the blue blog archives: stashbuster

I'm so proud of myself for having made so many of my recent projects with stash yarn. I'd had the yarn for my secret project (all finished and to be revealed this winter!) for over a year. The yarn for the pop sweater almost exactly a year. The leftover yarn for the foxy beret for two years. And the felted tweed for the weasley sweaters was purchased in January. I'm goooood.

Too good, in fact. I blame my recent success in using up stash for some of my hesitation to buy more yarn at Rhinebeck. Another repercussion: I can't leave the house without spending several minutes trying to decide which hat to bring with me - foxy beret? one of the aura lace caps? a wool hat? what about the boys? - that's right, too many accessories! My recent interest in accessories was inspired by my desire to deal with my ever growing stash and leftover skeins from old projects. I have hats and scarves aplenty now and still can't help but see the bag of project remnants as the makings of more accessories. To this end, I bought the new book Scarf Style. The scarves are fabulous and the ideas really inspirational. I'm not even really a scarf person. But I've got to get rid of this stash! My favorite and a definite must-knit is the super funky sleeved scarf/shrug by Teva Durham. Gotta dig through the stash and see what I've got that I can make it out of and then find some 12" circs somewhere. Anyone ever use those crazy little things before?

But first I need to finish those mitts. Got the second pair of fingerless mitts for me done last week at the playground. I knit these a bit looser than the first pair (gauge swatch, what's that?) and really like the way they came out.

Other stash-busting accessories on the fall/winter to-do list:
bear paws mitts - second pair still in the works
another foxy beret - this one in some stashed felted tweed
a purse or two - Cascade 220 still burning a hole in the stash basket
berets for the boys - must knit old Classic Elite Waterspun into cute hats
candy cane and cashmere scarves for ma - she picked out the yarn
many many socks - 4, possibly 6, pairs before Xmas!

posted by alison at 10:33 am | in accessorize me

Comments

Alison - Congrats! You should treat yourself to one new yarn when you completed one of your next projects (your making the rest of us look bad).

Leslie

Posted by: leslie at November 7, 2004 10:59 AM

You're making me want to knit some of those mitts!

I hear you on the knitting from the stash deal. I was feeling so proud of myself because my stash has diminished that I went off and bought more yarn. [It's like someone who pays off credit using a loan, I know.]

Posted by: Becky at November 7, 2004 11:16 AM

Alison, I used US5 12" circs to knit a teeny weeny baby hat in the round. They're Addi Turbos and I bought them from Yarn Market. The needleheads are pretty short, so it took me a little time to get used to where I needed to be holding them, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It sure beat using the magic loop or DPNs, no question.

Posted by: katie at November 7, 2004 12:06 PM

hey lady- I know what you mean, not enought yarn for a sweater, and how many pumpkins hats can I stand making with leftover orange! Have you considered a Scrappy Sweater? Pick a favorite pattern and stripe It, or color block it, whatever, It's fun and uses up a ton of leftovers.

Posted by: Julia at November 7, 2004 12:41 PM

what's your favorite sock pattern?

i love your blog and your knitting!

Posted by: heather at November 7, 2004 2:14 PM

Those 12" needles make my hands cramp. A woman I met at knitting camp makes socks with them all the time and has no problems. Maybe she has smaller hands.
The store where I work keeps a lot of 12" Addis in stock. Let me know if you have trouble finding them.

Posted by: Jessica at November 7, 2004 3:05 PM

12" needles, ouch! I think the ones that make my hans cramp are only 16". so I don't even want to think about 12". And I can't believe how well you have been doing knitting through your stash it's fantastic!

Posted by: jo at November 7, 2004 3:37 PM

i just made a neckwarmer that was a similar diameter. i used 2 circs instead of 1. i don't even like using 16" circs - they really cramp my hands - so the thought of a 12" one made me run right to my 2 circs :)

Posted by: jody at November 7, 2004 4:28 PM

That's quite a project list to finish before Christmas--you're pretty ambitious!

The mitts turned out nice, and I'm curious as to what the Bear Paw mitts will look like.

Posted by: Kim at November 8, 2004 8:12 AM