Tag Archives: stash

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!!

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!!

Canadian Yarn

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A dear dear friend sent me a quick note to expect a little surprise in my mailbox. We live across the country and once in awhile we tuck things into the mail to surprise each other. Okay….let’s be real…we are 30 something adults with careers and kids. We try to remember each other’s birthdays and end up sending packages 6 months later, lol.

Well, this yarny beauty showed up in my mailbox!

She claims this was a combination of late night Instagram skimming with wine plus the favorable US to Canadian exchange rate. But she thought I needed a pick-me-up skein of self-striping sock yarn. This is even a new to me dyer! I have seen the Cozy Knitter yarn on several podcasts and thought it was amazing. This is a Bliss sock set in “Celebrate the Night”. Jellybean was ecstatic that the contrasting heel/toe/cuff skein was purple. That’s his FAVORITE.

If my Smooth Operator Socks go well and fit like I hope then this skein may just well end up being SOS socks as well!

Happy Knitting!!

Caution…..Yarn Ahead

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My stress level at work has not improved. A very lovely coworker experienced a sudden and sad loss in her family and thanks to the lack of fore planning by my less than stellar supervisor my work load tripled at an already busy time of the year.

And since I can’t drink wine or consume copious amounts of caffeine I drowned my feelings in pretty new yarn. Perhaps not the best for the size of my stash…but it was some pretty awesome self-care in my opinion.

I picked up some Western Sky Knits Aspen sock with nylon in the Fairy Dust colorway. And then I hit up some wish list shopping….The Lemonade Shop! The middle skein is some Mighty Sock in the Toxic Oreo color. And the final skein is Simple Sock in the Stormy Day colorway. I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head but these made me feel the pull of my knitting mojo again which has ebbed in the latter stages of my pregnancy.

Now I just need these beauties to tell me what they want to be! Happy Knitting!!

Yarning Again

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My knitting mojo has been a bit illusive lately. Even though I have lots of things on the needles and I love them all….I just can’t quite get excited about them. I’m in my third trimester and outside of ice cream or a nap not a lot make makes my heart go pitter patter, lol.

I got a small boost in my knitting realm the other day, I was the lucky recipient of a giveaway on the Bede Sisters Podcast and the host Kay. She’s a delight to listen to and the giveaway win is just the pick me up I needed! I received this special package in the mail…

And in it was two skeins of Felici Sock in the Soft Serve colorway. They are the most delicate Easter/ice cream colors and this yarn is my sister’s FAVORITE to receive hand knit socks in. She loves the soft fabric it creates. I’m not sure given my impending due date that these will hit the needles right away, but it’s nice to tuck away some yarn that I know will have an enthusiastic recipient.

I was also weak…..my job has really stunk here lately. Like it’s been super stressful and busy and just a hot mess where I may have actually cried one day. I sort of self-medicated with some super super duper wish list yarn. I have one pair of KnitCircus socks from their gorgeous rainbow gradient and I have been craving their yarn since then. And having an internet enable smart device while pregnant and stressed is a heady mix.

I picked up some KnitCircus Greatest of Ease 75 gram matching sock set in the Electric Mayhem color. These will need to be on my needles SOON! They are a pregnancy dream….already matched and wound into ready to knit cakes. Now I just need needles and a bag and I’m good to go. Soon my pretties….soon….

Happy Knitting!!

Yarn Shop Adventures

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My travels for work had me gone over Valentines. Which is not a huge thing for the hubby and I but still seemed a bummer to miss both my boys on such a fun day. I consoled myself by using my first solo Uber and locating a LYS in St. Paul. I found the Yarnery!

It was delightful and the staff was friendly and helpful. They had a TON of yarns that I don’t have access back in Kansas. The shop was organized by weight and very very pretty. I settled on three very pretty yarns and two cash register splurges…

I got some Mrs Crosby Hat Box in the Pansy color. This was a sport weight yarn. Then I chose some Neighborhood Fiber Co. Rustic Fingering in the Easterwood color. This 100% is most definitely for a shawl or hat. Finally from a sale bin I chose a single 50 gram skein of Shibui Knits Staccato in Raspberry. It was the only one of the color but I figured I could make a small pair of mitts while trying a new to me yarn.

Then I splurged on an Yarnery enamel pin and some Love + Leche balm. It was very very dry in Minnesota even compared to Kansas. My lips and hands were in dire need of some hydration!

Finally I rounded out the night by having Valentines dinner delivered to my room. I chose rosemary cheese fries with a side of molten chocolate brownie with ice cream! It was mom-free zone slice of heaven.

I can’t wait to go back next year! Happy knitting!!

Another One Bites the Dust

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I popped open my email the other day to a sad note. One of my favorite local(ish) yarn stores was closing after 12 years. Yarns Sold and Told is an hour and a half away from my house so I didn’t exactly drop in all the time but I adored it none the less. It’s where I took Jellybean for his monkey yarn. The lovely ladies there were always welcoming and helpful without being pushy, and the yarn selection and aesthetic was right up my design aesthetic. I always found something that needed to come home with me.

Well they are closing their doors and the entire store was 40% off…..I’ll pause for dramatic effect. So while my husband was out of town I took Jellybean to Papa’s house for a boys only day and my mother, aunt and I hit the yarn store. I pretty much exhausted my yarn savings account. But I came away with some really need stuff to fill holes in my stash and new yarns I haven’t tried yet! (And mom purchased two sweater quantities of Berroco Chunky and Berroco DK for my birthday….next November). It was a lovely day of shopping with family, just sad for the reason for our trip.

Any way…..here is the flash of stash or yarn porn section of this post….

From left to right you can see

  • Cascade Heritage Sock in Italian Plum
  • Cascade Heritage Sock in Dahlia
  • Cascade Heritage Sock in Moss
  • Wonderland Yarns Cheshire Cat Mini Pack in Mad Tea Party
  • Wonderland Yarns Messenger Kit #13
  • Cascade Heritage Sock in Zinnia Red
  • Anzula Ava in Raspeberry (this one has cashmere….mmmmm)
  • Cascade Heritage Prints in the Tropics

I picked up the solid colors of the Heritage Sock for contrasting heels, toes and cuffs. And the rest of the yarn was just pure lust and yarn fumes. I just couldn’t pass up the 40% off deal. It’s how I dealt with the impending loss of one of my favorite yarn shops. Now I just need to jump start my knitting mojo and get some of this yarn cooking!!

Happy Knitting!!