WIP: Torrent Socks

Thought I'd give a proper update on one of the Blue Period projects I alluded to before.



(They're blue, but not THIS blue. Photo colour does not correspond to real life.)

My Torrent socks are proceeding apace. Given how many projects I have on the go, I'm actually surprised by how quickly these are going. Nearly at the heels! The back of the ankle is all stockinette; I think this helps with the speed as well as making them very enjoyable to knit. I get bored easily with all-stockinette projects, and bogged down with nothing-but-lace, so these are the best of both!

Ever had a project go more quickly than you expected?

Blue period

These are my current WIPs. Apparently I'm in my blue period? (To be fair I love blue and use it a lot, but didn't realize until now that all my WIPs were similarly dark blue.)

In the pile is a Puerperium baby cardigan in navy blue and pink-purple cotton, Pecan Crush cardigan in my reclaimed BFL/Alpaca yarn from my last post, and Torrent socks in lovely Scottish hand-dyed yarn I've had in my stash since moving to Scotland in the first place. (Stash-match FTW!)

Three WIPs makes me a little antsy, but I am enjoying them all. I'll finish the baby knit soon enough which will bring me down to two long-haul projects, though don't be surprised if I immediately cast-on another tiny quick baby project!

Do you have colour themes in your knitting without even realizing it?

2015 knitting recap

Here's what I made in 2015 - a paltry 9 finished objects! I think I finish fewer things every year. Ah well, it's not about quantity, right? I had a lot going on this year that curtailed my knitting output. Knittingwise, I attempted several sweaters that I abandoned in various states of non-completion... I have some frogging to do, but maybe this year that yarn will become something! Still, I'm pleased with the things I made this year.



Top row: Gidday Baby by Georgie Hallam, Arya Mitts by Patti Waters, Cinnamon Stone Shawl by Verybusymonkey

Second Row: Itaca by Stephen West, Varia by Alex Tinsley, Raiun by Kirsten Johnstone

Third row: Fleegle heel socks, Tauriel socks by Josiah Bain, Luna Viridis by Hilary Smith Callis.

Apparently this was the year I focused on accessories, even though as I said above I attempted a few sweaters. The cardigan I did manage to finish, Raiun, is my favourite FO of the year. I wear it all the time - it is an excellent transitional weather piece in this land of unpredictable temperatures. Plus, I'm really getting into open-fronted cardigans (more on this later.)

I had made myself some goals for 2015, so let's see how I managed.

2015 goals
1. Stash down, with a few exceptions.

Exception 1: I will buy yarn to make a Pomegranate sweater. Bought yarn, decided to make Even Flow instead due to newfound love of open-fronted cardigans, abandoned because I think the pattern needs a smooth semi-solid yarn instead.

Exception 2: I will buy yarn at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and/or the yarn crawl, should anything unmissable jump out at me. But I will show restraint! Restraint at EYF? Debatable. haha. I came home with 4 more skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn which I needed like a hole in the head. But they are so pretty and I love them.

Exception 3: I will buy yarn to make gifts if I don't have anything appropriate in my stash. Bought yarn for Itaca, Varia, and Gidday - over third of my projects were apparently gifts this year, since the Fleegle Heel socks were also a gift though made from stash.

In the end stashing down didn't really happen because my exceptions were not very restrictive. I didn't keep a good tally of yardage in/out, but here it is roughly.

Projects knit from stash: 6 (5 one-skein sock yarn projects and one sweater quantity)
Projects cast-on immediately with 2015 yarn purchases: 3 multi-skein projects
Skeins bought with no project in mind: 4 sock yarn, 1 SQ for Pomegranate that turned out not to be for that and is languishing in the frog pond, 4 extra skeins of yarn I intended for Gidday but didn't like the colour combinations so put on hold for something else.

So I didn't quite break even this year. I did knit from stash more than I realised, and I stuck to my non-restrictive rules, so not a total failure. But not really a resounding success either. Ah well!

2. Finish allocating yarn to patterns in my Stash Match project, including my sweater-quantities. Haha FAIL. I did two Stash Match posts this year: Sock Yarn and Laceweight. This leaves me three more to do. I valiantly tried to decide on my alapca stash projects in December but could not come to a final decision, so expect a post on this some time in 2016. I am also debating destashing some of the other two categories to make space in my house because I can't see myself ever using some of this yarn.

So that was 2015! I'm due a real FO post on the Gidday cardigan, plus I have the first FO of 2016 to share, and some news on WIPs. Plus some goals for 2016. Yikes. Hope your 2015 was delightful and productive in crafty and non-crafty ways!

FO: Arya Mitts

Oh hello! I didn't realize it had been several months since I showed any knitting progress. I have been doing some knitting behind the scenes, but it has been slow going - didn't feel like taking progress photos of another few centimetres of twisted stitch cable every week. And I abandoned a cardigan I was working on in a fit of annoyance. That probably deserves a post of its own if I can be bothered to take it out of the corner I've shoved it in. Anyway, I did finally finish something!



Pattern: Arya Mitts by Patti Waters

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock



Mods: Changed the stitch count because as written with my gauge the circumference was massive. I didn't do any wrist shaping out of laziness, so these are just a long tube - but the stitch pattern is very stretchy, so I don't miss the shaping. I made the thumbs longer than written.

These took ages because I didn't focus on them, but ultimately I enjoyed knitting them. The cable pattern was intuitive once I got into it, and it certainly kept my interest. The yarn is so pretty - and a surprisingly good fit for these cables. (Photos don't show the pops of purple and green running through very well, but they are awesome.)



I'm very pleased with these. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my slouchy green fingerless mitts from last year, so these ones are now going to fill a gap in my collection. (The gap being "long fingerless mitts that aren't bright pink." I still wear the pink ones with love, but since I wear almost exclusively green/turquoise/blue when it comes to outerwear, they don't really fit my accidental colourscheme.) Plus, another tick off my stash match list! Woohoo. Speaking of which, I'm due another post on that once I can figure out what to do with all my miscellaneous light weight alpaca yarn. It's on the list.

New WIP: Arya mitts

I've made a start on the Arya Mitts by Patti Waters. This is another project towards my Stash Match.



I'm glad that I'm finally using this yarn because it is beautiful. This yarn was a gift in a swap from several years ago. It's Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. Very pretty in the skein, but as I was winding it I fell in love with the colours even more. It's subtly variegated in blues, greens, and purples - I thought it might be too busy for this cable pattern at first, but I think it will work okay. The twisted-stitch cables are surprisingly intuitive!

WIP Wednesday: Cinnamon Stone Shawl

The boringness of my stockinette cardigan was getting me down, so I started something new. (As one does.)



This is the Cinnamon Stone Shawl by Verybusymonkey. I'm happy to say that this is something from my Stash Match Project that I started last year - sometimes I can stay on track!

The yarn is Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4 ply (aka my favourite yarn), in the Emerald City colourway. Cameras can't handle how green this yarn is, so I oversaturated the colour in an attempt to bring out the awesome greenness. It doesn't quite capture it, still. It is so green. It glows!

I'm at the stage where the rows are still short enough that they fly by, and I love watching the lace pattern develop.

Linking up with Stitch Along Wednesday

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2015

How lucky I am to have such a festival in the city where I live!

EYF 2015 was this past weekend, and it did not disappoint. I didn't take any classes, but I sure exercised my stash-down exception. Wheee! As is typical, I hardly took any photos, and most of them are badly lit / blurry. Here's a glimpse of the WestKnits / Ysolda stall, though, festooned in beautifully mad colourful shawls. That sums up the yarn festival for me: beautiful and mad.



Almost as soon as I arrived, I visited my friends at the charity yarn-winding table. EYF's charity of choice this year was the Teapot Trust, who provide art therapy to chronically ill children. EYF volunteers wound skeins into cakes for a donation to the trust, but the Teapot Trust also had a table of gift items for sale to raise funds. I bought a pair of earrings shaped like teapots from them because they were so cute.



Then I went and bought yarn. And more yarn. I had a short list of projects to buy for, as per my stash down exception, but I was blinded by the pretties, so I didn't really stick to it.

There was so much beautiful stuff, much of it from companies I'd heard of but never seen in real life, and some of it from dyers I'd never heard of.

First up, Old Maiden Aunt. Obviously, I knew I'd spend time digging through the piles of loveliness since I'm a big fan. I ended up with this skein of 4 ply merino in the Crazy Ivan colourway. (Spot the Firefly reference.) It's impossible to describe or photograph, but think purple, teal, blue, green, and red all in subtle layers. Like an oil slick, only not shiny.



Next, Easy Knits. This is a new-to-me dyer, which so many insane vibrant colours. Again, I ended up with merino 4 ply:



The neon green is a bit outside my normal colour range, but it just called to me.

Finally, I stopped at Eden Cottage Yarns, and picked up some more merino 4 ply (sensing a theme?) in a lovely faceted charcoal gray.



I didn't intend to buy solely merino sock yarn, but that's what happened. Oh well! Sometimes you just have to roll with it. As of now, the only skeins that have been assigned to a project are the neon green Easyknits and the Eden Cottage - I plan on using them together in a Pendulum shawl.

The festival seems like it was a roaring success, and I look forward to next time! Maybe I'll even take some classes. Maybe by then I'll have made some more space in my stash. Haha.

FO: Elf socks

I now have in my possession some fabulous (if I do say so myself) elf-themed socks. These were not the most enjoyable of projects, and if I made them again I would make some more changes... but I think they were worth it in the end.



Pattern: Tauriel by Josiah Bain
Yarn: 75% wool, 25% nylon, my own hand-dyed with tea (see this post for details).

Mods: Shortened the ankle by 1 repeat, change heel to twisted-slip-stitch to keep the flow of the ribbing/cables, kind of ignored the instructions for the toes and partly winged it.



Notes:
Mistake the 1st:
I probably should have made a larger size. I balked at the cast-on stitch counts for the sizes above small; even though I do not have small feet, I rarely if ever need to cast on more than 68 stitches for socks. So, even though in my brain I knew I was a medium, I cast on for the small. As a result, the cables are stretched to maximum. Luckily, they are super-stretchy since it is basically ribbing with some cabley twists thrown in. The socks fit and are pretty comfy nonetheless, but I think they would look better a little less stretched. Oh well. Should have trusted the pattern.

Mistake the 2nd:
I shouldn't have shortened the ankles - these turned out slightly shorter than I normally like my woolly socks. Oh well. Still fine.

Mistake the 3rd:
I misjudged how long the toes would be. The pattern says to begin the toe shaping on one of several cable pattern rounds, and if the socks aren't long enough by then, to do ribbing until it gets to that point. I think mine look out of proportion because of where I started the ribbing. I probably could have gotten away with continuing the cables for longer and then doing a more rapid set of toe decreases. Never mind.



Despite these frustrating details, I do like the socks and will wear them a lot - none of these things are bad enough to make me want to frog and start over. Definitely in the Good Enough category of FOs. I'm excited to have finally used my tea-dyed yarn, and look forward to seeing how it holds up to washing.

For those keeping track, this skein was part of my Sock Yarn Stash Match category. 3 more skeins to go!

And finally - anyone else heading to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival this weekend? I am so excited and will post a (probably incoherent, babbling) recap of events afterwards. If you see me, say hello! (I'll probably have a ravelry badge labeled Notpanicking. And probably my Colour Affection. And will be ogling the Old Maiden Aunt yarn stall, among others!)

Stash Match: Lace Weight

It's Monday Match. That can be a thing now, right? Or not.

Since starting my Stash Match project, I've acquired more laceweight, so I now have two skeins that need projects. This was a challenge since it seems I rarely work with laceweight. (I like it when I do, but it doesn't seem to fall into my shopping cart like 4-ply does!)



Filatura Di Crosa Centolavaggi: 1531 yards / 1400 metres, 100% merino cobweb

I've had this yarn for years. It's sentimental yarn, since it's the first yarn that my husband ever bought for me - an impulse purchase from when we visited Bologna and randomly found a yarn shop. When we got engaged I briefly harboured thoughts of using it for my wedding shawl... but then I bought a light gold / champagne coloured dress and decided that undyed yarn would be a better coordinating colour. Sentimentality has prevented me from settling on a project. Plus, that is a LOT of very fine yarn, and my style isn't particularly delicate.

I've been feeling the need for a truly challenging project, since I haven't been stretching myself much with my knitting lately. That + loads of cobweb weight yarn lead me to Malgven by Lucy Hague. I've admired her celtic-knotwork shawls for a while, so what better time to try one out? Plus, I've never made a circular shawl before. No time like the present! The pattern is written for laceweight rather than cobweb, so mine may turn out a little smaller / I made need to use different needles.



Maharashtra Silk: 800 yards/732 metres, 100% silk laceweight.

I got this yarn in a swap last year (hence the glimpse of the tasty cow-themed treats I also received). I've never used 100% silk, but I love silk blends, so I hope this will be fun to knit with. It looks like a good candidate for planned pooling, given the way it was dyed. The website I've linked has a tool for figuring out how to get your yarn to pool intentionally in different patterns, but there are also lots of patterns written for planned pooling. I've chosen the Pooling Summer Mesh Stole by Gladys We as a starting point. If I'm going to do something ridiculously complicated with my other yarn, I thought I'd do something slightly simpler with this one. I will change to something else if I find it isn't working with my yarn, of course.

That's all for this installment of Stash Match. I have a few more categories to go, and they are proving difficult, but I'll get there eventually!

Do you have stash yarn that stubbornly refuses to commit to a pattern?

FO: Luna Purpurae

I have a new cowl(ette)!

Pattern: Luna Viridis by Hilary Smith Callis

Yarn: Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine



Notes: No mods, other than accidentally doing two repeats of one of the lunar bands at the beginning, rather than alternating the direction.

This was a fun knit, and fairly quick. The yarn is so luxurious - Merino/Cashmere/Nylon - maybe the first time I've used such a blend? I can't remember. But anyway, softest ever. I do worry it will become very fuzzy in short order, but in the meantime it looks and feels lovely. The gentle variegation works pretty well with the textured stitch pattern, and I loved watching all the subtle colour variations occur as I knit.

The cowlette thing intrigued me and I'm glad I tried it. It fits well, but unlike a shawlette, I can't pull it more tightly around my neck - so it does feel different to wear. I can still tuck it in when I wear it with a jacket, plus there is a double layer of knitting since the stockinette portion folds under the textured bit, so it is still plenty cozy.



Just in time for spring? Ah well, it'll get plenty of wear throughout the year here, I'm sure.

See more FOs here!

Stash Match: Sock Yarn

Last year I set out to match my stash yarn to patterns so it wouldn't languish indecisively forever more. I managed to allocate my 4-ply "Too Pretty For Socks" yarn, and I'm well on my way to using it for its intended purpose. (By which I mean, I've completed two projects and started a third. I'll get there.)

Today I'm finally getting around to my next category: Sock Yarn (aka "Pretty enough for socks," I guess.) The yarns in this category are no less pretty than my un-sock yarn, but probably/hopefully more durable.



Top to Bottom:

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock: I've been holding on to this for a long time, since people keep telling me it is the ultimate sock yarn. I might have put it on a pedestal, just a little, so I've found it difficult to commit to a pattern. Also, it is heavily variegated - fortunately (or unfortunately) there are loads of interesting patterns out there especially for this kind of yarn. After much internal debate, I've settled on Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin. I'll re-evaluate if it pools strangely when I start, though.

Yarn Yard Cairn: I have had this yarn almost as long as I've lived in Edinburgh. (4ish years). It is time that I knitted it up! It's quite dark, so choosing a pattern that would show through was difficult. I've settled on Torrent by Tin Can Knits, since I think the lace will show up even in the dark colour.

Hand-dyed red: I believe this is 75/25% wool/nylon. Dyed with Wilton's icing gel colours, it initially turned out the colours of canned salmon. Eeeeh not really what I was going for. Then I dumped most of the rest of the red dye into the pot and there was much rejoicing. I think it will look awesome as Blueberry Bubbles by Thayer Preece Parker. Or perhaps strawberry bubbles, in my case. I'm looking forward to a sock with a lot of stockinette but a goodly portion of detail as well.

Hand-dyed tea/brown:
Probably 75/25 wool/nylon. I dyed it using a shedload of teabags a few years ago, and it has been waiting for a project ever since. I actually started knitting Hedgerow with this yarn, but I just wasn't enjoying it, so I frogged and thought some more. The winner came upon me suddenly - not from my favourites or queue, but from the new Knitty: Tauriel. ALL THE CABLES. This is certainly not television knitting, but I'm enjoying it so far.



What are your favourite sock patterns?

WIP Wednesday: Luna Viridis

For the first time in a long time, I have a new exciting WIP on a Wednesday!

I have the beginnings of a delightful cowlette on the needles right now.



Luna Viridis, by Hilary Smith Callis is fun so far. I've never made a cowlette - a cowl that mimics the shape of a shawlette wrapped around the neck. It seems like it will be very wearable, but we'll have to see when I'm finished.

The yarn is Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine, which is Merino/Cashmere/Nylon and possibly the softest thing I've ever knit with. This is my fourth project using my stash match yarn, and so far I think it was the right choice. It's more of a gently-variegated than a semi-solid colourway, if that makes any sense, but I think it'll work. I've only just started on the textured portion, but slipped stitches and tonal variation are usually friends.

Linking up to Stitch Along Wednesday this week.

FOs: Catkin Hat and Rye Mitts

I'm sure this is a common knitterly problem. I have very few matching accessories. Scarves/shawls generally use one skein, so if I wanted a matching hat or mitts, I'd need to plan ahead and get two. Pretty single skeins are usually impulse purchases for me - planning ahead? Nah.

Most of the time I embrace my non-matchy-ness - most of what I have is purple/blue/green anyway, so whatever. (Plus, I have a bright turquoise jacket...) This time, in the interests of making something other than a shawl from my single skein, I've made a matching hat and mitts!



Pattern: Catkin Hat by Kate Davies and Rye / Ruista Ranteeseen mitts by Hanne Katajamäki

Yarn: Natural Born Dyers BFL/nylon Hi-Twist Sock

Notes:

Catkin:
With this hat, I think I have conquered my unease about slouchy hats. I've always felt a bit awkward wearing them, and I think I've figured it out. Previous slouchy hats have always been too loose around the brim! This one is pretty snug around the brim / my head, and only becomes slouchy at the back because of the strategically located increases. Win!


Photos taken during a recent trip to Cambridge - with bonus punt.

One interesting technique employed in this pattern is ALL THE TWISTED STITCHES. I happen to enjoy ktbl, so no big deal. I normally use twisted stitches for ribbing or other situations in which knits are alternating with purls. This pattern calls for twisted stitches for the entirety of the cable pattern, meaning there are lots of twisted knits next to each other. I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I think it looks okay. Not entirely convinced it is necessary, but maybe it helps define the cables a bit more?



Rye:
I chose this pattern mainly to use some awesome wooden buttons I had in my stash. This was a pretty straightforward knit, though the pattern requires some interpretation. It is translated from Finnish, and some of the directions are not the clearest. (Designer admits as much on the pattern notes, so it wasn't a surprise.) In any case, it's a free pattern and it all worked out. I ended up doing 1x1 rib at the cuff / tops / thumbs because I wasn't paying attention to the directions at first - supposed to do some sort of garter rib. Oops. When I realised my mistake I couldn't be bothered to rip back, so I just went with it. Good enough. :P



As it turns out, I ran out of green yarn, so had to shorten the thumbs a bit and use different yarn for the straps. I dyed some yarn with tea a few years ago, and the brown complemented the green nicely, so I went with that. The only issue I have with the straps is that my buttons are too large for the buttonholes. I will probably keep the straps fastened most of the time, so it's not really a problem.



But the mitts are nice and long if I want to unfasten the straps.

Woot for another Stash Match set of projects! I haven't forgotten about this, and plan to allocate more patterns to stash, starting with my sock yarn. Look out for this and hopefully more frequent updates soon!

Stash Match: Too Pretty for Socks

Earlier this year I copped out on on blog week by introducing my Stash Match project. And then entirely failed to follow through. Ooops. It has been very difficult coming to a decision about these skeins! Anyway, here is the first post dedicated to assigning patterns / projects to my Too Pretty For Socks category of stash.

For me the obvious choice for pretty sock-weight yarn is neckwear; however, I always feel like I have too much and should try something else. Out of curiosity, I gathered all the scarves/shawls/shawlettes/cowls I could find and put them together.



The resulting pile is smaller than I imagined! I'd say that is far from an excessive amount of neckwear and I could totally get away with knitting some more. Nonetheless, I would like to branch out to include other accessories, like hats and mitts.

The Searching

I began with my existing queue and favourites. I reasoned that my favourites list already included many awesome patterns I had picked out from the mass that is Ravelry. (I also added loads of things to both of these ists over the course of my searching. But anyway.)

Ravelry's advanced search  / pattern browser function is awesome, and I have used it extensively to prepare this post. Also saved searches on Ravelry have been very useful. Here are a few of my saved searches:

Searching my favourites on Ravelry for shawls, scarves, and cowls, in 4-ply and sportweight yields 102 results, although this includes some that I have already made, as well as some I never want to make but just think are pretty/impressive/awesome when someone else makes them. The same search in my queue yields 7 results.

A similar search for handwear in my favourites has 51 results, and in my queue, 7 results.

And for headwear: 21 results in favourites, and before starting this exercise there were NONE in my queue, but now there are 2 results.

Obviously I'm a serial-favouriter, but I don't think about making hats as much as everything else. As it turns out, I rarely wear hats in the winter here since I'm always expecting it to get colder and it hardly ever does. That doesn't mean I shouldn't wear hats, though - 4-ply hats might be the perfect solution.

The Stash/Yarn Mismatch

A problem I came up against is that my stash doesn't really match a lot of my favourited patterns. For example, my favourites show that I'm obsessed with striped shawls, especially since making Color Affection last year. I also love colourwork mittens. Both of these types of projects require two or more contrasting colours of yarn used together. Unfortunately, much of the yarn I have is too similar in colour-value - if used together, the stripes or colour motifs would get lost. Or if not, the yarns have different textures and I don't think they would work well together. I may yet raid some of my yarn in the Sock Yarn category to pair with this yarn in order to have stripes... or I may end up buying contrasting yarn to maximize stripe / colourwork potential. In the mean time, I am going to make my matches in solid colours for now, and if the stash augments / changes, I will re-evaluate. This decision cuts down my matching options considerably, but there are still lots of patterns to wade through.

Despite this mismatch, I've come up with some stash-pattern matches that I can get behind.

The Matching

As a reminder, here is the stash I am trying to match in this segment:



The following yarns are ordered from top to bottom in the photo.

Malabrigo Sock (402 m) (Stash link)
Song of the Sea, by Louise Zass-Bangham. Gorgeous lacy cowl that perfectly fits the yarn, even down to the colourway "aguas." I previously posted about starting this project, and it is going well so far.


Peek of Malabrigo waves

SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (366 m) (Stash link)
Luna Viridis, by Hilary Smith Callis, 366 m. I'm intrigued by the shape/construction of this cowl. It is supposed to fit like a shawlette wrapped around the neck, except it's a closed loop so it won't come undone or slide off. The Cashluxe Fine is so incredibly soft that it has to be worn around my neck - not negotiable.

Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m) (Stash link)
Catkin hat, by Kate Davies, (160 m). I adore the Catkin sweater, but I may never get around to making it, so I want to make the matching hat just in case. I think the colour and texture of this yarn suits this pattern well: a bit rustic, earthy semi-solid, not tightly spun. Hopefully the cables will show up, but the character of the yarn will also show through.



Rye / Ruista ranteen, by Hanne Katajamäki. I'll have yarn leftover, so I also plan to make matching mitts. This is a simple fingerless mitt pattern that will let me use some of my button stash, as well! The ones shown above I bought at Woolfest a few years ago and they complement the green yarn quite well. It may be a tight squeeze for yarn, but I can always shorten the mitts slightly. I am also considering making mitts that have the same cable from Catkin on them - shouldn't be too hard to modify some plain mitts.

Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m) (Stash link)
I really struggled to come up with a pattern for this yarn for some reason. The yarn is soft and a bit fuzzy and I expect it will only become more fuzzy as it wears. I finally decided on the Ice Storm Mitts, by Louise Zass-Bangham, (125-151 m), and matching Ice Storm Snug Cowl, (209 m). I'm hopeful that the textured stitches will still look good when they get fuzzy. Yardage may be a bit tight; in addition, the patterns call for sport weight yarn, so I may have to do some adjustments for gauge.

Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m) (Stash link)
This is the greenest yarn ever and I absolutely love it. My love for this colour and this yarn has seriously impeded my decision-making. I have been caught in the trap of searching for the one perfect pattern, and nothing seems good enough. Finally, I've made a decision (subject to change, of course).


ZOMGGREEN!

The Cinnamon Stone Shawl, by verybusymonkey, (338-366 m), immediately intrigued me with its interesting textural lace. I keep coming back to it, and it think it would look great in this yarn - plenty of texture, but also plenty of stockinette to let the yarn shine by itself.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m) (Stash link)
Arya Mitts, by Patti Waters, (343-457 m). I love the neat cables on these. The yarn seems quite sturdy, so I hope it will hold up well as mitts. This is on the variegated end of semi-solid, but I think the colours will show up in short bursts / flecks when knitted up, and so not interfere with the cables. At least, I hope so, but we'll see!

Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m) (Stash link)
Flavia Hat, by Beth Kling (221-250 m). It's been a while since I did any truly complex cabling, and I feel now is the time. The yarn's semi-solid colours should play nicely with the intricate cabling on this hat. I should have some yarn leftover, so may make matching mitts. Perhaps something like Totally Cabled Long Fingerless Mitts by Linda Lehman, only not so long since I won't have enough yarn. Or maybe something based on the cables in the hat.

Shibui Sock (175 m) (Stash link)



Quilted Lattice Mitts, by Jennifer Elaine, (137-183 m). I know, I recently made a pair of socks in this exact stitch pattern. I am not bored of it, though, and it works really well with variegated yarns, so why not go for the mitts? I may change up the pattern a bit to make it more herringbone... or I may not.

So there you have it. Phase one of Stash Match is complete, and now my queue shows it. Allocating yarn to patterns has been difficult but somewhat liberating. It's nice to feel organised. Now, I need to get knitting if I'm ever going to start/finish any of these before I get distracted again.

Stay tuned for the next Stash Match post, in which I will look at my suitable-for-socks sockweight yarn.

5KCBWDAY2 - Introducing Stash Match

It's the second day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and I am already veering off-piste. Apologies to Eskimimi whose well-thought-out topics are about to get re-interpreted/ignored! Rather than write a dating profile for an FO as per today's topic prompt, I'm using today's post to launch a series of posts I've been pondering for quite a while. You see, it's my stash that needs some love, not my FOs. Hence, Stash Match.

Stash Match: What it is
(I didn't intentionally steal the phrase from anyone else, though some quick googling yields it on a quilting blog. I hope she doesn't mind.)

Over the course of an undetermined number of blog posts, I will attempt to allocate all (or most) of my stashed yarn to patterns / ideas for future knitting. I reserve the right to change my mind about these stash-pattern matches, but having a concrete list rather than a nebulous cluster of vague thoughts will make me feel a lot more organised.

Why I am stash-matching

In theory, I prefer to buy yarn with a pattern in mind. For sweater quantities of yarn, this works quite well in practice. For single skeins of pretty sock yarn, not so much - rather than a specific pattern, I end up telling myself "This could be a shawl(ette). Or it could be socks." That is not untrue; however, it is also not helpful! I end up with lots of beautiful yarn not allocated to a project, and when I need something for a particular project, I just buy more - invariably, nothing in my stash at the time seems right.

I try not to let it bother me too much, since pretty yarn sitting in stash is pretty yarn, but I think I have hit the point where I need to go through it all and at least tentatively allocate yarn for specific projects. After all, I have an extensive queue and favourites list to draw from - surely there are some perfect yarn to pattern pairings just waiting to be recognised! I can always change my mind if something even more awesome comes along.

The Candidates 

Most of my stash is in the photo below. Not included are sweater quantities of yarn, most leftovers from other projects, and handspun. (I have some handspun, but I didn't spin any of it myself, so don't get excited). And anything else I couldn't find or forgot about.



After much deliberation, I have grouped it into rough categories as follows:

Green: Too pretty for socks
Cyan: WTF yarn
Yellow: Destined for colourwork
Pink: Alpaca
Blue: Sock yarn
Orange: Laceweight

The Green section is the one that is taunting me the most right now. I have deemed these Too Pretty for Socks because from my perspective they are unsuitable for socks for at least one reason. Some of them aren't superwash, some of them are too delicate, and all of them are so beautifully dyed that I can't imagine hiding them in shoes.



From top to bottom, it includes the following:
Malabrigo Sock (402 m)
SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (365 m)
Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m)
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m)
Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m)
Shibui Sock (175 m)

So there it is. Team Too Pretty for Socks is up first for stash-matching. After blog week, I will be back with a post talking about the matches and how I came up with them. In the meantime, let me know if you have any brilliant ideas for the above yarn. Do you need to do a stash match, or is your stash already perfectly allocated to patterns/projects?