Can we talk yarn stashes? Current projects? Maybe? Yes? Yarn!

Cafe Society
1

So, I have an enviable problem, depending on your point of view.

About 8 years ago my grandmother got sick and died very quickly (~6 months). Granny was an avid knitter and had a large number of projects on the go which never got competed. As the only knitter in the family I inherited the yarn. A LOT of yarn.

8 of those huge rubbermaid containers full of yarn.

There are a variety of things in there, and I’m looking for some ideas.

So, here’s what I’ve go so far: I have a ton of assorted acrylics in different colours - I’m thinking of sorting them and making an afgan out of some (which is what I suspect Granny had purchased some of it for), some I used to make sparrow mobiles (this takes very little), and some I was going to knit squares for the homeless. (You knit an 8 inch square or 12 and drop them off at Michael’s stores where they are assembled into blankets to be given to homeless people).

I also saw a blurb to make hats for premature babies in 3rd world countries - I might look into that as well (if someone has a link to a pattern/info that would be great). Sadly, all of this is rather boring to knit (except for the birds) and I have a lot of projects that are much more fun in the works - a few sweaters for myself - a sweater for one of my girlfriends, one for my mom, a play suit for my son. This means it’s going to be quite a while before I get to a lot of this stuff.

The other issue is I have a crap load of White Buffalo yarn. Any knitter from Canada will know what this is and what it’s for - it’s now discontinued so I’ll have to find patterns that will work with what I’ve got. Honestly, that type of knitting isn’t really my thing - you need to twist the wool as you knit and the patterns tend to be fair isle which I find a bit of a pain; however, if I can find a cute pattern for a sweater for my son I’ll do it. I actually have a sweater that my grandmother knit for me with this type of yarn that is NOT fair isle - it’s just colour blocks and quite nice. Mom thinks she may have a bunch of patterns that utilize the White Buffalo in her garage - hopefully there will be some good ones there.

Currently on the go is a nursing shawl which I’m making out of bamboo - it’s coming along nicely but I’m finding I have less time to knit than I thought I would (dumb first time mom!!). I have the yarn for a sweater for my friend, but it’s a cover for a summer dress so I’ve got a bit of time on that. I’ve got the yarn for a cute 18 month playsuit for Junior so I’ve got a bit of time on that as well. Finally, I happen to know that I’m getting yarn for a super cute cabled cardigan for my birthday in a couple of weeks (the yarn colour is called tomato!!)

<sigh> So much to knit. So little time.

What are all you doper yarn crafters working on?

2

I’m working on far far too many things. One of those scattered knighted with multiple projects on the go.

At the moment I am alternating between socks and a cowl (the cowl is intended as a Christmas present) and sometimes I keep plucking at the sweater on the needles for me.

As for what to do with the yarn, contact the Gillihook Guild. They can give you contacts for places looking for yarn (to make hats, blankets etc if you want to get rid of some) and finished goods (hats, socks, blankets). My favourite store does a collection for these charities also, they start that up pretty soon. I can send you the name if you like.

I also make little things for my son out of them. Finger puppets are a big hit, though I crochet those but you can get both knit and crochet patterns.

3

My problem is that I agreed to crochet a blanket for my 7yo. She said she wanted a backup blankie, and if I made it, it would probably be good enough to get her through the night, should she leave Blankie at Gramma’s or something.

I made the mistake of letting her pick the yarn. It’s acrylic boucle and I HATE working with it. (Somehow a few years ago, I managed to work a brioche stitch scarf while watching TV, but this stuff I find I have to stare at to work.) Add in that I’m pretty sure once it’s done, she’ll decide it’s no substitute for Blankie, and I’m really unmotivated. But at the same time, I feel like I can’t work on anything else till I get it done.

Well, I once finished an afghan after working on it for 11 years on and off, so I suppose I’ll get there eventually.

4

i’m working on pillows for my friend and her family. i found the pattern in a dog knitting book and thought it would be fun for her dog. (my cats give her dog presies for christmas) i’ve been working on it for 3 years as the first yarn i tried didn’t work out.

i also thought the pillows would be cool for her boys as they could use them to lounge around on, and one each for mum and dad.

so 5 25x25 pillows.

i finally got 2 done this year (after finding yarn that worked) the one for my friend and dog. then i found out the dog died, very sad, he was very young. so now the one i made for the dog is going to her hubby and i’m 2/3 done on one for the youngest. i’ll get the yarn for the oldest this week.

i think i might be on track to finish before dec. 25th.

5

the yarn i picked for the pup is boucle, a nice darkish brown, i believe it was called earth or something like that.

it was difficult to tell which side was which when kniting. i had some trouble with the perl vs knit sides. i had to go back a row here and there on each of the three panels.

not gonna use that yarn too often.

6

Here we go Gilli Hook Guild. :slight_smile:

I’m wading through my bins of yarn, on a stash diet right now so I can get some things done. I already frogged a couple projects too, didn’t hurt. :wink:

7

I’m knitting colorwork sweaters for both of my nieces this Christmas. I haven’t taken pictures recently, so I’ll only share a link to one of them http://ravel.me/Eurekas/eordu

8

My wife enjoys weaving and knitting, so we are always on the lookout for yarn. We’ve made some big scores on “grab bags” of yarn at thrift stores and yard sales.

Another way to get some very nice yarn (angora/cashmere/silk etc) for cheap can be to buy otherwise undesirable sweaters at the thrift store and unravel them. Then we can sit on the couch switching off between unraveling and winding.

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If you do find a pattern that goes with it - please post it. I have a box because it was on sale for a price so amazing that I didn’t stop to think “what the hell am I going to do with this stuff?”
That’s one of my goals for 2011 - making firm plans for using up good yarn and getting rid of the yarn that defies explanation.
Right now, i’m working on a mobius scarf, mostly because I like casting on mobius scarves - but it could get ripped out because I don’t like knitting scarves sideways. (I saw a woman wearing a lovely scarf and thought “I should knit a scarf” but didn’t think the details through as well as i should have.)

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So, are any of you on ravelry? I go by the same name if any of you want to be my friend there. (On preview, I see you’re a member, Eureka; very pretty sweater you’re working on.)

Anyway…it’s a great source of patterns and really helpful for tracking and organizing projects. I don’t have pics posted for all of my projects, but I’ve been quite successful at tracking everything I’ve knit since I picked it up again in early 2009.

I don’t have a large stash, but quite enough to keep me busy for the foreseeable future. Just finished a headband to go with the scarf I knit. The scarf is based on this pattern. I’ve made it twice now, once in worsted weight and once in sock weight and really like it. I’m wearing the sock-weight version as my every-day scarf at the moment (I modified it so that it’s a bit longer and wider than it would have been otherwise; instructions are with the project on ravelry if you’re interested).

I just cast on the first part of coordinating handwarmers for the sock-weight set. I’m going to make them pretty long, so I think I’ll be busy with them for a while. I’ve also been meaning to cast on some socks (I scored quite a bit of nice sock yarn on sale at JoAnn’s earlier this year).

Yarn…? Yay!

11

I have a yarn store in my house. I have the yarn banked for about a dozen sweaters and fifty pairs of socks, plus several dozen “just in case” skeins. I’ve tried to winnow it down twice in the last year, and did get rid of a lot, but I still have really, really a lot.

I can’t help it. Beautiful yarn is, to me, one of the five or six most beautiful things in the world. It ranks up there with moss and dry stone walls.

That doesn’t include the plastic tubs of Red Heart acrylic that I use for afghans. That stuff, I really do go through. It’s by far the best choice for afghans, in my opinion. It’s cheap, colorfast, washable, mothproof, and holds sculptural crochet stitches like nothing else. Once it’s been washed once it’s perfectly soft and warm, too.

12

I learned how to knit and crochet as a child but have just recently taken it up again. I’m making simple projects for my friend who photographs newborns and have enough yarn to choke a horse. I just can’t seem to pass up a sale. :slight_smile: Each project I choose a new stitch to master.

Colorwork is new to me. It looks complicated but I think I’m going to give it a shot next.

Fun fun!

13

Colourwork is cool Ruby! I have a pair of mittens I started which are colourwork (Fiddlehead mittens, I’ll put the ravelry link when I’m not on my phone) it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but it might be harder if it’s more than two colours…

14

Nah, the sweater I linked to isn’t hard. Neither is the other, it’s just less photogenic. Mostly because the colorwork is almost all on the yoke. And the sweater is knit bottom up.

Now, in fairness, aside from my natural tendency to deny that anything related to knitting is hard, I’m still only doing two colors at a time, just changing my contrast color every couple of rows, and I do have to admit to not being real happy about the number of ends I have left to weave in (read Most, like a million or so).

15

Yah - I enjoy intarsia pictures on sweaters/bags etc and for some I’ve had as many as 8 colours going at a time, but it’s not hard. I just wind each colour up into a little bobbin to keep on the back of the work and follow the picture.

I’m on ravelry as Alice McPearle if anyone would like to friend me, but I have posted absolutely nothing. Bad friend. :frowning:

16

<gasp> 8 colors! Holy cow. I’m going to have to get better at weaving ends before I tackle something like that. I just finished a 4-color (straight knitting) football jersey for my g/f’s dog and was annoyed at the number of ends to deal with.

17

I had moved and my big stash had been missing. I found it last Saturday and I nearly cried. I’m so excited. I was annoyed having to have to buy a skein for just a tiny bit or not make a project when I didn’t already have the color, whereas now I have almost any color I could want if I needed just a little.

Of course, the two colors I don’t have I need for my new project, and I had to go buy more today. I am making an amigurumi crochet Mario for my nephew for Christmas. I am almost done with an Abby Cadabby hat for my niece. I made my kid a baby blanket made of squares and she’s out growing it, so I bought more of that same yarn (again, of course leftovers weren’t in my stash) to make more more squares to make it a 50x60 throw blanket.

My long-term project is making a blanket for me in thread crochet. It’s hexagon “squares” that I’m doing. I make one in yellow and surround it on the 6 sides by a color and then surround that in white and it makes a really pretty floral pattern. I think i calculated I need 200 flowers of 7 hexagons and I’ve made about 30, and they’re not finished off nicely and they still need the white ones.

Last year at this time I made tons and tons of small projects: stockings and bookmarks and dozens of amigurumi crochet animals and I stocked up on patterns for this year to make and sell online, but I just wasn’t motivated this year.

I bought knitting needles a couple weeks ago and I’ve been attempting to learn that. I can cast on really well, but I can’t quite get knit or purl down. Practice practice practice. I love that with crochet you can really make just about anything, but I don’t like crochet clothes. I want to make myself a sweater or socks or something eventually. I was mostly motivated by a beautiful sweater my kid is out-growing and I want to replicate it.

I too have started to take apart sweaters that aren’t good for wearing any more. I’m kicking myself for not having thought of it earlier.

18

I’ve made some quick and simple hats with this for Xmas. I’ve also bought some extra balls and am planing a big patchwork blanket- the Indie comes in nice multicoloured balls. I’m thinking I’ll have to do about 1/2 the squares in Indie, and half in something cheaper and plain white/cream/oatmeal- anyone know a cheap super chunky wool that will work similarly?

I’m making a simple ribbed scarf with this and another slightly more complicated ribbed scarf with this.

As you can tell, I like yarns that are multi-coloured.

19

I decided three days ago that I would take up knitting. After a few days of sitting around just thinking about it, I decided to actually buy some needles and yarn. I found a good webpage with a clear instructional video on how to do some basic knitting. I cane across sites with pictures that were of no help at all. They seemed to go from step 1 to 5 all at once, leaving a super beginner like myself completely lost.

For my first project: a scarf. That seems simple enough. I should have gone to the store and bought the materials instead of ordering online, because now I’m all fidgety. I want my needles and yarn now.

20

An ode to my favorite, most beautiful yarns:

Koigu KPPPM. Makes the best socks period.
Socks That Rock. Makes the best socks for my husband, because it’s thicker than most yarns.
Claudia Handpaints. Makes the second best socks.
Cascade 220. God. What is there not to love about this yarn.
Zauberball. I don’t like single-ply yarn, but I have a ball of the Chocokreme colorway and I seriously want to eat it.
Plymouth Mushishi. I have enough for a sweater. Why I haven’t started knitting that sweater I have no idea. Maybe because I’m so happy just burying my face in the huge, squishy, EFFING GORGEOUS skeins.
Reynolds Whisky. If Rowan Felted Tweed and Jamieson Spindrift had a baby, it would be this.
Rowan Felted Tweed. The treacle color. Again, I have a sweater’s worth. WHY HAVE I NOT KNIT THAT SWEATER.
Mountain Colors. Not crazy about their yarnstock but their colors are unreal. I was in a spinnery that was doing an order for them once. I was tempted to steal.
Noro. Oh Noro. The love/hate, it burns. Love the colors. Hate the yarn. What to do? Buy a lot but knit a little, obvy.