EM!
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February 2007
Stitches West
Well, I broke my yarn diet. I also broke a few of my self imposed Stitches rules. But... what can you do when you fall in love with yarn? I ask you.
Let's see- my haul:
Shelridge Farms- 4 skeins of sock yarn, 2 in lavender and 2 in heathered green
Bella Knitting- the Brunhilde Hat project
Lisa Souza- angora lurez handspun in gold and green, turquoise handspun in merino and silk, peanut colored hand-dyed alpaca and silk
Foxy Knits- Koigu in green
Blue Moon Fiber Arts- Midsummer Night in STR heavyweight, merino/tencel blend in Bleeding Hearts.
Total yardage in: 3142
Total yardage I have stash busted since January: 3447
net stash used: 305 yards
new stash total: 67160
sigh.
All I can say is that even though I broke many of my rules, I still had a moderate amount of reserve. It could have been much, much worse.
more crochet...
I'm finding that as I crochet more and more, I'm starting to crochet at a looser gauge. My last granny square is bigger than my first. This may foil the afghan squares project... I've also discovered that the first square of single crochet took the most yarn and squares in half double crochet and double crochet take less. Makes sense, I guess.
I thought I had enough cascade 220 to make the gym dress from Knit 2 Together, but now I realize that I don't. Instead, I cast on for the cabled hoodie from Paton's Street Smart. Hurrah!
more stash busting
It's kind of amazing how much Knitpicks Merino Style I have. I still have 19.5 balls left even after this small baby/lap blanket. I knit the body of this on the machine, knit in the ends as I went (a new technique for me on the Bond), and handknit the seed stitch border all around. I used 3 balls of asparagus Merino Style and 2 balls of petal, 130 stitches, and KP2.
adventures in crochet
Jaeleen, a podcast listener, left us a comment with the tip that crochet takes 1/3 more yarn than knitting. ! Nicole and I now have crocheting ambitions, fueled also by Brainylady's scrap afghan. I picked up Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks and did one block of single crochet. My plan is to make a bunch of different blocks in my bag of Knitpicks Merino Style and sew them all up for a crochet blanket.
Inspired by the swatching and the Walker Treasury Project, I also started this:
From the second Treasury in the knit and purl section. I think it's called ribbed diagonal welt. It creates diagonal V's and is reversible on both sides. pretty! I'm making it in Filatura di Crosa's Wave- a worsted 75% merino/25% silk blend. A little nubbly, very nice to knit with.
McIntosh Squares
Scraps of Knitpicks Sierra, handpaintedwool.com's bulky merino, Knitpicks Panache, Artfibers Sumo, Artfibers Cheesecake, Brooks Farm Riata.
Scraps of Lamb's Pride worsted, Vermont O-wool, Silk Garden, Mountain Colors Twizzle.
I'm finally down to just cotton scraps in the stash! I made two giant rectangles out of my bulky scraps and my worsted scraps and felted them to make McIntosh Squares- things to sit on when out in the park. Remember? From A Room with a View? Eleanor Lavish and her McIntosh Squares?
I need to trim them down once they are dry, but I like how the stripes turned out. Interesting too that the silk garden did not felt as well as everything else. Hope it survives the trimming...
Catan
John finally wins at Catan! Here is his moment of triumph.
valentine stashbusting socks
With two balls of merino style in storm and a ball of asparagus, I made H a pair of very soft socks. Size 4 addi's. I started them on Saturday and finished Wednesday morning. hurrah!
