Friday, September 29, 2006

Sunday, September 24, 2006

FO Day

Today is Finished Object Day here at The Stash Project.

First up are the Retro Rib socks by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Winter 2004. The contrast colour is the leftover Trekking XXL from the Unsts and the main yarn is some thrifted wool Patons Azalea which seems to be quite ancient. A lovely yarn to knit with, it is pure new wool from Australia. Pretty much knit to pattern with the exception of the added contrast colour and I knit my standard star toe.

sept24-1

Next up we have the fingerless mitts on page 7 of the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits, using the Patons Siberia from stash. Again I really enjoyed this yarn and these are nice and soft. This was knit to pattern with the exception that it called for 6 mm needles and I only had 5.5 and 6.5 dpns so I went with the 5.5 mm. They only used 60 gr of yarn so I had plenty.

sept24-2

And finally we have a Lacy Summer Purse (PDF FILE) using the blue ball of Patons Cotton Sahara. This yarn gave me headache trying to figure out what to knit with it. I started knitting a dishcloth but I really like this yarn and it seemed too nice to knit a dishcloth with. I mean this stuff is old and I may never get my hands on some again so I wanted to make something "nice". Know what I mean? Finally settled on this pattern and this is such a cute little bag! It would make a perfect gift bag. It took pretty much the whole the ball of yarn with just enough left that I didn't hyperventilate about running out!

sept24-

I now have one and a half balls of the peach Cotton Sahara left and I am going to knit this bag again with it only I am going to try substituting the mesh pattern from itsy-bitsy. Now I am going to go get a few more balls out of the box to see what I'll be knitting with next.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Itsy Bitsy

I feel like I'm on a roll here! Knitting is just flying off the needles. Here we have the itsy bitsy bag finished.

Itsy Bitsy Bag

I just love this thing! Here it is holding the current knitting yarn and "what is that peeking out?" you ask. That is one of the fingerless mitts already finished! I can imagine knitting this bag over and over. I have to tell you, though, it was not fun to knit. The herringbone stitches used are extremely fiddly. I had to employ an extra finger while knitting and it slowed me down considerably, but it was definately worth it. And practice does make perfect. I see this in the future and may be changing my mind about making dishcloths with the Patons Cotton Sahara. This bag used 70 grams of the Wendy Capri. So I do have some left.

As mentioned, I have one fingerless mitt finished and am working on the second one. The retro rib socks are coming along, I've finished the foot of one and am plodding along on the second foot.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Decisions Have Been Made

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I've decided on patterns for these three yarns.

First up the Wendy Capri. After one false start knitting with this I realized it was more of a worsted weight than dk and decided upon the itsy-bitsy mesh bag pattery from Knitty. I'm more than half-way finished and just about ready to start the second ball so feeling good knowing I'll have enough yarn. This yarn is working perfectly and I really like it. Here's the progress pic.





Next on the list was the Patons Siberia. sparkli suggested the My So Called Scarf pattern. I haven't knit that before and took a look at the pattern, which is gorgeous! But after good consideration, this yarn is just too fluffy and nubby for the pattern stitch to show up well. So I went hunting online for a pattern, then I remembered a pattern from an Interweave Knits issue and have decided upon these fingerless mitts. They call for 100 gr and I only have 80 gr, but I've made full sized mittens with 100 gr of chunky yarn so I should be ok and I'm going to make them a bit shorter than the pattern calls for anyway so I think we'll be good. This is on page 7 of the Fall 2005 issue.



And finally the Patons Cotton Sahara, which, yes, has been mellowing for quite some time! christy j logically suggested a pillow top since it would match my living room. After looking though some pillow patterns I just couldn't see this cotton, nubby yarn as any of them! More thinking and came up with the equation: Cotton Yarn = Dishcloth. I think this cotton/nylon blend might actually make a very nice dishcloth, give it a bit more scrubbing power than a 100% cotton. Now the colours are way off for my kitchen so I'll gift these for Christmas. I should get a couple of cloths (maybe three?) from this yarn. Now I'll be haunting this list of dishcloth patterns.

PS - I am still working on the Retro Rib socks. I'm working the feet now.

Next blog post should some FO's and when I've knit this batch of yarn up I'll post the next selection of yarn from the box. So get your thinking caps ready to help me again!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

And Now for Something Completely Different

I am taking a new direction in this blog. I have a purpose!

I have a huge stash which I actually have not really added to in quite some time. A few odd balls here and there and some thrifted yarn but no big yarn purchases for a couple of months now.

So here is my purpose for this blog. I am going to knit up my stash! My stash is quite large and contains everything from 100% acrylics to 100% wool with everything inbetween. Nice yarn and not so nice yarn. Yarn I haven't knitted because it's too nice, yarn I haven't knitted because I don't know what to knit with it. I have an incredible amount of odd balls that just sit around and seem to multiply.

Now, I'm not saying I won't buy yarn anymore but I am going to knit from the stash on a regular basis.

What stash you ask? This stash:

My Stash - Bottom of Closet
Bottom of closet

My Stash - Top of Closet
Top of closet

Now, it may not look like a lot to some of you but trust me those boxes are big and absolutely stuffed full of yarn. Some of the boxes only close properly because of the boxes sitting on top of them!

Starting off this stash-busting project we have the first box, which was not included in the above pictures. This box is only half full.

First Box of Stash

First Goal of The Stash Project: Knit up this box of yarn.

But I need your help. This box is full of odd balls and I have a hard time thinking of small items to knit with odd balls. Please give me your input! Here are the first balls I've moved to my knitting basket. What should I knit with them?

1) Wendy Capri - 2 - 50 gr balls - no yardage - double knitting - 51% cotton/49% acrylic - colour is cream/off white
Wendy Capri

2) Patons Cotton Sahara - 50 gr blue, 75 gr peach - 115 yds per 50 gr - worsted weight - 89% cotton/11% nylon - as a note these colours match my living room.
sept13-4

3) Patons Siberia - 80 gr multi kind of burgundy and grey - no yardage - chunky weight - 77.5% acrylic/12% cotton/8.5% mohair/2% nylon
sept13-5

Any ideas?

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl


I finally got around to taking a photo of the shawl I finished a bit ago.

Here is the feather and fan comfort shawl

Now, other than the continuing mitre blanket, I am currently working on the retro rib socks from Interweave Knits. Finally. I've wanted to knit these since I got that issue and every time I see them posted on someone's blog. I'm almost at the heels.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Wicker Basket

As I was working on the red/purple socks below the August sock of the month kit arrived. As soon as I opened it I knew I would be casting on the for these socks the second I was finished. And I did, they practically flew off the needles taking 3 days to complete. I love them!

Wicker Basket Sport Socks by Wooliedi. Yarn is Wick by Knit One Crochet Too which is soy. I've never used soy yarn before and it is wonderful!

sept2-

P.S. - I finished the shawl last night! So more pics coming soon!