2013 stash flash

Yes time for the annual taking of pictures of all your yarn; I am a bit early this year but I have been waiting for this since December.   I knew I would see a huge  difference since I knitted over 25 k in 2012.  I emptied one more bin while pulling everything and reorganizing .  ONe kit yarn may be headed to the sale listing. Its lovely but honestly I am not sure I want to make it so if I sell its a win win.  That said after 2 years plus of cold sheeping I finally feel like U have control.  Now what?

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

2012 end of year wrap up

Slideshow design generated with Smilebox With 2 days left in 2012 I am enjoying the last days.   I am attempting to clear my needles and wips knitting wise.  I just might be able to.  It was  banner year knit wise with over 25k yards. Wow.  Most of that was due to to big ugly blankets and the february mad dash on ravelry.   Not sure I will ever knit that much in a year again. My stash yardage is down considerably and I finally am to the point where I will have to buy yarn for some projects.  Imagine that.   I am going to use 2013 to finish my cold sheeping but at the same time try some new things.  I plan to try asa trciosa design. I would like to make a pair of gloves and I am enjoying my new cricket.   I have the second scarf warped in as many days.  All this said, 2013 will bring many changes as DD graduates HS and starts college.   Big times!.  Find myself reminiscing alot of those younger days... Have a happy new year!

cold sheep update; process vs project?

Update: I have now knit over 20k yards and if I finish all my wip before year end I suspect the number will reach 24k.   AStounding!.   Much thanks goes to the stash down group on ravelry and their various challenges etc. In looking at my remaining stash and the early 2013 I truly can see the light at the of tunnel.   Heck I even today lowered some trade yarn prices; I just want to move it and move on.  
But to what?   I am thinking hard about what I want to knit.   I dont need socks , sweaters shawls., even though I like to knit them all.. So so I knit for the process or the project? My niece is having a baby in April  and it might be nice to knit some things for him.   It's been awhile.  ( a little part of me says maybe I dont even want to knit as much?)

I have been queuing some items for 2013 on r avelry .   I am going to pare it down to 6 things which I hope will include items I have never done before, like

• stranded socks   fireweeds
• maybe illusion knitting a baby blanket
• an epic lace blanket/shawl
• online class
• lace weight top down cardigan
• gloves or flip top mittens
• jane thornely free form project

I have committed to cold sheep through DD graduate June 14 2013; wish me luck   

Cold sheeping

I have been "cold Sheeping" officially since I began on ravelry sometime in mid 2010.   My days of yarn binge buying had ended long before that but I still found myself with a lot of yarn, most of it stuff from when my daughter was young; she is now 18.   I think I had over 30k yards although I never really tallied at the time.  Much of it is novelty , single skein stuff. Most is lovely;y I have  worked hard to find it worked into projects.  With 18k+ yds knitted this year I would say I have succeeded. I am  hoping to graduate from cold sheeping sometime in 2013

Now its late October 2012 and I find myself having knit more yards this year than what remains in my stash, at least by whats listed in my stash on ravelry.  I have some scraps not listed and probably the errant skein or two but for the most part I am close to the point where I can truly think about buying yarn. 

  SO I am finding its harder than I thought.   I naturally overthink most purchases, although typically not yarn.  I am hoping that at this stage of my cold sheeping and of my life that my purchases and knitting will be more purposeful.  ie knitting what truly inspires me either for the actual FO or the process itself..   I have way too many projects done that just sit with no use.

I am hoping to participate in the 2012 advent scarf kal for the second year in a row.   I have daydreamed of ordering some artyarns cashmere 1 lace yarn in a delicious purple.   I am willing to splurge the $100.  But I find this little voice saying but you do have 2 lace skins in your stash that would look lovely.   Now I am becoming too practical.   I think I will compromise and knit up the scarf using my present stash and then should I make a second scarf, as I did in 2011, order the artyarns.

the music of lace

I have read recently that knitting lace is like hearing music.   I get that now.   I have cast on my 3rd lace project, buttercup, and find it calling my name.   AS I knit the world around becomes quiet, and even though it would seam tedious, the constant counting, k3, yo, k4, ssk, etc it becomes rhythmic.   The chart symbols form a picture . Finding mistakes is becoming more intuitive.
The piece is hard to put down; I knit 20 rows of the chart pattern yesterday in one day.   Will it stop when I come to the short rows.   I guess I will find out soon♥

Mad dash recap

Well march 31 came and went and the mad dash was a huge success both personally and as a a group. As a group we are up to 191k yards with a few solo dasher to still report in. IN the end, thank s to making 4 kitty beds, and using double triple and quad stranding, I was able to knit 4325 yds. In the 2 kitty beds I used up some mohair and lots of novelty yarn that otherwise would have sat in the stash for even longer. The kitties are happy with their new beds.


My other focus was on feltable projects. I can now close the lid on my plastic container holding my wool I used some patterns in my libray for awhile and did several moebius rims. I mades some more kitty beds, some slippers, and a yarn basket. All projects still need to be felted , but the yarn is usd up. Yea.

Would I do t his again, definately yes. It was short enough and I had a project queue that kept me focused. with learning the moebius techniues I felt like I was still progressing as a knitter and not just knitting.,It was fun to be part of the group and once again ravelry proved invaluable

YTD yards is about 8500, which is amazing for me.. Again a stranded blanket in january and the mad dash stranding help.
I am hoping to flash the stash this weekend. I expect to see major difference from last year;we shall see. My next focus, the mystery yarn 2012 challenge.

The great 2012 MAD DASH

AS the counter below indicates i will be joining some other ravelers for the stash down group 2012 mad dash . We have 6 weeks to knit 12000 yards. Woa!. I am not that mad and have elected to participate as a team. I have committed to 4k yardage which is about twice what i would knit in 6 weeks let alone tax season.

SO why am I doing this? I guess for the sheer fun of it. I have looked at my stash and found about 550o yards of feltable wool ; thats about 25% of my stash. SO my plan is to pick some slippers, some feltable bags and some feltable kitty beds and hopefully be able to double strand etc. Along the way I hope to use some odds and ends eyelash , some patterns in my library and laugh alot!.

Come watch our progress or better yet , join in the fun!