Are you an innie or an outie?

I am still working on my scarf for the Knitting Blooms March Madness Challenge. The scarf is about 22 inches long (unblocked) and I still have 60 grams of yarn left in ball so I am less than halfway through the yarn and I have until Friday night to finish it. I really would like to finish this KAL on time but I don't know if I will. I was hoping to spend a lot of time knitting on the scarf while I was on vacation but that didn't happen. I took my knitting with me but failed to knit even one stitch and I'm okay with that.



I think the feather and fan stitch was a good choice for this yarn. I haven't decided if I am going to do a hard block on the scarf to open the stitch up as much as possible or if I'm just going to let it dry naturally which will emphasize the ridges. I'm leaning toward the ridges. You can find all the scarf details on my Ravelry project page.

Now that I've talked a bit about the project, I'll get to the point of this post. When you wind your yarn into a center-pull cake, do you pull the yarn from the center (innie) or pull the yarn from the outside of the cake (outie). Normally, I pull from the center but for some reason I decided to pull from the outside when I started knitting on this project. Here's the thing...it doesn't feel like I am making any sort of progress when I look at the ball of yarn.



I started off with 108 grams and the ball is down to 60 grams but it just doesn't seem to be smaller. I know that if I put this ball next to a 100 gram ball it will look smaller but without a point of reference, it seems like I am knitting and knitting and knitting and the ball isn't getting any smaller. I had no idea how much I relied on visual cues to feel a sense of knitting accomplishment. I know the scarf is getting longer but unless I start using stitch markers to track my progress I won't be getting visual feedback every time I knit because it takes several knitting sessions before the scarfs looks longer.

However, there are some definite pluses to being an outie. I haven't had the yarn tangle at all which happens occasionally when I use the yarn from the middle. Also, when the project is finished, any leftover yarn is will still be in a nice yarn cake instead of being collapsed into a pile that has to be wound into a ball.

So, my fellow knitters, are you an innie or an outie? Do you have a definite opinion one way or the other? Shout it out in the comments.

No. Just NO!

I was all set to write a warm and fuzzy post about the adorable elderly gentleman who was at the grocery store this morning but first I must get a small rant out of the way. Here goes:

Disney is remaking the Miss Marple series (which would be fine) starring Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple (which is most definitely not fine). No, Disney. Bad Disney. Bad touch for my brain.

Now back to the adorable man at the grocery store! I stopped by to get some groceries on the way home from work and as I was getting ready to check out (all my items were on the belt but the cashier was still completing the previous transaction) I noticed a man who appeared to be in his 80s standing behind me in a business suit holding a frozen dinner. I told him to go in front of me since he just had one item and he protested but when I said that I didn't mind, he popped in front of me, smiled and said "Yes, mother." Then, he looked at my groceries and said "that's a nice cut of meat." I love old people.

In other news, I am still working on a scarf but in preparation for its completion, I'm searching for a scarf pattern that uses one skein of Colinette Jitterbug. My mom just made a pair of socks out of some Dusk Jitterbug and I loved the color so much, she gave me the extra skein that she had. So, if any knitters out there have pattern suggestions, please shout them out in the comments!

Lastly, I cooked. Again. This may become a habit. I made hash and it is delicious. There isn't really a recipe...just cut up "a nice cut of meat" (I used chuck roast), brown it, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. After a while slice a bunch of onions and toss in. Keep simmering away for about an hour and a half. Or longer, whatever. Then peel & slice some potatoes and throw those in. Bring back to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are done to your liking. Then eat (but maybe let it cool for a bit or you will burn your tongue...not that I did that...I would never ^_^).