Old Stash Love

Other than buying for my projects I have been very good in not randomly adding to my stash. I’ve actually been quite good for the last few years. Before I dropped away from blogging I had something to show every month. I’m quite proud of myself and don’t ask me how I have managed to stay so strong. I still follow all my favourite dyers and I have come across new ones too (new to me). I wish I had that will power in other ways. However, I have not been so good at using my stash. Maybe just a skein here and there but certainly not enough to make a dent in it.

I decided that one of my challenge projects should be a shawl. I have maybe finished one for myself and it was a very easy one. I remembered I had bought a kit for a mystery knit along. So I looked out the yarn and I looked out the pattern. There is one skein missing. I have pulled my cupboard apart. I have no idea why it wouldn’t be with the rest and I have a horrifying feeling that I have knitted it up not remembering it was part of a set. The yarn is by Felt Fusion and it is beautiful. If I remember correctly I told her my favourite colours and I asked her to surprise me which she did and I don’t think that I could have done better. I loved it. My plan is to clear out my cupboard and sort out my stash to see if I can find that speckled yarn. If not I know I have similar in my stash. The pattern is Starting Point by Joji Locatelli. I LOVE this designer. I don’t think I have seen a design of hers that I haven’t liked and my favourites on ravelry are filled with her patterns. At some point this will definitely be going on the pins.

I’m afraid I had to look up who I got the yarn for my shawl from. The bundle was tied with ribbon and it is long gone. Thankfully my etsy history came to my rescue. While I was there I came across a Star Trek bag that I had bought for my sister who was into her sewing at the time. I had an instant pang of jealously and wondered why I hadn’t gotten one for myself. As I was searching my cupboard for the missing yarn I realised I had as I came across my sock project bag. Yes people, I’m a huge geek and I don’t care. I love my bag and the drawstring on this one is Molly proof. Trust me, she has tried. This gorgeous bag was made by Owl About Yarn and I have a few of her bags. I can testify that they are well made.

Hiding in the bag were two beautiful skeins of sock yarn. Also by Owl About Yarn. The dark one has a sparkle base. I have no idea what I bought these for. I have a feeling it would have been something specific given hat I bought them together and that they match well. It seems only right that I use them both for the same project. They have now been wound and are on the pins in an effort to continue my Brioche education. 

I also went into my last fibre share box and pulled out these two 50g skeins. I am thinking of using them for fingerless mitts. Again as part of my garment challenge. Or maybe I should knit gloves since I have never done that before. I could look out one of my many mini skeins to go with it to add a pop of colour. The yarn is beautifully soft and I can’t wait to knit with it. I have had these in the back of my head ever since I received it a few years back.

Sitting on my bookcase in my cupboard was this yarn by my talented friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. I think it was on my bookcase because I must have brought it over from my dad’s. I originally had two of these which was part of one of Lisa’s themed clubs (I can’t remember which one, sorry Lisa). I love the bright colours and these will definitely be a pair of socks. If I use mini skeins I might even get two pairs out of them. I am thinking that I could pick out a pattern for them since the colour changes are in large blocks.

The last thing I pulled out of my cupboard is this pack of mini skeins. Unlike the vast majority of my stash these are DK and it works out at 100g. These were a thank you gift from Mothy and the Squid. Again, I can’t for the life of me remember why she sent them. I just remember being so chuffed at her kindness at the time. As well as being just a little bit in love with them. I had a project in mind for them but I have since changed my mind. Any ideas what I could do to highlight the whole pack? This is a set that MUST be used in one project. Oh, and they are 100% merino and therefore super soft.

I’ve been enjoying rediscovering these little treasures. I know that there are many more in there and as I said, I plan to give the stash cupboard a good tidy. I think that once my Brioche faze is done I will have a stash busting challenge (alongside my garment challenge). Just so I can finally knit with these lovely yarns.

Oh, and both Mothy and the Squid and For the Love of Yarn have new club boxes out which are so beautiful and make it very difficult for me to not buy yarn. If you are in the mood to treat yourself I highly recommend that you check them both out.

My stash June/July

A bit of a cross over for this post. One item is from July and it arrived this week. First of all I signed up for an exclusive with Owl About Yarn. She did a special set based on Wonder Woman. With it I got two hanks of Wonder Woman inspired sock yarn (sparkly sock yarn), a gorgeous Wonder Woman project bag which has a little hook with matching stitch markers, some post its (love me some post its, badges and a cute sticker. Although I haven't been to see the film yet I love Wonder Woman. I used to watch it when I was little. I had a pair of sunglasses that I wore while watching it and I was convinced that this turned me into my idol. Therefore I could not pass this by.

This months Little Box of Crochet is very cute and very summer inspired. It contains everything you need to crochet a little phone cover and keyring. It has a little rose motif which I love and will be a challenge for me to do as I have never done anything like that before. My mum would have loved it so I need to make an attempt. It also came with a cute rose stitch marker and a strawberry shopper bag.

I received two of my West Knits KAL parcels since my last post. June's was a yarn by Qing Fibre. It's beautifully soft and is a little thicker than some sock yarns. I can't wait to knit with it. It came with a cute little needle guide.

July's parcel arrived today. I have yet to download the ravelry pattern but I love the yarn. These colours make a nice contrast. The yarn is by Undercover Otter and again is super soft. It came with these badges and patch. I have just one more parcel to receive and I look forward to discovering another new yarn. I will get round to knitting with it.

I also received by parcels from the lovely Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. She is busy preparing for shows and still found the time to send out her club parcels. I am loving this months speckle yarn. Beautiful colours. It came with a sparkly wax melt which gives me all the excuse I need to bring out my candle burner.

I won't be showing off the blanket club yarns. I want to catch up and give it a post of it's own. However, here are this months mini skein club yarns. I love these colours. I think they would make a lovely pair of summer socks.

September Socks - Basic Socks

I am 100% all caught up as Septembers socks were finished last week. Of course it helped that I used the basic sock pattern. After two months of patterns I decided that I wanted something simple that would make the sock more about the yarn than the pattern. Plus I wanted to work more on my own pattern from August.

Deciding which yarn to use proved difficult. I decided again not to use blue. With the help of my sister I picked out this yarn called Beach Huts by Owl About Yarn. I bought this earlier in the year when I was picking out yarn for fibreshare. It's a nylon/merino blend and knits up beautifully. It's on the heavier scale of 4 ply which I always love to knit with.

So the yarn still has blue in it but I love the colours and I loved the way it striped. I didn't want to interrupt that striping and so I used a short row heel. It made for a pretty heel. I was also left with quite a bit of yarn left and I think there is enough to knit a pair of ankle socks for my tiny footed sister.

Next month I will use a pattern again and the yarn I have picked out has absolutely no blue or green.

June Socks - Basic Sock

I had absolutely no intentions of knitting up yet another basic sock for June. I had a pattern picked out. Unfortunately, the month ran away with me and if I wanted to keep to a pair of socks a month then I was going to have to rethink what I was doing. So I resigned myself to using the basic pattern once again. On the plus side I got to pick out a pretty yarn to make up for it.

This rainbow yarn immediately jumped out from my stash. I love the striping effect all through the socks. I even love the way it pooled when working on the gusset. It almost reminds me of the rainbow effect of oil in puddles. Or even bubbles just before they are about to burst.

The yarn is dyed by Owl About Yarn. You can find her on etsy. I bought this yarn a while ago and then picked it up for my fibreshare partner even before I had worked with it myself. It was beautiful to knit with and has a little sparkle in it too. It's a Merino/nylon/Stellina blend and knits up well. I actually think this would have made lovely socks with the Broken Seed socks and I might have enough leftover to do some ankle socks for my sister. It pays to have tiny feet people.

The reason I am so behind is the same reason I have been absent here. Moving into my flat. However, I have discovered that my breakfast bar makes a fantastic yarn winding station.

I have already started on July's socks and while the yarn isn't fancy the pattern is. It's not the pattern I had originally planned and there is a whole reason for that which has to do with August's socks. Unfortunately you'll have to wait and see on that one.

Fibreshare Friends - Jillian aka Mothy and the Squid

On Friday I showed you what my lovely swap partner, Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts, sent me. I am still drooling over the yarn and deciding on what I will do with it. I have also tried out the hand balm which smells lush (a word I never thought I would use and yet describes this balm well).

On Thursday I sent out my parcel to my swap partner Jillian of Mothy and the Squid. Well she got her parcel on Saturday which means I can now post what I sent. She seems to have loved her package and I am so happy about that. I did my best to pick out things which I thought she would like. I originally worried that I would be at a disadvantage because I wasn't a hand dyer or spinner like the majority of the participants (excluding weavers here). In the end I think it was the opposite as I got to send some of my favourite yarns based on what she liked. Which was pretty similar to my own taste. Lots of colour and sock yarn.

So here are the yarns I picked. I am going from left to right starting with my good friend. I would never send a package without sending some of Lisa's yarn. For the Love of Yarn introduced me to indie dyers and the wonders of hand dyed sock yarn. I had sent Lisa a message as to what she had in the way of rainbows and she responded with this rainbow sock blank. I can't wait to see it all knitted up. Jillian mentioned that her children and a fondness for orange and pink and so I sent the orange peel fungus (how fab is that name) by Orange Jellyfish Dream. I have two of her yarns in my own stash and so I had to share. Especially when I saw the gorgeous bright colour. You will probably recognise the third and fourth yarns. The third is Beach Huts by Owl About Yarn. You will recognise it because it featured on my February stash post. I really didn't intend to buy for myself but I saw this yarn and thought it would be perfect for Jillian because of the bright summery colours. It's just I also thought it would be perfect for my own stash. Lastly the last yarn came from my own stash. It's a Knitpicks yarn and it's beautifully soft. The colours are a little more muted than the yarns but still has that rainbow feel.

I then picked out some extras. You know how much I love my Doodlestop project book. I've barely begun using it and yet I have mentioned it countless times. The plan was to pick up one for Jillian. Then I saw that they did one specifically for hand dyers. As Jillian dyes her own yarn I got very excited about it and picked this up instead. I also got her some stitch markers. Again from Owl About Yarn. They are yarny/sewing related which I thought was fitting. The hand cream I picked up from Lush. Lush is my go to shop when I want a bit of pampering. I love it for it's scents, good products and business ethics. I knew they did a series of hand creams and the girl in the shop recommended this one because it absorbs very quickly. Which means smaller pauses between knitting.

Lastly I picked out a project bag. I saw Pink Hazel on instagram and spied this little bag with a sheep print. She is based in Netherlands but is attending Edinburgh Yarn Fest in a couple of weeks. She actually offered to send it when she was over to save me on postage which was very sweet. The bag is superbly made. Very sturdy. I might even treat myself to one.

As I said, Jillian seemed to love her parcel. If I am honest though I had so much fun putting it together. Plus it was nice to meet other sock knitters.

February Stash

I both love and hate Instagram at the same time. I get to discover indie dyers and my bank balance takes a hit. I discovered Owl About Yarn via instagram and quickly followed her profile to her etsy page which was a mistake as I made a purchase straight away. I bought this stunningly pretty sparkly yarn which is part of her Sparkle Owl range. This colourway is called Quay Parade. A mix of rainbow colours against a predominantly blue background. It's almost as though it was made for me and therefore would have been rude not to pick it up. This will definitely be used for one of my monthly pairs of socks.

I am a sucker for stitch markers too. I have a large collection of them and I am always adding to my collection. I can't help it, it's a sickness. These stitch markers went straight into my basket as soon as I saw them. Dr Who stitch markers! What Whovian in their right mind could resist? I especially love the red converse.

As soon as my sock yarn and stitch markers arrived (very fast delivery by the way, I highly recommend) I went back to her etsy page. Although this time it wasn't supposed to be for me. I saw this colourway called Beach Huts and I purchased that too. I was originally going to use it for myself. However, since it arrived I can see myself knitting a pair of summer socks for my sister. I think she would like it.

I've added Owl About Yarn to my craft shopping list page. You'll find it under the Yarn list. You will also find her blog Owl About Yarn on my Craft Blog list. Each post has a podcast making it a little bit different. The author of these pages doesn't just knit, dye yarn and create stitch markers. She's also a spinner too. I know a few of you are interested in that side of things.

Not a month doesn't go by when I don't purchase something from my good friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. I signed up for her Valentines gift box (a gift to myself) and chose the sock option and then proceeded to forget all about it. In fact, I thought I knew what the box delivered was and so went a whole weekend without opening it (in my defence I was working that weekend). So it really was a surprise when I did finally open it. It came with yarn (of course), a sock pattern and a crochet hook, a bath bomb and a chocolate lolly (which has since been devoured).

The yarn came in what has become one of my favourite bases, donegal. It's also in my favourite colours, teal, blues and purples. Another yarn that will be used for only me. Anyone else got exciting yarn purchases?