Hiding in Plain Sight

All my handspun skeinlettes,
with my spindles stored in between.I've been enjoying a new podcast lately -- Stash and Burn -- which my friend LoriZ recommended in one of her great Sunday surf posts.* I've made my way through all of their episodes in the last week, so I hope Nicole and Jenny will keep podcasting regularly so that I can get my fix.

One of the many interesting topics covered in the podcast is how to acclimate your spouse, significant other, flavor of the month, etc. to the vast amounts of yarn that will invade their lives as long as they remain with you. (I suppose a corollary of that is how to keep them around despite these vast amounts of yarn.) One of my favorite suggestions was to hide everything in plain sight, in order to de-sensitize your significant other to yarn by exposure. This is one I have lived by for quite a while. A few years ago, when my stash reached rather unruly proportions with the advent of internet yarn sales, I purchased a Magiker cabinet from Ikea to store all my yarn in. It's been a great solution. The yarn is protected from dust by the cabinet, but with the glass doors I can see much of what I have. My particular unit is half the size of the one in the link - it is tall, thin and deep, so it scoots easily into every living space we have had and yet accommodates a lot of yarn.

My fabric stash,
housed in the closet.Unfortunately, not all of my yarn fits in the Magiker unit, so occasionally, after such major events as that damn Black Sheep Knittery 50% off sale that would not end, I have to do some re-shuffling and organization. My personal stash goals, such that I have any, include eventually having only as much stash as will fit in that cabinet. It's a pretty big space, so that's not exactly an overly ambitious goal - or at least it shouldn't be!

Anyhoo, this week I am completely going through the girls' room (our extra bedroom, so named because it is predominantly used by me, my crafts, and all my girlfriends who craft). My clothes closet is in there, and I have gone through that completely, and am now in the midst of going through the yarn, fiber, fabric, buttons, beads, and ribbon. Oh yeah, and books. Lots of books.

Ribbon and ball bands,
which I'm saving for a special project.I'm photographing my entire stash so that I have a visual catalog (to accompany the all-important excel spreadsheet), but I am also finding better and more visible storage for my "little stashes" - the fiber, fabric, buttons and ribbons. These categories of stash are much smaller than the yarn stash, but they haven't been nearly as ingeniously stored in the past. I think it's important to be able to see what I have so that I can use it. For example, I don't have a lot of ribbon, but I do have several pretty, quality yards. These have come in handy as ties for knitwear on several occasions. I used grossgrain ribbon for the straps on Asana, the same ribbon, years later, worked for Thelma's straps, and then most recently, the After Dark Nightie got ties made of a lovely fine velvet ribbon. Having these items on hand in plain sight makes it that much more likely that I will turn to them when I need a little closure. Ouch. That was such a bad pun I'm guessing some may even have missed it.

Just something to think about. How do you store your stash?

Kitty collection,
napping in plain sight.*As an aside, I love reading "link" posts and I have three friends who do these rather well: Andrea, the grand mistress of links, LoriZ, and MJ. Definitely check them out. You can find some really great resources. For myself, the link posts haven't happened (not sure why), but I do keep a running tab of links I like on my BIG LIST, which you can find below the names of my closest pals in the sidebar under "links". If you haven't already, you may want to check it out. There are some great links - especially in the techniques and resources section.

More On Asana

A few people have asked me about Asana's construction, and specifically what it's going to look like as you're working on it. I'm no expert with schematic software, but it will look something like this:

You start knitting from the bottom, and work the bottom and top wraps as one piece with the main body. The waist wraps are knit as seperate strips and then seamed onto the body during finishing. The top and bottom wraps are identical in length, with the waist wrap being a bit shorter, since your waist is significantly smaller in circumference than your bust or hips. (All of this gives the illusion that the straps are of equal length when the piece is worn.)

When wearing the piece, you'll have the right side of each wrap wrapped all the way over to the left side of your back and the left sides wrapped over the top of the right sides. This will give you a substantial portion of overlap - most of the back, depending on your personal measurements, of course.

Divide the velcro into equal portions for each of the tabs. I'd recommend using at least two 2-inch vertical strips (one at each edge) for each wrap. When you get to the point of sewing on the velcro, it will all be a lot more obvious. Just be sure to plan out the placement of the velcro and make sure it works prior to sewing it on!

Asana can be, and in fact, was, worn with a bra. It's not really suited to a bra with straps, but it will easily cover a honkin' big strapless. The upper wrap is bigger to cover the ladies, and if you have any doubts, just check your gauge on the lower wrap. You can always start the upper strap a little early and make it extra thick if you have "special needs".

For those of you looking for a little company while knitting your Asana, Ms. NoNoKitty has kindly started a knitalong here, which will lift off on May 9th. I will also be hosting at least one knitalong night in early June with my LYS for those of you knitting Asana in the DC area. More on those details as we get closer to the date.

Time to Stretch Your Horizons

Run [!!!] over to Knitty and see what's new!

Knitted Feats and Knitted Feets

First the knitted feat, though it really wasn't a big deal: Asana is finished!

Aren't these labels cute? My "happy 3rd anniversary of my 30th birthday to me" gift last month, courtesy of The Yarn Harlot's Christmas Gifts For Knitters links.

Well, at least the knitting and seaming portion is done. I have a wee (very wee) bit of sewing to do, and then I just need to size it for others, send it off to Knitty and hope for the best. Not to jinx myself, but I will be shocked if it doesn't get published - I'm very excited about the way this one turned out. (But I'll still love ya regardless, Amy!*)

Wallce, on the other hand, is not finished, but perhaps I'll get to work on it during the SuperKnit. I mean Bowl. Superbowl.

Now for the knitted feet. First, for all of you who have been coveting the fresh baked bread that my little tootsies recieved last month, my friend Mary has kindly provided the "recipe", which you can find in the extended entry. It is a recipe in Southern style - an amalgam of sockish wisdom, though not perhaps something for the sock uninitiated - my favorite kind!

In addition, I have been busy getting ready to knit some feet myself. After scouting around my Sockapalooza sock pal's blog to figure out what colors she likes, I picked out a bit of koigu for her while we were in LA. She likes "bight colors." I'm guessing these will fit the bill:

Loverly, eh?

Since she also likes ankle socks, I thought Crusoe would be a good choice. I may have to make a pair of these for myself as well....

Finally, I could use a little fabric moral support. I found this great stuff at G Street Fabrics the other day and am planning to use it to make fabulous curtains for the bathroom:

I think it's rather hard to resist....

Moxie has made exactly two comments:

"It looks like a flower threw up."

and the real winner:

"Don't get creative in my environment."

Ours is a candid marriage.

*Speaking of La Knitty Queen, did you see that Amy re-worked my teeny tiny sweater pattern to fit her Blythe dolls? Too cute!

Mary's Sock Recipe and Yarn Info

"Here's the sock poop:

I wasn't following a specific pattern when I made your socks. I generally cast on 64 stitches on size one (2.25 mm) when I'm going to do stockinette with sock weight yarn. (When you work with 5 needles, a cast on multiple of 4 will make ribbing easier.) I work about 1 and 1/4" with whatever ribbing I feel like, then I do stockinette until the leg is about 7 and 1/4". I work a heel flap of 32 rows over 32 stitches, turn the heel and pick up and knit the gusset stitches. I pretty much use the same heel and toe methods that Sally Melville writes about in her sock pattern in her "Knit Book," except that I make the toe more round (by decreasing every other row down to 5 stitches on each needle), and I pick up a couple extra stitches on each side when I do the gusset. I knit down the foot until it is about 2" short of the length I want, and begin decreasing for the toe. I graft my toes following the directions for Kitchener stitch that you can find in the back of every issue of Interweave Knits. It's the clearest instruction I've ever seen for Kitchener stitch. Unless I'm knitting for someone I know has larger or smaller feet, I start doing toe decreases when the foot is about 7 and 1/4 to 7 and 1/2" long. That will fit most women who wear a size 7-8 shoe.

The yarn I used was Froehlich Wolle - Special Blauband that I bought at Cloverhill Yarns in Catonsville, MD. In August. I was there on Friday, and they don't have any more of that color, although they do have several tweeds in other colors. Aylin's Woolgatherer in Falls Church also carries that yarn, but I haven't been there in a while, so I don't know what the current color choices are. Special Blauband is one of my favorite sock yarns."