Stashbusters, etc

Yesterday was World Vegetarian Day, and it was my Fairshares pickup day, so I had planned out a rather elaborate vegetarian meal to share with you. I even made seitan from scratch for the first time. Then, I came home with my Fairshares share, to find that I had accidentally left the stove on and had almost burned the place down. Oops. I did burn a pot (irreversibly, I already tried scrubbing) and the house still smells like smoke, but otherwise everything else is fine. The food (red rice and seitan-mushroom-apple-chile stirfry with cilantro) in the end was very tasty, but I was too shaken to take any pictures or post. Boo.

I have knitted quite a bit, but little to show for it. My Knotty or Knice socks are coming along very slowly. I haven't calculated it, but I bet these contain more stitches than a worsted-weight top. There are cable crossings every row, and I'm doing both socks at once, so it is all going snail's pace. I am determined to finish these before casting on for another project though!

I still get quite a few messages from people wanting to bust their stashes, so here are a couple inspiring knitters. Mooncalf (Make do or Mend) has been trading yarn with people, which makes a lot of sense. She is a super-fast knitter, so I'd think she has a lot of odd balls left over. I still think that selling or giving away is really the easiest way to get rid of stash. Ravelry has made this very easy, since you can mark any yarn in your stash as "to sell or trade." I was able to get rid of the leftovers from my lacy dress and St James top, and help out two other knitters who needed the yarn. Woohoo! And while the partial skeins seem soooo long to knit up, they are actually very light in postage terms. Speaking of super-fast knitters, Karin (Knitting &) set a goal for knitting 10000 yards last month, and knit an obscene amount--check out the picture at the bottom.

More later, if I can tear myself away from the vice presidential debate coverage. I'm determined to keep politics out of here, so suffice it to say it's exciting to have something like this in St Louis!