Sorting the Stash, pt. 3

The yarn has been boxed and put back into the closet. Despite my initial reaction, it was a straightforward task. I had a pretty good idea of what I owned and (bar one or two balls) the stash was pretty much how I remembered it - apart from the hideous amount of laceweight yarn, of course. I have really enjoyed taking a look at my sweater amounts, actually. Some really gorgeous stuff. As a result I have been spending a lot of time on the Ravelry pattern database trying to match up yarns and projects. I still have yarns for which I have no specific project in mind but - as someone said to me a few days ago - some yarns need to marinate in the stash for years before the right project shows up. It's a slippery slope, absolutely, but also occasionally true. I have twelve balls of a beautiful teal tweed yarn, for instance, and the right project hasn't shown up yet. I'm not going to knit the yarn into something just for the sake of removing it from the stash.

I've also been reassured by this entire process. I keep reading entries on Ravelry by people whose tastes have changed and how they no longer like what they own. I'm a consistent sort of person and thankfully I really like what I see in my stash (with one notable exception). I have yarns that my fingers are itching to use and yarns that really make my head spin with ideas.

And just on cue: my Lumley cardigan has entered the final stages! I cast off the second sleeve yesterday whilst enjoying The Men Who Stare At Goats - far funnier than I thought it would be and almost Cohen Brothers-esque. Today I unzipped the first of my provisional cast-ons to knit the cuff (this is a great little video showing you a crochet provisional cast-on and how to unzip it). I should finish the first cuff tonight and the second cuff tomorrow, so it looks as though this long-term project is finally getting finished. I still think this is one of the cleverest designs I have ever knitted and hopefully it is going to look nice too.

I have only really done two mods: one was to add an extra button and the second was to lengthen the sleeves. The cardigan is written with 3/4-length sleeves, but I was unsure how they would look on my long arms. It turns out that because I have lengthened the sleeve, I also need to modify the cuffs. They are originally meant to wrap around my arm just below the elbows, but now they will wrap around my wrist. I quickly realised this meant a very slack cuff when I started knitting it this morning, so to counteract the slackness I am now knitting the cuff as written for the smallest size. This could get interesting..

What is your favourite finishing tip?

Hymn To Grace

North Star isn't just the name of my favourite neighbourhood café, it is also one of my favourite albums from the now long-lost 1990s. In the last couple of days I have rediscovered the album - and it is peculiarly, decidedly Glaswegian. And I obviously had no idea that I would one day end up here when I fell in love with Roddy Frame's album. Hmm. This song has been in my head all day. A short, simple song and all the better for it.

Sorting the Stash, pt. 2

So. So I am standing there with two giant balls of acrylic bouclé yarn (very similar to this yarn). They were a gift and I'm surprised you even had to ask.

Anyway.

I am standing there holding two balls, each bigger than my head, and I am about to put them into the discard/trade/wtf pile when my darling D. comes into the room, takes a look at the two balls and says: "Oh, I love those. They'd make a really nice throw, don't you think?"

And so I put the two balls of yarny doom back into my yarn closet.

Help.

Sorting the Stash - Pt 1

This is the current state of our living room. No, we are not in the process of moving. I have just taken the yarn stash out of its natural habitat (the walk-in closet) and turned it free-range until I get it sorted.

Phew. It's been a bit dusty, quite grim, and I'm only halfway done.

Progress report:

I already kept a strict sweater-amounts to themselves rule which has helped a lot. Sweater-amounts have each their own bags/containers which has made my life a lot easier. I pulled the bags and containers out, had a look into each bag/container and most of them are back in the closet. Some of the sweater-amounts were acquired as kits (like this one) or with a specific pattern in mind (like this one) and now they have the pattern included in their bag/container.

The biggest task is now to organise everything else. Luckily I am an experienced yarn organiser(!), so I have a very good idea about how I want things organised. Mine is a somewhat idiosyncratic system which I would not recommend you implement in your own yarn stash nor in your business. I have decided to organise the remaining stash in a vague "what type of project is this for?" way.

The laceweight yarns are all together - and I have finally faced my laceweight problem. It is huge. I have a shitload of laceweight, pardon my language. I thought last year's shawl-a-thon would have made a dent in the laceweight but I still have a staggering amount in my stash. I am both delighted to see how many beautiful yarns I have and terrified by how many shawls are still waiting to be knitted. Instant moratorium on buying laceweight.

Then I have a box for my "11 Hats in 2011" project. This box is devoted to all those one or two balls kicking about the stash. So far I'm surprised by how many of these balls come in shades of brown, grey or off-white. I hope to find some colourful one-offs soon otherwise my little endeavour will turn out slightly depressing. At this stage I can just about squeeze all these balls into one box, but I think I'll soon need to upgrade the size of the box.

Following on from that, I have a bag for general purpose cottons. I use cottons a lot when I'm doing provisional cast-ons or am putting things on waste yarn. The colours I have are not great (apart from one cone of beautiful green dk cotton) but they'll work just fine for their intended usage. Fingering weight yarn goes in its own box - I do not have that much. I have a box for yarns which come in a designated "awkward amount": too much for a hat, too little for a sweater or cardigan. Hats & mitts? Giant cowls? Scarves? Who knows. They'll all be living in the same box, though. Interestingly these yarns tend to be shades of green. And then I have a box for sweater-amounts that do not take up much space (fingering weight, sport-weight and Kidsilk Haze).

And this is me at the halfway stage. I am pretty much in control of the sweater amounts - I know what I have and where I keep them. I am horrified at how much laceweight I own. I'm okay with the rest of the stash I have looked at so far. I'm weeding out a lot of yarns which I'll be donating to Garterstitch100's SitandKnitaBit knitting stations throughout Glasgow (although the most vile things will just get thrown out).

(And can I just point out before anybody uses the words "rampant consumerism" and "shopaholic" that a very large chunk of this stash consists of gifted yarn? It does not make its size more palatable, of course, but it does make me feel better. Don't ask why.)

Fail!

We're having ongoing plumbing problems. When we returned from Christmas holiday, we found a note in our mailbox. The top flat's toilet outflow had frozen and broken over the holiday period. An emergency plumber was called out and he ripped out part of the outdoors outflow pipe. A few days later another plumber came out and fixed the broken pipe.

Except..

.. can you see our problem?

It's almost worthy of FailBlog.

All I'm saying is that I'm deeply appreciative of our nearby 24-hour supermarket. I used to have huge issues about a 24-hour supermarket - who really needs to shop for carrots at 3am? - but I have made a huge U-turn in recent days.

Right now I'm trying to get hold of a plumber who is a) registered with our rental agency and b) willing to pick up his phone. Wish me luck.

Third

I have not mentioned my red Kim Hargreaves cardigan recently, have I? It has turned out to be one of those curious projects where I work obsessively on it for three days and then it lingers for about a month before I return to it. I have no idea why I do not just keep working on it. Once the pattern has been 'spread-sheeted', it is actually a really relaxing knit and the yarn is beautiful. Yesterday I cast off the first sleeve and I cast on for the second sleeve. Things are zipping along really well - except once I cast off the second sleeve, I need to unzip the provisional cast-on on both sleeves and start the k2p2 ribbing. Still, the end is in sight and I cannot wait to sew up(!) this beauty. I'm really looking forward to wearing it. Let's hope it fits as well as I think it will..

As the light at the end of the tunnel becomes increasingly brighter, my thoughts have obviously begun to turn to the next big project. I have another big project on the needles which I need to finish quite soon, but as it's not a jumper or cardigan I have been roaming the Ravelry database in search of patterns.

• I'm totally in love with Balance from the forthcoming Rowan Studio 22. It looks like a combo of Kidsilk Haze and Kid Classic. I'm thinking Jelly (KSH) and Spruce (KC) although wilder colour combinations also appeal (orange, anyone?)
• Recently I've begun looking closely at Bliss, an old Sarah Hatton pattern. I bought some Rowan Calmer last year in order to make a Kim Hargreaves jumper, but I'm beginning to wonder if I wouldn't get more wear out of a short-sleeved cardigan?
• Speaking of cute cardigans, Miette recently jumped into my (carefully curated) queue. No, I'm not going to knit another red cardigan. Probably not.

Another thing I'll be knitting is an inside layer of my Twee Winter hat. I finished it well in advance of Christmas but it has turned out very big (when rav comments all say 'this hat is huge', believe the comments). Paula came up with quite a few solutions and we decided that knitting an extra inside layer would a) make the hat smaller and b) make the hat winter-proof (felting was not an option, incidentally). I still need photos taken of the matching mitts - they are goddamn adorable and I've been wearing them constantly.

A few links, finally:

• Pete Postlethwaite has passed away. He was easily the best actor in most of his films and it was a joy to see him in even small parts.
• And the Danish contestant in Eurovision 1980 has passed away too (skip the 1st minute). His was the very first concert I ever saw.
• I really, really want a puppy and I think Maddie is just about the most adorable thing in the world.
• I've bought fabric with this quilt in mind. I'm crazy.
• Best line ever line from a trashy book? Don't know, but "Yum. Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla" is up there. Or down there depending upon your perspective.