The thirst for more yarn, of course. Someone in the comments for my last entry suggested going to WEBS (http://www.yarn.com) and looking up Malabrigo there. I did, saw the Malabrigo, kicked myself for not ordering it sooner and then browsed around. Which may have been a mistake.

Prepare for a totally self-indulgent pity/whining fest.

You see, my hunger for new yarns never really goes away, no matter how much I have. I'm kind of a yarn vampire that way. If I had it my way I would shop for yarn 8 out of the 10 hours I'm not asleep. As it is now (with the whole not being a billionaire yet thing) I control myself out of necessity, however, sooner or later, the thirst always wins¹.

Anyway, WEBS has this yarn that I first read about on Knitter's Review called Berkshire. Read the review, it's really positive. And I do love me some single ply yarns.

Horribly, Christmas is coming and I have gifts to buy. Greedy, guilt inducing family members to appease. Bullshit commercial obligations I must fill. Stupid office holiday party to buy a Secret Santa fuckshitbitchdamn gift for. Oh, and an expensive class to pay for in January.

Arrrrrrrrgh! Want to buy yarn! Can't spend money on self! (especially after my gluttonous NYC weekend). But need yarn! Yes! No! Yes! No!

*cries*

¹ Whoever guesses the origin of that quote (and is not my boyfriend) gets cool points.

This is how bad my sickness is, I go to New York City and all I take pictures of are yarn shops and yarn.

Without further ado, pictures pertaining to yarn!

Meena loves the yarn. The yarn loves Meena.

This is my good good friend Meena at a yarn shop called "The Point" (thanks to Andy for the link!!)

I'm sure everyone does this.

That's me with yarn earrings. Please ignore my terrible hair.

Hello. I am a brown ball.

This is the yarn I bought at The Point. It started out as a big honkin' skein (8.75 oz = 549 yards!!!) of 100% alpaca. The brand is Alpaca with a Twist, Baby Twist.  Meena and I worked together to turn it into a ball.

Swifts and ball winders are AWESOME.

Here I am winding Malabrigo at KnitNY (again with the bad hair). This shop has improved drastically since I went last February. The staff is so much nicer now! I bought a lot of yarn, that's how much I approved.

Good things come in large skeins.

Three skeins of Cascade Eco Wool. Each of these bad boys is 478 yards! Each one only costs $18.00! Sadly, I only wound one, the rest will have to be wound by hand. The ball each skein makes is too big for the winder.

The yarn equivilent of oral.

Six skeins of Malabrigo. You can't buy this anywhere in DC! Or online, as my rabid stalking of handpaintedyarn.com shows.

It is only pure love that keeps him here.

Here's what the Monkey King thinks of yarn shops.

Finally, a picture of one of Meena's cute dogs, Kipper. I've posed him with his lover, Cat Doll. My god, I've never seen anything funnier. Haha, I laugh thinking about it now.

Ok, that is the pictures of New York. Thanks again to the lovey Meena for hosting us (and being such a sport about the yarn)! You MUST come visit us in return! I INSIST. REALLY.

Today I started to freak out while mentally reviewing my current pile of knitting gifts. Why? Why do I do this to myself? I impose impossible deadlines, usually the time limit is arbitrary, and always, always crumble under the weight of obligation. Well, not anymore! I, Kim, am taking back the joy of knitting!

Cases in point, my list of stuff to knit and the psycho deadlines I've given myself to complete them. I will also give the actual deadline I could probably get away with, now that I'm thinking straight.

1 baby hat, for friend's baby.
Crazy Kim Deadline: Today
Actual Deadline: Like three months.

1 baby hat and scarf combo, for another friend's baby.
Crazy Kim Deadline: Yesterday
Actual Deadline: Three months as well. (Is there something in the water? Everyone is getting pregnant at the same time.)

1 Baby Gift for coworker.
Crazy Kim Deadline: eh...actually, I'm pretty laid back about this one. Mostly because I haven't offered a gift yet. But I will.
Actual Deadline: 7 months

1 giant Harry Potter Scarf that my idiot self decided has to be done as authentically as possible and is thus taking years not just to complete but off of my life.
Crazy Kim Deadline: before the Goblet of Fire is out of theaters.
Actual Deadline: Before JK Rowling stops making books and movies. What, like, three-four years?

See, people? I jack myself up over these knitting projects and really, I shouldn't. But I do this every time I volunteer to knit something for someone else. This is why I don't do it very often.

Damn, I just psycho-analyzed myself. Awesome! Blogging really IS therapy!

Had a fantastic time. But now, tired. Fat. Need sleep. Need to do laundry.

Will post pictures tonight. For now, I must continue to zombie through work.  

Just in time for the cold weather here, a quick hat!

He's so cute when he's mad

Model: Bickering boyfriend who bickers.

Yarn: No Label Sale Yarn, rumored to be called, "Donatella."

Needles: $1.00 size 15 (so it says on the needles, it's more like 10.75 according to my needle gauge) Japanese bamboo double points

Time: 2 evenings

Pattern: Loosely based on the "Kim's Hats" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Here's a picture of the "fix" (and I use this term loosely) I did on the giant ladders. Fat yarn + fattish bamboo needles = sore hands and no desire to knit tight. Why do it right when I can half-assedly fix it later, am I right or am I right?

I tell myself this just adds character

Ah well, it's just a hat for me and I'm such a non-perfectionist when it's just going to cover my own body. I like the yarn, very wooly and skwunchy. It's going to be very warm and nice.

All it needs now is a little steam and a pom-pom. I'm not normally a pom-pom kind of girl, but there's a quarter-sized  hole on the top of this that my valuable body heat will escape from. Or maybe I can do a covered button. Or, more likely, just leave it as is ;)