Stash Outing and Going Cold Sheep!

Do you have a yarn stash?  Most knitter's do and I am no exception.  The problem with stashes is they tend to get out of hand.  Mine did.  Yes, yes it did.  Perhaps you remember this post where I sold some of my stash off to make amends (so to speak) to my over indulgence?  Those skeins were good ones to sell and I'm glad I did.  They were all impulse purchases bought mostly for colors that I just loved, but don't go with anything I own or look good on me etc. (you get the idea.)  What yarn I saved all have a workable future project in the planning stages. 

So here goes.  My yarn stash in their containers.  It's a lot:  2 full sized Rubbermaid tubs, 1 half sized tub, 2 large baskets and 1 IKEA tub that fits into my IKEA Trofast storage unit.  The amount surprised even me as all these tubs and baskets are spread throughout our house .  I couldn't quite stomach piling all the yarn together so what follows is a series of pictures grouped by projects. 

 

This is my sock yarn stash.  Enough to make 11 pairs of socks.  I average 2-4 a year so that's at least 3 years worth of sock yarn.  Can you tell I like blues? 

 

Here are my two work in progress or WIP socks.  I hate knitting with that blue yarn as it gets so twisty and tangled.  And even though I am so close to finishing I started on the rainbow pair instead.  But, alas second sock syndrome set in and I still have just one sock.   

Dan's younger brother Bill requested warm wool socks for a Christmas present this year and I did knit him a pair using the above yarn.  The pattern took 1 and a half skeins so I purchased another skein to make a pair for Dan who also get very cold in the winter (it's their Philipino blood I think.)  Hopefully I will have no left over yarn this time around.

 

Here is some lovely Madelinetosh DK yarn whose future will be as thick socks for my mother.  I already knit her a hat and cowl in the wine and a cowl in the pink.  There will be enough of the pink left over to knit this hat which I will give to my friend Amy for her charity.  Her charity "Team Yarn" donate hats and shawls for chemotherapy patients at various facilities in and around the Twin Cities Metro Area.  If you would like to donate a hat or yarn to Amy you can find her information here.

 

I am making the same hat as I mention above and it with the rest of this yarn is earmarked for Amy's charity.  It's a lovely soft merino wool from Artyarns.  

Beautiful blues no?  These skeins of Cascade Paints were supposed to be a Wallaby Sweater for my son Sam, but then he made the declaration that he wanted no more hand knits from me.  Children can cut you to the quick sometimes.  Instead of fighting it and spending all the time knitting him something he doesn't want I decided to knit shawls from this, again for Amy's Charity.  I choose this pattern.  The first shawl blocked out beautifully so I am excited to make a second one and use up this yarn!

These many skeins of superwash merino wool are also destined for hats for chemo patients.  It's just so soft, warm and easy care so a no brainer on what to do with them.

 

Next up is a Shetland wool scrappy vest I am knitting for my husband Dan.  Most of the yarn is left over from a vest I made for him this past Christmas (of which I have no photos as of yet.)  The pattern called for steeking the armholes and v neck which will be new to me.  Maybe that's why I've stalled out on this project?

A cabled vest WIP for Dan.  You can find the pattern here.  The merino yarn is limited in amount (I purchased it a long time ago before I knew to save labels) and should be enough to finish, but I am nervous about it so I have yet to find out.  Besides, the cables take me forever.

 

This lot of Jamieson's Shetland yarn is for a lovely Argyle patterned vest, again for Dan.  Here is the pattern.

I have no pattern in mind as of yet for this heathered gray yarn, but there is enough for a man's vest.  Guess who for?  Can you tell he doesn't like sleeves on his sweaters?  

So, with two in progress vests and two planned vests I have enough yarn to cover Dans' birthday and Christmas gifts for the next 2 years.

Now, on to sweaters for me.  This is also Jamieson's Shetland yarn but this time in a DK weight.  I barely started into Elizabeth Zimmerman's Fair Isle Yoked Sweater which I believe I will make into a cardigan.  We'll see when it comes time for steeking how I feel.

 

This orange yarn is gorgeous!  It's Ella Rae Extra Fine Heathers which was being discontinued at WEBS.   I purchased it on a tip from the Yarn Harlot and I'm glad I did.  I'm knitting Cassis by Baby Cocktails which I have knit before, but this time I'm knitting it with long sleeves.  Short sleeves are cute, but don't keep me warm enough in the winter here in Minnesota.

 

Yet another WIP for me.  Can you tell I like to start projects a lot!  This will be the famous Color Affection Shawl knit with fingering weight yarn.  I think it's going to be stunning, but it takes some thinking to remember where I am in the pattern.  I don't always have enough uninterrupted thinking time so here it sits unfinished.

Sorry for this fuzzy photo.  The light was getting pretty dim when I took it late in the late afternoon.  It's Rowan's Felted Tweed and I planned on making this tunic pattern, but I'm unsure now do to the lack of sleeves. 

 

Here is a redo where the Gap Cowl  turns into this scarf.  It's knit on chunky needles so it should be quick, but it's boring to knit. Hence, it sits waiting for a good movie to knit through.

 

Last up for me is a hat and mitten set which is almost done.  the only problem is I don't like the hat (too loose of weave) and I wish that the mittens were lined.  I'm guessing I will start from scratch on this project.  

Any suggestions?

Two small and four large knitting projects just for me.  I knit about 1 - 2 sweaters for myself a year (although some get frogged as I'm picky) so I have at least 2 years of knitting here too.

 

Next up is my mother Jean.  I knit her a sweater for the first time last summer as all of her sweaters decided to up and die at the same time. I knit it out of Jamieson's Shetland as I wanted it to last forever and I'm Scots and have a yarn bias (there I've said it and now you know.)  I am going to try and knit her another Shetland sweater this year using this Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern.

Here is the leftover yarn from the Blathin Sweater I knit her last year and some 100% angora yarn I spun myself.  The idea is to make angora lined mittens as angora is super warm and the Shetland wool is super durable.  I'm going to try and copy the flower pattern from the sweater too so she'll be matchy matchy which she likes a lot (hmm we must be related.)

I knit Dan a buttoned down tweedy professor like vest out of this Knit Picks yarn and here is what was left over.  I plan to knit mom this beret styled hat from it.

All in all one big project and four little projects (don't forget about the Madelinetosh socks) for mom.  I'm guessing this will get me a little bit over a year as she has 3 holidays where I give her gifts (add in Monther's Day to the usual two.) and I just like making little somethings for my mom 

(she gushes and who doesn't love that?)

 

For the house I just have a couple of projects.  This 10 Stitch Afghan by Frankie Brown has been sitting for a while and gets knit on when I'm cold because I can cover my lap with it as I knit.  It's pretty close to the finish line though with only 2 new skeins to go.

 

I think this project is super cute.  I bought the alpaca sport weight yarn a year and a half ago intending to knit these coasters for a friend, but I had trouble with the yarn.  I knit hers from some thick cotton yarn I had on hand instead and completed them easily.  Now that I found this yarn again I don't know what my problem with it even was.  They do take forever being double knit, but are so pleasing when finished!   

I will make 6 coasters and 3 small trivets from this pile.

Now, we get into the un-dyed yarn.  Yes, you heard me right un-dyed yarn.  As if I needed more steps in the knitting process.  My plan was to plant dye the yarn myself to sell in my Etsy shop Simply Playing.  I hoped to take over dyeing the yarn I use for my knitted toys instead of purchasing it from the fabulous Judy of Mamajude.  Well, let's just say there is quite a learning curve to plant dyeing so that probably won't happen.  I might just sell this bunch, but I'm still on the fence.

Here is a large lot of indigo dyed yarn.  I did it myself.  It was fun, intense and sadly still not over as it all the yarn needs to be rinsed more to get the residual indigo out.  I am knitting a felted yoga bag out of the bulky yarn and hope that the felting process will wash out the loose indigo dye so it doesn't mark up my yoga mat like it does to my hands while knitting.  If I can get the yarn to stop turning my hands blue I will probably give some skeins to friends and knit some into chemo hats.  None of the yarn is good enough to sell.  

Learning curve.

 This batch of yarn was dyed with Black Walnuts  (dyeing with them is a breeze) and one skein was dyed with Annatto seeds (which was ok, but I wasn't wild about the results.)  My guess is the worsted browns will become teddy bears for my shop and the sock yarn I might just knit into socks for my mom and me.

Well, that's the end of my stash and WIPs and if you made it this far into this post congratulations to you!  You must like me or be strangely pulled in to see how much fit into those tubs.  What I'm hoping to do next is check in with all you lovely people about once a month to see what if any progress is being made into emptying those bins and baskets.  I will also update you on how many days I have gone going "Cold Sheep".  If you have not heard the expression fear not I didn't know it either until I read it on another blog of a lovely lady who lives across the pond in England.  It's similar to going off drugs/alcohol or whatever your addiction is "Cold Turkey", but this is about not buying yarn, which comes from sheep, which is why we say "Cold Sheep".  My current day total of going Cold Sheep is a mere 36 days, but I'm hoping to stretch it to at least 1 year if not 2 or 3. 

Next up will be my fiber stash because sadly there is more obsession with wool than you can shake a stick at in my life.

Joining in with Tami for WIP Wednesday.

Crowns, Crowns and More Crowns

The other day I decided to drag out my Rubbermaid tub of all my knitted toys for my Etsy shop Simply Playing and take an inventory.  Well, I am low on just about everything I normally carry and completely out on a handful of toys too.  So, I yesterday day was deemed knitted crown day as our homeschool class out at Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista was canceled due to icy roads.  Sam and I stayed in our jammies all day with me knitting while Sam bounced on his trampoline (and all the beds), played Minecraft, learned about Pixelmon (a Pokemon mod for Minecraft) and chatted incessantly about what Pokemon character he wanted to use in the new game when dad got it up and running.  It was a fun day.  I finished six crowns with just the finishing left on the purple one you see above.  I still have five to make today for a complete inventory, but we'll have to see what today brings.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Simple Things

Dishcloths are one of the simplest things you can knit (especially with this pattern) and yet as satisfying as all get out.  Lagging behind on a big project like a sweater or blanket?  Take the day off and knit some dishcloths.  They finish fast and you can put them to immediate use or give to a friend who might be having a less than wonderful day.  I mean everyone uses dishcloths - everyone.  So, that's what I'm up to today knitting cheery bright orange dishcloths from some Blue Sky Alpacas cotton yarn while reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's new book The Amazing Thing About the Way it Goes on my nook app on my ipad.  Laughter and dishcloths simple things are good things.

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

From Beginning to End - A Hat and Mitten Story

 

I thought I'd show you a picture story of taking fiber to yarn to finished knitted project today.  The beginning starts with some luscious fiber I purchased from Jakira Farms on Etsy.  The vibrant orange/red roving is a blend of Alpaca, Merino Wool and Silk and the soft tan roving is Alpaca mixed with Romney Wool.  I spun singles of each on my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel and plied them together; which is my way of stretching the more expensive dyed fiber to more yardage.  I can't find my note where I wrote down my yardage, but I made enough DK weighted yarn to knit a Rikke Hat by Sarah Young, a pair of Classic DK Mittens in Six Sizes by Joan Janes with enough left over for a small project I'll show you in another post.

The exciting accident the occurred was that this yarn matched a scarf I purchased in Italy about 10 years ago.  I never wear the scarf as had no hat or mittens to match, and I am that kind of matchy matchy person that needs a coordinated set to feel comfortable, but I loved the scarf too much to give it away.  So now it has been pulled from the closet in the bedroom where it languished for a decade to the front closet cubbies where we keep our hats, scarves, mittens and gloves.  I couldn't be happier with the results of this hat and mitten set and getting to finally use a much loved scarf

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On. 

Fresh Off the Wheel - Earthy Rainbow Yarn

 

 

Rainbows are my favorite colorway to spin into yarn (maybe you've noticed?), so when I saw this roving in Friends in Fiber's shop I just had to purchase it.  It's a lovely BFL wool blended with a small amount of silk.  Blue Face Leicester is an easy wool to spin as it drafts so effortlessly; good for us beginners.  It spun up into a DK weighted yarn with about 215 yards total.  When I purchased the roving it was definitely an impulse buy (have I mentioned how deary this winter has been?) so I had no plans for what pattern to knit.  I use cowls more than any other knitted item I make so I decided to go with my favorite cowl pattern by Antonia Shankland "Honey Cowl."  This will be my 4th one to date( I did at least give one to my mother.)

Since, I'm joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along (late again, sigh) I thought I would show you my current book: Pam Lariccha's Free to Learn: five ideas for a joyful unschooling life.  We've been on quite a roller coaster ride this first year of homeschooling my son Sam jumping from curriculum to curriculum.  With each switch we'd start out strong then run into a wall were cooperation wasn't happening.  Then I started hearing words I dreaded like "I hate math" and "I don't want to read".  Ack!  Slam on the brakes!  We weren't sure where to go to next until we ran into Sandra Dodd's Unschooling website.  She talks a lot about how learning really happens everywhere and going with your child's interest will teach them what they need to know for their life.  So, we've backed off and are "deschooling" right now while Dan and I read, read, and read about this new to us philosophy.

What to Do With That Leftover Yarn

After making my Zuzu's Petals cowl I had some leftover green yarn.  I really hate leftovers.  My favorite thing is when a knitting project uses absolutely ALL the yarn (o.k. so there are always some little trimmings, but I'm talking all useable yarn.)  Not only was this bright green yarn leftover, but it was some of my handspun yarn too!  What to do?  

Well, we have a "Nature Table" in our house like those used in Waldorf School classrooms to designate the change in seasons.  It's on the top of our little studio piano which belonged to my grandparents who purchased it in 1936.  The piano is the one my dad learned to play on, me and my brother learned to play on and now my son Sam is learning to play on it too.  Usually there is a playsilk laid on top with some wooden figures, nature items that pertain to the season like driftwood, stones, crystals, leaves, flowers etc., craft projects and a seasonal postcard.  I thought maybe I could knit some trees to add to the winter collection.  

After searching on Ravelry for a while and not finding what I envisioned, I found this pattern of gnomes made out of a wine cork.  I thought I could just make the hat portion, knitting it longer, and voila you have the trees I made above. The tree tops are stuffed with wool and simply slipped them over the wine corks (on the smallest tree I cut the cork in half first.) They measure a scant 3 - 5 inches tall and took me all of a hour or so to knit.  What do you think?  I was really pleased with how they turned out and they add a little color to our mostly white winter display.  And color at this time of year in Minnesota is a valuable commodity let me tell you.  What do you do with your leftover yarn?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Copycat Cowl Part 2

 

 

Well, here's the cowl blocked and on me (please excuse the qualities of the "selfies" I'm new to taking them and obviously need some more practice.)   What do you think?  I love how the colors turned out, the lace and the edging.  My only knitting mod was to repeat the last two rows with the exception of increasing on the last row if that makes any sense.  This allowed me to include the final color change of the lighter spring green along the edge.  If I had one wish about this cowl it would be that I read the pattern's yarn choice before I started and used yarn with some silk content to achieve more drape.  But, alas I did not.  Now I wonder it if is a bit too "baby bib" like as I wear it today.  Any thoughts?

Joining in with Nicole today for Keep Calm Craft On.

Copycat Cowl

I was inspired to spin this yarn by The Yarn Harlot's post "One for you, one for me?" on this past January 21st.  She spun this beautiful gradient yarn that shifted from purple to pink to a greenish gold.  Those are not my colors, but the long color change, instead of my usual self striping, was so intriguing.  She knit the pattern Zuzu's Petals, a cowl that gives the impression of a draped lace shawl, with a few mods to use up her large skein of fingering yarn.  

Searching for a gradient roving of my own led me to Friends of Fiber's shop on Etsy.  There I found this beautiful BFL combed wool top in blues, teals and greens which are very much my colors.  It was delivered on Saturday early afternoon and by dinner time it became the skein you see above.  Same as Stephanie McPhee, I hate to wait until the next day for my singles to relax to ply my yarn.  Instead, I just jumped in and finished.  I am so thrilled with the results which amounted to 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn.  It' now had a bath and is currently drying on the back of my spinning chair so I can admire it.  And let me tell you I'm trying ever so hard to be patient and not wind it into a ball until tomorrow morning.  But you can bet  will be winding it as so as I wake up and will cast on while sipping my morning cup of tea.    

Joining in (late) with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Pastel Rainbow Dreams

 

Winter is long here in Minnesota and I am just craving color like my black lab Easy craves raw hide bones.  I turn to fiber to find the color I desperately need at times like these so fresh off the wheel this week is more rainbows of the pastel variety.  I thought a photo progression would be fun: fiber, single ply on the bobbin, double ply on the bobbin, finished product close up, wound and finally skeined.  The rainbow fiber was special ordered through Judy of Mamajude on Etsy and is a mix of domestic sheep's wool that has been naturally dyed with plants.  The gray ply is some heavenly fiber I purchased at last year's Yarnover event hosted by the Minnesota Knitters' Guild of baby lama.  It was so soft and drafted with such ease that if it wasn't for the price I would spin it ALL the time.  Lama is a weighty fiber with a lovely drape giving the rather plain jane sheep's wool a little more character.  That said, it took twice as many ounces as the rainbow fiber to make the skein which turned out to be a whopping 6.3 ounces/180 grams at 216 yards/197 meters of Worsted to Aran weight. All in all a rather expensive hank of yarn, but oh isn't it beautiful?  It's listed for sale in my etsy shop, but I must admit I'm tempted to keep it for myself to just look and touch when I need a fix.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Rainbow Jewelry Kits are Back in Stock!

Yes, Rainbow Jewelry Kits are back n stock at Simply Playing on Etsy!  I dragged my feet for a while as the beads are a bit of an investment, all coming in packs of hundred, but you've been asking for them so I made the plunge.  The all natural new wooden beads are of a much higher quality and are made right here in the USA.  I also upgraded the hemp twine to a much softer, flexible 3 ply hemp twine made in Romania and added 2 more yards for a total of 6 yards per kit.  The plant dyed felt pieces are in the same lovely colors as before with the exclusion of lavender which was hard to keep consistent and often came out looking much too blue.  This DIY kit makes a great gift and with all the options for coloring your beads it can keep your child occupied for a long, long time!  Enjoy!

Rainbows on a Dreary Winter Day

Winter can start to get you down for many reasons, but it's really the lack of color that gets to me.  So, I turned to my spinning wheel this weekend and spun out this self striping rainbow yarn.  The rainbow ply is from plant dyed domestic wool that I purchased through Mamajude on Etsy and the oatmeal ply is from some left over Shetland wool I purchased locally.  It turned out to be a healthy 230 yard skein in a lightweight DK thickness.  I was thinking of selling it just as a skein, but I wanted to knit those colors and absorb their beauty while watching the simple magic as one colored changed into another.  I settled on knitting a very simple garter stitch bordered doll sized blanket and I very pleased with the result.  It is now for sale in my Etsy Shop Simply Playing and it's twin is currently on my needles.  I tried spinning another yarn on my wheel this morning, but it wasn't quite cutting it like this one so I simply stopped.  I guess you can never get enough of rainbows.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Yarn Along - Homeschool Reading and Cold Weather Wear

 

I seem to start too many blog posts with "Well, it's been a while since I've written..." I just don't seem to be able to push through and post when life gets busy.  And living by all of my family as I do, life gets super busy around Christmas time.  We are now into the lull and deep freeze of January here in Minnesota a great time for reading and knitting as far as I'm concerned.  January is also my month "off" from knitting for my Etsy shop Simply Playing.  So, I am knitting things for myself after all the gift knitting of December.  A new hat and mittens seemed the perfect project with the ultra cold temps we've had here as of late.  I used some bulky Icelandic Yarn from Lopi called Alafosslopi in teal heather.  It is a bit scratchy but very hard wearing which is a good quality when knitting a pair of mittens.  I used the pattern Spruce Tree Mittens.  It was very easy to follow and was knit at a dense gauge for the yarn I used making the fabric nice and thick and warm.  For the hat (please excuse the pic as it is my first "selfie") I picked this pattern modifying it only slightly by jumping up two needle sizes after the ribbing to make it more slouchy. 

As for my current book,  I am reading Leadership Education - The Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel DeMille.  It's about the phases of learning in the Thomas Jefferson Leadership model of education.  A good read, but I'm not totally sold on the theory.  Coming from a Waldorf beginning, which focuses on educating the whole child, head, heart, hands as they say, it comes across as too 'head" for my kinesthetic learning son.  I think there are very valuable elements to the philosophy which we will integrate into Sams' homeschooling, especially reading aloud classic literature, but it will be just that an "element" and not a "foundation" for his schooling.  Do any of you have thoughts on TJed or are using it with your children?

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.