My Yarn Stash

One of the things that I want to do is keep track of my yarn stash, so I can know at a quick glance what I have (though, of course, it's always fun to actually poke through the stash). So here's my current yarn stash.

Partially used:

RY Cashsoft DK – (57% extra fine merino/33% microfibre/10% cashmere) – cream – 1 large ball

RY Cashsoft DK (57% extra fine merino/33% microfibre/10% cashmere) – red – 1 large ball

RY Cashsoft DK (50% extra fine merion/40% acrylic microfibre/10% cashmere) – black – 1 large ball

Malabrigo – Pink Frost – 1 very small ball

Unknown brand – cotton? – pale blue – 1 large ball

KP Shamrock (100% Peruvian Wool) – Dougherty (green) – 1 small ball

KP ShineWorsted (60% Pima Cotton/40% Modal) – Bachelor Button (blue) –1 small ball

KP ShineWorsted (60% Pima Cotton/40% Modal) – Grass – 1 small ball

KP ShineWorsted (60% Pima Cotton/40% Modal) – Coral – 3 small balls

KP Twirl (69% Superfine Alpaca/28% Wool/3% Nylon) – Cream – 1 large ball

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Snickerdoodle – 2 small balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Carrot – 2 small balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Violet – 2 medium balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Tulip – 6 small balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Blue Bonnet – 2 medium balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Hyacinth – 2 small balls

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Amethyst Heather – 1 small ball; 1 medium ball

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Sapphire Heather – 1 large ball

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Forest Heather – 1 medium ball

Unused:

Malabrigo – Purple Mystery
Worsted
Yards: 216

KP EssentialSolid (75% Superwash Wool/25% Nylon) - Petunia
Yards: 231

KP Swish Superwash (100% Superwash Wool) – Wisteria
Worsted
Yards: 110

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Snickerdoodle – 2 balls
Worsted
Yards: 110 x 2

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Daffodil
Worsted
Yards: 110

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Wool) – Blue Bonnet – 2 balls
Worsted
Yards: 110 x 2

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Violet – 2 balls
Worsted
Yards: 110 x 2

KP Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) – Forest Heather – 1 ball
Worsted
Yards: 110 x 2

KP Gossamer (100% Merino Wool) – Sweet Peas
Lace Weight
Yards: 440

KP Telemark (100% Peruvian Wool) – Snow Leopard
Sport Weight
Yards: 103

KP Telemark (100% Peruvian Wool) – Alpine Frost
Sport Weight
Yards: 103

KP Shimmer (70% Baby Alpaca/30% Silk) – Morning Mist – 3 balls
Lace Weight
Yards: 440 x 3

KP Gloss (70% Merino Wool/30% Silk) – Dusk
Fingering Weight
Yards: 220

KP Crayon (100% Pima Cotton) – Blue
DK Weight
Yards: 128

KP ShineWorsted (60% Pima Cotton/40% Modal) – Wave
Worsted
Yards: 75

KP Twirl (69% Superfine Alpaca/28% Wool/3% Nylon) – Cream
Bulky Weight
Yards: 67

KP Dancing (41% Cotton/39% Wool/13% Nylon/7% Elastic) – 2 balls
Fingering Weight
Yards: 253 x 2

KP Shamrock (100% Peruvian Wool) – Flanagan (red) – 2 balls
Heavy Worsted
Yards: 82 x 2

The Stocking That Wasn't

I was really excited when I saw this free pattern on the KnitPicks website - the Twirl Top Stocking. I ordered some yarn right away (the stocking is in Shamrock - this one is Dougherty and I have more yarn in Flanagan - a red - for another stocking; the top is Twirl in Cream) and couldn't wait to get started on it. I'd been wanting to try my hand at socks, but I was scared of using double pointed needles. Since this is one big sock, I thought it might be easiest to start with it.

And I started out okay. Once I got the hang of the double pointed needles, I found that I liked using them. I created and turned the heel just fine. That's when I hit the problem area. I somehow got the needles placed differently and found that I was knitting "inside out" - purl "bumps" on the outside when it should have been the knit "V". I didn't figure out what was wrong at first. After about 6 rows I figured it out and got myself going correctly again. I know that I REALLY should have frogged back, but I just couldn't bear to do it (I really wanted to finish that day, which was Christmas Eve). So I kept on. Also in my rush, I think I should have made the foot part longer. And then the tip of the toe is super pointed. It said to knit until 8 stitches remain, and I did but it just seems like too much. I have yarn for a second stocking, so I think next time I'll knit until 16 stitches remain to have the toe part be a bit wider.

The cuff around the top and the loop to hang it (single chain of crochet) came out okay. I have high hopes for my next stocking and I plan to buy more yarn and do this one again at some point.

My Scarf in Mmmmalabrigo

So I had been knitting all these scarves for other people. I wanted one for myself. I found a pattern online called the Irish Hiking Scarf that used cables. I decided to give it a try. I thought that cables would be really hard, so I had been reluctant to give it a try, but I'm so glad that I did. They weren't really that difficult after all and I love how this scarf turned out.

I love it even more because of the yarn that I used. On the Knittinghelp.com forum, people were talking about this yarn that they called Mmmmmmmalabrigo and they were raving about how nice and wonderful and soft it was. I found some on eBay and bought two skeins in pink frost. I just knew that this yarn and the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern would be perfect together.

I worked on this over a period of several months, doing a little here and there between other projects. And one day I finally finished it. I was so right about the yarn and pattern. It looks so wonderful and it truly is extremely soft. I'm very proud to have this scarf to wear.

Snake for Kyle

I wanted to do something for my nephew. Since his room in decorated in a jungle theme, I decided to try another stuffed animal (since the rabbit didn't quite fit the theme!). I wanted to do either a monkey or a snake. I went to my local yarn store to look for yarn and these colors called out to me, so I had to use them - so snake it was.

This was my first project with stripes. I've added a new skein of yarn before, but it's always been in the same color. So I got lots of practice with that on this project. I used felt for the eyes and crocheted a single chain for the tongue. It came out so cute that I had a really hard time packing it

Dishcloths for My Husband's Grandmother

Another Christmas gift, this time for my husband's grandmother. I went for the dishcloth idea again, but this time I used the same color but with two different patterns. (Shine Worsted in Coral)

This one was fun to do but turned out a bit larger than expected, but not too bad over all.


Then this one came out a bit smaller than expected, so the two together are a bit of a mix, but I think that's okay. I had a great time working on this one (once I figured out the pattern - you can see in the bottom right corner where I was figuring it out).

Clogs for My Sister and Niece

And I made two more pairs of clogs in matching but reversed colors for my sister and her daughter (who picked out the colors - Tulip and Violet). I love how they go together - I've placed them for this picture to take advantage of the matching colors to really show them off.


I do have to say that by this time, I was pretty darn tired of knitting these clogs! Here are all four pairs together before I sent off the gifts for Christmas. May they all meet up together again some day!

Dishcloths for My MIL

I decided to go with my new hobby for another Christmas present - this time for my mother-in-law. But what to knit? I needed something fairly quick as I had several projects to knit and not much time to do it. So I decided on some dishcloths. I chose the same pattern and used two different colors. (KnitPicks - Shine Worsted [60% Pima Cotton; 40% Modal] in Bachelor Button and Grass)

Once again, I was able to practice yarn overs with this pattern. I really liked how it turned out.

Clogs for My Mom

After my success with making clogs, I planned to make some as Christmas presents for my mom, sister, and niece. I let them choose their own colors. My mom chose Snickerdoodle and Carrot (both Wool of the Andes - it just felts really well). These knitted up pretty quickly.

Before felting:


After felting:

Mary's Scarf

Birthdays just kept coming so I kept the scarf making going. Since Mary lives in Texas, she doesn't really need a heavy scarf, so I made a different pattern from the ones I had done before. This one is only about half as wide as those and the pattern itself created "holes" in the scarf. I found the pattern in a knitting magazine - the Diagonal Eyelet Scarf in Creative Knitting (September 2006). It helped me practice working with yarn overs, which were fun once I got the hang of them. The yarn was once again from KnitPicks - Wool of the Andes in Forest Heather.

The pictures don't do the color justice, nor did they turn out all that great - for whatever reason, they are pretty fuzzy.

Rebecca's Scarf

Another friend. Another birthday. I decided to use the same pattern as Kristin's scarf (since I had enjoyed working on it and liked how it turned out) but in purple. This time I again ordered from KnitPicks, but I used Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) in Amethyst Heather. It turned out to be softer than the yarn I used in Kristin's scarf.

Kristin's Scarf

There was a fun scarf patten that I found in SNB: Nation that I've wanted to work on (it's a checkerboard, but looks better than the checkerboard dishcloth that I did). One of my friends had a birthday coming up at the beginning of September, so I decided to make the scarf for her. I thought that I remembered her jacket being dark blue and green, so I decided to go for a dark blue (hoping that if I didn't remember her jacket right, it would at least probably match other stuff okay). The yarn was from KnitPicks - I'm pretty sure that is was Telemark (100% Peruvian wool) in Alpine Frost.

But I had only one skein of the yarn.So I worked on that skein, knowing that I would need more than one for the whole scarf. I placed an order online and hoped that it would arrive before Labor Day weekend so I could spend the weekend working on the scarf. I was getting worried, but on that Saturday it did indeed arrive. Yay!

So I knitted and knitted and knitted. I watched The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Animaniacs. And I knitted and knitted some more. I had until Wednesday to finish it since I wouldn't see her until then. Tuesday night at 10:00, I decided that it was long enough (the pattern called for it to be about 10 inches longer and she is pretty tall so I probably should have made it a big longer, but I wanted to get it to her and it seemed like it was long enough to work).

It was a project that took quite some time, but it was fun to make.

My Clogs

Now I was getting a feel for knitting. I found the website knittinghelp.com (a fantastic resource!) and noticed people on the forum talking about these Fiber Trends clogs. They looked so neat that I had to give them a try. I found the pattern at my LYS (which is a really great place - the owner is very nice) and bought the yarn on KnitPicks (Wool of the Andes - Hyacinth and Blue Bonnet). I wanted to do pairs for gifts, but I decided to make a pair for me first to see if I could actually do it. Everyone on the forum kept saying to trust the pattern, so I just followed exactly what it said. And the clogs turned out great!

In this picture, you can see that the cuff is not yet added nor has the sole been sewn closed. Plus, this is the inside-out view (that's how they turned while I was knitting - I had to turn it around before adding the cuff. This didn't happen again on any future pairs).


These two pictures show the cuff added but the sole still not sewn nor the bumper added to the bottom:



And here is the "finished" clog (pre-felting):


With my foot inside (you can see that it's larger than my foot - when it is felted, the clog will shrink down and I should be able to get it to fit my foot pretty darn well):


I had to pause here as the semester got started, but I finally finished the second clog in October. So here they are together - still unfelted:


So I tossed them in the washing machine, hot water and heavy agitation. Ten minutes later I checked them. One had gotten out of the pillowcase, so it was very soggy but I dried them out a bit and tried them on. Still a little too big. Five more minutes. Again one had escaped the pillowcase (I think it was the same one - determined little bugger!). But when I tried them on, they were just about right. So I plopped them on a towel to dry and stuffed washcloths in them to keep their shape while drying.


They're a bit fuzzier than I had expected. But I still like them! The picture below shows the color much better than the one above - this is more like the actual color of the clogs.


And I've been wearing them ever since. Very comfy and very warm. I'm so proud of myself for making them and so happy to have them to wear!

My First Two Dishcloths

After using acrylic yarn for my other projects, I decided to find out what "real" yarn was like. Oh heaven! I got some cotton yarn and tried a couple of dishcloth patterns.

The first was a checkerboard pattern that I think turned out pretty well.


The second was a basketweave pattern that had a couple of issues. I have a bit of a mistake on two rows (and it's very obvious because it doesn't fit in the pattern). But I was so near the end that I wanted to finish. I should have frogged. I know that now. But instead I pushed on. I think it looks good except for the mistake.

The Football Rabbit

When my niece was born, I cross stitched a baby blanket for her. I wanted to do another crafty item for my nephew who was born this past summer. Since I was now knitting, I wanted to knit something.

In a book called First Knits, I found the pattern for this rabbit. I thought that I'd do it in blue yarn and it would be a nice addition to his room.



It did turn out to look like a big stuffed football. But I guess since it's for a boy, that didn't hurt too much. The eyes are a little uneven, but my sister said it just makes it look like it's winking.



I guess it turned out okay, but I was a tiny bit disappointed with it. Looking back on it now, I think the pattern was as much to blame as my own knitting - it was rather shapeless. So I've now got a book on toys that look much better (as you'll see in a later post).

A Knitting Bag

After my success with the kerchief, I jumped right into a larger project - Zeeby's bag (from SNB). I picked out this purple yarn that I liked (though it stopped being quite so pretty after working on it for so long) and went to work. The basic parts weren't all that difficult - lots of rectangles. It did take me a while to finish it all (the school semester kept me busy).

Then came time for the seaming. Easy, I though. So I put together one large side panel with the bottom/small side piece. No problem. Then I started with the second large side panel. Oops. It came out completely uneven on the first side. Yikes! That's when I learned to really pay attention while seaming. I ripped out that side and started again. Much better. Added the handles and decided to forgo the pocket.


I liked how it all turned out, but I had one problem when putting my needles inside - they poked through! So I went to Hobby Lobby and got some material and managed to line the inside (I used some plastic canvas on the bottom to give it a sturdy bottom). The lining definitely made the bag complete!

A Kerchief

I wanted to do something more than just knit swatches. I decided to try out this kerchief because it had both increases and decreases, which I wanted to learn. I'm rather happy with the way it turned out. Seeing an actual completed object, no matter how small, was a real confidence booster.

Getting Started

I started knitting about a year ago. I had thought about knitting a bit but never really looked into it. Then one day I was in Target and I saw this book called Stitch 'N Bitch - it drew my attention and I looked through it. Hmm...I thought. Perhaps I could try this knitting thing. So I bought it. I read the first section then went off to Hobby Lobby to buy some yarn and knitting needles.

I wish I wrote down when I started, but I truly can't remember exactly. It was a rather slow start, but lately I've been gaining pace. I do keep another blog and post my completed knitting projects on it, but as I also write many other things on that blog, I'd like to keep one blog specifically for knitting. So over the next few days, I plan to catch up by writing about all the projects I have worked on to date. Then I'll post with my daily knitting progress (as daily as possible).

The first swatch that I knitted had some issues. I must have increased while knitting because the sides start growing longer. And there's a hole right in the center. I've got a lot to learn still, but I think I've come a long way since this piece.


I remember how exciting it was to see something like yarn - one big long string - turn into something like this. I wasn't sure how it worked, but I knew that I wanted to do more.