A bit of fibre-craft progress FINALLY

One of the advantages of selling my soul on ebay is that it does give me mental space and motivate me to finish things. This is the advantage of Less Stuff. I seem very much to be in clearing-things-out mode at the moment. I think it is solstice related. Anyway, whatever it is I am taking advantage of it, because normally I am not good at finishing things, indeed I can leave them for years, languishing tragically at the bottom of boxes in dark cupboards (in fact one day I may get them out and photograph them so you can see the kinds of things I mean and possibly offer helpful and not sarcastic suggestions about what I should do with them.)

I finished the Granny Square That Grew And Grew, and here it is, sitting on the back of our armchair like an ironic antimacassar, ready for the temperature to drop below 16 degrees when I will huddle beneath it and complain about our draughty house:

The small blue cushion in the front is just two granny squares crocheted together over a bright cushion insert (which I made.) The white cushion is from Ikea, but I'm not sure the cover goes with the granny square theme: I might make a new patchwork cover for it.

And I wove in the ends on a neckerchief:

which is made from a nice Rowan cashmere yarn and feels really soft. I'm also making progress on the pair of socks I'm making. I've made good progress so far: I've discovered I really am as bad at Kitchener stitch as I thought I was! Self knowledge, though, is a wonderful thing.

Of course the flip side of all this organisation is that I'm now enthusiastically planning my next projects. I'm trying to do this in a way which doesn't involve spending money – especially as I'm considering buying a beginner spinning kit (this is Silver's fault, who has been posting a lot of lovely fluffy tempting things recently) – but I feel strangely drawn to this pattern in this yarn (the top one). Please could someone stop me? I never wear pink. I'm actually sitting here thinking whether I own anything pink at all, and I'm drawing a blank. So I'm not sure where this sudden desire is coming from. I could either end up with something delightful in a colour I ought to wear more often or a big pink daft thing I'll never wear. Which would it be? I fear I know the answer. (But I still want it. I never learn.)

And then I thought I might knit this with some leftovers. Who will wear it though? I look ludicrous enough in hats at the best of times without wearing one that looks like a dead fish (although I will be making a live fish, not a dead one. Not that I'm wet.) I'm thinking perhaps I could give it to my brother, who is very tolerant of things he is given, but I have a pattern for a felted punk hat I wanted to give him as well* and perhaps two novelty unwearable hats might be a bit much even for a tolerant person. Perhaps I will go and browse Ravelry and consider a little longer. And perhaps I will ask someone to keep hold of my credit card until I've come up with a sensible pattern. Ha ha, though! I've memorised the number!

(Dan, would you like a fish hat though? It would be a talking point, although I appreciate you have a large hairy husky-shaped talking point already.)

* Look how much it costs to buy it, $130! I'm going to stop feeling like a cheapskate when I knit things for people rather than buy them something sensible.