More eBaying of the Stash

I have two big lots on eBay right now.
1. Araucania Nature Wool

2. Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy

Both in more than sufficient quantity to complete a garment.
All items must go. It's getting even more crowded in here now that I have added spinning fiber to the ridiculous stash.

My First 3 Ply

...by Hasbro!
No, really, this is going to be my first batch of 3 ply, and it feels a bit like it felt when I tied my shoes or rode a bike for the first time.
Oh, by the way, I learned how to spin a couple of months ago. Now I have even less space in my studio as bags of roving are added to the enormous yarn stash. But to get back to the point...

I spun the first bobbin on Thursday and Friday last week. I've already used this fiber (multicolored merino top) for 2 skeins of 2-ply spindle spun, which is already earmarked for a hat/mittens project. After doing a bit more reading and getting some wheel practice in, I decided I wanted to spin a heavy worsted-weight 3 ply yarn on the wheel.
I don't think this yarn is going to end up chunky, though. I had to try pretty hard to produce a single as thick as my sample, such as it was. This was the "sample" three-ply I had as my reference:

I have a hunch that making sample cards of my singles and plied yarn is going to be one of those things that I have to learn the hard way is not optional, like when I learned that gauge swatching is mandatory after making the Buckwheat Hat. (The Buckwheat Hat was my first non-scarf project, so called because it could have accommodated a large Afro with room to spare; naturally, I had to frog the entire thing. It is now in my stash, waiting to be knit up post-Kool Aid Dye Experiment).
Anyway, the 3-ply sample was made from three fairly short lengths of singles, all of which were created while I was getting used to spinning the merino on the wheel, and as a result were replete with thick and thin spots. Also, I didn't leave any of the singles unplied, so I had to pick a spot I liked on the plied length of yarn and un-twist it to see how thick the singles were at that spot.
Pretty unscientific.
Well, ignorance is bliss and I forged ahead and spun all three bobbins of singles, after splitting the roving into three piles of approximately 2.1 ounces each so the bobbins would (theoretically) contain the same amount of yarn.

Aren't they pretty? I could honestly leave them like this for a while as a decoration. This is the most spinning I have done so far on the wheel.
Here's a clearer picture, though:

You may be able to tell which bobbins I spun first (most twist), second and third (less twist). I'm still mulling over whether I need to run the last bobbin back through the wheel to tighten it up a bit before I ply it. Not having much experience upon which to draw, I'm not sure how much of an effect this will have on the plied yarn.
Pictures of the finished yarn will be forthcoming.

Sometimes a banana is just a penis cozy

Pattern found on Classic Elite website here.

I like how they included exactly two round fruit in the banana tableau.

Jettisoning a sweater's worth of yarn on ebay...

I've got 19 balls of Lily Chin Manhattan yarn up for grabs on ebay, all matching color/dyelot. Auction is here.

HI-larious

Since my blog is on life-support for the immediate future, I might as well take the chance to direct you to something that is actually entertaining:
Stuff White People Like
Yes, we're hypocrital and lame, and it never stops being funny. Except when we declare wars and conduct genocide and stuff.

Again, I apologize for being out of the loop.

I've kept having the technological impediments to blogging, although hopefully the time is approaching when I will finally be able to do something about that, but at least it hasn't stopped me from knitting. In fact, I have enjoyed increased output over the last several weeks, and I just realized that I need to update my tickers!
I haven't been quite as diligent about photographing all of my FOs, but I will have to work on that as well. I finally blocked my Swallowtail Shawl of Sea Silk for my grandmother and got it to her for Christmas, but I didn't get a decent pic before I mailed the package. That kind of stuff.
Oooh - and I actually finished two pairs of socks this month! That's a first.
My yarn inventory is off again, too, so that needs updating as well. I am going to have to reset the kitty, though, and start over. Just like a diet, although hopefully the Stashbust can be more successful this year than diets have been.

MIA

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. My computer has all the functionality of a warm dog turd, so posting to the blog is quite an ordeal.
When it was still under warranty, it developed this issue with the power supply. When you plug the AC adapter into the back, it only senses it when the cord is resting in certain positions. As a result, the screen flickers like a candle flame as it constantly switches between AC and battery power. Not only does this make me want to throw the computer out of a window on the top floor of a tall building, it also means that the computer only picks up on about 1 out of 3 keystrokes.
Never buy a Dell. The three-year service contract sounds really good, but when the service people play dumb (or blind, as my particular case demands) whenever you take the computer in to them, the warranty doesn't really mean anything. I took the damn computer in several times, and each time the service people claimed they "didn't see anything wrong with the display" or suggested that the problem might be with the power cord-- which was not under warranty, of course. So, I would go back home, plug in the new power adapter, and the screen would start flickering like crazy.
The only way I can use it even occasionally is to fiddle around with the plug in the back, find a sweet spot where the computer detects the AC power, then hold it absolutely still with my left hand while I peck on the keyboard with my right.
This does not exactly entice me to spend some quality time on Blogger.
So, I've been knitting and everything, I am on my third sample, and I am knitting some socks to relieve the tedium of the nonstop stockinette I am doing on the sample. I turned the heel at lunch today, which was nice because I forgot to bring my lunch -- I had lots of time.
I do miss coming on here, though. As soon as I get my tax refund, I'm getting a new computer, and as soon as I get a new computer, I'm updating everything, including the stashbust challenge and getting a photo gallery going of my FOs.
I won't even get started on how little use I've gotten out of my Ravelry invite.

Hey -- I've been "tagged". Color me "embarrassed".

I got tagged. It would kind of be exciting, since this is my first time being tagged, except for the subject of the tag:

Open the book you're currently reading to page 161 and copy the fifth sentence on the page, then tag 5 bloggers.

Dammit, Kristina, you're exposing my intellectual deficiencies. *blush* The only books I am reading right now are knitting books. So, I decided to take a page count of the books currently in rotation:
98 pages....no.
146 pages....no.
122 pages....no.
159 pages...damn! So close.

I finally found one book that I have read within the last three days that reaches page 161--
"Note: One-liter plastic soda bottles can be used to shape the bag."

Book: Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick, which I highly recommend if you don't already have it-- it's one of those books where you want to knit every project in it. Great collection of designers...including my idol Annie Modesitt...and btw, I finally got Romantic Hand Knits this weekend. Incredible. That woman is so friggin' inventive. She is the Stravinsky of knitting.

Ok, so now I have to tag five more people. Don't get mad at me if I tag you. Just start reading an actual book, quick.

Oh- and while logging onto Blogger tonight, I found what may well become my favorite blog of all time:

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Not only is this a HUGE pet peeve of mine (being one of those unreasonable, demanding people that expect high school graduates to possess mastery over the basics of English grammar, spelling and punctuation) it's also funny because I used to have a landlord that did this in all the notices he'd post for the tenants -- "Make sure to 'pick up' after your 'guests' this 'holiday season' and to observe the 'noise rules'. Tenants causing a disturbance 'after hours' will be pestered with more 'superfluous and unwarranted' use of quotation marks. And don't forget the exclamation points!!" (This guy also overused exclamation points, often in multiples.)

His notes had absolutely no effect on my compliance with the terms of the lease, but they amused me no end. I left my cigarette "butts" on the patio anyway!!!

The exclamation points thing (and the general topic of sensitivity to punctuation use) reminds me of two of my favorite Seinfeld episodes: 1) the one where Elaine breaks up with her boyfriend for not using an exclamation point in a phone message he took down for her and 2) the one where Elaine goes into business with her old boss in the muffin top store: "Top of the Muffin TO YOU!"

For the record-- I took the boyfriend's side in that exclamation point dispute and Elaine's side in the muffin top store dispute. Not that I don't understand the importance of appropriate punctuation; if I was in a relationship and discovered that the partner in question was a serial "superfluous quotation mark user" it could possibly be a deal-breaker.

OK, It is officially time for me to get some "sleep" now. Off to bed!!!

Squeeeeeeravelry!

I got my Ravelry invite!!!!

Not to sound like a cheesy 80's Valley Girl, but I am, like, totally so psyched. I guess I'll have to wait until the work day is over before I start building my notebook, though.

At least I already have my entire stash in Excel format, though! That ought to cut down a bit on the import time if I can cut-and-paste.

In my time of dyeing

I did my first dye job today! Well, on yarn, anyway. This was my September project for the Do Something New knitalong (clickable button is in the right-hand sidebar).
Originally, I picked this project for the following very practical reasons: 1) I already had the stuff because I planned to do this three years ago and didn't, and 2) I knew it was going to be a really hectic month and I might not have time to finish a knitted item. As it turned out, I wouldn't have. Pretty much all the time I have found for knitting has gone into the Professional Project, and in the meantime I've been working and going on job interviews, which is just draining.
However, it ended up being really fun and I know I'm going to do it again soon. I may or may not have gotten the bug; we'll see.
I dyed some white baby alpaca yarn that I had frogged from my first attempt at a hat not too long after I taught myself to knit. I didn't do a gauge swatch, so the hat ended up big enough for two people to wear at once. Anyway, it was my first good yarn that I bought at a yarn store (as opposed to a craft store or a fabric store) so I hung onto it. I also wanted to dye a bit of this Morehouse Merino lace--


I got this as a shawl kit in one of the hand-dyed colorways, and boy was it ever a disappointment. In the picture of this colorway that is used both on the website and on the pattern, the colors are much, much brighter and there is a lot more pink in relation to the other colors. This looks really washed out and dull, like it was soaked in dirty water and then shoved in a dusty attic for a dozen years. It doesn't look any better knit up. I thought that it might be usable if I overdyed it a dark color, as the merino wool itself is very good (and I don't want to just throw out a $50 hank of yarn).
Here's the alpaca and the bit of merino lace on the scale...


The Kool Aid guy looks really happy knowing that he is going into a hot tub with a bunch of Alpaca, doesn't he?


...and here it is presoaking. I wouldn't normally use a $30 Mason Cash mixing bowl, which I guard with my life, to soak yarn but it was the only bowl I had that was big enough. Doesn't it look pretty?


Here's the yarn cooking on the stove, next to my curly fries (blush) and Quorn nuggets. (Do you think that eating the fake meat might offset the fried potatoes?) I wouldn't have believed it when I started, but that sucked up the dye like crazy, and quick, and the water really did end up clear! It was cool.


This is what the water looked like after only about 10 minutes on the stove-- almost all the dye is gone.


Purple spaghetti! The water was totally clear by this time--the yarn caught every little bit of the dye. The merino came out quite a bit darker than the alpaca, but that was to be expected; it was already dyed. Also, I was pleased how much of the dye the alpaca trapped given that I started with white (which was not necessarily natural white-- but I didn't keep the labels so I don't know.)


And here they are-- the finished hanks. Pretty maids all in a row.
I have a feeling that this yarn will become gloves, but I'm not sure.
The lace still shows different colors through the overdye, but it might look OK-- I'm going to reserve judgment until I have a chance to swatch it.

Out of commission

No, I haven't taken a retail job-- I've just felt like something off a bus station bathroom floor for the last week or so. I'm saving my energy for work, since I can't afford to miss a day and -- mainly -- because the place where I'm working is an awesome nonprofit and I don't want to miss a day.
Anyway, this probably isn't the best way to treat a chronic headache/impending sinus infection/mild stomach bug or whatever it is that I've got, but I discovered a very refreshing drink tonight that I want to share with you. Trust me, this stuff is awesome.

Alco-Seltzer:
About 1.5-2 oz. Absolut Pears
Most of a bottle of Dry Lemongrass soda
fresh lime wedge

Pour the vodka and soda over the rocks in a tall glass, twist the fresh lime juice into the whole shebang, and YUM you got yourself one refreshing, delicious drink.
Seriously, this might be a dangerous one because I could drink this down like iced tea. It's not quite as dangerous as the Blue Asian Pear Martinis that I like at this place downtown (which are mostly alcohol but I swear they go down like juice). Those are so innocuous-tasting that you can knock three of them back before the food reaches the table, which is a really bad idea. I only did it once. The broccoli prawns didn't go down quite as smoothly as the drinks did.

Hanami Progress

I'm too tired to write but I have sneaked (snuck?) in a little bit of time for one of my personal projects -- Hanami-- over the last couple of weeks, although the vast majority of knitting time has been on the Professional Project (I think of it as a proper noun.)

I'm a bit behind the KAL but I expected that-- I'll catch up later. Well, I'll at least finish later if I don't actually catch up. Anyway, I switched to the Addi Lace Turbos tonight and they rock. What a relief to get off the teeny dpns and onto good needles. The lace ones are noticably lighter than the regular turbos-- and the bamboo dpns, believe it or not-- so my project really feels lightweight now.

Random Sharing (a.k.a. Tuesday Show and Tell)

Item #1:

I came home today to two really killer boxes of yarn. It was the Best Christmas Ever.


I'm not going into too much detail except to say that:
1) most of this was the result of a swap. The swap actually went horribly awry (due to theivery/knavery/depravity somewhere on the trip over the Canadian/American border) but the friend with whom I swapped-- who is the sweetest person ever but probably wouldn't admit it-- got me a gift cert to Colorsong Yarn, since much of what went missing in the package was some really swank Kid Aran. The rest is for an afghan, and it is inexpensive yarn, although it is an inexpensive yarn that I am sure I am going to really like: Berroco Comfort. I can already vouch for the fact that it is unbelievably soft for a completely synthetic (and half-acrylic) yarn.
Anyway, the Hand Maiden and Fleece Artist selections are just the sexiest yarns ever. I would marry them if I could, but they know perfectly well that they don't have to marry me because I will put out anyway.
Hey-- doesn't "thievery/knavery/depravity" sound like the sequel to "Love! Valour! Compassion!"?

Item #2:

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

I saw this on Kristina's blog (same friend of the yarn swap mentioned above), and I wasn't too surprised that I also ended up as a Midnight. The description seemed to fit.
Maybe I should start insisting that people call me Midnight...Nah. Too Goth.

Item #3:
After submitting the "Time of Day" questionnaire, I couldn't resist the opportunity offered in the Blogthings sidebar to see who my 80's hunk would be. I was hoping for Judd Nelson ca. The Breakfast Club or (sigh) River Phoenix, so imagine my surprise when I got this result:

Your 80s Hunk Is

Bill Gates

Who's Your 80s Hunk?

After the initial sexual letdown, it dawned on me: hey! I just got an unlimited yarn stash and free lifetime tech support-- although if I had hooked up with Bill Gates I don't think I'd be stuck using the piece of shit I am typing on right now (a.k.a. the $2,000 paperweight).

Anyway-- as far as the stashbust goes, I am keeping myself honest...I posted about the acquisition on here, I am adding the yardage to the total, and I am going into the red on my Finishing Funds...so are you satisfied? Huh?!

Squirrel In Tree, Snail In Garden

...Just as it should be.

By the way, I really am knitting on a daily basis; I am just working on the professional project right now and don't have time for my own stuff. The butterfly top is currently pinned (ha ha!) in my WIP basket and I haven't touched it for a week. Oh, and I am so close...
Oooh, "professional"! Hoi ti toi! Can I say that now, if I am getting money in exchange for knitting? Because it sounds really cool.
The "yarn art" project is from the Fall 1970 issue of McCall Needlepoint; suitable for disappointing any niece or nephew on Christmas Morning.

Found in a bag of yarn headed to the Goodwill...

Uhhh.....anyone else find this yarn label a little disturbing?


Take another look:

(Shudder.) Creepy, isn't it? What's especially creepy is that none of these words require a "K" at the beginning. Country, Cabled, Cotton. Hmmmm.
This is the yarn of choice if you want to knit yourself a Kozy little hood(ie) before the barn dance and cross burning, I guess.
I hope that the Lily Company eventually yanked this (before it got discontinued, I mean)...or at least decided to check future products for hidden references to violent, racist secret societies.
Well, I'll be getting this out of my apartment ASAP...

Well, enough of that. Here's something just too, too adorable with which to cleanse your palate:



Let's say it together: "ahhhhhhhhh....."
I made soap with a hedgehog today. Really! Well, it was really with some friends, but one of the friends has a little wee hedgehog. If you have never seen one before, they are a lot smaller than you think they will be. This is no baby; in fact, she's already had a hysterectomy (long story). Isn't she cute?

(Short return to the "inappropriate products" theme: I like that Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! lunchbox in the background. I assume that was not originally manufactured for schoolchildren in the '70s. Wouldn't it be interesting to send your kid to school with that, though?)

Progress on WIPs has been good, considering that I'm currently working on a knit-for-pay project (my first one! yippeee!) so I have to divert time away from my personal stuff. But, I did manage to meet Friday's goal on the Hanami shawl. I've been knitting it on two 6" size 2 dpns, but that has to stop since I have 127 or so stitches on the needle and it is becoming a very fiddly process. I'm going to spend some of my budgeted Finishing Funds for a 24" size 2 circular, and I am definitely going to get the Addi Turbo Lace. I tried a size 6 on a different project, and they are awesome.

Ribbed For Her Displeasure

Here we have Lenny and George modeling the latest and most hideous of acrylic handknit menswear ca. fall 1970.
The text notes that Lenny's pullover is knit in Quaker Stitch. Perhaps this is because the Quakers do not believe in sex before marriage, and this sweater resembles a sort of prophylactic suit-of-armor. Knit for chastity!
George, on the other hand, looks like he is a firm believer in sex before marriage.
With you.

Labors over Labor Day Weekend

I made some progress over the weekend on a few projects, and had the gratification of moving some of the tickers forward a little. So far, this ticker thing is working pretty well; it really is motivating me to work on only the projects I currently have up there. Of course, this means that I am spending less time swatching and daydreaming, but then again I spend a lot of time daydreaming, and I'll go back to more swatching after I get some of these projects done.
Butterfly Top:

This is the "Butterfly" pattern by Katie Himmelberg from the Spring '07 issue of Knitscene. I am making it in Berroco Bonsai, so mine is going to have quite a different feel from the one in the magazine just by virtue of using a different bamboo yarn (my working title for it is "Glam Rock"). Normally, I don't go for shiny gold but this was the only color of Bonsai that the LYS had enough of-- and then it really ended up growing on me. Now I like my golden top, and hopefully I'll still like it once I try it on.

As you can see, this yarn photographs a LOT better when I don't have to use the flash.
I'm knitting both of the top pieces at once-- the strand of red yarn is marking the last decrease row (I love using this method to mark "last rows" -- very handy.)

Babette is getting bigger:

I finished strip no. 8 and added it to the blanket, so now I have only two more strips of squares before I can block and edge. The strips are all getting exponentially larger because this is assembled in log cabin fashion, so the addition of the three most recent strips has made quite a difference in size, as you can see compared with my previous post on this project.

Hanami:

The beaded cast-on did take a while, but I enjoyed it and the effect was worth it. I got Czech fired-glass beads for this stole, which are more expensive than the clear glass seed beads called for in the pattern, but I already had some of these in my stash and, fortunately, one of the bead stores in my neighborhood had some more that matched almost exactly. I bought some more because I was a few short of what I needed for the beaded cast-on, and I am also going to add some to the body of the stole.

And, one of the really old UFOs is done:

This is a crocheted blanket that I completed over a year ago, but before I added the edging it got relegated to the UFO pile. This was a sale-yarn special (the type of thing you make when you get a really great deal on yarn, get it home, and then wonder what the hell you are going to do with it.) I didn't count this in my yarn stash inventory because it was one of two blankets for which I couldn't estimate the yardage with sufficient accuracy. The other one is a throw for my Mom, who got the unfinished throw for Christmas, and who has been reminding me ever since that I owe her the finished item. So, I anticipate that this other stash-exception item will be done as soon as I can bear weaving in the hundred-plus yarn ends (I hated that project!!)

I've also taken one of the WIP tickers off the sidebar because I've decided that I'm not going to do that project with any of my stash yarns; I still want to make it but I need to give more consideration to my yarn choice (SWTC Bamboo is the top contender so far, but because I would have to buy all new yarn for it, this has become a potential reward project.) The yarn I bought for the Ingrid-- Silky Wool-- is currently under consideration for one of two knit cardigans, but I want to get the tickers down to a reasonable number before I start swatching.

Getting closer to Ravelry...

15146 people are ahead of you in line.
3894 people are behind you in line.
36% of the list has been invited so far.

Wow-- exactly 1,000 people got invites since the last time I checked.

The Great Stashbust Challenge of '07 Begins

This is it-- the launch of the Stashbust Challenge! It’s also more or less the launch of my blog, because I haven’t done too much with it yet, but I am sure that this project will give me plenty of material. Literally.

A little background:
Like so many other knitters, I have a little problem with impulse control when it comes to buying yarn. Actually, that is kind of like saying that the Pacific Ocean has a little bit of water in it. I really love yarn. I love the textures and the colors and the smell-- everything. It's just lustworthy stuff. I don't even think it needs to be knit up to be interesting.
However, having a big stash causes problems for a lot of other reasons. Although I don't tend to blow lots of money on things like clothes and shoes, I more than make up for it by buying yarn. I know that I have spent more than one thousand dollars on yarn this year alone. Well, plenty more than one thousand-- in fact, I am too scared to look at the receipts. (You see? This is a big sign that I need to kick the habit).
I also am running out of room to store the stuff. For about the first year or so, I could easily keep all my yarn in a small chest in my closet. I outgrew that pretty rapidly once I started building up a stash, and the better I got at knitting and the more room it took up in my mind, my apartment started to mirror my brain. It was kind of like The Blob’s wooly cousin—or The Blob wearing a sweater, if it makes you happier to think of it that way. It sure makes me happier.
Finally, at the beginning of this year I got tired of looking at all the full bags of yarn (not to mention the chest full of yarn--no longer the small chest, but a bigger one I got just for the purpose of holding my expanding yarn stash) so I purchased a big wall unit for my apartment. Ostensibly for books and entertainment, it also served the purpose of hiding much of my stash. However, that strategy backfired. Once I got the yarn out of sight, I just ended up buying more. A few months later, I was right back where I started, except that now I had the big wall unit, the big chest AND bags of yarn all over the floor. My apartment looks like a yarn store that got hit by a tornado (without, of course, the human suffering that accompanies natural disasters, unless you count how much it irritates me to have a messy apartment all the time).

This month, both due to an unexpected lull in employment (ahem) and to joining a KAL to “Do Something New” every month for the next six months, I decided that my something new this month would be to inventory the stash and officially launch my challenge. This is it!

About My Stash:
A few months ago, I decided to take a picture of my stash, hoping that the experience would have an inherent deterrent effect on my yarn purchasing. I got out all of my yarn and laid it out on my king-size mattress (ridiculous for a studio apartment, I know, but I got it for free.) When I began, I was trying to lay it out in a quasi-artistic fashion, but as the coverage grew more dense I finally just started throwing the skeins on the pile. I took the picture below and then put all the yarn away again. This entire process took seven hours.




There’s also a box of yarn that didn’t fit in the frame, and as I was putting away the yarn I found some more in random places around the apartment.
This picture was taken at the end of June, and I regret to say that the deterrent effect was minimal. My stash has grown even more since that time. I finally figured out just how much when I did my inventory last week: I had 51 miles of yarn in my apartment! I got rid of about 11,000 yards of this in a swap (meaning, I have some replacement yardage on the way!) and gave some away to Value Village, but as of right now I currently own 83,413.5 yards of yarn. My swap hasn’t arrived yet, either, so the final figure will be higher.
So, the stashbusting challenge officially begins right now. I have a feeling that it will take me through the end of next year, at least!

The Ground Rules:
1. The goal is to reduce my total yarn stash to approximately 10,000 yards. When I hit 10,000 yards I am allowed to buy yarn for new projects that don’t contain stash yarn, but I have to keep the total at or below 10,000 yards at all times. I am going to maintain my stash spreadsheet even after the challenge is officially over.
2. Yardage for WIPs is not taken off the total until the project is completed (including all finishing). If there are partial balls left over from a project, I don’t have to keep those in the total, but all full balls will of course be counted.
3. I will allow the following amounts – and ONLY these amounts—for purchase of supplies to finish a stash project. After some thought, I’ve decided that the allowances may be banked (because otherwise it may create an incentive to choose stash projects that require additional supplies). The “finishing allowances” are by type of project, and can only be used on a project that consists of at least 50% stash yarn—even if allowance is banked:
a. Scarf, gloves, hat, socks or similar small accessory: $15
b. Small-to-medium household items (like pillows, etc.): $15
c. Handbag or similar large accessory: $20
d. Pullover sweater or skirt: $30
e. Cardigan or jacket: $50
f. Blanket/afghan: $60
4. UFOs must have a ticker up on the sidebar at all times until the project is totally finished. My goal is to get myself down to 4-5 WIPs maximum before starting any new projects.
5. After finishing projects, I will post an accounting of the number of yards of stash yarn used and an itemized list of extra supplies purchased to complete the project, if applicable.
6. I am starting out with 15 UFOs on the sidebar (Good Lord!) and, because these projects are already in progress, I am allowing myself a total of $10 per project for finishing supplies for all of these items, which is bankable.
7. I am not setting a limit on purchase of books, but I am only allowed one new knitting/crochet book a month without penalty. If I want to buy more than one book in a month, I have to use banked finishing allowance—but I can use it 2 for 1 (i.e., $10 of banked finishing allowance can count as $20 book allowance).

Reward schedule:
I’m also setting up a schedule of rewards that I will allow myself to buy when I have used up specific amounts of stash yardage. Of course, since the idea is to not have yarn take up as much physical space as it does now, the rewards must not exceed 25% of the yardage I used up to get to the reward point. Also, the yardage is entered into my stash worksheet and fully counted as part of my yarn stash. All other rules will also be in full effect (i.e., if I already have five UFOs when I get the reward, I can’t start it until I finish at least one of the projects in progress).
Anyway, here are some pre-selected rewards and reward levels:
8,000 yards: Blanket Kit from Fleece Artist
7,000 yards: Sahara Blouse pattern from Stitch Diva and yarn to complete (possible materials: Yin and Yang yarn from SWTC)
7,000 yards: RYC Cashcotton DK to make Katherine Hepburn cardigan from Lace Style
6,000 yards: Lady of the Forest shawl kit from Fleece Artist
Naturally, I am deliberately making these first few rewards more stringent than the “25% of yardage used” guideline, both because I am treating the 25% rule as a maximum guideline and because, since this is the beginning of the challenge, I want to make sure I have to finish several projects before I allow myself to buy a new project’s worth of materials.
OK! I am ready to go. I have a complete inventory of all of my yarn and needles, all of my yarn actually has a place in my apartment now, and I have rules set down in black and white—not to mention the accountability factor; everyone knows that I am doing this, including yarn store employees. Speaking of which, I sincerely hope that none of my favorite LYSes go out of business due to this challenge but hey, I have to look out for number one for a change.
The challenge officially starts NOW!

Woo Hoo! I'm almost there!

My check-in on Ravelry today yielded this info:

You are #26311 on the list.
16146 people are ahead of you in line.
1876 people are behind you in line.
35% of the list has been invited so far.

Hmmmm. Does that mean that the 35% that have been invited are included in the 16,146 people ahead of me?