26 posts tagged “yarn”
I went to the Purlescence sale yesterday. I was trying to stay away, but I was holding out hope that All Seasons Cotton would be on sale, so I could get some to make Manon. It wasn't, but I found some Maizy and Puffin that I liked, for socks and a baby blanket, respectively. Then I broke down and go the All Seasons Cotton too. I am accumulating sweater quantities of yarn. I need to get on the ball and start knitting sweaters faster.
I also wore my Tomato yesterday. I was going to wear it on Friday for HK, but Friday is preschool day with Stefan and I didn't really want paint and/or play dough or any of the other things the preschoolers were like to smear on it.
So while I was at Purlescecne, I picked Sandi and Nathania's brains about fit adjustments. Sandi measured my shoulders and helped me measure bust in the front versus the back, so I know how much more fabric I need. I noticed in wearing the Tomato that the shoulders are slightly too big and that the side "seam" where the shaping is gets pulled forwards and the sweater bags slightly in the back. I have a lot of adjusting to do! I think that Cookie was right recently when she pointed out that since I change patterns so much, maybe I should just start from scratch. I am going to get some knitwear design books out of the library and do that sometime soon, I think. I hope. You know, in my copious free time!
I seem to have a touch of startitis, so here's a shot of the Montego Bay Scarf that I started in BMFA Bambu. It's soft and lovely and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.
I guess I posted too soon about my Stitches haul! I went back today for a while and remembered that I wanted to get some gift yarn, enough dk weight organic cotton for a kid sweater for a friend. It's the same yarn that I bought myself one of yesterday. I love this color but have a feeling I couldn't pull it off, but my friend's daughter can.
(I have no idea why this photo isn't showing up.)
I got to go do knitting stuff for almost four hours this afternoon/evening! This may not sound like news to some of you, but it was pretty exciting for me. I went to some Stitches West events. First I went to the Ravelry meet-up, which was fun. I only managed to take one picture of people, of course. It's Lori, Rachel, Jeni and Kristi (and wine)
Then, I picked up my badge (thanks to Margit of Fiber Fiend for signing me up as a worker in her booth!) and went into the market preview. We (a group of BobaKnitters) stopped first at the Ravelry booth and bought Ravelry schwag! (Click over to Flickr to see what everything is.)
As you can see, that's not all I bought. I also got some Longmeadow yarn from WEBS. Now that I have it home I'm wondering if I should go back and get six or so more of the red to make the Auburn camp shirt. I'm not sure. I got the two linen colored ones thinking I'd make a tee and use that as an accent. We'll see. I got one hank of Blue Sky Skinny Dyed cotton yarn. I want to try it out. I also bought a log cabin pattern from Bella Knitting. I've been wanting to get that one for a while.
Ah, Stitches. I got all of my stamps in my Ravelry passport except for from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, because they were too busy to do stamps tonight. Foo. Speaking of the Ravelry Passport, it amused me that it so closely resembled the Dutch passport. (What can I say, I am easily amused.)
I'm planning on going back for a bit on Saturday, so that I can hang out more with Kristi. Yay, yarn, yay Kristi!
I had to go to JoAnn today to buy fabric for the textiles class I'm helping to teach at Niels' school. I always have to swing down the yarn aisle because I want to see if they are carrying the Lion Brand organic cotton yet. At least, that's what I tell myself. They weren't carrying it, but they did have the new Sugar 'n Cream self-striping yarn. I'm curious to see how it actually stripes up. I plan to make ball band dishcloths from both of the balls I got, perhaps together, perhaps not.
I took all of my stash out and tried to organize it today. How very humbling. Here I thought I had done better about acquiring yarn. Well, I probably have not been acquiring yarn but I'm not using it up very quickly either! There was quite a bit off stuff in there I had totally forgotten about. Yarns that need projects! Not to mention yarns that need loving homes. I photographed what needed photographing and put it all in Ravelry. My grand total is now 39661.5 yards, or 22.5 miles of yarn. That doesn't count all the partial balls I have hanging around, nor does it count a kilo and half of the lightweight softball cotton I got from Kristi, because I don't know the yardage on that yarn and I can't find that information online anywhere. So, the estimate is a bit short.
It may still be smaller than some other people's stashes, but it sure looks like a lot of yarn when it's spread all over the living room.
Erik was amazed. I was too, actually. I am going to continue my yarn diet. I would say it was a fast, but I have bought some yarn. I got two balls of Maizy to make that boy doll for Niels and three balls of Bamboozle which are in the Ravelry Stash if you're curious. I'm going to use them with the other Bamboozle I have to make myself a short-sleeved Ribbi-Pulli. I shouldn't go to the yarn store, clearly. All I wanted was a magazine! At least, if I use them I will also be using up 10 balls that were already in my stash! (Right?)
So Cookie has been bugging me recently to buy some Pakucho organic cotton yarn. She very sneakily asked me what I'd make with it and how much I'd need. Then she tells me that it will be arriving as a Christmas gift from her and Kristi! You guys are the best! I plan to make a Chocolate Tomato for myself from it. Sounds yummy, eh?
Anyway, I have at least three socks picked out that I want to make once the needles are available, as well as a jar full of sock yarn that needs some attention.
Someone on Ravelry posted a link to a yard to miles converter. I exported my stash page to Excel, totaled the yarns column, entered into that converter an learned that I have 12.2454 miles of yarn, or 12 miles and 432 yards of yarn. I thought that was a lot until I noticed that everyone else who had replied had more than me and one woman has 72 miles! Yikes!
In any case, I think I have hit a limit. That stash calculation isn't actually everything I have. There are things in my bins that I haven't put into Ravelry yet. Not a lot, but they are there. I know that I am way behind but I am going to declare that I can only knit from my stash for the rest of the year. When January rolls around I think I will allow myself a purchase or two and then reevaluate. I keep buying sweater quantities of yarn and not finishing the sweaters in question! Unacceptable. The stash is also spreading around the living room. Ideally I will be able to fit it somewhere in the office, once the grand reorganization is done, but for now it has to be in the living room and I would prefer it if it didn't take over.
We'll see if I can stick to my resolution. Wish me luck.
I started the Lotus Blossom tank from last summer's Interweave Knits last weekend. It actually started with me making an enormous mistake. I got out the hank of linen and thought, "well, since I can't use my ball winder to wind this I might as well not get the swift out either, I'll just wind it off the hank." I sat down on the couch, laid the hank in my lap and started. Yes, laid the hank in my lap. Yes, I'm an idiot. The result was what Anabel called a "yarn monster."
I am posting this on my blog for two reasons: 1) to warn anyone else not to do this and 2) so that you all will remind me not to do it again. This is the second time I made a mess like this. The first time was right after I started knitting, almost five years ago, and I didn't actually own a swift. This time, I have no excuse. The first time the yarn was wool and Erik ended up being the one to untangle it. The linen is much easier to untangle, I have to say. Lucky for me, Anabel is intrigued by puzzles like this and took it upon herself to finish most of the untangle for me at last week's BobaKnit. Thank goodness!
That done, I swatched, washed the swatch and cast on for Lotus Blossom. I thought I twisted my stitches, though, and was knitting a moebius when I wanted a tank.
It was highly entertaining. After all that I wasn't going to buy the Hempathy, even though I've been looking everywhere for it. My mother, however, pointed out that I had been looking for it, it was a great color and I didn't know if I'd find it again. My mother is an enabler! Ah well, at least I got a sweater's worth of some nice yarn out of it. Now I just need to figure out what to knit.
It occured to me a couple of days ago that Niels' birthday is swiftly approaching, so I cast on for the Greatest American Hero superhero cape from New Knits on the Block. I'm calling it Lightning Bolt Man because that is what Niels calls the Flash. (I know the Flash doesn't have a cape, I'm hoping Niels doesn't point that out when I give it to him, but he probably will.)
I gave in and went back to Purlescence for another ball of Panda Cotton in Baby Blues. I'm going to make those footies even though they take more than 1 ball of yarn. I'll have to try again with another ball to come up with a more yarn conservation minded pattern another time. While I was there, this hank of Sock Candy jumped into my hands. I had seen this lone hank sitting there when I was there a few days ago and I had been thinking about it ever since. It turns out that it wasn't lonely, there were three of them but you need two for a pair of full sized socks so I thought that this one needed rescue. Am I the only one who has thoughts like this? I suspect not. Anyway, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Something not sock related, I think, since my previous pair of Sock Candy socks haven't held up well to washing. (Has anyone else had that problem or am I doing something wrong in my washing process?)
