On the Blocking Board

 

I love having things on the blocking board! So fun to see the evidence of my knitting laid out before being gifted away or folded into drawers. I have been knitting a lot over the past year or two, I just haven't been finishing anything. But with a new baby coming, two issues have arisen: #1, I needed to clean out the knitting room to turn it back into a nursery, and #2, I needed to knit some stuff for this new baby.

So in the process of finding place for all the yarn, notions, and projects that were in the knitting room, I took a good look at what yarn I wanted to keep and what yarn I was willing to let go. We moved all the keeper yarn into an Ikea Expedit storage unit (identical to the one being used in the knitting room) that we set up in the dining room. Why not make that room more useful? My sewing machine is in there too. It's got a nice long table and great lighting, perfect for sewing projects, hosting a knitter's circle, and keeping all my yarn visible so that I can be constantly inspired.

Storing the unfinished projects, however, was not so easy. As I found myself trying to make room for these items, I became very anxious and worried that I was turning my home into the next episode of Hoarders. Not good. I decided to actually finish those projects, some of which needed so little work to complete that I am embarrassed at how long those projects sat there. I finished a sweater for my husband, knit in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca. it's a beautiful blue tweed yarn that will look great on him - he looks so good in blue. When I cast on, he was a smaller size than he is now, so he's got til October to lose a few pounds =) It's the Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed) that, according to my Ravelry log, I started in September 2007. Seriously that is just a stupidly-long time to knit something. I also finished pair #1 from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club, a club that I've been a member of for 3 or 4 years. Yes, I finished the first pair from the first shipment from my first year of membership in this club. Told you it was embarrassing!

Inspired by the completion of these objects, I cast on some stuff for the new baby who is due in October. A cardigan with matching cap, and two baby kimonos from the Mason-Dixon knitting book. See, the way I figure it, if I use up all my yarn stash, then I'm not a hoarder. Amirite? I also have two cousins with babies due within a week of my due date, so there is lots of baby knitting to be done this summer. After all, that's why I became a knitter in the first place. And they won't be newborns for long, so knit up!