The top layer calls for two skeins of Rowan Kid Silk Haze (aka: crack silk haze) which is lovely and expensive. Sure, $30 isn’t too much to pay for a sweater… but the thought of dropping $14.95 on a single skein of yarn makes my toes curl.

I was e-mailing my friend Jen about it and she suggested that I knit something from my stash to make room for the crack silk. So I started thinking, “What IS in my stash, anyway?”

I’m proud to say, I think I have the smallest stash in the Pacific Northwest. Here goes:

4 skeins of Debbie Mumm Traditions yarn in “Chocoberry” – I purchased 10 skeins to make a blanket then realized I’d rather have a sweater from this yarn. I’m really close to making collar and button band on the sweater I chose… So there’ll be leftovers. I think I’ll trade it on Ravelry.

2 skeins of Knit Picks sock yarn in “Pebble” – I promise I’ll make socks out of this soon.

2 skeins of Knit Picks sock yard in “Meteor Twist” – I’m halfway through my first sock with this yarn. Its slow going since this is the 3^rd sock I’ve tried… I think this yarn is cursed.

1 skein of JoAnn’s “Licorice” – it’s so pretty! A twisty 100% wool yarn of pinks, purples, grays, and white. I wanted to make fiber trends felted clogs out of it, but was only ever able to find two skeins. Now, it’s discontinued. I made a hat for my friend Rachel out of one skein. I want to do something really, really special with it. So it stays in the stash.

1 skein of Lion Brand Microspun in Red. I made a pair of fingerless gloves out of it and this is the dog end. However, it could almost qualify as a skein by itself. There’s a lot left.

4 Skeins of Lion Brand Microspun in Black. I was going to make one of those bolero tops that were trendy a year or two ago. I think the fashion is over. I made the back, but I just don’t want to go on. I’m going to frog it. I’m thinking “Accidentally on Purpose” from SnB Nation or making up a pair of legwarmers. With my luck, I’ll have enough yardage for both.

Eleventy Bajillion (okay, maybe like 4-6) skeins of Knit Picks lace weight yarn in Peppermint. Its soo soft and pretty. I never had a project in mind, I just loved it. I’m thinking of using it instead of the crack silk for the top of the skater set. I’m thinking of dyeing it with kool aid or food coloring. There’s a pattern in the new IK with a nice lace scarf.

And then there’s various dog ends. Sock yarn that will turn into baby socks for the forthcoming nephew. Sugar and Cream cotton I’ve slowly been making into dish towels. Thaki Cotton leftover from the knitted Scott McCaughey I made. I’ve wanted to make another for ages. Leftover Cotton Glace from the skaters undershirt.

When you look at it that way, it seems like a lot. No more than 20 skeins… really. Guess I need to stash bust a little after all. Besides, when I’m done stash busting… I can get more! There are my geeky Harry Potter socks, the legwarmers from the spring IK, and the baby doll vest from the latest Knit Picks. Allright! No purchases till April!

Now, if we want to talk fabric stash... that's another story

The She Bee Gees – I really want to like this band, but can’t seem to do so. Maybe its their material, I tend to only know one song they do each set: Massachusetts. Maybe some of the other more well known songs are harder to sing. I’d really like to hear them try “To Love Somebody.” The three instrumentalists are quite good and their voices blend together well. However, the gal in the middle always sounds flat to the point of being distracting.

Casey Neil and the Norway Rats is a really fun band. It usually features Casey Neil on guitar, Little Sue on Guitar, Adam East on Bass, Jenny Conlee on keyboards, Lewi Longmire (portland’s answer to Kurt Bloch) on guitar and Ezra Holbrook on drums. Tonight, Jenny and Lewi were absent. I really like their song and would like to see them more often. They finished the set with a cover of “I knew the bride when she used to rock n roll.”

I’ll take this opportunity to admit that my knowledge of Nick Lowe is limited. Before Saturday night I knew about 6 songs, maybe.

The line up was great. Jim Sangster on guitar and keyboard, Graham Black on drums, John Ramberg on Guitar and switching to bass for a few songs, and someone on bass – I didn’t catch his name but I think he was in the Picketts. What did that leave for Scott to do? He played acoustic guitar on a few songs, but for the most part he was a frontman.

And what a frontman! He was jumping around and dancing. His drink rarely left his hand and with all the movement the stage was flooded by the end of the show. I think his microphone started cutting out toward the end of the show, so he knocked it over and stole Jim’s. Jim’s didn’t work either. The soundman figured out that the two center monitors were going out and re-arranged the other monitors. Scott stole John’s microphone and wound up singing “What’s so funny bout Peace Love and Understanding” through two microphones.

It was a really great show, too bad they only play every ten years or so.

Dear guy I work with who is pretty much a jerk, but I still think is funny... 

I don't know if you've ever witnessed this phenonmnon: its roughtly 10 am, and I'm sitting on the stairs to the loading dock. I've got my iPod on and I'm playing with my gameboy. I am on a break. Break time is quiet time. The exclusion of all external stimuli means that I'd really appreciate being left along. I don't want to talk about the jogging moms, or your kids, or that once upon a time you had the high score in double dragon... I want to be alone. 

until you figure that out, I'm going to be hiding on my breaks
love, 
Jane

I'm having a pretty lame week. I thought something that might cheer me up would be a trip to the thrift store to look for more BSC books. I found an awesome one a few weeks back that had TWO WHOLE SHELVES devoted to BSC related books. So I got around 9 books last time. 

The question is, how often do you visit the thrift store? Is once a month too often? Am I just setting myself up for lots and lots of copies of little sister books but nothing I haven't read before?

Inquiring minds want to know