Category Archives: Yarn Stash

A Winding Evening

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I have gone and lost what little I have left of my mind! The hubby took over the kids for evening to give me a much needed break.  And I went nuts in my stash! I pulled out and wound up yarn for three projects…

  1. The speckled yarn is for a pair of vanilla socks for little old me. I think this might be my Christmas cast on.
  2. The purple solid and light purple variegated yarn is for a tunic dress for PB.
  3. And the tonal burgundy is for a matching set of winter hats for both PB and Jellybean.

Where and when will I have time to knit all this?? Who the heck knows. But now I know the yarn is patiently waiting for me and I can get straight to the knitting when I am ready. And it’s kinda pretty just to look at.

(Note: for those of you who stress about caking yarn up to soon and getting it stretched out. I double wind all my cakes so they are solid but not overly firm cakes. No yarny stress whatsoever on the fiber.)

Happy Knitting!

Mini Madness

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Happy Birthday to me!! I received some birthday money and decided to splurge on another month of Row One Yarn Carnival of Color club. (I didn’t quite meet my healthy lifestyle goals this month…but I didn’t back slide either. I’m just going to continue to make better choices every day.)

This month’s yarn is from Emma’s yarn in her Hella Hank base. Guys…this is like a 17 year old entrepreneur. She has a great website, excellent marketing and amazing yarn. Oh if only I was that smart as a teenager!

Happy Knitting!!

New Old Yarn

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My mother works part time at an antique store come lunch dinette back where I grew up. And because she is an employee she gets to peak through all the goodies that come in. And recently a wooden crate came in that was full of yarn. The antique box sold quickly but the yarn got tossed aside.

Most of it was really old squeaky acrylic but she found a few skeins of actual wool and decided to grab them for me. This is Pace by Universal Yarns and it’s fingering weight made of 75/25 wool to nylon blend. And with five skeins this is just over 1,000 yards in the chocolate color. And I can tell that someone got this yarn at Tuesday Morning.

Will I knit with this? I really don’t know. It doesn’t feel bad when I squish the skein and the color isn’t terrible. But it doesn’t really grab me as yarn that says “knit me now!”. So after a careful freezer and heat cycle to kill any weird hitchhikers I will tuck this into my stash for a rainy day. Or maybe I’ll list it as willing to trade on Ravelry. I’m just happy my momma knows the way to my heart!

Happy Knitting!!

I Have A Problem

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You guys….I have a yarn problem. And Instagram is a horrible enabler! I fell prey to another destash sale on social media after a night of both kids waking up multiple times in the night. I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head. But I was feeling like I needed a little self care and it was being de-stashed at a nice price.

I did only pick up skeins of indie dyers that I had never used before. In order from left to right is:

  1. Lolodidit Spun Sock in the Hippos for Christmas colorway. This is a 75/15/10 Merino/nylon/tencel blend that is destined for socks.
  2. Junkyarn Boss 2 ply sock in the Luna colorway. This is a 80/20 Merino and nylon that has yet to tell me what it wants to be.
  3. Hue Loco Spun Sock in the Skip With Me colorway. This is a 80/10/10 MCN blend that might have to be some sort of hat and mitts.

When will I have the time to knit all this? I dunno maybe when I win the lottery or retire…which ever comes first. But for now they are going into my stash for a rainy day when I need a pretty project.

Happy Knitting!!

Destash Score

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One morning I was perusing Instagram while waiting for my son at the dentist. And I saw one of the dyers I follow was de-stashing some of her personal stash. I though what the hey, I’ll go see. Guys….she was selling primo stuff! And for less than original purchase price.

I saw two wish list yarns and jumped on them like a lion on a wounded wildebeest.

I scored some Voolenvine yarn in her Smitten DK for a color called Mood Indigo. I never managed to catch her updates and had given up hopes of ever trying her yarn. So this was a big win. Next was some Leading Man Fiber Arts Show Stealer in a color called Sand Castle. I had been thinking about putting this yarn dyer on my Christmas list and now I don’t have to.

Guys….both these skeins have CASHMERE in them. They  are soooooo soft and wonderful. I have no idea what they will grow up to be. But I just knew they wanted to come live with me.

Happy Knitting!!

Wishful Knitting: Golden Skein Yarns

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Like any other knitter with a stash, I have some skeins that I would consider “golden skeins” or just too precious to use without just the perfectly suited pattern. For me this is definitely some Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK skeins I have tucked away.

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I have two skeins of Ink (blue) and one skein of Salty Tales (grey speckle). I purchased these wanting someday to make a nice big squishy DK weight shawl in two colors. But I keep having analysis paralysis when it comes to pairing them with the perfect pattern. So today for my “wishful knitting” post I’m going to audition a potential pattern.

I found the Touchstone by Laura Aylor on Ravelry. It’s a asymmetric triangle shaped shawl that uses about same amount of yardage I have on hand. It appears to be squishy garter stitch and lovely eyelets. That’s right up my baby hormone addled brain right now. And a DK weight shawl should work up waaaay faster than a fingering weight one. The pattern is written to use all one color but since I have two I think I would do the garter in the Salty Tales and the Eyelets in the Ink color. I’m not sure how that work work out as far as yarn management goes. But hey, this is wishful knitting and I can do what I want!

My inner mommy also thinks that I should consider making PB a sweater in this as it would go with her beautiful blue eyes…..but I’m not sure I’m ready to give PB Hedgehog yarn until I know how much she will chew on it and spit up on it. I may not be that selfless of a mom….

Happy Knitting!!

Wishful Knitting: Sock Blank Projects

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I have found myself with a surge of knitting mojo juxtaposed with my impending return to work. (With PB in tow I might add. She was approved for the infant at work program at my job.) This has left me with all kinds of project yearnings and no time really to properly sort them all out or work on them.

My recent mental obsession has revolved around sock blanks. I have three in my stash and yet never worked a project out of any of them. That’s just a crying shame. So I pulled the shiniest blank from my stash and lovingly admired it and started wishful knitting.

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This is a blank from Nicki’s Knots in Woodland Park, CO. This was vacation yarn acquired many moons ago. When I purchased it the yarn shop owner (and dyer) gave me a free pattern to go with this blank. I think it was a special one off pattern for a yarn crawl or something. It’s not on Ravelry but it is buried in my email somewhere. I really think my next shawl should be out of this blank. The question is do I work the pattern that was written with this yarn in mind or find a different one….so much wishful knitting…

Oh Hell No

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My husband and I were recently down in the basement doing laundry. The laundry room being adjacent to my craft/guest room. My husband tells me casually “look, there is a moth” as he grabs a paper towel to kill it. Needless to say I FREAKED. A moth was adjacent to my yarny treasure….oh hell no!

So the next day while PB was taking her morning nap I did an airing of the stash. I pulled out ALL my yarn with any kind of natural fiber content and inspected for moth damage. Only a few skeins were protected by plastic bags and I hadn’t aired the stash in awhile so I was worried. I did this in two lots. All my fingering through sport weight yarns…

And then all my worsted and above…. (some of this is acrylic but I wanted to them organized all together by color or sweater quantity).

I luckily didn’t find any moth or insect damage and now all this lovely yarn is located inside zip-lock bags and with lavender sachets inside the storage drawers. I also double checked what is stored in my cedar chest and found no damage there. This process also reaffirmed how much yarn I actually have and I really need to knit some sweaters. I may also put some of this  up for trade/sale when I have a little more brain space and sleep. I didn’t feel in the right mental state to determine if I still love all this yarn.

The next hurdle is to look in the makeshift closet we use for winter coat storage to make sure they aren’t eating any items in there! But this tired mommy is going to leave that for another day…perhaps when the grandparents are here to entertain Jellybean and PB.

Now I just need to get my pulse and blood pressure back down to normal…lol. Happy Knitting!!

Push Present….So To Speak

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I may or may not have splurged on a little push present for myself. PB came so early that I didn’t have time to get my prenatal massage that my husband arranged. So I did a little yarn shopping to aid my surgical recovery.

I picked up some GnomeAcres mini skeins for my memory blanket and a OOAK skein from Yarn Ink. These are both dyers I have not worked with before and have been coveting for a long time.

I’m not sure what the Yarn Ink will become. I’m thinking some sort of ribbed or vanilla sock to really show off the speckles. Only time will tell! I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head but sometimes I just can’t help myself…

Happy Knitting!!

Dryer Ball Experiment

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It was a lovely weekend here in Kansas and so I turned my 3 year tornado loose in the backyard to burn off all his little wonderful energy. I meanwhile wanted to try an experiment. I had been catching up on the backlog of the YarnHoarder YouTube podcast and recently watched her segment on dryer balls. I have had one in the past but I wasn’t impressed. Amber mentioned that she uses several at once and it cuts her drying time in half.

So my 36 week preggo body waddled to JoAnns and came home with some 100% wool to felt. I picked up three different weights to test out….roving, bulky, and worsted.

Jellybean even took play breaks to help me wind into balls!

I got them all wrapped up into balls and ensconced into pantyhose. Jellybean thought this part was HILARIOUS. I wasn’t very scientific about the size. I just split each skein into two balls as best I could tell. They totally didn’t turn out equal. Score one for eyeballing it!

Now I just need to wait for either a load of towels or jeans to pile up so I can pop these into the wash to get them felted!

Happy Crafting!