LIFO or FIFO?

I was staring at my yarn stash the other night, which all barely fits within a suitcase, and wondering if I go through it in a last-in-first-out (LIFO) or first-in-first-out (FIFO) style. (Yes, these are computer science terms, but they come to me naturally because I've been developing software for more years than I can count). Anyway, I think I tend to use the yarn up in a LIFO fashion, which is okay, but not that great. It means that I have yarn at the bottom of the stash rotting away and for which I might not be able to get extra skeins if I need to. I guess the more recent purchases always seem more fresh and interesting, for some unknown reason.

On the knitting front, I'm doing the armhole bands on the vine lace vest, so it should be done in a couple of days.

Casting on, and stash enhancement

I cast on for the Vine Lace Vest a week and half ago. It's going pretty quickly. The lace pattern is easy, but I kept making stupid mistakes for a while. I think I've got the hang of it now. I don't normally like lace garments, but this one does not look too frou-frou. It's also a perfect way to use up most of my 6 balls of Cascade pima/silk.
I recently suffered an aging event (a.k.a. a birthday) -- ugh! It coincided with my LYS having a great sale, so I gifted myself with some fresh yarn.

Stimulating the economy

I was having shopping withdrawal symptoms because I hadn't been to the mall in a while. I went there today to check out the summer sales, which were quite good, but I had no intention of buying shoes. Somehow, I ended up with four, count 'em, four new pairs. They were such bargains that I just couldn't resist. Also, they were interesting and different from any pairs I already own. (That ornamentation on the top of the black pair looks black but is actually shiny silver-colored metal). Now I just need to find storage space.

Ruched shell is done!

I love this shell! At first glance, it looks plain, but the details are amazing. The pattern is the ruched shell from interweave knits winter 2007. The yarn is silky tweed from Elsebeth Lavold. The close up shot shows the color pretty accurately.
Customizations: I shortened the length everywhere except in the waistband height because I thought the pattern would be too long for my relatively petite (a.k.a. short) height and the armholes would have been too big also. I used a bamboo stitch on the waistband because I wanted some texture contrast since I was using the same yarn.
I used 5 rows for the folded hem instead of 3 and I used the trim color. Finally, I used only half the front gathering below the waistband because I was concerned about too much fullness over my stomach.

The body was a quick knit. The twisted I-cord trim took a little time, but I found it strangely satisfying to work on.

Ruched Shell is almost done

The ruched shell from Winter 2007 Interweave Knits is at the almost-finished-object stage (AFO). I'm working on the armhole trim as we speak. I just LOVE the details on this little sweater. That twisted i-cord trim is a thing of beauty.

Music, knitting, and stash enhancement

All in all, I had a pretty good weekend. We traveled to Lake Tahoe, and while there, attended the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss concert, which was most excellent.

I managed to do some knitting on the drive, and even during the first half of the concert when it was still light outdoors. I worked on the kilt skirt from Knit 2 Together. I had decided some time ago not to do the kilt flap thingie, so I wanted some kind of texture for the main body of the skirt. All stockinette would have been too boring, and it shows off way too many flaws, both in my knitting and on my body. After searching through my Super Stitches Knitting book, I found a texture stitch that adds thickness and stretchiness while pulling in the skirt for a good fit. I'm happy with that.

And finally, en route to Lake Tahoe, I stopped in at the Sierra Knitting Company and did a little stash enhancement with these 8 balls of Sundance/Classic Elite Yarns.