Friday, January 30, 2015

Progress

I'm making progress for my goal of using 10 skeins of yarn before MDSW and have finished one Hearts in Owlantis sock.




I know a lot of knitters who are cold sheeping and not purchasing any yarn until they have knitted down some of their stash.  While I am trying to stick to the goal of 10 skeins, I'm not restricting myself from purchasing more yarn if I see something that I fall in love with.  Like this skein from Knitted Wit that fell into my Etsy cart:


It's pretty close to a Tardis blue and is even prettier in person - it has a lot more depth of color and is quite stunning.  What can I say?  I had to have it!

If you are cold sheeping and trying to get your stash down to a reasonable amount of yarn, a good way to do it is to go through your patterns and prioritize them.  Look and see which patterns you really want to knit and then pick the yarn to go with the pattern (if you bought the yarn specifically for the pattern already, then you are one step ahead of the game!).  Put both the yarn and pattern in a project or zip lock bag so that it's ready to go when you decide to cast on.  Give yourself a reward every time you finish a project that included stashing down.  It can be something small and simple like a special candy bar or a nice glass of wine.

If you don't have a pattern in mind for some of the yarn you have, check out Ravelry's search feature.  Enter the type of yarn you have, then check out the suggested patterns for it and completed projects.  There are some great ideas to be had there!  If you have some left over fingering weight yarns, Stash Bash and Camberwell are both great projects to use up those left overs:




Friday, January 23, 2015

Goals for 2015

At the beginning of each year I like to set goals for things that I would like to try to accomplish throughout the year.  It's easy to get discouraged and break New Years Resolutions because it seems that people tend to go for broke and have resolutions that are hard to stick to or achieve.  The goals (I know, it's just a different spin on resolutions, but tomato tomahto) I set are ones that I believe that I can reach and are never anything crazy like giving up chocolate.  One goal that Andy and I set together and has lasted for the past seven years is to recycle.  Recycling isn't mandatory where we live and we had been sporadic about it, after deciding that it was something that we absolutely needed to do for the benefit of the planet it was an easy goal to achieve. 

After decrapping organizing my studio for the umpteenth time, I realized that I needed to set up some knitting goals for this year - especially since we are planning on going to to major fiber festivals.  I'm going to attempt to use up ten, yes ten, skeins of yarn before MDSW which begins on May 2.  This brings me to my second knitting goal, which is to take some knitting time for myself and work on a few just for fun projects during the year.  The top shelf in the yarntertainment center is all fingering and sock weight yarns.  I'll be knitting with as many of them as I can!  I've arranged them by color this go around.  I had them by brand before and I'm not sure which way I like better. The middle shelf is worsted, dk, and lace.  The bottom shelf has needles, jewelry making tools and supplies, and miscellaneous items like my lazy kate and a couple of bobbins.




Because I have a rather extensive fiber stash I've attached a goal to that as well.  My plan is to spin up half of the fiber stash by the end of the year. I've started spinning a bump of baby alpaca from a fleece that I bought at a local farm about three years ago.  It's the softest fiber in my stash and I'm really enjoying spinning it.  I ordered two bobbins from Akerworks and they are due to be delivered today.  I've heard great things about them and thought they would be worth trying.  This is a standard bobbin that goes with Kromski wheels.  


Last week on Facebook someone posted a picture of circle weaving and I thought I would give it a try.   It's fun and easy!  I used my coiled handspun to make this little hot pad.


I spun this yarn quite a few years ago and never could figure out what to do with it.  This little mat was the perfect project for it.  Heart Song Studio has a great tutorial on how to set up the warp and use a nifty knitter for weaving in the round.


I started a pair of Wentletrap's last week and have one finished already.  The yarn is Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Fire on the Mountain colorway.  When they are done, that will be two skeins down (one for Wentletrap and one for the hot pad).  Only eight more to go. 


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Sugarplum

I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted, it just couldn't be helped.  I've been a bit under the weather since just after Thanksgiving.  I finally went to the doctor and he gave me on an inhaler and steroids.  the inhaler works great and I'm hardly coughing anymore.  I had a fantastic allergic reaction to the steroids on the first dose, which means I won't take those again!

I'm feeling a bit perkier and wanted to share my latest design release with you. It's called Sugarplum and is a super fun knit.  I knit it the sample up in Countess Ablaze Viscount of Spark in the Fake Your Death colorway.  The yarn was divine to knit with and the colorway is amazing. This cute infinity scarf can be doubled and worn as a cowl on the super cold days of winter.  When spring comes along, wear it with your favorite top as a cute little accessory.

Sugarplum is available on Ravelry for just $2.99 until January 20th.  If you are located in the EU, Sugarplum is available on Love Knitting for the same price later this week.  I apologize for any inconvenience, it takes approximately 24 hours for patterns from Ravelry to make their way over to Love Knitting.