At Loose Ends

I have this annoying habit. It's called yarn purchase.

Ok, it's not the purchasing of yarn that is so terrible (although, my bank account could do with a little less of that these days), but the fact that I sometimes buy supplies with no project in mind.

What's more annoying than that? Buying supplies with the project in mind, but no clear idea of how much I will need.

So, last Friday, I ran out of yarn for this skirt I am making. It is from Annie Modesitt's Romantic Handknits - the skirt called An Affair to Remember.

A while back, I wrote about elann.com, the online shop that changed my mind. Great prices, quick shipping, and Canadian to boot. What more could I ask? A Sonata bag sale came along, and I snagged two bags of ten balls each of different colours. I figured that ten balls would be enough to make a skirt. The pattern says 800m for my size in worsted weight held double. I had over 1050m in DK weight. That should work, said I.

Four balls in, I started to get nervous.

Six balls in, I starting looking up prices for more yarn.

Eight balls in, I started looking at other yarn to justify the shipping for the purchase of said yarn.

Ninth ball... the weepy fits began.

And you know what's soooo annoying about it all? I purposely bought books and pamphlets to help me figure out how much yarn I'd need for any project. ANY PROJECT. I have Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, as well as her Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements pamphlet.

And I still RAN OUT. Arrrrrrgh.

So, this weekend, I had to put my project down and wait for more yarn to arrive (which, I think has arrived today, but I won't get my hopes up). I picked up another project to work on while I was waiting (ohhh... I don't like unfinished projects lying around), and finished it today.

Behold: the yarn camera.

It's for a friend at work, a photographer. It's from an ad she sent me a while ago, and she asked me if I would make one for her. I had a few things I needed to work on before I could started, but she was good with waiting, and this was the project I was planning on working on after the skirt. It was a relatively easy crochet project. It's a little wonky, but with a little tapping of the stuffing (how's that for a phrase?) it should work out. And so... voila!

So I finished it. Then, I sewed the stray ends in on my skirt-in-progress. Then, I sat around, tapping my fingers on my table.

Dear goodness, this yarn better arrive soon. At this rate, I'm going to have to start doing Sudoku puzzles to pass the time. Or start cleaning. Or washing dishes.

Oh... help me.

P.S. The yarn order arrived this afternoon. Great goats, I am saved...

Comments

YarnKettle said…
Wow that one was a close one, have fun finishing your skirt. I must admit that I thought your crochet camera would also make a great camera bag if you could convert it somehow. But then I like quirky stuff, and putting a camera inside a yarn camera would make me laugh each time.
AdrieneJ said…
I had considered that. I could probably have made a slit in the top and then sewed a zipper in. If I ever make another one, I'd give it a try!