Cold Sheep and Stash Update - April

The end of April is upon us making it time for a Cold Sheep and Stash update!  If you read this post you know what I'm talking about and if not well, going "Cold Sheep" is a phrase for not buying yarn, but using up your stash of yarn instead.  I thought I would do a monthly update as to how I'm doing with my goal of "shopping" in my stash and today's the day.  My day total of going Cold Sheep is now up to 77 days!  Yay!  

Now, onto what skeins of yarn I have used up.  The sock yarn turned out to be a boon for my desire to knit Spring weight shawls and I used 2 skeins making Dragonfly Wings and Miss Winkle.  I am currently using a third sock skein with a skein of my indigo dyed sock yarn to make the shawl Pendulum.  Then I got a bee it my bonnet over the rest of the indigo dyed yarn and started on my first Christmas gifts for 2014!  Yes, you heard me right Christmas gifts!  I choose the Grrlfriend Market Bag, which just about uses up a full skein of my worsted weight merino yarn, as my friend gift for this year.  I'm making them in pairs using my brown walnut dyed yarn with the indigo/myrobalan teal.  Thus far I have two completed and 4 more to go (well, 5 really as I want one for me too.)  So, that's what's been knit - 4 skeins of yarn and 2 in process.  

I'm very pleased that this project has turned out to be such fun.  I was really worried I would feel deprived, but so far that hasn't been the case.  Knitting now is more like a challenging puzzle of matching my ideas and pattern wants to yarn I already have.  Who knew knitting could get even better?

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

For Kicks and Giggles

Using up every scrap of yarn after I finish a project is a goal of mine.  You've seen what I do with the smallish felt-able bits here and the itty bitty bits here, but what do I do with the 1/2 a skein plus bits?  Well, it depends on the yarn, what I need (or think I need) and what might make a fun gift.  This time around I decided I needed a small bag to carry a sock knitting project with me wherever I go.  Knitting projects tend to get all tangled up in my purse so I thought a separate bag would solve that little problem.  Using the leftovers from my Missing Piece Hobo Bag (yes, it's done and a post will follow as soon as I get pics!) I knitted up this bag from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.  Here it is:

 

It measures about 8 inches high and 6 inches in diameter.  My modifications were to only do 1 inch before the drawstring holes instead of 3 (since I wanted more bag than collar) and to make the bottom rounded like a hat so it would "sit" nicely next to me.  The original pattern called for a three needle bind off across the bottom making it a flat style bag.  I did decreases just like you'd do for a hat, but with less rows between the decreases and I love the spiral it creates.

The drawstring is a delicate 2 stitch I-cord with wrapped tassels - so fun!

The bag is very roomy with space for a full sock skein, pattern, needles and extras.  The only problem I have with it is that needles poke through the sides thus I will probably be lining this bag with fabric once my sewing machine comes back from the repair shop.  It will lose it's soft drapey quality, but will be more functional.

 

I still have some yarn leftover from making this bag too so stayed tuned for what I did with those little cotton/linen yarn bits.  Anyway, that's my project that was just for "kicks and giggles" this week.  

What do you do for kicks and giggles?