Knitting Storage

I have a lot of yarn. And a million knitting needles, circulars, double-points...all in various sizes and lengths and parts. I also have been cursed blessed with an amazing affection for yarn in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Now, HOW will I store it all, so I can easily find it and also so it looks neat and tidy?

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you...my tips and tricks for storing knitting supplies. And yarn.

Step One: Buy a bigger house I mean, invest in cheep storage! The littlest things can be used to help organize your needles and you might not even know it! I found this round ice-maker thing at Goodwill for 99 cents. It holds my double pointed knitting needles perfectly! I also plan on taping and writing the sizes of my needles on the side (or maybe the top?) for even easier eyeballing.

Step Two: Use something you already have! My circular needles always get tangled. And then I have to search through every one looking for the size I want! So, I put all my hat needles through this sizer. I just leave them there. Now it is super, super easy to find the one I'm looking for. I only have one longer circular at the moment, so I'm not worried about that yet.

Step Three: Convince husband you need entire room to store yarn. I mean, pick up a hand-me-down that used to hold children's toys to store yarn. I have finished projects in the top slot, and things I'm currently working on next to that. The rest is yarn divided by weight and substance. It works!

Step Four: Makeup bag? Who needs that? YARN BAG! I don't wear makeup anymore, so all my containers are free to hold yarn projects and miscellaneous items. I use one in specific to hold all my cable needles, stitch markers, and other yarn paraphernalia. It's easy to pick up and take with me when I'm headed out but still want to bring a project along.

Step Five: If all else fails, make your own! A long time ago when I first started knitting, I made this needle case to hold my straight knitting needles. I hardly use them anymore (always knitting in the round) but it still works!

How do you organize your hobbies? Let me know, I'd love some tips!

Here today, gnome tomorrow

The wonderful, silly, loving and amazing Delirious Rhapsody let me host her gnome over Christmas! What is "host" a gnome? Well, she kidnapped a gnome, packaged him up, and mailed him to me!

He arrived looking rather cute. I let him hang out on my bookshelf for awhile and watch all the shenanigans that my husband, friends, and family participate in. I even played a prank by hiding him in my fridge with the hopes of scaring my husband. You see, my husband has a heart of steal, and no matter what I do (hiding behind doors, making spooky noises...) he is never scared. Where I am frightened by bugs. And irregular noises.

Unfortunately, all this caused was a nonchalant comment about '"why is there a gnome in the fridge, dear, and where is my dinner?" Why, exactly? Well, after a lovely dinner of steak and potatoes, the unthinkable happened. The gnome and my husband became buddies! Something about unfair treatment and such from wives. I guess the gnome has a shadowy past, as well. Anyway, they started taking walks together and drinking together...

Naturally I couldn't handle it, so I put the gnome in the oven as punishment.

To get out of solitary confinement, he agreed to take a selfie with me on the last day of his imprisonment if I would hurry and mail him off to his next host. This was taken right before he bit me on the ear.

I mailed him the next day. I hope it takes months for him to arrive.

No wonder you mailed him off, Deanna--he sure does get into mischief, doesn't he?!

Duty Calls

This is part of my novel. You can start at the beginning here.  
(If you noticed, I switch to first person here. I will (eventually) go back and edit all the other parts to be first person so it matches. I think it flows better. I was having a hard time with the other tense. So, warning, it changes suddenly!)  
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So that was it.

Riol was a knight now.

A knight. And I'd never seen him again.

He'd go off. And have adventures. While I'd get married, and have children.

I was almost mad at him, if he didn't look so scared and small next to our Captain of the Guard.

source

As I craned my neck to see, the priest bent over him, muttering some benediction, Father looming in the background, a permanent scowl affixed to his face, with Gepilios to his right. I hadn't known Father would be here. Good thing there were all these maids in the back with me, or he'd have spotted me for sure.

As another member of the royal guard knighted Riol, I tried to tune out the chatter around me. One of the cleaning ladies to my left wouldn't stop talking, something about oh-how-nice-a-respite-was and didn't-the-young-lord-look-so-fine. I attempted to shush her with a look, but apparently pauper-clad Miera's glares were not as terrifying as Princess Miera's icy looks.

I wished she would just shut it. Couldn't she see I was trying to listen? It was bad enough I had to stay in the very back, with the other servants and a few skinny slaves that were standing in the corridor behind us. So far away from the actual ceremony. But also far away from Father, I reasoned.

Riol stood, and turned. The Knight's cape billowed about him, and I was amused to see it waft on the floor, trailing just behind his boots. By the looks of it he hadn't grown an inch since I'd seen him last. I, on the other hand, had shot up four inches in the last year, making me one of the tallest ladies in the palace, much to the chagrin of my manners tutor. Oh, well.

The priest was talking again. I leaned forward, trying to catch his words.

"And holy thou are consecrated...by these scriptures...a knight for all time. Do you swear to uphold all that are writ within?"

My brother nodded.

"Then, go, henceforth, and do thy duty!"

The priest waved to the fanfare, but suddenly Riol reached out, his hand catching the priest's arm. My father's eye's narrowed.

He said something, to the priest. Drat! I couldn't hear a thing from here! I stood quickly, working my way out of the gaggle of maids, and began walk forward, keeping my shoulder in direct contact with the left wall. Everyone was fixated on Riol, and my father was now speaking, his tone low and clipped, his back rigid. Whatever my brother said had certainly made him angry.

"It's my right." Riol again. I slipped quickly into the pew to the right, not even looking at who I was sitting next to.

"This is preposterous!" Father. He was getting worked up.

"Now, now, Ressga, calm down. It's part of all the knight ceremonies. Riol just wants his fair chance, same as all the others." Gepilios. His eyes suddenly met mine and narrowed. I shrank back against my pew, feeling my cheeks grow warm. Caught. Oh, well. He'd give me an ear-full later, but I knew he'd never tell.

Riol nodded, and muttered something, still too low for me to hear. The priest looked at my father, and straightened his robe. My father's face had turned a shade of purple I hadn't seen since my elder sister had tried to refuse a suitor. He seamed about to say something, but then promptly turned, and strode back to the ornamental trellis, Gepilios serenely following. Before Gepilios turned he looked at me and flashed a smile, his eyes twinkling. What had I just seen?

"Ahem," The Priest continued, "Sir knight, as benefits your station, have you any last words or sacred vows to utter?"

My brother nodded. All in one breath, as if he was afraid someone would stop him mid sentence, he spoke. "I ask for parley from knighthood for the total sum of one year, as outlined in the knight's royal code to pursue the ancient water ring once crafted by the gnome Ryniomlsu."

Swiftly, my brother  bowed his head, and knelt before the priest, who consecrated Riol's curly black head with the holy water, sealing his words and his fate.

And then all chaos broke loose.


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