Zig Zag socks

So that is another pair of socks down.  I really did not like the colour changes in the Zig Zag. Now have half a ball of it but I will be good and use it. I have a test knit and it is the right weight. I don't think the colour change will be supportive for the cables in the pattern but why not have a test knit to prove that variegated yarns are not suitable for the pattern. I could be completely wrong but it somehow I don't think I will be.

The stash down is continuing as I am now looking at what yarn we have left and what I can use it for. I also need to get some items done for the autumn. My God woman England is the middle of the warmest three days of the year and you are already thinking about autumn.... I  know I know but you have to be prepared. I am also planning to catch up with my A-Z knitting but I need another knitting project which is not 2.50 mm needles.

Stash Down 2011

This year I have been doing a bit of a stash down attempt. Basically I looked at my Coal bunker and thought that i should reduce the amount of items I have in it.  I have fabrics that are 20 years old sitting there waiting to do something about it.  I want to get the shelves down considerably so I am not overflowing.  Some of the stash has been shared with a local charity shop as I was honest with self that I was never going to use it at all.  Part of my stash includes fabrics stashed by my grandmother.  Nothing like inheriting stash.

So far this year everything has been knitted, sewed or crocheted from the stash. I have mainly only done minor purchases such as lining for daughter Carnaby skirt and buttons. These purchases have not ended up as stash but rather helped the stash to enter into the wonderful world of being finished projects. The one yarn purchase I have done this year was some crochet thread so I could do a surprise project for the daughter.  This project is currently on the back burner since daughter is on holidays so I can not seem to get anything done without her putting her sticky beak in.

After the tour de fleece I have a lot handspun which I will be using for projects but when I sorted out the coal bunker I noticed I still had a lot of hand spun which I had not found a use for.  So as part of the stash down I want use up my hand spun as much as possible.  The Moorlit fleece which is a now a nice yarn will need to get a decent photo before I knit it up into a cardi for hubby. This will be his Christmas pressie this year.  I still have the 500gms of BFL in a Mocha which I will have to work out what I am going to use it for.  There Shetland braid from Wonkyknitter which I had in the stash which was spun and then knitted into a Haurni shawl.  I have blocked it but I will need to re block it as I wont ask the children what happened.  We have reached August and I have not done a major yarn purchase it is amazing.  

Sock yarn wise I am almost getting to the bare cupboard situation. Currently I am knitting some socks in some King Cole Zig Zag that I had in the stash which I had regretted purchasing. The stash down attitude has helped me to use this yarn cause I had in the past gone meh, not that keen to use.  The yarn has too short of yarn colour change and I am not enamoured with it.  Additionally I don't think the yarn is particularly sympathetic to the pattern and it would have probably better knit in a plain coloured yarn. As I am knitting my H pattern in the yarn which is top down design I a suddenly hit upon a solution. Don't make the socks for me.  Make them for someone who will like the colours.  Simples! My sock foot is suddenly shorted from a size 8.5 to a tiddly 3.5.  Sanity back in check and the feeling of absolute relief when I get the first sock done.   But I still have a second sock to finish.  Must knit this second sock now to brake the chance of a large hiatus or the dreaded second sock syndrome.

Stash diving like a Bush Turkey.

Since the last disaster of the cardi which could fit Hagar the horrible and a couple of his closest cronies in it, I have been stash diving. It has  definitely been an Aussie scrub or bush turkey scratching effort through the stash and repeatedly redistributing the skeins and balls of yarns. If you want to know about the australian love hate relationship check out makeminemid-century's various blogs (in the bush turkey link) about these animals who many gardeners consider as vermin. They are not bad BBQ-ed and they do rotavate the ground pretty well.

the Marvellous toy

It is amazing how calming spending time in the winding zone is for me.  So what is the winding zone I hear you ask. This is where you set up and wind up ball after ball on this marvellous toy becoming hypnotised by the rhythmic rattle of the cogs and gears. It can be a bit like the whirling dervish effect were the repeated movement and actions send you into an intoxicated trance like euphoria that has the beneficial cause I now have lots of little nicely wound yarn cakes and my stash has been sorted out into various categories.

Some of my hand dyed yarn caked up

It is amazing how order can bring calm to the distressed mind and individual.