Knitting A Mile?

There is a Stash Knit Down 2008 group on Ravelry that is having a January challenge to knit a mile. A mile you say??? Yes I said a mile! That will be 1760 yards (holy crap) of yarn by Feb 15. Completely doable - I think. The challenge started Jan 5th and I have since knit a total of 280 yards. Not an auspicious start, but not bad none the less. And what a great idea!

Most of my week end was spent clearing out crap from of my junk room and turning it back into a craft room. What a feat! I had boxes of crap that had never been unpacked (I hate to admit we have lived here for 7 years). Stuff my dad sent me of my mothers after she passed away was in that closet along with a number of other mystery boxes. It was a wonder I had any room in that closet for my yarn stash! Which is probably why I had an avalanche nearly every time I tried to take something out of it. I repacked mom's scrapbooks and what not's. I went through every scrap of paper as well, old tax forms (more than 7 years old I might add), my 17 year old divorce papers, a few profit and loss statements from when I was a store manager, and training manuals from my old dispatch job. Talk about being a pack rat!

Needless to say most of that went into the trash. Along with a goodly number of dried out paints, some infinitesimally small pieces of material I had been saving for who knows what, and a number of other things that I am sure the garbage man was swearing about this morning...hehe

Things that needed to be stored went into Rubbermaid containers, condensed and repacked, and nicely placed in the bins. Plenty of room for fresh stash now!

I did do some knitting too. I have been plugging away at the multi directional scarf. I enjoy the pattern, and as long as I remember to go up-hill, it works out fine. I am getting bored with it tho because the yarn that so excited me in the skein is very un-exciting when it is knit up. The pattern has some wonderful possibilities, and I can see some of my stash being worked up this way, if I ever get through this particular scarf.

So naturally I started something else, as most of us do when a project becomes a chore.

I found another nifty pattern on Ravelry for this headband. I had two balls of Sugarloaf in burgundy that I also bought 2 years ago at Stitches but did not have a clue what I wanted them for. I loved this one, quick knit and the yarn is soooo yummy and soft. It was a dream on my head. Too bad someone has not invented feel-a-vision yet.

Of course I foo bared it and forgot an increase but it is still plenty wide enough. It took very nearly the entire ball of 81 yards. And since I had two, I immediately cast on my second one, which I intend to make correctly this time.

Most of Saturday was spent at the courthouse, waiting for it to be Sarah and Greg's turn to get married. For all that it was a civil service, the Judge was fantastic, and made it a very lovely ceremony. And even though we had to wait around most of the morning with a bunch of strangers, some wedding parties were in formal dress even, we had a blast. Sarah got a little upset when she lost my mother's ring (her something borrowed) but this nice lady turned it in and all was well.

The happy couple...Don't they look sweet!