.

  15. Wow, only one? All my stash fits in a drawer still (it’s a big drawer but mostly I’m a slow yarn buyer, I apologize) and I think I have at least two skeins of medium weight STR. hehe
    Love the pictures in the book, by the way. But I can’t get past knitting socks with your Recipe so I’m sure my brain would explode reading Cat’s sock patterns.

  16. That looks like the same colorway that Myrna Stahman had a shawl made out of at one of the classes I took from her. I wanted to wear it home.
    Only one skein? I think that is a record.

  17. Megan – very cool – redirecting your Mum away from any potential stash snitching. Even if you didn’t take her STR.
    Geez, now I have something else to distract me. Just call me The Vascillator. (and watch how you pronounce that…)

  18. I was going to buy that book but I can’t get through the Socks Soar on Two Circulars so what are the odds that I can knit out of this book if it’s blowing YOUR mind? Um, that would be zero.
    There is no way you would have just bought one skein of STR so the other one has to be there somewhere. It just has to. I’d let the girls hunt now.

  19. Dude. Order some Raven, we’ve gotta see what you do with it! Yes, I’ve seen on other blogs that you designed the sock for this month’s club shipment, so I presume you’ve knit in Lenore, but still, there are all those *other* Raven colors you have to try out, and I don’t have any STR Raven yet, as you may remember, so I want vicarious experience even though I think I’m gonna be bad and order some despite having gone to the sale, like this is a surprise–
    Wait. Waitwaitwaitwait. *You* were planning on knitting a pattern using the yarn *called for*?!? Mein Gott, Cat really *has* wobbled your equilibrium!
    (Great book. I’m reading it slooowly. Amazing. And did you notice the girls sounded like the mom in your transcript? Hee!)

  20. *jaw drops* You mean I actually have MORE STR mediumweight than the Amazing, Outstanding, Goddess-like Harlot? Too bad it’s Wednesday, or you could put the gansey aside and spin some sock yarn 😉

  21. Perhaps the squirrels secretly infiltrate the house at night and steal STR mediumweight yarns. Yes. Blame it on the squirrels. And get off the blue moon website. You know you’re going to have to buy each skein fresh from the store and use it, or the squirrels will get it.

  22. Between this post and Franklin’s today at the Panopticon I am grinning from ear to ear. Thank you for the laugh. And my condolences on only one skein of the Mediumweight. Also, I love that your daughters have such a deep knowledge of your stash locations, they will surely be fine stashers themselves.

  23. Hahaha! I needed a good laugh right now – thanks for a perfect one! =)
    Oh, and obviously you need to go yarn shopping. Duh. 😉

  24. Uh. You might have a problem. They know where all your stash is. Uh…they are your daughters, doesn’t that make them genetically inclined to covet wooly fibers? Hmm…you might want to take inventory *wink*. Oh did you check the suitcases? I have all sorts of oddities in our luggage. Cripes its used 2 times a year, and you can’t squash it…so I fill it. Happy Holidays!
    Oh and Cat Bordhi’s book – ROCKS! I can’t stop knitting from it, there is no second sock syndrome so far…..

  25. It’s good to see that you’ve raised them properly to have such a full and in-depth knowledge of the nuances of stash. 🙂

  26. It’s like having full cupboards and then not being able to cook dinner because you’re missing that one ingredient.

  27. Cat Bordhi has done wonders for you. Not only is she giving you gusset increases that go behind your ear (you know that’s going to come up in the next book), but she’s given you the excuse of a lifetime to buy Socks That Rock.

  28. OK, this made me giggle far too much. I have two or three areas where I keep my stash, but I’m pretty sure it is more organized that than (mostly meaning that the whole-skein sock yarn is together and the remnants and everything else are, well, not).
    Someday I will try STR and Koigu and LL, and all of these wonderful sock yarn options.

  29. Has it occurred to anyone else that Megan got her redirecting skills from her mother? You know- the one who promised to spin gansey yarn yesterday and totally not mentioned anything about it today?
    Just kidding 🙂 We trust you.

  30. Oh geez. I needed to find out about another sock book like I need another hole in my head!
    I was just playing on Ravelry, loading up my library shelves. I have FORTY-FIVE knitting or crocheting books, and there are some that aren’t currently available. (How could they not have the Montse Stanley book listed?)
    The yarn diet actually went pretty well this year (I only fell off the wagon completely, ie totally bought sale yarn with no immediate purpose in mind); I obviously need to give up buying more books for a year!

  31. Umm, make that only fell off the wagon completely three times.
    I thought I did fairly well.

  32. PMP! But you know what’s cool? The girls stuck with you through the whole search. How many teenagers would stick with their mom for a yarn hunt I ask you???

  33. I am always amused by your skill with words, but I am so happy to see that the next generation has taken it to the next level! That is some skillful mom-nipulation exhibited by your fine daughters!

  34. Just go buy some more STR. Between the shortage of medium weight in your house and the fact that the strength of the Canadian dollar actually makes it cheaper for you, the stars are aligned in your favor. Go for it!!!

  35. I still want to know what that pretty yarn was the day the server was lunching. And maybe you should point Sam in the direction of a spreadheet and tell her to inventory away?

  36. I’m sure Tina will come to your rescue! Hope you still have lots of STR, but it’s actually lightweight instead of medium — I can’t believe I have more STR than you. ;o)

  37. Isn’t it wonderful that no one has commented about having a stash in every room of the house…obviously we’re all among friends.
    Please do a favor for me, but mostly for Cat. (if you have the time) Respond to your first poster today and please, please, tell her that her assumption regarding Cat’s book being for peeps of the circular persuasion only is totally false. Every time I begin to blather on and on about this book to people, they always interrupt and say….’nope not interested, I’m a dpn kind of gal’.
    I’m sure Cat would appreciate it even more than I. :o) Thanx

  38. Oh oh guess what you will be getting for Christmas. Better go to that hidden stash that the girls don’t know about and bring it out and tell them you have lots. thanks for the laugh

  39. My favorite part of this whole post is that *Megan* has a stash. Oh, for the day when my child(ren) knits!
    I bought the book around a month ago, and I’m still trying to settle on my first pattern. Love the Ocean-Toes, though, and I know exactly where my one hank of STR medium weight is.
    Clearly, I have yarn buying to do. 🙂

  40. I don’t think the girls were sticking with their mother to help them find her yarn. I think they were scoping out your stash for additions and to make sure they know where it all is! Quick, protect the stash!
    And yep, I’d order some Raven.
    For some reason I have 3 skeins of medium weight even though I totally prefer light weight. What gives?!
    On an only slightly tangential note,
    I think that knitter’s should be required to have a yarn safe the way I think gun owners should have a gun safe. That way you are protected from your yarn.

  41. The Back Room Stash?
    The Upstairs Stash?
    The Bin Stash?
    For heaven’s sake, woman, how many stashes do you own?!
    And the girls know about each and every one of those stashes…mind boggling…
    PS – Did you check in the sleeves of jackets, behind the panel in the piano, the chest freezer, and the garment bag in the bedroom closet?

  42. I am totally in love with Cat’s book! I’m on my third pair from it. But I think it’s because I’m new enough at sock knitting not to know better.

  43. Just in case anyone needs a little help thinking outside the sock, Cat has youtube videos of her methods on these socks. In fact, there are lots of knitting videos there. Have fun learning these new “pathways.”

  44. The conversation with your girls totally inspires me. I mean, who has children like that that refer to all of your stashes by name?!?! I have high hopes that my children will be like that one day. My 5, almost 6 year old, asks me to teach her how to knit, but I have NO patience for that. Kudos for having the girls trained 🙂

  45. You forgot the Baskets-Under-The-Coffee-Table stash.
    Oh wait – that’s just roving. Never mind.
    The Coriolis are calling my name…

  46. I am totally loving reading Cat’s new book, brain explosions and all. I am not yet loving knitting from it, however. I have ripped out my first Coriolis Sock twice now, b/c gauge? She is an evil witch.
    One suggestion, though–take the book to your local print shop & have them put on a spiral binding. Makes all that flipping around MUCH easier.

  47. “and it’s harshing on my mellow in the biggest and most wonderful way”
    Hmm, is this a freaky cooincidence, or am I not the only person already using new phrases learned from the Mason Dixon slang contest this week?!?
    I have added the Cat book to my Santa list since that sort of a challenge would be wonderful for post holiday, no pressure knitting.

  48. I just posted about Cat last night! She’s a freaking genius. Seriously. The most fun part of doing Knitty Gritty was hanging out with her for two days. I am going to start carrying her books. I’m so happy to support what she does. She just rocks.

  49. I hated the two circs thing, and moved quickly to Magic Loop, and what I love about New Directions is that CB wrote for any style of sock knitter. Knitting those practice socks is a form of play, plus I have baby gifts and/or Christmas tree decorations at the ready!

  50. ROFLOL! Do I hear the Universe whispering — nay, shouting — “SHOPPING OPPORTUNITY!”?

  51. My mind boggles that you only have 1(!) med wgt STR left in your stash, but I bet that as soon as Tina of BMFA finds out, you’ll be getting a whole ship load of med wgt… that is after they dig themselves out of the Raven ordering frenzy from last week. (I’m being good and holding my order ’til they catch up.)
    Love my Cat Bordhi book. It’s such a gorgeous book I don’t think I’ll mind her efforts to make me rethink the sock. I just need to stop my other knitting and just cast on her stuff.

  52. Wow! That’s some serious stash, Sister Woman. And I love that everyone knows it’s proper title. That’s some serious indoctrination.. I mean training going on over at the Chateau de l’Harlotte.
    I’ve only done two test socks from the book but already my head is reeling. I love it soooo much. I hope that I win the lotto so that I can attend Sock Camp.

  53. Cat is a genius, her brain just works in amazing ways. Aren’t you lucky to know her!
    WOW about the STR, can it possible be true? You are working your way through your stash.
    You do know this means you must stock up immediately! What if it runs out and they stop making it!?!

  54. Oh my God…….a stash in every room??? I need to figure out how to accomplish that task and not get into trouble. I totally love the conversation you had with your kids, I believe they know all your secrets! I agree with you, Cat looks for ways to make things simpler.

  55. Hm. I actually believe that you could be on your last skein of STR, only because you seem to knit with it as fast as you get it. 🙂

  56. Oh! I think the STR colourway in this post is Nodding Violet. Am I right? Do I get a gold star sent to me in the mail?
    Still can’t guess what the lovely yarn in the Server Down post was, tho.
    I also have (very small) multiple stashes, but none of them have permanent homes…yet. The good thing about having lots of stashes is that you’re constantly surprised when you go through them (especially if it’s one you haven’t pawed through in a while). The bad thing is that you forget what you have and buy more yarn. Which is only a bad thing, I guess, if you’re trying to work your way through the lovely stuff you already have!

  57. I love Cat’s sock pathways book. When I finished my first learning sock, I raced around the house and demanded that Those People admire it with the upmost of amazement.
    It’s like an odd sort of voodoo and I’m loving it.

  58. “Doing something in a beguiling or particularly graceful way matters too.”
    Thank you! I needed to hear these words on precisely this day.

  59. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
    Now I’m on the floor laughing. I don’t know who’s been trained better here, you or your girls. I espeially like how they (at least one of them anyway) have a stash as well. You could go out in public and talk about your “stashes” and get all sorts of looks from the muggles.
    I think you must be the exact opposit of me. . .I have one skein of everything and it takes an act of congress for me to buy more than one at a time.

  60. Cat is my hero. I was so in awe of her at stock camp and at the same time so charmed because she has a lovely sense of humor and gets that she is around several corners before the rest of us catch up.
    And I LOVE her twisting my world. Personally, if it is the same all the time, I’m bored out of my goard and will never cross the finish line (I have a terrible attention span). The fact that I’m turning everything I know on its ear with Cat’s book makes me purr.

  61. Wow. Even I have more than one skein of mediumweight STR in my stash and my stash fits in a large Rubbermaid bin. I hope you have purchased some to replenish the sadly depleted yarn supply.

  62. Wow, that brings back memories. I used to have yarn, fabric, craft supplies, etc. in every room in the house, plus the garage. Ok, I still have stuff in the garage (not my good yarn, though) but I now have a room in my house that totally belongs to me, thanks to the fact that my son has his own apartment now. Before you tell me you’re jealous, keep in mind that I waited 32 YEARS for this room. I’m enjoying it with every fiber (excuse the pun) of my being.
    Way to go, Megan, for distracting you from your rant.

  63. I so needed to read this post after the day I’m having.
    And it cannot be possible for you to only have one skein of any kind of yarn. lol
    I’m still trying to understand the Master numbers section of that book. Even with my physics degree I think it’s beyond me. Sigh.

  64. WARNING! Don’t stop in the middle of a sock without lots of notes to yourself! I fell in love with Cat’s sock patterns. Zipped through the first sock, no gusset, wow! Started the second and got interrupted. By the time I got back to it (a week later) there was no way I could tell where I was in the pattern. It ain’t logical! Had to rip and start over.
    Love the finished socks though!

  65. That book rocks! I am so in love with her ability to just re-think the math and topology of the sock.
    I wanna be Cat Bordhi when my knitting grows up.
    I’m finishing a pair of the first sock for my sis for her BDay next week, and I’m so in love with the wee things that I just sit and pet them sometimes.
    Pretty.

  66. hahaha – This reminds me of the time you couldn’t find that box of yarn you knew you had, ripped up the house, and finally found it (days later?) sitting on an exercise machine but buried under clothes (if I’ve got that story right, I’ll be amazed. My memory is for crap).
    As I believe I am the world’s slowest sock knitter, please let me know if Cat’s new way is faster. Thnx!

  67. “Squirrel-assed”?! My my, Cat may think out of the box sock-wise, but you’ve got us all beat on colorful phrases, I’ve got to say. Now, re-stash the stash, pour yourself a nice cup of Peet’s, and shop for some more medium-weight STR. You’ve earned it.

  68. Girl it’s time you got the girls to practice their keyboarding – by getting them to enter your stash at ravelry. Then you’ll know where all of it all is 😛
    You might have to pay them a bit, but they might work for wool!

  69. Did you try:-
    The loft?
    Garden shed?
    Garage?
    The stash that you hide where no-one else will find it?
    The wardrobe (underneath the shoes)?
    Behind the books on the bookshelf?
    Piano stool?
    Freezer?
    Wine rack?
    Best friend (non knitter’s) house?
    Dog’s basket?
    Cat’s basket?
    Squirrel’s nest!?
    Inside the big gap in the printer?
    Just guessing…

  70. You have discovered you are out of STR just in time to stock up on Raven colors! That’s very convenient… you don’t even have to think up an excuse to buy some.

  71. I have my son and daughter trained…living room stash, bedroom stash, family room stash, spare room stash. There are multiple stash spots in all rooms…they know where to look when I tell them some ambiguous thing…it’s very scary.
    Cat Bordhi – love her. Outside the stash bin is where her brain operates all of the time. I am still trying to master regular recipe socks on dpn’s but I have managed to knit two Moebius’s (Moebii? Latin scholars, help) one of 300+ stitch lace weight (I did have it at the Borders in Virginia when the Harlot was here. I did finish said wrap in time for the daughter’s homecoming)Maybe I need to be let outside of the box too. I also did 26 ct petit point as my first counted cross stitch project years ago…but that is what one does when one DOESN’T KNOW IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THAT HARD!!!! 😉

  72. Did you check inside the fancy teapot you never use or the serving dishes up on the high shelf in your kitchen cabinets? I have Cat’s new book, too, and was going to cast on for one of her socks the other day but didn’t because I had a horrible cold and could not even wrap my mind around the pattern.

  73. In the freezer?
    Behind the books in the bookcase?
    Inside luggage?
    (Just guessing. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to imagine you could have only one skein of that kind of yarn…but it is.)

  74. How about the piano? Maybe it fell in a drawer somewhere? Or maybe some STR Ravens need to come visit…. And that book is totally awesome.

  75. Ok. Remember when you had a porch-type thing? And then it became an office? Now you need another. Like Office 2.0. Only it’s a stash room. Imagine along with me if you will. All the stash(es). In. One. Room.
    Nirvana, nu?
    Of course, it would need an immense wrought iron, drop down latch – of the kind that makes a sound that implies Marie Antoinette never needs the services of her hairdresser again – to get the danged door closed. But still. A Room of Her Own.
    Oh. And maybe also it’s own postal code.

  76. I love that book. It’s my new boyfriend. My boss got a bunch of autographed copies, so of course I bought one. Now I just need to get you to sign the back photograph. 🙂
    I knit the Coriolis out of it in about 2 days for the pair. My original plan was to knit knee socks (because you can do that! It’s awesome!), but then I changed my mind and couldn’t remember when I did my increases on the leg when it came time to do the second sock. Oh well – no one knows that they don’t match EXACTLY except for me.
    And all of you, now.

  77. I no longer have that conversation – we recently moved to a larger home, and all of my stash now lives in The Studio. Yup, I have a studio. Squee! During the unpacking I got to love-and-hug-and-squish-and-pet each and every skein again, while sorting.
    Did I say sorting? Yup. My sock yarns are All Together in a set of drawers and shelves. Because they no longer fit in just a set of shelves or just a set of drawers. Wow.
    Love the Milkmaid Stockings (and Ocean Toes, of course). I bought Cat’s book a while ago, and promptly made 1.5 socks from Crystal Palace Maizy (how cool – that corn yarn is So. Freakin’. Soft!!) If you want, you can see it (the finished one, the second is in time out as I screwed up the heel not once, not twice, but three times) here:
    http://thatloganchick.blogspot.com/2007/10/agatha.html
    Scroll down to the bottom of the (picture heavy) post. That Riverbed Sockitechture sure makes way for yummy lace sock design. Mmmm, lace. Oh, and ignore the first half of the post. I’m not trying for shameless self-promotion here, but this just happens to be the post wherein I blogged the sock. Hee.

  78. this makes up for me discovering several skeins of that exact yarn this past weekend. Don’t remember ordering them, don’t remember seeing them, don’t remember putting them in a bit to be safely stored for a bit.
    Perhaps I have your yarn?

  79. What I find unbelievable is that you 1) had an entire conversation with all of your teenagers 2) in which they attempted to help you 3) with something of interest to you.

  80. “it’s harshing on my mellow”
    I just love this phrase! Scrumptious!
    One skein. On the dangerous side, time to consider stash acquisition. [Is the stove paid for?? Just a caution…] On another side, this means you have been amazingly productive and used up a goodly amount of yarn. Probably means you are well along on the Christmas knitting.

  81. I like that, “You’re loosing focus.” Gave me a fit of giggles because she was getting you back on track.

  82. Cat Bordhi made me a sock knitter. Which is sort of life-changing in its way. I wonder what this book will do to me… Ever so slightly nervous to think of it.

  83. That book sounds amazing… I will see if I can get it from my library. Failing that, buying it.
    Cat Bordhi sounds like the Paul Dirac of the knitting world. I like the sound of her. (Paul Dirac took this equation in quantum mechanics that you can’t factor, said “let’s see what happens when I factor this,” and came up with a whole new simpler way to do quantum physics. Genius… but insane.)

  84. Wow. Only 1? Do I have 1 of any kind of yarn? Gods, I hope not, what if I wanted to make a pair of socks from it?
    At least your girls were helping you…

  85. The first sock I ever made had the gusset in a strange place. But its partner got a gusset where God intended gussets to be. If God wanted gussets all over the place, she would have written the patterns that way all along. Watch for low-flying lightning is all I’m saying.

  86. Dude! The freezer! The coatsleeves! Have you forgotton! What is most hysterical is that your acolytes know where you stash your yarn! (I’m currently up to “under the bed” “in the closet” and “in the corner stack of Container Store bins”…if it isn’t there, I get my daughter…) 🙂

  87. Did you check the freezer in the garage?? I once placed(well,threw)a large bag of yarn in our garage freezer to hide it for a few days so that the other people in our home wouldn’t say”More Yarn,were we low on yarn?”(they think they are witty). Since that particular freezer is only used to house venison and big turkeys,it doesn’t get opened on a weekly basis. A few monthes later I found some really frozen (yet still perfectly beautiful) yarn when I went searching for something to feed the hoard.
    It was like Christmas! I totally recomend it as a really safe hiding place-but you may want to tie a string around your finger to lead you back to that hiding(I mean storage) place.

  88. P.S. – Is Cat a good witch or a bad witch??? I vote for good-but only because one of my LYS made up a bunch of the much needed markers! I hear she may be coming to Lansing in the spring!
    My name is 1st on the list. 🙂 And my fingers are crossed–Seattle is out of my reach and no one will go with me even if I can head to STR Camp. 🙁

  89. Brilliant – knitting really is the essence (along with family love of course). Very motivational comments about keeping the brain young.

  90. bon jour just came off the hello yarn
    web site very nice the squirrel and
    oak mittens are just lovely and just
    you—–patterns are free she has yarn
    i think i may try the besotted scarf
    great name happy knitting

  91. I am laughing so hard it hurts. There is so much I could say, but. . well. . . you said it. . I love that you don’t have enough yarn. . it’s, well, so, poetic
    Double check the kid’s stash. . .those teenagers are not fully trustworthy, even with your most impressive upbringing. . we’re talking BMF yarn after all. . . .
    I almost ran over the squirrel that torments me im our parking lot 2 days ago. I feel relieved and whimpy all at the same time. . .

  92. “Squirrel-assed”? Well, there’s a word that’s going to stick in my head.
    Did you have more of the yarn and you already knitted it? You can’t have your yarn and knit it too.

  93. You will now be mailed one million skeins of this yarn…you know it! One – pah!
    I hope those milkmaid socks come with one of those frilled miniskirts with totally unneeded overall straps (unneeded because of your huge fake boobies). IF they do, I shall knit them too – I will guess the gusset increases are in the toe?

  94. No STR?!?!?!?!?!?
    I think thats almost illegal!
    I am willing to make the run from MA with my stash so you can choose!
    Oh….wait…..how long does it take to load one of those big tractor trailer things?
    Carolyn

  95. Isn’t it refreshing to find a moment in life when you actually “need” yarn? I’m still waiting for that moment, myself, but I can imagine….

  96. This is one of the reasons why I’m afraid to do several stashes in my dorm. Say I knit through one stash, then another, and so forth until I run through all of them and I have NO yarn at all. Yarn is hard to procure since my LYS closed. (frown)^3billionand12.

  97. Laughing….
    Laughing my a$$ off. Redirect….
    Husband….Whats in that bin in the guest room closet?….
    Wife….Yarn.
    Husband…But, then what is in the two bins in our bedroom closet?
    Wife….Yarn
    Husband….So what do you have in the four bins, two bags and the 5 gallon bucket in the storage down stairs?
    Wife….Yarn.
    Husband….Is this going to continue?
    Wife…Shhhhh! KnitPicks has their end of year sale going on.

  98. Yes, it seems that you need more of that sock yarn.
    Funniest line of the whole story: “Megan: Is it old stash? Maybe it’s at the bottom?” The idea that old stash stays at the bottom of the storage bin, hahahaha.

  99. Haha. Funny story. I have that issue with needles sometimes. I think I must have every size of DPN and circular needle in every length cord then I get a pattern where I need a 12″ US 9 and I dig and dig and dig to discover that it somehow escaped my collection and I actually have an excuse to go out and buy it!

  100. It has made my evening to read this. .. I look forward to the day when my 7 & 10 year old sons will help me look for something I have lost instead of the other way around. Also I love stashing things like that, though I suppose it would drive my husband crazy. Ah, well. The pattern looks like fun too.

  101. Y’all make me feel so organized. All my stash is in one room, in 17, 35 liter plastic bins.
    Don’t ask about the quilting fabric, though. I had to give up use of “my den,” because fabric was stacked neck-high throughout the whole room. The punch line? I never actually took up quilting. I bought a lot of fabric, thinking that quilting would be my next obsession. I took up knitting, instead.

  102. I have two skeins of that yarn. Too bad I’m not knitting that sock!
    My yarb is pretty much in two rooms (one for stash and one for handpaint inventory until it sells). The living room stash jumps off shelves, then stays on the floor long enough to have a little mating dance when I’m not looking.
    When I try to pick it up to put the skeins back (always at least two skeins, which go in different shelf areas) they are totally bonded together and it takes 15 minutes to make them look like meatballs rather than spaghetti. Ack.
    At least I know I have 2 skeins of that yarn… I’m not knitting it and I don’t dare remove them from the bottom of that bin without an explosion of the yarns above. But I know it’s in there!

  103. Kristine has finally gotten her hands on that book as well, after asking at every possible place that she’s been to that might sell such a thing, since hearing of its future existence several months ago. She is also pleased and amazed.
    I have met Cat a few times, and have enjoyed her very much. As I used to say about one of the most brilliant researchers I ever worked with, “Outside the box? He doesn’t know where the box is!”
    I am a good ways from appreciating the technical side of Cat’s work. I’m still slowly working through my first project, in order to learn enough skills to knit simple socks from the yarn you sent me for my second project.
    PhilB

  104. Cat Bhordi doesn’t just think outside the box, she thinks outside/off the planet……
    Great book, I want to try the Corialis sock…..
    Ba

  105. LOL!! You know what that means don’t you? Time to shop!!!! (And we are talking extremely justified shopping too!) If the Harlot only has one skein of STR mediumweight (I mean, even I have 3 skeins of it for crying out loud LOL!) then you have to do some serious STR shopping or the world might just stop spinning! Righteous shopping, oh that’s terrible! Well for Joe it might be. I have a feeling that you will have a grand time. I love The New Pathways for Socks book. It’s amazing. I’m taking a class with her in May 2008 and I can’t wait. What fun. Happy shopping, (and could you please show us what you bought before you put it in your stash? Thats almost as much fun as shopping ourselves!)

  106. I love the fact that you are referencing Kay and Ann’s recent post, and that I totally got it!!! You never harsh my mellow… you rock my mellow!

  107. Now, that was a da#% good read.
    Wonderful way to start my day, and I haven’t even had coffee yet. Perhaps you are the new caffeine.
    Have a great day,
    firefly

  108. Hi Stephanie,
    Not sure what the best way to reach you is, but thought I’d try this. I have a new pattern for a baby/toddler pullover and beanie available for free with any donation to Doctor’s Without Borders on my new site here: http://www.jujubeandlolo.com/Patterns/PeaceBaby.php
    I’ll be sending you periodic log files with a list of donors and amount raised so you can include them in your KWB tally. We’ve raised just over $500 so far.
    Thanks for inspiring this little pet project of mine. I’d love to get your feedback ;0)
    Cheers!
    A.

  109. Time to take a week off and photograph the stash and put it in the Ravelry database. Did you know that there’s even a “stored in” field on the Enter New Yarn page, so you know WHICH stash it’s actually in?! Effing brilliant, I say!

  110. Oh, Steph. This is exactly why I ordered thirteen skeins from BMFA. Okay, maybe not exactly why, but a good enough reason. Get thee to the BMFA site!
    (Also, I think I need that book now. Thanks.)

  111. Blame it on the squirrels and then order more STR. Have you checked out the Knit More Scarves book? I’m working on the Linked Rib Scarf (I just put it up on Ravelry). Cool projects and definitely outside of the box thinking. Since I’m enjoying that project so much, I think I will have to add Cat’s book to my wishlist–it sounds like it’s in the same vein, but even more mind bending. And the geeky part of me has to know ‘how did she do that?’ and to find out if I can figure it out too. Thanks for sharing!!

  112. I am jealous: (a) how awesome is it that you have three persons in your household to help you find a specific yarn. And (b) those three persons also know that something is wrong with this world if you have only one skein of it.

  113. What’s frightening about this (besides the number of stashes you have) is that your daughters also know where all the stashes are located, and understand that in normal circumstances you would have lots more of this yarn — maybe the squirrels are making socks now?
    Poor people at Blue Moon are going to be very busy packing your order

  114. I really shouldnt be reading this at work. I wonder if a librarian hooting with hysterical laughter is disturbing?
    one skein.

  115. Wow I am totallly impressed at how your daughter know what you have and where you store things! Like how many stash locations there actually are:)
    I thought I was the only one that did this (My Closet, under the bed, the front room cedar chest, the 3 huge bins in my storage room. and the stuff that has not made it into the stash yet –just recently purchased).
    I do like this color though that you found. Hey maybe its time to enhance the stash with some medium weight:)

  116. Has anyone checked out the hoarder that Oprah has on her show today? I clicked through the website – it was pretty scary. Can you imagine if she was a knitter?

  117. What I can’t understand is, isn’t she the strictly circular? So, not only are you trying to follow unconventional patterns, but you’re having to convert it to DPNs, too? My synapses hurt just trying to grasp this, and I haven’t even opened the book yet! I’m thinking this is better left to you, Cat, and other magical beings.

  118. Posted by the Yarn Harlot, Nov. 17,2004 “2. I have developed a huge case of Startitis. (That, I assure you, is not the surprise.) The surprise came when I discovered that I don’t have the right yarn in the stash for a pair of mittens. Who knew that was even possible? I mean, knowing what you do of my stash, would you think that there was even the scrawniest possibility that I wouldn’t have a wee little bit of the right kind of yarn? It’s not like it’s a sweater or an afghan or something really big where it would be presumed that the stash *might* offer limited choices. It’s mittens. Stunning. ”
    So it does happen now and then. This was during a mitten phase – Latvian/Estonian/Folk Mittens by Nancy Bush. I guess it’s now time for the future socks to be yarnless – but not for long I’m sure!

  119. For a totally synapstic expansion experience, be a rebel! Convert to using 1 (ONE), and only one, circular needle (32 inches is more than enough)for ALL Cat’s socks. Makes the process SO easy, less expensive than two needles, and freeing, truly freeing….like YOGA…a little twisted, but freeing 

  120. First of all – Kitchen stash? holy crap!
    Second….I do NOT believe for a second that you only had one skein. Someone is hiding stash or selling it out from under you on E-bay. Anyone get anything cool lately, that they shouldn’t have been able to afford?

  121. I *love* that book. I am taking it on the train with me. I am going to knit lots of socks.
    BTW are there any yarn shops open in TO between Christmas and New Year? How about just before Christmas? I’ll be there then 🙂 Since I can’t bring my fleece with me to spin (quarantine) I might need more yarn by then!

  122. That’s too funny!! My stash is quite a bit smaller as I only have 2 stash places, the wet bar and a table in my room.

  123. You need STR Mediumweight? You should have contacted some of us in Portland OR. Tina had a stash sale last weekend. The STR mill ends were gone in less than an hour.
    Dang.

  124. You didn’t say anything about Freezer Stash or Bathroom Stash. I would look there for sock yarn. And what about luggage and your backpack? I can’t be the only one with a Kelty Tioga full of yarn.
    Did you look in your box from New Orleans? It was a big box.
    Also, did you look in the pantry?
    BTW, I noticed that Megan directed you to look everywhere except under her own bed.
    I’m just sayin’ …

  125. Thanks to THIS wonderful place on the innernets, I found that Cat was teaching a class on the techniques in this book just, oh, four blocks from my apartment, last Sunday. I’ve taken her moebius class before, and what a great teacher she is. Her book is laid out so well, with colour coding and symbols, and of course learning from the designer/inventor herself is always a blast. We made a little baby sock to learn, and now I finally feel like I can accomplish some sock knitting! We’re so lucky to have Cat out here, and I look forward to her blowing my mind again and again… Thanks for telling us about this new book!!!

  126. LMAO this is just too funny. I could easily picture it. Clever kids, frantic yarn search, and stashes all over the house! Thank God I drive a truck for a living and all of my stash is in the truck.
    You’d be amazed at how many places there are to stash yarn in a big rig LOL

Comments are closed.