Stash reduction begins: 5 balls of Bernat Boa

5 balls of Bernat Boa have been officially removed from the stash and are now designated for gift wrapping purposes. What the hell was I thinking, buying that stuff? I tried to cast on for a scarf and got frustrated on the first row.

I've added a box to my sidebar, taking today's stash total and noting my goal for the upcoming year. Yes, I'm aiming to reduce my stash by 105 skeins of yarn by knitting it up, selling or just plain giving yarn away. The yarn purchase ban is also in effect, so in theory, if I knit up just 2 balls a week, I should be able to reach my goal with some room to spare.

Commute knitting for this week is comprised of a third Greenaway Glove (don't ask) with some awesome Alchemy Migration, and a Koolhaas hat for Christmas gifting. I need to make some time tonight to cast on for both of these projects.

February roundup

What a month.

First, of course, I knit and then frogged the Foliage hat. That hurt. I've got some Rio de la Plata that will probably work a lot better, but I'm still stinging from the initial defeat.

In the midst of the crazy, I rediscovered my knitting mojo, in large part thanks to Ravelry and two swaps that I completed with fellow Rav members. Hurrah for worldwide knitting power! I received two skeins of Lorna's Laces, a yarn I've never used before, and started on a pair of simple stockinette ankle socks for train knitting. The first is complete!



This week, I received this awesome, gigantic skein of Zen Yarn Garden:



It's seriously huge. And in addition, my swapper sent me an adorable ball of Rowan Kidsilk Night in a pale pink called Ballerina:



Crazy, right? People are too kind.

The Secret Project was in fact a French Market bag, and has been gifted to M for her birthday. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished object. It felted super quickly in my front-load washer, and is a bit bigger than I had intended for it to be. I hope she likes it!

I swatched and cast on for Ms Marigold this week, and finished Part A in my first session. This is seriously addictive knitting. I even got up early one morning and knit for an hour so that I could make some progress before exam prep hits, um, now. I love this tweedy yarn; it feels wonderful, and it makes my stitches look nice and neat. I got to row 16 on the back section before I had to put it down:



I sort of fell down on my last two goals. I didn't cast on for Elfine because I'm waiting for another sock circular to show up in the mail. And I must admit that I got sucked in by Elann's Sneak Peek page for their 4-ply sock yarn, and ordered a couple of balls for myself along with the samplers that I got for M's birthday package. Does it mitigate my crime if I say I only spent $6 on myself? :)

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February stash knitdown totals: 200 metres on the French Market Bag, 100 metres on the Daffodil socks, 100 metres on the Foliage hat, 60 metres on Ms Marigold, 30 metres on a plain garter stitch dishcloth. 490 metres!

I have conveniently decided to ignore stash enhancements for the purposes of the knitdown. Heh.

Stash busting part deux: the damage

Mmmm. Sock yarn.

I now fully understand the allure of socks. It's the ultimate one skein project! I picked up some of this lovely green Dream in Color Smooshy. I love it when the name of the yarn totally fits the feel. It's onomatopoeia for touch! This yarn really is the epitome of smooshy:



I've been fascinated by the variegated colourways offered by Cherry Tree Hill, so I tossed some of the Jewels into my basket as well:



And of course, one must support local artists. Here's some Indigo Moon in the enchanting Northern Steppe:



The store had Lorna's Laces on sale, so I got some sportweight yarn in Manzanite for a pair of socks:



You'd think I'd be done at this point. After all, I now have enough sock yarn to last me until the end of the year. Uh, no. I took a deep breath and picked up 8 skeins of the Shepherd Sport in Cranberry so that I would have more than enough for Henley Perfected:



So, yeah. I also bought the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I may have to step up my output rate...

Untempted

The sweater, she has been wound back into balls.


I knit two inches on the yoke and definitely needed at least one more skein. Even though I found one on Ravelry in someone else's stash, in the end I just didn't love this sweater enough to keep moving on it.

I've learned enough over the past two years to see what didn't work about this particular pattern for me. Straight 2x2 ribbing is not particularly flattering to my square torso; I need something a little more patterned that adds the illusion of shape. I also look much better in a V-neck than any other style of neckline, and, in retrospect, an off-the-shoulder sweater was probably not the most practical of wardrobe items.

This is okay! This project has been sitting on the needles for nearly two years, and I'm glad it's over. I will happily use the yarn to make a pair of wrist warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, a Quickie Cowl, and maybe a Foliage hat.

Oh, wagon, why have you left me behind?

I was doing so well, I actually thought that stash busting might become a semi-permanent habit. HA HA, THANKS FOR PLAYING, say the yarn gods. It started last night, when I was looking for a long circular needle to magic loop my next pair of socks:



I ordered a 32 inch KnitPicks circular, US size 2, and a couple of skeins of Gloss in burgundy, because hey, I've never ordered from them before. And I finished off a scarf this week, removing three skeins of Noro Kureyon from the stash, so I was still at a net loss. But then, this morning, I had to check out Knitopia, which moved recently from White Rock to Langley, and somehow I fell into a pile of sock yarn.

This is the same sock yarn used to make the popular Monkey socks on Knitty. So soft.




And then I picked up some of this new Jojoland Melody, a 100% superwash wool from China.





I see the stash busting wagon, wayyyyyy off in the distance...