Stash

Presenting...my stash. I dragged everything out and took this picture and I thought "I don't really have THAT much." When I started adding it all up, I changed my opinion.

My stash includes, but is not limited to:

Enough yarn for 12 pairs of socks, not counting the two on the needles now that need to be finished. And then need a mate. It's all fabulous yarn, though. I'm particularly excited about the Red Rocks hand-dyed yarn and FlatFeet yarn that I got on clearance, once upon a time.

A One Pound skein of Caron yarn.

Habu Textiles Stainless Steel #A-148. I might actually need to buy another yarn to go with this one before knitting it. It's thread thin and is paired with another yarn for the Kusha Kusha scarf. Actually, another Habu yarn is called for in the Kusha Kusha pattern, but I see that others have used the A-148. I'm going to do more research, but I'm definitely hoping to make that scarf. As a side note, look at what this woman did with it. Crazy!

13 skeins of Berroco Softwist. I inherited this yarn from my friend Melissa when she weeded her stash. I remember her saying that it would be good to make scarves/hats/headbands for holiday gifts, but with so many skeins, I kinda want to make something substantial.

Three things. One, my friend Diane made a great point--I am not buying more yarn, but I could trade yarn. So I'm totally open to that possibility. Two, I really do need pattern suggestions, so suggest away! Three, do I need to knit up my scraps as well?

Weak, So Weak

I want to buy yarn. Already. Not just any yarn, I want some wool to make one of two (or both) projects in my mental queue. The first is this fabulous bag and the second is this adorable set of Christmas trees. I have the patterns for both and the yarn for neither.

I definitely want the Christmas trees for myself. In fact, I kinda feel like I need them. My decorations are growing each year, but not by much. I think this would be a perfect addition to our collection. I have a week or so off from work around Christmas and I was thinking they would be a great mindless knit...but I'm really not supposed to buy any yarn. And I'm trying to stick with it.

The purse, the purse I don't even know if I want. I mean, I like it a lot, but I'm not sure if I would use it. But I would like to knit it. If a complete stranger bought the yarn necessary, I would knit it for them. Well, maybe not a stranger. But a friend.

I just need for someone to tell me not to buy the yarn. I need to be strong. Please. Help. Me.

Red Cent Cowl

In May, while shopping for my souvenir sock yarn in Philadelphia, I went a little crazy. Just a little. I visited two different shops and there were so many unique yarns that I just kept buying. I didn't stop at one skein of sock yarn, I bought four. At Loop I bought a hand-dyed yarn by small dyer, Black Bunny. The color is Red Cent and it's so fabulous that I had real misgivings about making socks that would just be on my feet. A co-worker was recently knitting a great cowl with a similar weight to my Black Bunny, so I cast on with it immediately.

One afternoon NCSLA workshop and a few conference calls later...

stitches up-close:















the full cowl:

Cozies and Clutches: Post-Felt

In the past I've felted a few rounds of cozies, three christmas stockings and a messenger bag. I would say that I'm far from perfecting my methods, but before this last batch I thought I was a lot closer to perfection than is true. I've read tips about checking the pieces throughout the felting process to ensure that over-felting does not occur, but I kinda thought that was silly. Or maybe I just thought that my washing machine wasn't intense enough to cause over-felting. I was wrong.

I'm pretty environmentally responsible. We reuse more than we don't, we recycle more than we trash. But water, water is my hot button topic. I HATE to waste water, I HATE it. So when I have things to felt, I try to save them up to do all at once to minimize the waste. And even then, I cut my usual 4-5 minute shower down to about 2 minutes as an extra gesture of conservation.

While environmentally responsible, it probably wasn't the best thing for my pieces. I checked the cozies after the first round of felting and they definitely needed more time. The mistake I made was not checking them during the second round. They shrank too much and the insides of them even started to attach to each other. I've fixed them all up (photo below) but I wish they were taller.

The clutches...I was totally freelancing the patterns and that wasn't the best idea either. The yarn was bulky and that worked a little differently than regular worsted. I think the flaps are a little short, but I'm going to work with them and see if the finished product is close to what I had in mind.

my cozie army...















all the clutches (the bottom one is more like a wallet or eyeglasses case)...




















the black clutch up close...

Crimson Pride

I grew up in a household that recognized college football as the single most important entity known to the world. And the University of Alabama was the most important piece within that entity. So with that in mind, coupled with the fact that the U of A is now my Alma Mater, I'm a pretty hardcore fan. That's why, when I found out that Serendipity Needleworks in Tuscaloosa, AL was having Lorna's Laces custom dyed in lots called "Crimson Pride", I knew I had to have some. Well, I knew I had to have some more. My friend Melissa gave me my first skein and I made a hat. I was so thrilled that I called and ordered two more skeins for a scarf. Then, on my next visit to Tuscaloosa, I bought two skeins in sock weight. The projects are both on the needles and have been stalled for a bit, but in honor of today's Iron Bowl, I thought they should both be featured. And probably finished. Soon.

both projects...



















a close-up of the scarf, knitted in the Easy Drop Stitch pattern...















the sock. an incredibly boring pattern, which is why it is stalled...















ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Happy Hatsgiving!

So many reasons to be thankful...not just today, but everyday. I have a wonderful husband, fantastic family and family-in-law, fabulous friends and the most phenomenal brown dog that any girl could ask for.

Today I'm particularly thankful for our wonderful friends, Hadley and Diane, who are hosting us for Thanksgiving. Diane saw me making a Japanese Chulla out of Noro Iro yarn a few months ago and she loved it. This is a pattern I got for free at Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia and I have absolutely fallen in love with it. Whenever I see Iro on sale somewhere, I buy some because I never get tired of making this hat. I had two more skeins left in my stash and they only take about four hours each, so I knocked those out this week.

I was trying to decide who to give the first one to and my husband asked if he could have it. Note: he has never asked me to make him anything and has never expressed an interest in anything knitted, so I was happy to give it to him. The second was specifically made for Diane. I know she's probably spending twice as much time cooking our feast as I spent on the hat, so it's just a small "thank you" for her hospitality and willingness to let Jose and I disrupt her family meal.

(l to r) jose, me, diane













me and jose :)

Stalled Wrap, Stalled No More!

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been knitting a wrap for my MiL out of Colinette Giotto and the project was stalled because of a completely bogus skein. I emailed the shop where I bought the yarn - Yarn Paradise in Asheville, NC - and they had another skein in the mail to me immediately. I was able to complete the wrap and get it in the mail to my MiL. BIG thanks to Yarn Paradise!! I'm pretty happy with the end result...































Yarn: Colinette Giotto in Mint Chocolate
Pattern: Stolen Moments

Cozies and Clutches: Pre-Felt

In an attempt to jump-start my stash knit-a-thon, I started working on wool that I had bought with the intent of felting.

First up: two skeins of multi-colored yarn from Michael's bought to knit can cozies from Pints and Purls. I made a slew of them last year and set them out for a party with a "use one, take one" sign and there were none left! We're having a Christmas party and a New Year's party this year, so I thought it would be a great time to get those done!

Second up: several skeins of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes. I didn't have anything in particular in mind, so I decided to knit some clutches. I wasn't using patterns, so we'll see how those come out.

Photos (all pre-felt):

the clutches...













cozy pile...
















brown and green cozy...



















pink and brown cozy...

Social Knitting...with Knitters!

I previously declared myself a social knitter, but I never knit with other knitters. I usually knit with my non-knitting friends while having happy hour, watching football or at the movies. My non-knitting friends are always very impressed with what I'm doing and very complimentary. I think they are sincere, but they also may not know if something looks bad, being non-knitters and all. So I'm totally safe.

A friend of a (non-knitting) friend just suggested a Meetup.com knitting group that meets in Raleigh. I've been invited to groups in Durham and Chapel Hill, but that's just too far. Now, now I have something right here at home. So I signed up. I hope I like it. I think that a group could keep me motivated to keep knitting my stash even when I am down to the most boring of yarns.

My first meet up is next Wednesday, so I'll see soon enough if I fit in with the real knitters :)

The Circle of [Yarn] Life

You may remember that this summer I took a yarn-dyeing class at the North Carolina Fiberfest. I dyed two skeins and so far I've only knit one...and actually, I have a good bit left, so I will eventually make something else (totally open to pattern suggestions here).

This is very basic cowl pattern, another gem from the Pints and Purls book that I love so much.

Check it out...

The yarn in question...















The stitches up close...















And an unimpressive photo of the entire cowl...

Finished Project Four: Messenger Bag

I'm a multitasker. I love to watch TV and knit, I love to knit in meetings, I love to knit while hanging out with friends. I'm a multitasker who loves to knit. The problem with this is that I try to do projects that are too complicated for multitasking and I end up coming home and ripping it all out. Then I saw a book called Pints and Purls: Portable Projects for the Social Knitter and it hit me: that's what I am. I'm a social knitter!

The book is truly fabulous. It has simple patterns, felted projects, funky-fun projects and a few more serious patterns thrown in. The funny schtick to the book is a rating for each pattern--in drinks. They show you on a scale of 1-4 about how many drinks you can consume and still work on the project. Very clever. In my case, I translate the drinks to mouths. How much can I talk while knitting this project? I target the 4 bottle projects mostly.

The first one that I started was this messenger bag that I HAD TO HAVE. I ordered the yarn from KnitPicks and it came in under $20. The pattern served me well and I made the bag over many potlucks, happy hours, conference calls and board meetings. But then it came time to stitch the pieces together for felting. In fear, I stuffed the pieces in a bag and put them away. Inspired by this challenge of finishing projects and knitting my stash, I brought out the pieces, stitched them together and voila!

The messenger bag, open...



















The messenger bag, closed...



















Knit in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, Claret Heather.