I’ve been trying to reduce my consumption this year. I’m donating clothes and household items often. I’m trying to get things out of my home. I’ve embraced the Make, Thrift, Mend lifstyle. And yet….

I think I’ve developed a trifting problem. I love a good handbag, and now that I’m diaper bag free I’ve been changing them up often. I’m also dealing with a bit of depression over being diagnosed as lactose intolerant and fructose intolerant, so my defenses were low this morning when I stumbled across this Kate Spade ice cream and popsicle handbag. It will be perfect next summer, and it doesn’t have a top zipper so I can throw knitting projects in willy nilly. The irony is I’ll be carrying around a bag covered in treats I can’t eat.

After finding the cute bag I found a pair of metallic heels that I love. I normally wear Chucks in the winter and Chacos in the summer. On date nights I’ll class up my footwear with Danskos or cowboy boots. I blame years of watching Sex and the City, because when I found this pair of Christian Louboutin shoes in my size I couldn’t walk away. They are comfortable and fancy, and something I would never buy brand new. I might need to make a new dress to go with them.

Even though I splurged at the consignment shop, I spent less than I would have had I wandered around Target in a funk. I apologize in advance for making you look at my new shoes the next time I see you. I will be probably be wearing them.

Quizzes are having a moment in the knitting blog community, and I’m loving it. This one is from Alissa. If you are a knitter join in, either with a post or a comment.

1. Share an image of a knitting pattern you love but would probably never knit.

2. What is your favorite knitting technique? Cables

3. Yarn: wool, alpaca, cotton, linen, hemp, silk, or acrylic? Wool.

4. Needles: wood, bamboo, metal, plastic, or casein? Wood or Metal, it depends on the project and pointiness needed.

5. Would you go on a knitting vacation? If yes, which country’s yarn shops would you like to visit? YES! I would love to go to Shetland Wool Week or Iceland.

6. Lace, fingering, sport, DK, worsted, or bulky? (If you had to choose just one) Fingering.

7. Do you eat while knitting? If so, what? Sometimes I’ll have nuts or pretzels, but usually I am not eating while knitting. Unless it’s a crafting weekend, then I’m eating party mix and dark chocolate salted caramels.

8. Speckled yarn: yes or no? Sure. In moderation.

9. Favorite knitting slang word? Yarn Barf

10. Can you do anything else while knitting? Watching or listening to something doesn’t count. I can hold a conversation, but that’s about it.

11. Favorite knitting pattern designer? Andrea Mowry.

12. Favorite yarn brand? Manos.

13. Intentional felting: yes or no? Yes.

14. Who taught you to knit? A really mean lady at a shop. I learned how to knit so she would stop yelling at me. My sister refuses to knit because it brings back memories of the mean lady.

15. What’s your next knit? Dreyma Mitts or kids mittens (if you have a kid mitten suggestion please share it with me).

I’m off to either cast on mittens or work on one of my plethora of WIPs. I hope you are having a great day.

I’ve decided to start casting on with wild abandon. I still have three pairs of mittens I will be casting on and finishing before Christmas. I’m highly motivated to get all of the knitting done.

I’ve knit 3 or 4 rows on my cardigan this week. I really like the cardigan, and I think I’ll wear it a lot. I just don’t feel like knitting it right now (hence, casting on all the projects). My goal is to have this sweater done by Christmas.

My socks are moving right along. I’m on the gusset of the second sock. I hope to finish these this week. Once I cast them off I’ll cast on a pair of socks for John. I probably won’t work on them until after Christmas, but it is always a good idea to have socks on the needles.

I started a Double Rib Toddler Hat for Mary-Claire’s baby. I love this hat because it actually stayed on my kids heads. I do not love the join on these needles, so I will probably be putting off working on this.

I’m having a hard time not working on the Sockhead Cowl that I started yesterday. I’m surprised by how purple it is, I was really expecting more blue. When I finish my socks this will probably become my grab and go project.

I’m also working in my Darwinian Evolution cowl. This is really fun to knit because you see the pattern evolve. It is like knitting a self striping sock. I should keep this in my car as emergency knitting, but I will probably keep it in my knitting basket because I really like looking at it.

I hope to finish at least one project this week. I also hope to get two pairs of mittens cast on. I have so much knitting I want to do, but first I must finish project bags for the Weekender finishers.

I hope you have a great week and finish all of your WIPs.

I finished The Gift baby cardigan while I was away on my crafting weekend. I think I should have blocked it more aggressively, but I was feeling lazy. I’m heading to Cedar Falls next week, and my mom has already agreed to find buttons in her stash and sew them on for me.

I’ve used finishing this sweater as an excuse to cast on all sorts of other projects. I’ve decided to just have a dozen WIPs so I can knit whatever I feel like in the moment.

I have several projects on the needles. I have even more I need to get started on. And yet…..

I have one skein of Yarn Geek in the Dr. Nancy Grace Roman colorway. She is known as Mother of the Hubble and the yarn looks a lot like the Milky Way in the hank, and more purple in the cake. It is sparkly and delightful.

I had been planning on making a hitchhiker, which my friend assures me is OK to make with one normal skein instead of the 1 1/2 skein used in the pattern. But now I’m thinking a sockhead cowl would be a better use for it.

What do you think I should make? What do you like to make when you have a stunning skein of fingering weight yarn? I usually make socks, but I think I should branch out.

On Friday afternoon my sister Kathleen, her best friend Amy, and I headed 3 hours south to Kansas City for a weekend of crafting. We brought a lot of stuff.

We got a lot of crafting done on Friday night, partying hard until almost 10:30. The next day we were well rested and ready to knit/crochet/make cards/scrapbook. We were also ready to be more social.

Kirsten (BFF who lives in St. Louis) arrived with Luke. He is such a good baby she was able to get some knitting done.

Bonny from BonnyKnits met up with us too. We had never met in real life. If you are like me, when you are reading blogs you think “oh gosh, I could totally be friends with this person in real life.” I was really nervous to meet her, because what if she was not at all fun and it was really awkward? But the good news is she is a total delight and now we are friends in real life. Now I want to meet more of my blogging buddies, because meeting Bonny was so great.

Bonny took Kirsten and I to her favorite yarn store. If she ever invites you to Yarn Social do not go unless you want to buy all of the things. It is the best yarn store I’ve ever been to in my decade of perusing yarn shops. It is filled with indie dyers and small labels. I wanted to buy it all. If I win the lottery I’m going back to Yarn Social and spending $1000.

I ended up buying a skein of hue loco yarn in the colorway High Five. I’ll make beautiful yarn with it someday. I also picked up two stickers. They are already on my laptop. I bought a rainbow yarn ball sheep pin and a #wip pin (because I’m a WIP).

This morning we squeezed in a bit more crafting before hitting the road. We will be having a crafting weekend again. Maybe you will want to head to the Midwest to join us….if we don’t get together in the winter.