On the needles

Long time no see! Sorry about that; first I had an interview that I had to write a presentation for, then I didn't get the job and descended into a whirlpool of misery, then I embarked on a fortnight of sociability which required much shopping for new clothes followed by the wearing of said clothes while drinking lots and suddenly a whole month has flown by!

But the knitting has continued off and on the whole time, here's what's on the needles at the moment...

Pattern: Heirloom by MadelineTosh
Yarn: Dream in Colour Classy in Crying Dove

This is a baby blanket for a colleague whose due in October; I've learned that it's best to get a headstart on these things as I'll inevitably get bored and put it down for 4 months at some point! This is perfect train knitting as it's such an easy repeat to memorise, so I'll probably take it with me when I go to Aberystwyth later this month and see if I can get a big chunk of it done.

Pattern: By the Seine River by Dona Knits
Yarn: Sparkleduck Spirit in a brilliant green

Due to the aforementioned whirlpool of misery, I decided that I needed some bright green socks to cheer me up. This is *very* unlike me as I've never been bitten by the sock knitting bug; I knitted one single sock a few years back just to prove that I could but could never be bothered to knit the second. I just find knitting pairs of things really difficult so I'm hoping the amazing yarn will push me through this one! I've already realised that I've made a mistake on the feather and fan, but frankly I don't care as it looks fine as it is!

I also had a few stash accumulation accidents that I'll share with you...

Malabrigo Silkpaca in Archangel

I had a lovely day out in Ely in May with a bunch of knitting, tweeting librarians - I fully intended to blog about it but as I took precisely no photos I thought it would be a bit dull... But there was a yarn shop and therefore there was yarn buying and these 2 pretty skeins came home with me :) I'm a bit of a Malabrigo obsessive and I hadn't come across silkpaca before, therefore I had to buy some, and in my fabourite colourway too. This will now join the other *mumble*8*mumble* skeins of laceweight that I seem to think are too pretty in the skein to actually knit with...

Robin Aran 100 in BEIGE BEIGE BEIGE

Technically this doesn't count as stash accumulation as it was a gift!* A lovely lady in my knitting group was given some yarn by her Grandma that she didn't think she'd ever knit with, so bought it to our knitting group to paw over. I zeroed in on this as it's 100% wool, I now have 8 skeins of it and although there's no yardage info on the label (which probably makes it vintage!) I reckon there must be about 1600 yards there. I'm thinking blanket rather than garment as it's not the softest yarn, maybe a Hemlock Ring or a Girasole. I did have thoughts about dying it but think I've pulled myself back from the brink of that particular bad idea.**

So, that's where I am, playing around with yarn to cheer myself up - and that, my dears, is why we have stashes!

*Other things that don't count; if it was on sale, if it's a souvenir, if you bought it to cheer you up, if no one saw you buy it, if you just damn well wanted it... see how this works?
**I have no idea how I would do this, but I think it would involve turning 8 balls of yarn into skeins then doing something messy on the hob or possibly in the microwave that would likely stain me and my kitchen interesting colours and leave me with 1600 yards of unknittable wool. Hence - bad idea.

Another Actual FO!

Pattern: Honey Cowl by Madelinetosh
Yarn: Art by Colinette in Mango Lassi
Project page: Mango Lassi

A victory for the SSKUP! I have successfully taken one poor, neglected skein and knitted it up into rather a lovely FO. The yarn is very variegated with shades of pink, green, yellow and grey so I was looking for something with slipped stitches to really show them off. I discounted the honey cowl at first because I prefer cowls that you can wrap around twice and I didn't have enough yardage for the large version, but then I spotted Acernaea's version while looking for projects made out of the same yarn; she had mods for an inbetween size so I used those and voila; a cowl that loops twice around the neck!

This was very easy and was mostly knitted while I re-watched season 7 of the West Wing. I barely needed to look at my needles so I could spend more time watching Candidate Santos instead, a real shame that...

I shall leave you with a close up of pretty pretty stitches:

The Single Skein Knit Up Project

Or the SSKUP for short (pronounced es-kup, obvs.) The SSKUP was born on the day that I first bought my yarn cupboard and gleefully started organising it. Previously I'd had two rather large boxes, a small box and a pile of Loop bags that held the skeins that no longer fitted into the large or small boxes. The cupboard was going to hold everything, the stash would be contained and organised, my needles, project bags, notions, fiber, books etc would all go in there too so I'd have one central store of crafty goodness. I was very excited in the way that librarians so often are at the prospect of organising things.
And then it didn't fit.
I was slightly appalled when I realised. I covered it well; took some of the books out, gave up on the idea of keeping my fiber and buttons in there (why yes, I have rather a lot of buttons, what else did you expect?) squashed some skeins together and wedged the door shut, then resolved to do something about it. Now, I love my stash and I don't feel at all guilty for having it - it's my money and I'll spend it on whenever I like! But I would prefer it if it fitted in the damn cupboard and didn't start to take over the entire flat.
When I first started knitting I - like all the knitters that came before me and all those that will come after me - went a little bit mad and bought a lot of single skeins because they were pretty or because they were there and then never really decided what to do with them. They went into the stash and slipped to the bottom and were slowly forgotten as they became buried by newer, shinier yarn. So I decided that a good way to reduce the stash as well as make myself feel better about it would be to start unearthing those single skeins, picking a pattern and knitting them up, quickly and without thinking too much about it. Here are some of the projects that have already resulted from the SSKUP:

Photo taking skills; I does not haz them

(Clockwise from top left; Quinalt in Posh Yarn Daisy Sock, Lotus Hat in Malabrigo Twist, Fiona's Top in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select, Darla in Malabrigo Silky Merino)
I'm pretty pleased with how they all turned out and have got some nice gifts out of them (except for the mittens, they are mine and essential at #tinylibrary!) So, after finishing my big red shawl and running out of yarn for the Malabrigo hat I was knitting, I decided it was SSKUP time. I went stash diving and here are the next two candidates:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaarn

Top: Colinette Art in Mango Lassi
Bottom: Knitting Goddess hand dyed aran in semi solid plum
These were stashed in 2010 and I've been a bit stuck with both; the purple is 20% silk and 80% wool but feels quite stiff and the Colinette was bought before I realised that variegated yarns can be really hard to find patterns for! They're both aran weight and around 200 yards, therefore the options are hats, cowls or possibly mittens. I'm gong to start with the purple which will either become a Marigold Slouch or a Sitka Spruce. I'm still considering options for the Colinette; maybe mittens like X Mitts or a cowl like Bertrand Louis or Pedestrian Crossing? I do like the idea of having a rummage through the button stash...
I'll let you know what I decide, but if you're looking for a good method of stash reduction, a small manageable project or a way of using up those old, unloved skeins then I highly recommend adopting the SSKUP approach - it's definitely better than a yarn diet!

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An Actual FO!

This was the best photo of about 20...

Pattern: Kind of Blue by Lauren Frehel (Rav link)
Yarn: 2 skeins Malabrigo Arroyo in Jupiter
Needles: 4mm (5.5mm to bind off, to be on the safe side)
Project page
I finished something, w00t! I did work on this while I was away but didn't actually finish it until the day after we got back. And it was the only thing I worked on, so all that extra yarn I carted halfway up the country was ultimately for nothing. But it was worth it for the peace of mind, so I don't care!
This is the first big shawl I've knitted for me and I love it! It went from 44"x24" when cast off to 60"x31" when blocked, so it's big enough to really wrap myself in. I foresee this getting a lot of wear at one of the libraries I work in which is always about 5 degrees colder than outside; this will be perfect for keeping off the chill from the air conditioning. It's also lovely to look at; the garter stitch portion really shows off the slight variagation of the yarn and moves seamlessly into the lace border which is just dramatic enough to draw the eye while not being remotely difficult to knit! I particularly like the eyelet border as well.
The pattern is easy to follow; it's both charted and written and very easy to read. I nearly made one snafu; the instructions say to knit the chart three times then "work rows 1 to 5" which is then followed by 5 rows of instructions for the bind off. I nearly went straight into the bind off before I realised that it meant to knit rows 1 to 5 of the chart again. Thankfully I studied the photos carefully and realised I was missing something because I wasn't on the wrong side. Phew! I hate unknitting looooooong rows. There's also instructions for a good stretchy bind off which I'll definitely use again.
As for the yarn; Arroyo may bring me back to my one true love, Malabrigo, after the short affair I've been having recently with Madeline Tosh. The colour way is beautiful, made up of shades of red, pink and brown and the yarn itself is soft, smooth and knotless and blocks like a dream. I do love a bit of MadTosh but Malabrigo is so much more affordable for a product that really is just as lovely. I'm sorry, Malabrigo, take me back!
So to recover from such a large project, I've moved onto a hat in Malabrigo Worsted, my ideal knitting project. I'll be back when I've finished that, but I leave you with another pretty shawl photo:

It's the detail that matters

#love!

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But I don't WANT to go home!

Lake Windermere

So, this is where I've been staying this week. Beautiful, right? That's the view of Lake Windermere from the top of Loughrigg Fell, which is opposite the flat we're staying in. In fact, I can just about see our flat on the left hand side of the photo. It's been a fabulous week, very relaxing with mostly good weather. Ambleside is a lovely place to stay in, if slightly short on affordable places to eat. I've bagged two Wainwrights (out of 214...), been to lots of nice museums and eaten rather a lot of fudge. Some of my favourite bits were...

• The Pencil Museum in Keswick, it's a tiny place but interesting and fun and I had to stop myself spending a fortune on pencils in the shop afterwards!
• Zefferelli's in Ambleside, an independent cinema and vegetarian restaurant, they do a double feature deal where you get a reserved cinema seat and a two course meal for £18.75 so we saw Iron Man 3 and ate lots of delicious vegetables
• Climbing Wansfell Pike, lovely views from the top but more importantly we beat all the people who started at the same time as us AND overtook a bunch of other people, go us! (Competitive, me? Noooooo...)
• All the Lakeland Arts Trust places; the Museum of Lakeland Life is really interesting with a good Arthur Ransome bit and lots of stuff about sheep, Blackwell House is a beautiful Arts and Crafts house (if really really crap to get to on foot) and Abbots Hall is a small but good art gallery with a great cafe.
• ALL THE FUDGE!!!

And, I bought yarn! And we all know souvenir yarn doesn't count as stash, right? After visiting the Museum of Lakeland life and reading all about Lakeland wool industry (just so you know, Kendal's motto is Pannus mihi Panis which translates as Wool is my Bread) buying yarn felt appropriate so it was a good job I found a little LYS round the corner called William's Wools. It was mostly Rowan, Artesano and Noro but they had a small selection of locally hand dyed yarns and alpaca from Town End Alpacas, which is what I went for:

 Pretty, pretty alpaca yarn

That's 300 yards of fingering weight pure alpaca in Mushroom, which is undyed. I'm thinking of using it as the contrast colour in one of Kirsten Kapur's new patterns, Carthamus or Rivington Cowl, which obviously means I need to buy MORE yarn for it to contrast with, which I'm obviously very upset about. I think the Shilasdair 4 ply might work well with it, as its an alpaca blend, maybe in Fleece Cloud or Summer Loch or Thistle Bloom... Decisions, decisions.
So tomorrow we head home, and because I stupidly booked the week before the bank holiday weekend off, we're in for a really fun journey as they're digging the line up somewhere between Preston and Lancaster so we're going some mad route via Manchester. I should at least get a lot of knitting done, which is good as I really haven't gotten much done so far...
Anyway, let me leave you with an image you'll like, I bought this postcard in Kendal:

Postcard from Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

See you back in London!

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Holiday knitting

Hurrah, I'm officially on leave! My Out Of Office is on (having been composed at about 9:30am) and I have unsynced my work email from my various i-devices so that I don't get drawn in by anything. Nine days off work and this time tomorrow I'll be in the Lake District - that's assuming I survive the hellishness that is Euston and Virgin Trains mind, oh how I wish I could drive...

Anyway, after much in depth research and dragging various yarns out of the stash cupboard, I have decided what knitting to take! Given that I'm going to be out Doing Things for the majority of the day and that I've got plans to spend lots of time luxuriating in the roll topped bath our rental flat possesses, I doubt I'll need the amount of knitting that I'm taking. But I've learned from the Yarn Harlot's mistakes and I don't think there's any LYSs where we're heading, so I'm going prepared! In the luggage are...

• My Kind of Red shawl (Kind of Blue by Lauren Frehel in Malabrigo Arroyo in Jupiter) this is nearly finished and I'd hoped to get it done before I left, but the rows are getting longer and looooonger so even though I'm halfway through the final repeat its taking me forever. Really like how it's shaping up though and I'm looking forward to blocking it, even if I doubt I'll have enough space in the flat to lay it out!

• My Stand on the Right, Walk on the Left mittens (Frankenfingers by Elizabeth Green Musselman in Mind The Gap by Trailing Clouds) I got terribly excited as soon as I got this yarn and cast on for these amazing elbow length mittens straightaway, then lost enthusiasm for the endless ribbing and couldn't decide whether I wanted to throw in some decreases for my skinny wrists or not. But they'll be a nice mindless knit while we watch the West Wing and I will make a decision about the decreases on the train, I will!

So, that would probably do, but I'm also taking the yarn and needles for two new projects...

• Cheer Me Up by Olga Wedbjer Rambell in Manos Del Uruguay Lace in Silver. Isn't this the prettiest little shawl? Bought the pattern ages ago but have been held up but the first direction which is something along the lines of "cast on 300 stitches using long tail cast on" :s

• Crooked Paths by Melissa LaBarre in Malabrigo Worsted in Simply Taupe. I love me a Mal Worsted hat and I've been wanting something neutral and slouchy like this to wear with my navy White Stuff coat. Obviously I won't now be wearing either of them until next winter, but I'm planning ahead!!

So, does that seem like overkill or a sensible amount? All I'll say is don't be surprised if I post next weekend to say that I finished nothing and cast on nothing...

Oh, I'm taking a knitting book too! I bought Knit To Flatter by Amy Herzog because I really enjoyed her Fit To Flatter blog posts and this book expands on those ideas. I'm hoping it might give me some inspiration to Cast On A Damn Jumper (the COADJ project, if you will) so I'll do a review when I get back.

So off I go with a bunch of finely laid plans that will probably come to naught! I'd like to try and do a couple of short blog posts while I'm away, but that's only likely if I can find an iPad app that actually works properly with Blogger! I'm not holding my breath for that either...

Wish me luck with Euston!

The State of the Stash, Spring 2013

Let's talk stash. Specifically, my stash, my lovely, lovely stash. Judging by the Flash Your Stash thread on Ravelry (a must read) and the sheer number of stash related posts on other blogs, knitters just love looking at other knitter's stashes. Which is great because one of the things I wanted to do with this blog is to try and keep a better track of my stash; whats coming in and going out, whether or not its growing exponentially (which is what it feels like) or whether it's slowly shrinking and I'm therefore justified in buying new yarn.

So, this is the first installment of the State of the Stash, which I'm going to try and post at quarterly intervals (as I don't knit fast enough to justify a monthly post!)

But first, some pictures, because it would be wrong to talk about stash without having pictures as that's the whole point of stash! First, where my stash lives:

That's just an Ikea Billy cupboard

 And here is the inside:

Lovely, lovely yarn!

Now, I must admit that I took these photos a while ago, and the stash has grown since then.... It's still all in the one cupboard (phew!) but the books have been taken out to make space for more yarn!

So, numbers, lets look at numbers. Thanks to the genius of Casey, you can export your Ravelry stash into an excel spreadsheet, thus making it possible to play around with formulas and traumatise yourself with exactly how much yarn you've got. Before I downloaded mine I made sure my stash was updated and all my projects had stash linked, so the numbers are as accurate as I can make them. So, here goes:

THAT'S 19.4 MILES OF YARN! Holy Batman, how can that much yarn fit in one cupboard? Is there a some sort of black hole in there? Should I call CERN?!?

The following Emergency Stash Reduction methods must be employed immediately:

• Relaunch the Single Skein Knit Up project (I shall blog about this soon)
• Cast on a damn jumper and use up one of the THREE jumper quantities of yarn I own
• Start some laceweight projects; those 800 yard skeins are not helping the numbers, damnit!

 

So, we shall see how well I get on with those in the next State of the Stash update, I bet you're all just GLUED to your seats in anticipation!

First, though, I must decide what knitting to take on my holiday. I'm off to the Lake District for a week on Saturday which I NEED LIKE BURNING after the last few months at work. My boyfriend and I will do lots of walking, eat lots of cake and enjoy lots of lounging about in our rented flat, which obviously means I need to take about 4 or 5 projects with me. To the Ravelry advanced search!!!!


ETA: (Okay, I've just read this through and the word 'stash' now looks COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS to me, I've used it so much! Maybe this is how non-knitters feel?)