Stashdown update October

As promised, here is the latest installment of my stash graph

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The general slight downward trend has been slightly upset by my recent shopping spree which is a bit annoying when you see the sharp upswing in the number of balls being used this month.  I guess this very nearly offsets the number of balls added though, so it could have been much worse.  Pretty much everything I bought is earmarked for an upcoming project so hopefully I should blow through it all pretty fast and I can continue to see the numbers going down.  As long as I end the first year of this graph with less balls of yarn than I started with I will consider this stashdown a success.

New yarns!

My much anticipated package of yarn arrived yesterday which was very exciting, it's been a while. I'm now furiously knitting away on my current project so that I can cast on with some of it. It's all earmarked for little projects I have coming up so now I just have to decide what to knit first.

This Drops Alpaca is destined to become a hat for my SIL for Christmas, the pattern I have chosen is As The Leaves Begin to Fall by Eliza Jarvi. SIL is totally knitworthy so I'm hoping this turns out really nicely and that she likes it a lot.

The grey and white Drops Nepal is for a pair of Convertible Owl Mittens by Rebecca Reveal for Cassie. These are so cute I think they may be my next project. The pink will be combined with some turquoise Nepal that is already in my stash to become a Little Coffee Bean Cardigan by Elzabeth Smith for baby

This Drops Delight is actually not for me, my MIL has been muttering about learning to knit socks so this yarn will be part of her Christmas present along with some DPNs and a beginners sock knitting book.

These two balls of Drops Lima will each become either a Kilkenny or a Cubba (both Woolly Wormhead patterns) I haven't decided which is for which yet.

And lastly this ball of Drops Big Delight is for one of the worsted weight shawls in my favourites, I haven't decided on that one yet. I also got 3 of the Drops pattern leaflets, all of the patterns are available online but each leaflet was £1, there are loads of patterns in each and it saves on printing if there are a few things you want to make. I foresee quite a few Drops projects in my future now.

 

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FO: Cassie's Sweater

Good news, Cassie's sweater was lovely and dry this morning, which is more than I can say for this part of England, the weather here has been quite awful.

There's not too much room to grow for her in this one, but I'll confess that I didn't swatch so the fact that it fits at all is fine by me. I'm certainly more relaxed about it knowing that we are having another little girl, so we will definitely get more use out of all of Cassie's clothes. I probably will still make baby her own version of this sweater. I definitely don't have enough of the light pink left for that, so hers won't be exactly the same, but I have enough lilac to use instead which I think will be just as nice.

I know these aren't the greatest pictures ever. I cannot get a good picture of Cassie at the moment at all. As soon as I get the camera/phone/iPad out she has to come and see what is on the screen so most of my photos are of her running towards me or extreme close ups. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this problem, but it sure is frustrating.

Again the pattern for this sweater is the Scrap Sweater for the Small Ones by Yarn Madness.

 

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Little updates

Cassie's sweater is done, it's currently taking its sweet time drying after its bath but I'm hoping that Cassie will be able to wear it tomorrow. I'll add pics as soon as I can get them.

My latest stash inventory is done and now everything that I can find is up to date on Ravelry (here if you are feeling nosy). There are a few balls I haven't come across yet but I'll add them as they turn up. The whole object of the exercise was to see if I could put myself off doing any yarn shopping for my upcoming projects, but alas (yeah right!) there were a couple of projects I had nothing suitable for, so....

I hit up the Wool Warehouse online shop on Friday afternoon and I should have some woolly lovelies to share in the next few days. I probably got a few more balls then was strictly necessary but I was getting close to free delivery so it seemed rude not to. I have finished a few balls of yarn this month and also given a couple away so hopefully my shopping spree won't completely ruin the downward trend on my stash graph which I'll post right at the end of the month.

After I've done a few more rows on my baby blanket (I've done over 100 now) I'll be starting the first of my deliberate Christmas projects. Unfortunately I won't be able to post anything on this one, just in case, so hopefully I can finish it up quickly and move on to more interesting blogging fodder.

So, send yarn drying vibes to us and hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some cute pics of Cassie in her new sweater.

 

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WIP and temptation

Cassie's sweater is coming along nicely, I've got just a few centimetres of stripes left to do and then it's just the waistband and sleeves to complete. I really like the way this is turning out, it's an easy and enjoyable knit and I think I might have enough yarn for another little one so I'm almost definitely going to make one for baby too.

Of course as the end is in sight I'm looking towards my next projects and as usual I have a few in mind. I have a couple of things I'd like to make as Christmas gifts and the temptation to buy yarn for those projects is growing ever stronger. The fact that Drops are currently having an Alpaca Party with a big discount on all of their yarns with an alpaca content is not helping. With this in mind I'm very diligently diving back into my stash and adding everything to my stash page on Ravelry to help me see whether I really need to buy yarn. I've done about half of it so far and will probably do the rest over the next couple of days. If, after I have completed all of it, I really and truly do not have the yarn I need for these special projects then it's Wool Warehouse here I come!

 

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Next!

After finishing the Snowbaby Hat and putting in a good few rows on baby's blanket it was time to choose a new main project. There are a few things I still want to make for baby, but I've realised that Cassie's need is greater. It's starting to her pretty chilly here and she's going to need warm clothes well before the baby arrives. So, keeping up with the colourwork theme I've cast on for a Scrap Sweater for Small Ones by Yarn Madness. This is the second Yarn Madness sweater I've cast on for Cassie, the first being the Morpheus which I had to rip back after I ran out of yarn earlier this year. I know I have enough yarn for this one, lets just hope it fits her when it's done. This pattern has loads of sizes so, if it turns out well I may just knock out another one for baby. I'm not really into matching outfits for my girls, but they don't actually have to wear them at the same time do they?

Oh and yes, that is yet more of the pink Debbie Bliss Merino DK, I swear that stuff has been breeding in my stash. I'll be using Cygnet Wool Rich Aran again too, for colours 2 and 3, but this time in dusky pink and brown giving the lilac a bit of a rest. Don't worry though, I have a plan for the last of that.

 

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FO: Snowbaby Hat

I've not been having the greatest time of it this last week or so. First I came down with a horrible cold, some 'relief' from that came in the form of an extremely unpleasant tummy bug which left me all weak and tired which is when my cold came back with a vengeance. I'm still not 100% but at least I'm feeling well enough to knit again, which I hadn't been for a few days.

Once I was sure I could muster up the concentration for a bit of stranded knitting I got going again on my Snowbaby Hat. Colourwork is certainly getting easier each time and I'm already planning my next colourful project. The chart was really easy and I would certainly recommend it to other novices. Once the chart was done I just had the crown decreases to do and the hat was finished in no time.

I really like the finished product, it needs a bit of a blocking but the pattern shows up well and looks pretty even already. The hat will be lovely and warm too with the folded brim and stranding. However, much as I love it I sort of don't love it on me. I generally prefer a slouchy hat and I've finally realised that it is because, to me, they sort of balance out my tiny head a bit. This hat is now going to make a lovely Christmas gift for a special lady though, so far from being disappointed I've actually managed to make a head start on Christmas, hooray!

 

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WIP: Snowbaby Hat

While work on the baby blanket continues slowly in the background I've started working on my next main project. Because I seem to be on a mission to use it up I'm using the pink Debbie Bliss Merino and purple Cygnet that I've used recently for the Robot Mittens and Cassie's socks. This time however I am actually knitting something for me. As part of my quest to keep practicing stranded colourwork I've chosen to knit the Snowbaby Hat by Mimi Hill (her lovely blog is here). This hat is so cute, I purchased the pattern quite a while as part of the Eskimimi Makes Hat Collection and I'm really pleased that I'm finally getting around to knitting one of the patterns.

Right now I have just reached the point where I'm about to add the purple and start knitting the two colour part. Obviously up until now the going has been fairly easy, despite which I have already had to rip back twice but that was due to some serious incompetence on my part. Sometimes it's hard to believe I actually know how to knit! I've been really looking forward to getting cracking on the chart, it looks really simple and lacks any great long colour runs so I won't need to worry too much about my floats. I've actually had to take the evening off work because I'm not feeling too well, so I'm looking forward to some extra free time when I can sit and make a good start on this.

 

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WIP: Star Illusion Blanket

This should be an FO post, Cassie's socks are done, but as only one of the pair can currently be found I'm going to hold off. This is what happens when you try a single sock on a toddler and then let her wear it for a while. I'm sure it will turn up soon.

Instead I thought I'd post about my Star Illusion blanket as I've realised that I haven't actually mentioned any details about it here other than that I'm making it. I think I've had a lot of apprehension about it, I was worried that it wasn't going to work out for various reasons but now I'm far enough into the project to be fairly sure that it will be just fine.

Still not long enough for a decent photo!

The yarn I'm using is Cygnet Wool Rich Aran in grey and purple. These aren't the colours I'd have chosen if I was starting from scratch, but they were in my stash in the right amounts and it seemed like a golden opportunity to use it up. I was a bit worried that these colours weren't contrasting enough to work, but I needn't have worried. My other worry was that, like a lot of people I'm working the pattern backwards to avoid purling entire rows. In the pattern the stitch pattern of knits and purls is worked on the right side with the wrong side being a rest row where you purl across. I'm knitting so that the pattern is worked on the wrong side meaning that I need to work backwards across the chart, knitting the purls and purling the knits. I have written out instructions, transposing them as I go, but there was a real possibility that I'd buggered it up somewhere so I wasn't feeling too confident. Luckily I've now got to a point where I can see the pattern beginning to emerge and lo and behold, stars! Such a relief.

I can see that there is still a lot of work to go, but I'm enjoying knitting this so far and, even though it is a simple knit, watching the pattern emerge is super cool and exciting so I don't think I'll get bored any time soon.

 

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