Tiny stash enhancement

I know, I know. I swore I wouldn't buy any more yarn until I put a dent in my existing stash. But, I had to get some dark blue to finish my nephew's kiss-my-big-toe socks, and I so loved the Trekking that I got last time, I had to buy some more, and then the Cashsilk screamed out my name and I knew I had to make myself a pair of those gorgeous red gloves out of .... which knitting book were those in? Anyway, I've made good progress on the gift socks for Christmas. How are you all doing with holiday gifts?

Stash monsters

Of all those balls of yarn I recently counted, more than 300 if you recall that post, these are the only ones I could easily unload. I've held on to the orange because the school colors here are orange and black. It's like Halloween year-round, boo hiss. But, any of the kids around here would love a gift knit in those colors. I haven't been able to get over the gag reflex though.

The yellow has a greenish-gray cast and I suppose I could create a design challenge with it. One of my favorite assignments for art students is to pick your favorite color, your least favorite color, and black. Then make a drawing using those three. It's amazing the dynamic results, and I imagine it would be as creatively stimulating with a sweater design, too.

The white stuff is some sort of velour ribbon and I can't for the life of me think of anything to do with it. A cape for a bride? A hammock? I got it in one of those great surprise bargain boxes from WEBS. All the other yarn packs were lush and expensive designer yarns, so it was worth it even if I got this one dud.

Why didn't I think of that?

There's been lots of conversation on the forums and in recent books about the importance of swatching. I confess, right here and now, that I don't mind it. In fact, I look forward to trying out any multi-color or novelty yarn I buy. I almost always swatch sock yarns I acquire on the very same day. But, I admit it bothers me not having imagineered a good use for those little squares of knit-up yarn. I've tried numerous times to develop a clever assemblage of the dang little things, and you know what? The result is invariably cheesey and ugly. I wouldn't foist the end-product on my cats to sleep on, much less use it somewhere I'd actually have to look at it. So when Knitting Daily suggested not only swatching in the round for proper gauge, but just making a swatch-in-the-round sampler, I had a V-8 moment. Of course, a long, striped tube! Finally, a potentially creative solution. I could stuff it and use it as a draft-stopper. Or coil it and make a kitty basket. Based on this recent experiment swatching several yarns discovered in my neverending stash, well, you can see the possibilities just from a design standpoint. It's nice having all those yarns knit up side by side. These are all sock yarns, and I'll knit needle sizes 0-3 on this tube. I'll start another for size 4 needles and up for DKs and worsteds. I'm thinking a few thicker tubes might eventually be pressed into service as very artsy-fartsy arm warmers. Yes, arm warmers for my teen nieces who insist on wearing sleeveless t-shirts in the dead of winter. Magnificently brilliant idea any way you look at it. It's rather handsome so far, don't you think?
What yarns are there? From right to left: Cranberry Dragon yarn, custom-dyed blue Opal from Angel Yarns, gray KnitPicks Essential, old KnitPicks Sock Garden, brown KnitPicks Essential, and the long remaining section is off the ball of Opal Hundertwasser.

Back to the future

There are hidden benefits to stash-busting. I discovered incompleted projects, some of them very old. One such was the two-color vest I had attempted in my teens and which I subsequently discovered in my mother's centuries-old stash. I took it home with me, and have been keeping my eyes open for matching wool ever since. Well, okay, I must not have been working too consciously on finding said wool, because I found both gray and red in my own inventory. Almost perfect matches really. So this teen vest of mine - was I ever that little - gets finished and then one of my truly little nieces can have a gift. Curious thing that's it's so modern looking. The needles are old aluminum things I wouldn't dream of using, but I keep them because they're my very first pair of knitting needles. Nostalgia, you know.

More than luxury

So here's another cedar chest and it's contents. It included at least 30 balls of sock yarn. My total inventory of full skeins was over 300. That didn't include any cotton which amounted to maybe two dozen skeins. Then there're about ten pounds of leftovers, I'd guess enough for at least 30 of those aforementioned tea cozies. The inventory of the roving is not included in any of this.

I thought about the Monthly Selection at the Women Writing the West reading group, about a German pioneer in Oregon territory whose clothing is becoming threadbare, and who is learning to pound cedar bark into useable material. You might say I feel just a little bit chagrined by my bounty and her lack. The story even references a quote that very much hits home. To think I coveted all that yarn at Green Valley Weavers just a few days ago!

Next post will discuss what I can de-accession.

Contentment is natural wealth; luxury, artificial poverty. ~ Socrates

Going through the stash

They say a picture is worse a thousand words. This, the wool contents of one wooden chest. More tomorrow, when I unload the others. Somewhere underneath all that is my dining table.