Stashbustin’ #44: Purl Ridge Scarf

Remember these tasty skeins from my birthday?

_MG_0244

After some petting and smooshing I knew exactly what they wanted to be. I have been admiring Stephen West’s Purl Ridge Scarf on Ravelry. He is such an amazing designer! (I’m not sold on swants….but still)

4333730974_7ecda8d02f_z

 

(Photo from the westknits Ravlery page)

This tweedy yarn is a mix of merino, llama, wool, and bamboo. It is going to feel so luxurious around my neck. Sure, I have a million other things on the needles. Sure, I have other cowls to keep me warm. But I NEED this one 🙂 Besides, it looks like a quick knit with just knit and purl rows arranged together.

What’s wrong with that logic?

Happy Knitting!

Yarn Splurge

I was a bad bad girl on my birthday. I hit the “Going Out of Business” sale at my LYS like a Kansas tornado. I couldn’t pass up the 30% discount on the entire store stock. I snatched two sweaters worth of worsted weight, three single skeins of DK weight, some sock yarn, and finally some yummy tweed for a cowl or hat.

Wanna see?

_MG_0257

Berroco Vintage in teal

_MG_0255

Berroco Vintage in oatmeal

_MG_0253

Berroco Vintage DK in pink

_MG_0250

Berroco Vintage DK in purple

_MG_0248

Berroco Vintage DK in black

_MG_0246

Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet in burgundy

_MG_0244

Knit One Crochet Two Brae Tweed in green

Now to head over to my Ravelry queue to find some perfect patterns…..

Happy Knitting!

Stashbustin’ Stat Update

This year is almost up!!! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone and Christmas is right around the corner. My Mom and I had a wonderful day this past weekend selling at the craft fair.  And boy howdy, are we tired! Being a knitting masochist, I have another craft fair yet to come before Christmas! I need to get back to my needles to “restock” my wares!

So today, instead of a object orientated post I’d like to share my “progress” this year on stash busting.

  • I have 42 Stashbustin’ projects in 2013 (not counting special request and craft fair wares)
  • I have completed 31 projects, frogged 2 projects, four projects are in hibernation, and I have five current WIPs.
  • I have knit approximately 8.56 miles and have another 1.88 miles on the needles
  • I have donated 1 mile of yarn to charity
  • And despite my best efforts…..added 8.94 miles of yarn back to my stash

Now I am still in the black as far as yarn in/yarn out. But I bought a lot of yarn this year. Some was for specific projects and special orders. Others was just because I could. I did get rid of some of my less than tasty bits of yarn and replaced it with better and higher quality fiber.

My stashbustin’ efforts may slow down a bit as we march towards 12/31, as I do last minute holiday gifts and restocking my craft wares. But I think I have made solid progress this year! I am still debating if I do another year of stashbustin’ in 2014 or some other method of measurement. I’m leaning towards another year of stashbusting just so I can see if I can beat my previous years levels…

Any thoughts?

FO Friday: My New Craft Space!!!

One big item is crossed off my vacation t0-do list, setting up my craft room! I spent most of Wednesday getting everything unpacked and situated. I’ll apologize for the photos. I took them with my DSLR but there is no natural light in this particular room and Photoshop can only do so much.

Here are the before shots:

_MG_0360

 

_MG_0362

 

_MG_0361

 

About half of those boxes are my craft supplies and the other half is just boxes that got dumped in the room as we set up the rest of the house. I’m happy to say that most of the house is now set. We are still waiting on a new bed to be delivered and my parents to bring the upstairs living furniture that we are “inheriting”.

But I digress….now the after photos. And I’m really proud of how it turned out!!!

_MG_0392First up is my yarn stash, all my reading books, and finished scrapbooks. I picked up some clear storage bins at Big Lots and thanks to my all 2013 destashing efforts all my yarn fits in the bins on the right. I can see what I have now and no more under the bed storage. I prefer to organize my yarn by fiber type rather than weight/category.

_MG_0395

 

This is my fabric storage, sewing machine, craft books, and other craft bits. I hope to find a chair so this will become my regular blogging spot. I mostly likely will sew upstairs on my dining room table but will store everything down here.

_MG_0393

 

Behind the door is where I put my old notebooks and my WIP scrapbooks and other assorted bits. I don’t want to store too much here as the furnace is on the other side of the peg board and puts out occasional dust.

_MG_0394

 

And finally our second guest bed and my new “couch” in the craft room. We are getting a new master bed and moving our old master bed to the guest room. So this bed had to go somewhere. It will be a nice place to stretch out and knit and when we have extra company we can pull it out for guests.

I can’ t wait to get to crafting in my new space!! TGIF!!!

 

Falling Off The Wagon

I had a moment of weakness….a fairly large one. Despite having quite the large stash at home and my 2013 destashing objective…..I bought yarn, quite a lot of it…

20130127-164822.jpg

I was at Micheals in Sunday for their big sale (first mistake) and I found the Lion Brand Organic Cotton on CLEARANCE! With my coupons it was just $5 a skein when it retails for $9 most places. I gave in (second mistake) and bought what they had left.

I really really like this cotton! It’s soft and strong and oh so luscious!! I added 21 skeins to my stash. But I’m going to go with The Yarn Harlot’s point of view on this one and say a sale is too good to pass up. I got great cotton at a great price, win win! I’ll just have to knit that much harder through my stash.

No sense in crying over spilt milk so onward I knit! Have you ever gone overboard on yarn?

Progress Update

No FOs yet, so I thought I’d share some progress on my current WIPs.

First up, Stashbusting project #2!

_MG_0428 _MG_0427

I’ve only managed to complete the border edge and three pattern repeats on my Waffle Blanket. I like this project but it’s not really holding my attention. Don’t get me wrong it’s a cool project, it’s just that I like my other projects better right now. I’m not a monogamous knitter so it doesn’t really bother me. I pick it up every now and then otherwise it’s safe and sound in a project bag.

Next up, Stashbastin’ #6!

_MG_0425 _MG_0424

 

I LOVE THIS PROJECT! It’s just so pretty and the cotton is so soft and yummy to feel under my fingers. I just started my third stripe on my Zig Zag Blanket. I plan on alternating the cream and brown back and forth until the end. I altered the pattern to make it a bit longer than the original design. I like my baby blankets to big enough to wrap around a kid and not just lay over them. The second row is a purl row and slows me down a bit, I really don’t mind purling but I’m slow at it. But the first row is so fast and easy. I have already committed it to memory. This project is my go-to couch knitting while the husband and I watch TV and movies.

Finally, Stashbustin’ #7!

_MG_0423 _MG_0422

 

I’m on my third stripe of my second Chevron Blanket. I decided to add grey into the color mix. I altered the pattern and added extra stitches (original by the Purl Bee) to be a bit wider. I liked the original, I just wanted it to be wider and more of lap blanket. However, in doing this it’s throwing the yarn yardage off more than I thought and attempted to calculate. After the first two stripes it was clear I was not going to have enough blue and gold to finish. I had enough gray in my stash to augment is blanket and get to the necessary length with the added width. And I think the grey is going to add a lot of color interest!

This blanket is all garter stitch with easy increases and decreases so it’s crazy fast with the bulky yarn. This project lives on my nightstand next to my bed. I work a few rows every night before I go to sleep. It’s a great way to unwind after a long day.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Stay tuned for more knitting progress and new projects this week!

Happy Kniting 🙂