The top secret plans for the yarn...bwahaha!

My yarn stash has magically expanded again. Five balls of leaf-green Patons Classic Merino followed me home Saturday night after a bead-hunting expedition with DS. (Side note for those of you who don't know me in the flesh, which is probably most of you: DS = dear sister; DB = dear brother. I know I have a pretty poor memory, but it seems like marriage, pregnancy, and
childbirth would be fairly difficult to forget.) DS took one look at the yarn and said, "Don't you already have a wall full of yarn?" Poor non-knitters just don't get it, do they? I should have asked her if she already had a jewelry box full of necklaces. But hey, it's for a specific project (Cable Down Raglan from the Spring IK), and it was on sale for $4 per ball! You can't beat that!

One of these days, I will actually sit down and figure out what to knit with each and every ball of yarn in my stash. Here goes a shot in the dark (I'm currently at work and can't see it, so that counts as dark, right?):
1. Mounds of TLC Amore: multiple-strand crocheted dog bed for my Corgi, who is officially getting too old to jump up on the bed. *sniff* Maybe one for the shedding machine pup as well.
2. Cream and pink Greek wool from gigantic sweaters: something felted. It's probably too itchy to wear next to skin.
3. Super-pretty blue heathered laceweight - I WILL KNIT A LACE SHAWL. (someday) Or socks - how many socks can I make from a size M sweater?
4. Yellow laceweight that's falling apart - I dunno. That's probably my least favorite at the moment, mainly due to its fallingapartness.
5. Navy blue worsted wool from a Hagrid-sized sweater - Tubey from Knitty.
6. Nearly-bulky black wool (also from a Hagrid-sized sweater - my, Molly Weasley has been busy, hasn't she?) - a vest.
7. MOUNTAINS of Homespun in Seaspray - a blanket of some kind. I've got to unravel the monstrosity I started a few years ago with stockinette blocks. Urgh.
8. Sock yarn! I have Plymouth Sockotta in a primary color stripe (faux Fair Isle would be fun!) and a purply mix and Lion Brand Magic Stripes in brown, regatta, and purple stripe. I'll have to check out the SKS book for ideas.
9. Light blue lambswool - It's not enough for a sweater that would be as long as I would like, so we'll have to figure out something else...maybe that Bonsai tunic from Spring IK.
10. Lavender sportweight/DK cashmere - I look horrid in lavender, as does DS (who doesn't like knitted garments anyways, so never mind). Maybe Mum would like a lace wrap...there's an idea.
11. Off-white wool - I've got to try dyeing some honest-to-goodness wool. I bet I could come up with some great color combinations! (WalMart's KoolAid knockoff is 10 cents per package instead of KoolAid's 20 cents, so I got some lemonade, cherry, and grape. We'll see...)
12. Carrot-colored (formerly radioactive yellow) WoolEase sportweight - that would make a nice pullover, since it's lightweight.

And when will I find time to make all of this? Hmm...that's a good question.

On the upside, I did get the heel flap done, the heel turned, and the gusset started on the second Sockotta sock. I was knitting away while the Sparkies were at store/game time, and when they came back, one boy asked what I was knitting! Bless you, M, for knowing what I was doing! One little girl said, "She's sewing somethin'!" That's okay, A dear, you couldn't have known. Then M said, "I'd like to learn to knit if someone would show me how." *thud* What lovely children I work with. (They really are sweet most of the time, as long as you keep the markers away from D. No, D, we do not put markers in our mouths, or anywhere else on our bodies, for that matter.)

I found out today that I made a 96% on my first grad school test! It really wasn't hard. (Actually, aside from 2 questions, it was the exact same test as the one they gave us to study.) I'm starting to think that full-time graduate-student-hood might not be quite as terrifying as I once thought.