Stash Busting

With the exception of the yarn I bought to make my dad's birthday hats, I have not bought yarn since February. (Insert pat on the back.) Since February there have been many, many good yarn sales and fiber events that I have had to resist. Despite not having purchased any yarn, I have had plenty to knit. I have been stashbusting. And I like it!

These photos are of my recently completed Victoria Fingerless Mittens. The pattern is from the book, "Knitting Little Luxuries." I knit it with Classic Elite's Classic Silk yarn which I had leftover from my Minimalist Cardigan.

Next is another Felted Bowl that has yet to be felted. This yarn was leftover from wristwarmers I made Paul a few years ago. It is Noro Kureyon and I held it double to make the bowl.

Next up is a little Apple Cozy. Around my house, I am known for my "fruit friends", which are the pieces of fruit that I put in my bag and them proceed to carry to work (and sometimes back and forth a few times). Oftentimes I end up having to throw my fruit friends away because they get all smashed up in my bag. To extend their life a little, I have knit an apple cozy. I might also knit a banana cozy, but then again...maybe that isn't such a great idea :) This yarn may take the cake for being in my stash the longest. Sally gave it to me at least 5 years ago, if not longer.

My lunchtime knitting friend Cassie recently shared a good stashbusting project that she was working on. I have already made three of them with my leftover cotton yarn. They are called Tribbles and are meant to be little scrubbers for dishwashing. You can use them instead of sponges and when they get nasty, they can be put through the washing machine and reused.

So, despite not adding any new yarn to my stash, I have been happily knitting away.

Loose

When I first started knitting (7 years ago!) I made my dad a simple rolled brim hat out of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn. I've knit him other things too, but this hat seems to be his favorite. He wears it to work and when working on projects in the chilly Wisconsin outdoors. He has been given my blessing to wear the heck out of it and has been told not to fear throwing it in the washing machine when it needs it.



When I was in MN in April, he showed me the well worn hat and mentioned that he would like another one just like the blue one he already had. It is pretty unheard of for him to express desire for tangible items, which makes it really hard to get him gifts. So, knowing that his birthday was coming up, I made a mental note that he wanted a hat.



After a trip to A.C. Moore to get some Peaches and Cream, I pulled out the same pattern that I printed out in 2001 and set to work trying to make him a fresh version of the hat he already had. Well, it seems that I have become a loose knitter throughout the years! I cast on for the smallest size and after a few inches it was apparent that this was going to be a much larger hat than I would have expected. But, I thought, this was the exact same pattern, needles and yarn that I had used before so it MUST be right. I remained in denial all the way up until the point that I had woven in the ends and asked Paul to try it on. It was ridiculously large.



His birthday was fast approaching so I had to act quickly. I took some measurements and adjusted the numbers of the pattern in order to resize it. After sizing it down, I was able to quickly work up a well fitting blue version and a second bonus hat in brown. I sent them on their way so that they would arrive in time, but in my haste to get them in the mail, I forgot to take a picture.

What I do have is a picture of my attempt to salvage the oversized hat. I folded the rolled brim and tacked it down.

I am not yet sure of the fate of this hat, but hopefully the ones that I sent to my dad will be worn enough to need replacing again in a few more years because that's how I know he likes them.

Poncho

In addition to the seasonally appropriate shrug, I also have an out-of-season finished project to share.

I was inspired to make this after trying on a sample at the Hub Mills Yarn Store. I bought the pattern book from that store but knew that the yarn (4 skeins of Nature Wool Chunky) was on sale at Webs so I waited until my trip to Webs to get the yarn.

The pattern was written by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton, is called Kotan Poncho and IT MADE ME SO MAD!! It was a one page, seemingly simple pattern except for the fact that the numbers were wrong at many parts of the pattern and the instructions for the decreases at the top of the pattern were awful. They were so awful that after following them once, I ripped back and did what made sense to me. My version looked a lot better and preserved the stitch pattern while also decreasing. I shouldn't have to rewrite the pattern especially not when it was a pattern that I paid for! I seriously want my $18 back. I bought the pattern book just for this pattern and it was definitely not worth the money.

Despite the badly written pattern, I am happy with the end result and can imagine this keeping me warm and cozy in the winter. However, I will not be buying any more patterns from this designer or from the publisher of the pattern book. Seriously people, test knit it before you slap the price tag on it, please!

Shrug

In honor of spring, I knit up a little shrug.

I bought this yarn to make a scarf. I had a specific pattern in mind (Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf from 101 Designers One Skein Wonders). After checking the gauge, I realized it wouldn't work for that pattern. I brought out my trusty stitch dictionary and tried a few options. I wasn't happy with any of those. So, I decided the yarn wasn't meant to be a scarf and that I would wait until the right project came along. The yarn has been stashed until I recently came across a simply constructed shrug. I heavily modified it and came up with this:

The shrug used 2.5 skeins of Tahki - Sky, which is an organic cotton. I think it is a relatively new yarn. I made up a combination of stitch patterns. The construction is simple: cast on, knit a tube, knit flat for a while, knit a tube to match the first tube, bind off.

(Thanks to Paul for taking the pictures.)

Frolf

The long, glorious weekend has ended. But, at least I know we made the best of it.


On Sunday Paul and I ventured north to Amesbury for a day of frisbee golf/disc golf/frolf. You may remember this place from last year. As far as we know, this course is the only course within an hour of Boston. Good thing we enjoy it there.

I've got to work on my game, though. Paul is consistently a throw or two ahead of me on each hole.

Part of the course is a bit risky. A few holes go along or across the water. Last year Paul lost a disc in the pond so he was extra cautious about his throws. Me, not so much. I thought I was steering clear but one of mine ended up in the pond. It wasn't too far in so Paul was able to go in after it. If he develops any mysterious rashes on his legs from the skanky water, I take full responsibility.

Besides being home to many errant frisbees, the pond houses a gagillion tadpoles. This isn't the greatest picture but maybe you can spot them. They are the biggest tadpoles I have ever seen.

After we finished our game, we ate a picnic and spent some time in the shade set to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. The music was provided courtesy of the ice cream truck that wouldn't leave.

After a few days of being outside in the nice, summery weather I finally had enough motivation to do the change over of seasons in my closet. I put away lots of bulky winter clothes and brought out the dresses and skirts. It required a full Sunday evening and a big glass of wine. Not only did I finish the changeover, I also purged things that don't fit my style or my body anymore. Sally would be proud of me. Fanny enjoyed napping atop the purge pile before I got around to bagging it up for donating.

We finished up the weekend with a Vegetarian BBQ at Beth's house.

What a refreshing weekend! I got spoiled by being able to sleep in every morning, which made this morning that much more of a rude awakening. As En Vogue would say, it's time to get "Back to Life, Back to Reality."