Knitting: The Fast and the Furious

So, I finished the second market bag (the salmon and sage colored one) on Monday. It came out a lot better than the first one. Oddly enough, it's about the same size as the other one and, at the behest of Marsha, I made the handles a little longer too and I still have a bit of yarn left over. Why I ran out of yarn on the first one and not this one...well...who knows? Maybe one of the skeins was a few yards short. That happens.

Anyway, I will try to get a picture on here soon!

Now I have started what I like to call "the fast and furious scarf-knitting marathon of 2006." Let me explain. Every year at Christmas time, my good friend Julie hosts a holiday party at her house. She has a three-year-old boy named Gaetano. She invites a lot of people, mostly all female, mostly all with kids. Well, her sister-in-law has an eight-year-old daughter named Gianna. Then Julie invites our friend from grade school, Dana. Dana has THREE daughters, ages 9, 6, and 4, I believe. Names are: Kristen, Madison, and Alyssa? I think? I don't know. Whatever. All I know is every time I go to one of these get-togethers it makes me want to get on my knees and thank God for Margaret Sanger and Gregory Pincus....

The point is --- and I DO have a point --- that Christmas is for kids. And every year I end up buying these kids some random junk from Toys-R-Us, which they enjoy for all of about 4 minutes. Then they schlep it all back home and probably forget about the stuff until, say, Dana steps on one particularly pointy, plastic object sometime in February, causing her to exclaim, "Goddamn you, Gina, for buying them this stupid crap!"

So, this year, I am making everyone scarves. Oh yes. The benefit of this is three-fold. Gather and surmise:

1) I get to use up the boa, eyelash, and fun-fur yarn in my stash that, otherwise, I would probably never use for myself or any other adult. This makes room for MORE YARN. And any endeavor that leads to more yarn is ok by me.

2) The kids actually get something useful and each one will be different. I think their parents will appreciate this. There is no worry about sizing either and just maybe instead of cursing my ancestors in February, Dana would instead exclaim, "It's 14 degrees outside, thank God they have those rockin'-cool, hand-knit scarves that Gina made. Thank God for you, Gina. Thank God for you!" And what eight-year-old girl wouldn't want a funky, feathery, soft, purple, blue, and green scarf?

3) I don't have to spend any money. None --- well, none until I buy more (even nicer!) yarn to fill up the space vacated by the kiddie-stuff. But seriously, I have everything I need in my stash.

Now, will I be able to complete 5 scarves in about 5 weeks? I think so! They're kid-sized, so they don't need to be as wide or as long as adult scarves. And since I am using 2 strands of yarn: like a wool-type yarn with fun fur or eyelash, etc., I don't have to make any fancy stitches. The yarn does all the talking. Just garter stitch all the way, baby! And because I am using 2 strands, the scarves are being knit-up on big needles, too.

I just might have time to start cabling too! Maybe.