Saturday, August 4, 2007

My ever-growing yarn stash and knitting bag

I just bought 7 more skeins of cascade 220 (in maize and black, I needed some hufflepuff yarn) and 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky, but this is what my stash currently looks like. Just wanted to add that more was coming...

First I have the Plymouth Encore in 2 colors (dark forest green and dark grey) that I'm using for Luke's slytherin scarf, I bought more than the pattern called for in order to make a matching hat and other things. I also have some cascade cloud 9 in color 112 (one of the discontinued colors) that I bought at the same time from yarn.com. Both were on sale. I am actually going to buy more of the cloud 9 and then knit 2 colors at the same time into a mock-cable scarf. When I get around to it.

Then I have the yarn that I bought at last weekends trip to the LYS, Gail Knits. Where I bought 4 skeins of Adrienne Vittadini Emma. It's a cotton/viscose/silk blend yarn. I bought three in a turquoise color (color #94) and one in a purple color (color #91). I loved the purple, but there was only one left. I snatched it up. I might try and find more of it. I also got one skein of GGH Vamos. It, like the purple, only had one left so I snatched it. I have no clue what I will do with either of these yarns.



I also picked up quite the collection of acrylic yarn also during my weekend shopping trip. (Fiber snobbery aside, I really like some of the nicer acrylics, and they're machine washable which is always a bonus.) There's also some ribbon yarn, I think I may try to make a drop stitch scarf with. They look easy enough to do and are very pretty.

I've also got a shoe box full of yarns that are left over from other projects. Not enough for a project themselves, but too much yarn to just throw out. This collection of yarns has actually come in handy quite a few times.

Then I have a box with 4 skeins of Bernat Masala, 2 of each color: tidal tones and hyacinth hues. There's also 3 skeins of a black 100% cotton yarn, a small skien of black free trade yarn that Aynsley bought in New York. 3 skeins of wool-ease: one in oxford grey, 2 in peacock. Also there's some pink eyelash yarn that Aynsley won on ebay. I've not clue what to do with the eyelash yarn.



Then I have my collection of Malabrigo Merino Worsted. This is absolutely my favorite yarn. It's the yarn that made me see how much better nice yarns are than the cheaper acrylics. I have several different colors. I'm planning on doing my ravenclaw scarf when I get around to it in this yarn (roanoke for the bronze, and azul profundo for the blue). I also might use the tiger lily color for my Ginny Weasley inspired hat.



I have 2 balls that I just wound up yesterday of Cascade 220 in color 9404 (ruby) which was bought because I planned to do the hatmione and matching mittens out of it. (Because that's the recommended color that matches the movie.) I'm think I might do it out of the Jewel Blue Malabrigo that I have instead now. I'm not sure though.I have 10 skeins of chenille that I've bought and yet to use. I have several ideas for it, but haven't put any to the test. This yarn is a bit difficult to knit because of shredding.Lastly I have my collection of Brown Sheep Lambs Pride bulky in several colors. (Including colors to create a couple more Jayne hats.) I also in this picture have several balls of navy wool. I use that wool for simple/test projects.


I also took pictures of my new knitting bag because I was feeling camera crazed and I love this new tote bag!

and now... my current WIPs

These are the new WIPs that I've started since finding my camera. Both of them are scarves. (=bad news since I never seem to actually FINISH a scarf)

First I have the cross-over scarf, pattern taken from the DIY network. I tweaked it a bit to get the size I wanted and the amount of "X's" that I wanted. I'm not sure that I like it though. I'm thinking of just frogging the whole thing and maybe attempting it again later. I really get bored easily with scarves. I don't even think I have enough of the color of yarn to even finish the whole thing, so I'd probably have to do stripes with it.... The whole thing seems to just not want to work out this time around. I think I messed up my Xs as well. They don't seem to actually make an X shape.






The second WIP that I've got is much less frustrating. I've started a simple moss stitch scarf in Caron Bliss yarn (The color is called 'merlot'). It is so soft, and the moss stitch is so easy to knit. It is almost mesmerizing to just sit and knit this. It'll be so nice to have this great big soft scarf. It's also in one of my favorite colors. I can't wait to finish it. I've got 3 balls/skeins of the yarn, I'm just going to knit all 3 of them into the scarf. I really can't think of much else to do with the yarn. I wouldn't like it as a hat.

The first picture doesn't really show the color very well. And none of the pictures can possibly give you any idea of how soft this yarn is. I love it. I'm thinking of getting more to make a throw with, but I really should finish the scarf first!

Finally found my camera! Now for some FOs...

I've got 2 FOs, that I have semi-discussed in my camera-less posts.

My skinny version of a Hogwarts "house unity" scarf
This was supposed to be my skinny scarf that was knit fast and kind of sloppy in worsted weight yarn and size 11 needles that I could wear to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release. BUT when it got to be 10:30 and I had 20 rows left, I gave up and went to the party without it. I figure it'll still serve a purpose and it doesn't look too awful considering that most of the color stripes were from scrap yarn (red and yellow both came from leftovers of Stitch's gryffindor scarf, navy came from my monstrosity ravenclaw scarf, and green I cut some off of Luke's slytherin scarf.) I have no clue what type of yarn the black was. It was sitting label-less in my stash forever so I put it to use. The green and navy are both a little dark and hard to see in the black, but I was working with what I had available and on a very short deadline. I believe I started the scarf the Tuesday before the release. And Tuesday was really the only day I had off that week. I only put about 15 hours total into the scarf. I had a very busy work week and just barely didn't finish in in time.

I'm really fond of the fringe. I added flecks of the color stripes so it wouldn't be all black. It's my favorite part of the whole scarf.

It's finished dimensions are:
only 1 3/4" wide and 60" long before fringe, 68" long with the fringe


My Lion Brand Thick and Quick hat
I'm actually not very pleased with this hat. I finished it fairly quickly, but I'm not at all happy with the decreases. The hat also feels stiff because the yarn was too thick to be used on size 10.5 needles. (Reasons for this needle selection were discussed in this post.)

I have enough yarn left, and I just got new addi turbo 16" circulars in both size 11 and 13 so I think that I'll try again. I do love this color and I think that is worked up nice and quick (hence, the yarn name.)