Precious Gem

My gorgeous niece Gemma, modeling the Baby Amanda hat, the Ruffled Legwarmers, and a basic cowl. 

Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Worsted

Color: Kool-Aid dyed with lime flavored mix

Not subtracting from the stash because I sent this off to Gemma before I weighed everything.

Chunky Monkey

I have some Lion Brand Thick and Quick in my stash, and for the life of me I can't remember why or when I bought it! Must have been for some craft project or stuffed animal I was attempting. I had almost a full skein of black, a full skein of a hideous yellow color, and scraps of off-white and a sort of moss green. I tried to make something useful from the yellow, green, and white, but failed. I may just toss it (and subtract it from my yarn weight!).

The black was ok, though, so I got on Ravelry and looked up some patterns using the weight, amount, etc., and found the perfect instant gratification project: A bulky moebius cowl. Now, I've been doing this knitting thing for a long time--more than 3/4 of my life. I thought I had seen it all. But this pattern uses a really cool technique for moebius knitting (for those of you that don't know, that's an infinity scarf that's twisted into a loop) that I had never, ever seen, but I'm totally entranced now! I watched the YouTube video over and over again and then came up with this:

And in case you're wondering, that's the Chloe Cardigan from Interweave Crochet that I made a few years ago.

I've been desperately fighting Second Sock Syndrome on the pair of Stitch Surfer socks I started, so I'm vowing here and now to get started on that second sock now. Onward!

Bulky Moebius Cowl: The Stats

Item Weight: 129 grams
Old Stash Weight: 12,627g
New Stash Weight: 12,498g

Weighing in

I looked at the big pile of yarn on the bed in the guest room and began wondering how much was actually there--sure, I can count the skeins, but there are half skeins, 3/4 skeins, full skeins, little bits and pieces, etc. Not easy to quantify neatly and cleanly, and I like my categorization of things to be neat and clean. So I decided to weigh it! That way, as I make my way through my stash projects, I can document how much weight my stash "loses" while on this "yarn diet." I dug out my food scale and big bowl (or a colander, since that's all I had clean!), and got to work. I put the colander on the scale, zeroed it out, and then added a bunch of yarn in batches.

Any guesses on how much it weighs? I was surprised, actually. I thought it would be more than it was. With that being said, here are the vital statistics:

12,627 grams = 12.627 kilograms = 27 pounds, 13.4 ounces

This is after accounting for all the projects I've already posted about. So, from here forward, I'll weigh any finished objects (FOs) and subtract that from the total, so I can see the progress. 

Malabrigo A-Go-Go

Who doesn't love a nice, soft skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted? A few years ago I bought 13 skeins in Emerald, which was being discontinued, so it was marked down (score!). And with 216 yards per skein, I squeezed a lot of projects out of that haul: a hat and scarf for my fashionista sister-in-law, a wedding present blanket for a friend, and another hat and scarf set for another friend. But I still had one and a half skeins left...what to do, what to do? How about the Amanda hat from Ravelry and the Scrunchable Cowl, also on Ravelry. 

I also found some bits and pieces of two other colors--I've had them for a few years and I don't have any labels, so I don't know exactly what colors they are. I cobbled these together: the 75 yard Malabrigo gloves and a hat I found on Rav, but I can't remember the name...oops. 

I used nearly every single yard of the Merino Worsted I had in my stash. I'm pretty pleased with the results! Both of them have been worn on walks or hikes, and they keep my ears warm and they're pretty, to boot. I'll miss you, Merino Worsted, but you live in on in some pretty kick-ass projects!

Where is this "Fair Isle" You Speak of?

Let's lay down some ground rules about this here challenge I've set up for myself: yes, I'm knitting from my stash. But I'm ok with using yarn that is gifted to me, either directly or through a gift card to one of my favorite stores or sites. Also, my mom has quite the stash, and she has generously offered it up to me if I want to pick through it for projects. I'm not proud. I'll stash-dive in someone else's stash. That brings me to today's post. My parents, in their infinite generosity, gave me a gift certificate to KnitPicks for Christmas, so I bought me some yarn.

They have a WONDERFUL library of independent designer patterns, so I bought the Joule Hat Pattern and got to work. Don't ask me what possessed me to give Fair Isle a try, but I absolutely loved it!

I'm a "thrower"--I knit in the English style, which means I hold the yarn in my right hand and wrap it around the needle to create my stitch. Two handed stranded knitting requires that you both throw and pick, that is, use the English and Continental methods, at the same time. I did it, and I loved it! I was a stranded knitting machine, kids! I started it last night, and finished it this afternoon. Where is this Fair Isle you speak of? As Liz Lemon would say, "I want to go to there!" A trip to Scandanavia is definitely on my bucket list...

The finished product:

Confession: I've been making a lot of hats lately. I live in the Sonoran Desert, for heaven's sake! What the heck am I doing making so many hats out of wool?? Well, it gets cold here at night in the winter, so I can use them to do my evening power walks (or my weekend grocery store trips when I'm wearing no makeup and haven't done my hair). But hats are great stash busters: they don't take a lot of yarn, relatively speaking, and they provide nearly-instant gratification. So there you go. Expect one more post on hats in the next week, and then I'm movin' on.

Warm Heads, Warm Hearts

My first stash-busting project of 2013: winter caps for my husband's uncles, E and M, in Massachusetts. These men are two of the warmest, most loving, and most talented people I've ever met. They wove the cloth they used to make my daughter's baptismal gown, and they embroidered it with her name and her baptism date. We'll be sending it back to them so they can do the same for our second daughter's baptism later this year. (And M is a fellow Notre Dame grad...go Irish!) A few years back, they asked me to make them some white skull caps to wear during the winter, and I used the Halfdome pattern from Knitty. Those hats got a lot of wear, and it was time for replacements, so I dug through my stash and found some KnitPicks Swish Worsted Bare and some Lion Brand Cashmere Merino. This was the result. I was a little worried that you could see where I switched from one yarn to the other, but I think it's rather seamless, don't you? I replaced the rolled brim with a 2x2 ribbed brim at the guys' request. I'm sending them off tomorrow! 

Great Beginnings

I'm a yarn-aholic. I love everything about the crafts of knitting and crocheting: the colors of the yarn wound into hanks, the feel of it as it slides through my fingers and onto my needles, the math involved in charting patterns and sizing garments, seeing how a blanket or a stuffed animal I made as a baby gift is loved over the years. I love teaching people to knit and crochet; I love watching their eyes light up when they finally understand the long-tail cast on or how a purl stitch differs from a knit stitch, or how to build height with double crochets. I love talking about yarn and how 100% cotton grows, or how silk makes a drapey fabric, or how alpaca always has such a subtle halo, or what a workhorse merino is.

After a challenging pregnancy, baby N2 joined her 6 year old sister N1 in November 2012. I decided to leave my job for a year to stay home with her. While I'm relishing the time I have with both my girls, not working means less disposable income for little treats like yarn. So I committed that I would knit only from my stash for all of 2013. Really, I'm going to do it. A real yarn diet! Then I thought I'd write it all down to remind myself what I can do with random string and a couple of sticks without spending any money!

I'm not necessarily an impulse yarn-buyer. I like to have a project in mind when I make a yarn purchase. However, I can't pass up a good sale--a trait I got from my mom, an epic bargain shopper. So my stash is pretty extensive. Not as extensive as others I know (and they know who they are), though...but I digress.

There are oddballs that I picked up at my local yarn shop (LYS) or online because I liked the colorway:

There are leftovers from other projects because I bought some extra "just in case" skeins.

There are skeins I inherited from other people's stashes because they couldn't come up with a project for them.

There are whole projects' worth of skeins I bought because they were discontinued or just marked down to bargain basement prices:

There are fine quality artisan yarns and craft-store acrylic:

Handspun from local fibers:

There's yarn I dyed myself with Kool-Aid:

Skeins with no ball bands so I have no idea what they are!

And every weight from cobweb lace to extra bulky:

Are you ready to see the whole stash? Are you sure? Well, here it is, in all it's merino-y, alpaca-y, cotton-y, acrylic-y, self-striping, variegated, semi-solid glory:

I have no idea if anyone is going to read this (besides my mom). I don't think I can ever write as well or as cleverly, nor be as good a photographer as my dear friend Andi. And I'm really bad at keeping up on other people's blogs out there in knitblog-land, but I'm going to try harder. I'm not a tech wiz, so this might look a little rough for a while. But I hope I can entertain and inspire someone along the way, even if it's only myself.

So, here goes. Wish me luck.