woolythyme

this time i mean it.....

New Year..almost..and same old resolution, which in the past has been little more than a suggestion.  This time I mean it.  Really.  It's time to knit down the stash and let's finish up a few UFOs while we're at it.  Reminder to self:  this means you cannot ADD to the stash while reducing it.

 

Since this actually was last years resolution, I suppose it's OK to show my 'now' progress towards 2020.  

First up is Malabrigo Hand Thingies, a free pattern on Ravelry.  This falls in the 'UFO' category; I bought a skein of Kureyon for this while on a trip to Maine in October.  I bought one skein and the pattern takes TWO skeins.  The shop keeper wasn't feeling well that day, and even though she knew I was going to make THIS pattern...of course, there was a shop model...she only sold me one when clearly that wasn't going to cut it.  I could have double checked...and didn't.  I'm a big girl knitter.  I know better.  So, one mitt has been sitting in limbo since I got home because, naturally, there was nothing in the stash that could come close.  I ordered.  The yarn came.  And now I have the first Christmas gift to go in the Gift Stash for 2020.  I'd say this is sort of a win-win-done.  (The El Salvador bird is setting there to prove that all these colours go together.)

 

 

Next...a pair of My Cup of Tea socks using some Hauteknit Pampered Sock Fingering Weight yarn bought at a Great Yarn in Chatham, MA in 2016.  Not deep stash, but it's lingered there long enough.  The yarn is lovely, but what was I thinking when I bought this colour?  This will be a big check-off-the-list when done because I don't like it.  

 

 

And last (that I'm going to show you today. Really?  You think this is all I have on the needles??  HA! You Dreamer You)  is Winter on my Mind by Melanie Berg, who we all know is brilliant!  The orange just got added to the stash last week BUT!!!! the grey has been in deep stash for years...and years...and years....and has made several beautiful shawls.  There was one lonely skein left over.  Sometimes you have to buy something to use up something else.  

That makes perfectly good sense, right?

 

What are YOUR knitting resolutions this year?

you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear....or can you?

One beautiful skein of Swans Island fingering weight merino started it all.  It's the sole survivor of souvenir yarn from Swans Island that I bought on a 2016 Maine trip with a friend.  And this fall she and I are going back.  How can I justify more in the stash if this is still hiding out there?

Isabell Kraemer to the rescue. (That woman has rescued me more time than I can remember....I love her style, her colour sense, her patterns.) 

I probably would never have put these colours together, but....copycat that I am, when I saw her shawl, I knew this was a winner that maybe---just m-a-y-b-e---I could replicate.  A very, very, very deep stash dive...and I came up with perhaps  enough partial skeins of pink and assorted mini balls of grey....to make this happen.

Be still my beating heart...

I just want to knit, knit, knit.  

I'm still in the heart of a major yarnchicken game. Are there enough odds and ends to make the full size shawl?  Way too soon to tell.

All those bits, pieces, mini balls, oddball skeins that alone were nothing more than a poor sow's ear, but combined.....????

A silk purse A treasure.

Fingers crossed.

Old stash + lack of motivation = new toy

Mitered square blanket (#4), Northeasterly blanket (barely begun), and another huge basket full of sock yarn bits.  Before it all gets knit into those blankets...I turned my needles to knit a pair of booties.  I might knit several pairs. Maybe even several dozen pairs.    There will still be plenty of leftovers for the blankets.  But, therein lies the rub.  Lots of single skeins in this stash of mine, so lots of blanket fodder.  But no longer any sweater's worth of stash, even if that sweater is baby-sized.

And yet....I have a whole closet FULL of yarn, and I'm determined to bust at least some of this rather useless stash.  Motivation is a little hard to come by.   

 

So, I've spent more time with abandoned buildings (and Topaz plug-ins)...

and demolishing buildings...

and playing with my new toy...

Once upon a time, a new 'toy' meant some shiny new Signature needles or a bagful of beautiful, soft luxurious yarn.

 

'New toy' has taken on a whole new meaning lately....

oh, 24-70mm lens, I love you!!!

 

 

 

souvenir yarn...

Artfiber:  Tsuki turquoise #10

bought in 2011 on a trip to San Francisco....at Artfiber 

cast on immediately (of course) and knit 2"

 

Fast forward....2019.  Look what I found.  Tsuki is a mohair/silk blend which combines for the lushest, softest, loveliest fiber ever.  This drop stitch wrap is a classic.  I wish I knew why it's been in limbo for 8 years.  

 

The pattern (written for this yarn) calls for 66" before bind off.  I've now knit 10".  I guess if I was a betting person, I'd bet this will once again find itself in time-out before the last 56" are knit.

I sure hope not.  

 

 

* * * * * * * * * *  

Have you caught the drift of the current knitting madness?  I'm desperately trying to finish UFOs and remove bags that are taking up valuable real estate in a cupboard.  The Kauni vest was a success.  Done.  The square baby blanket is finished using cotton that almost made it to the church yard sale. Success.  The no-show socks got frogged, but freed up my #0 dp needles and sprung one of my favorite project bags back in the  bag rotation, so I'm also calling this a success. A pair of mystery kal socks...done, and gifted in time for DIL's birthday.  'Take me to Spain' got frogged...another successful bag recoup as well as some favorite Addi lace needles back in circulation. I feel I'm actually starting to win this battle!

56" more inches to go, and then.....hold on to your hat.  ONE UFO left (in the cupboard).

I can do it!

time and time again.....

My affair (note:  this is not a love affair) with Kauni wool began sometime around 2007;  I have the YarnHarlot to blame for it. 

I think we can all (all knitters, that is!) find at least one or ten things that she's inspired us to knit---whether we really wanted to knit them or not.  For me, it was the Kauni Cardigan.  I still think this is one of the most beautiful things ever created.  Who knows what I quit knitting so I could immediately cast on this beauty the minute my carefully copy-catted yarn arrived from somewhere.  

Are you all familiar with this yarn?  The colours are intense and rich.  The repeats are long, and in 2007 long repeats were not as common as they are today.  So, it was novel...and pretty....and colourful (this must have been before the black/grey/neutral phase of my life began).  I was going to be the proud owner of the most beautiful sweater in the world.  And maybe I would have...except for the fact that Kauni is one of the wooliest wools you are ever going to come across.  The cardigan was knit with either slip stitch? or fair isle?.... the details don't matter as much as the fact that either technique was going to produce a garment that carries yarn across the back, making it double-thickness.  And, of course, it's scratchy, so you must wear another layer underneath.  Since 2007 the only time I even briefly thought about this 'sweater-that-got-away' was as I was packing for Iceland last December.  I still own a half dozen handknit beauties from the years we lived in Buffalo.  They all look brand new....maybe a bit dated, but definitely new.  (Well, all except one that was obviously a meal for a family of moths and had to be culled from the sweater stash.)  Fashionista I'm not, but you all already knew that, right?

Now I have a heap of Kauni and it's not going to be a sweater.  According to Ravelry,  that yarn of mine has had a history, most of which I'd totally forgotten.  In 2012 I started a shawl called Light Waves. And frogged it.  I guess I decided Wingspan was a better way to use the yarn....and I actually knit this shawl and finished it in about a month.  I'm really glad I made this, because it was gifted to a dear friend whose middle-name could easily be 'Bright, Colorful, Happy' when she was undergoing some really really bad health issues; it brightened her day.

Right after that I started the Cascade Vest, obviously didn't find the love, let it linger in limbo for a couple years, and frogged it in 2014. I had apparently had my eye on the Mitered Cross Blanket for sometime....and had an 'aha' moment, thinking that gem (Kay Gardiner is also a major enabler in my life) would be a great way to use up this yarn....if only I had some BLACK to set off the colors.  I found some.  I bought it.  I bought a lot.

Linen stitch cowl.

Pine Bough cowl. 

Finally....Mitered Cross Blanket.  

And in a desperate attempt to finally use up this yarn....I cast on the Maude Vest.

Look closely.  It's the very same vest (under a different name) that I cast on in 2014 and ripped out.

All goes 'round comes 'round. 

let's talk stash....and ufos....and 52 pickup

I woke this morning to this view out my window.

For most people this is considered a dusting of snow and life goes on. (Note: clear streets and ice-free sidewalks.) But in my world (western KY),  my photography class got cancelled ...not only leaving me with a totally free morning, but a free morning when hubby is elsewhere.  You'll see why that's important in a minute.

I decided to do a little rearranging.  While I dream of being a minimalist and living a stuff-free life, that simply isn't ever going to happen.  But in spite of having WAYYYY too much stuff, I abhor clutter, so I must spend lots and lots and lots of time organizing the 'stuff'.  While I try to keep on top of it....my 'stuff' seems to migrate.  Let's face it....some of my Stuff has taken on its own persona.

Photography Stuff has grown....and started invading Knitting Stuff's domain.  Truth be told, Knitting Stuff ran out of space in its closet a couple years ago and took over the bottom of a cupboard in the room that Photography-Stuff now lays claim to.  They've been bickering for months....each blaming the other when some of their stuff is MIA. 

Today was the day to fix this.

I emptied the bottom of Photography-Stuff's cupboard.  It was storing just about all of Knitting-Stuff's vast collection of patterns and books, a couple of nearly finished projects, and some other junk that I couldn't stand to look at and smushed in there. 

Next, I emptied Knitting-Stuff's closet.  This was actually a big deal because not only does it hold all of Knitting's stash (minus bulky weight yarn that lives in a suitcase), but it also has an amazing collection of project bags, books that didn't fit in that cupboard, ALL MY UFOs!!!  some cute knitting tchatchkes that I apparently love but don't want to look at all the time, and three finished sweaters that are awaiting a trip to the frog pond.

All this came out of three little cubbies.  (There are 30 cubbies in the closet.)  Use your imagination.....soon every inch of the floor was covered with yarn and baskets; I was sorting it all by weight.  (Now, do you understand why this kind of project is best done while hubby is out of the house?)

Freddy was in heaven, by the way.  Do you have any idea how many stray ball bands we found?!?

Hours later....all the books fit, yarn is back in by weight.  Knitting Stuff couldn't be happier. 

 

OK.  So....none of the UFOs made it back in, but they are either going to become FOs or get frogged.  A concession Knitting-Stuff and I were willing to make.

Photography-Stuff is NOT happy....

They got jammed into half of her cupboard.

 

solveig....

Hello.

My name is Solveig. 

I just got my innards and hair last night.  I dreamed of being a redhead, but short of having to have a real honest to goodness dye job, that wasn't going to happen.  I'm actually sort of glad I didn't have to settle for lavender hair. It was close.  I don't mind being a Scandinavian blond.  Just don't tell me any blond jokes.  I'm actually very intelligent.

Now that all my parts are in order, I can concentrate on finding a way to stowaway to Iceland.  I have a mission.

You see, the love of my life, Lars, was separated from me when I was just a pile of spindrift scraps.  How I miss him.  I think we might have some kind of an Icelandic connection, and I intend to find out.   Eeep!  The plane leaves in less than three weeks!!!  And somehow, I'm going to manage to be on it.

Please note:  I'm wearing a wedding cap!!!

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

 

Ast,

Solveig  

(I'm practicing my Icelandic!!)

click-clack.....

The needles haven't been flying, but they've been steadily clicking away....

Koto....front and back are finished, worked from the bottom up, in the round, with a multitude of short-rowing that is nothing less than miraculous, because I think it turned out the way the pattern intended.  I'm not always good at blind-faith knitting, but I think this worked.  The sleeves are worked separately, which I found to be a very nice stopping point. 

Time to cast on sock #2.  Sock #1 has been finished for months....maybe years.  It's been hanging on it's sock stretcher on a cupboard so long that it's become part of the decorations; I stopped seeing it eons ago.  I vaguely remember this pattern....cute little picot edge and a decorative heel that I had never done before.  I'm actually excited to finish this.  I'm thinking I stopped because the socks were too big for me, but they were never intended to be MY socks.  DIL I think will love them.

Knitting life is good!

Happy Dance!!

(Blue-footed boobies, Galapagos Islands, September 2018)

a renewed commitment...

The past two months I've been lucky to post twice a month.  What's with that?  (This is the blogger who at one time...posted daily!) I blamed it for awhile on my AWOL mojo, but we all knew that was just an excuse, right?  Lazy?  Uninspired?  Distracted?  Who knows?  Even Freddy has been uncharacteristically silent.....although he really REALLY wanted to tell you all about his foray into restricted territory with the Halloween candy.  A belly ache sort of shut him down.

I totally 'get it'...those of you who have jumped ship to instagram.  Just so you know....I miss you.  A whole lot. 

After my extended silence, I'm not sure anyone is even still visiting here.  But just in case there are a few die-hard knitters still haunting my space....I'm going to try to beef up the posts.  I actually have been knitting.  (I even have a few FO that just need their Kodak moment.)  

The above baby blanket...a rather quick little project, but the perfect size, the perfect pattern (take that to mean mindless....I read Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk while knitting it) and it came in at a respectable price to make it a nice little gift.  Just 2.5 skeins of Saratoga.

Not sure what this is about... the somewhat monogamous knitter I've become.  Needing a new project, I did go to the unending WIP pile and pulled out Idlewild, a lovely pullover by Julie Hoover that for some reason I stopped knitting after completing the front and half the back.  Maybe the fact that I was knitting it with sport weight yarn and it calls for worsted weight might have had something to do with the fact that I was thinking it just wasn't going to be the oversized, throw-on for all occasions knit I had hoped.  So, I ripped it out.  

There is always a silver lining.  Look what I found?

MY FAVORITE JENNY the POTTER stitch marker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I immediately cast on Koto Pullover (don't ask, of course, I could have jumped back in that WIP pile, but what's the fun in that?)...brooklyntweed (using some old yarn in the stash) and I am one very happy camper! knitter!!  

 

Stay tuned!

selbu modern

Another Selbu Modern hat.  That makes three.  (#3 is MIA at the moment, but because it was my most favorite winter hat, I'm sure I put it in a good safe place last spring.) Obviously, I now have two in reserve. 

I NEVER knit the same thing twice...and never ever ever back-to-back---until now.  Orange and grey first, immediately followed by the red and grey.  And I'm not even tired of the pattern...probably because it took me so long to actually get this second one off the needles.  #4?  I think not.

But, it was a wooly, warm, fair-isle, and relatively small project that used up some partial skeins lingering in the stash.  What's not to love about the whole thing?

Next up?  Another dive in the stash found a lovely skein of Luna Grey Nova Worsted in....green?  What's with that?  When the mojo returned...it obviously wasn't mine.  Sitka Spruce seemed appropriate for the colour.  Another hat? 

Can you have too many for....

Iceland in December?