Saturday, August 16, 2014

State of the knits: Birthday edition!

Yesterday was my birthday! (Man, I'm getting so old.) My parents gave me two wonderful birthday gifts this year. First, they financed my move; last weekend I finished moving in with Bandit. Second, they sent me a box of chocolate-covered strawberries.

Now, I've always thought of my stash as fairly small and reasonable. But I have my stash all in one place for the first time in years, and I'm not so sure anymore:

The 18-quart/17-liter tubs on the left are from my place, and the 16-quart/15-liter tubs on the right hold the stash that has been living at Bandit's place. Top left is workhorse yarns, featuring a lot of Cascade 220 and some worsted yarn that I experimented with dyeing many months ago. Bottom left is luxury yarn: anything laceweight or with silk or cashmere in it. Top right is a bit more luxury yarn, and bottom right is sock yarn and more yarn for dyeing.

Then there's an entire fifth tub and a hollow storage ottoman devoted to holding all my WIPs:

Starting from the top and going clockwise:

  • Jacke/cardigan *Opera* in gray Skaska silk/yak laceweight. Currently in the middle of the second sleeve.
  • Lapis in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, in the Peacock colorway. Hibernating because of a sizing issue.
  • Y Ddraig in Twisted Fiber Art Duchess Evolution in the Elphaba colorway. I would be knitting on this a lot more if the dark colors weren't bleeding so much onto my hands and onto the needles.
  • Whispers in DyeForYarn merino/baby camel, in the Closing Pandora's Box colorway. Well on my way to being done with the front!
  • Dishcloth I'm making to practice two-color double-knitting, using gray and blue Cascade 220 Superwash.
  • Slide socks for Amy that have been hibernating so long that they don't even have a Ravelry project page.
  • Ink in MadTosh Merino Light, in the Mare colorway. So close to finished. Hibernating for some unknown reason.
  • In the center: Celestarium in Black Sheep Dyeworks silk/merino lace, in the Aegean Multi colorway. According to the progress chart, I'm about 40% through, though it feels like I'm a lot further in.

And if eight WIPs weren't enough already, I gave myself permission to cast on as many new projects as I wanted for my birthday:

  • Blue tonal cakes on the left: The Cursebreaker. I've knitted half of one cuff of Pickle's socks so far, and... these may actually turn out to be too big. I've decided that if these socks turn out too big, Pickle can deal with that. He'll own a nice pair of bed socks, and I'll buy some other yarn and knit some other pattern for him.
  • Gold yarn in the middle: Povetkina's Dyeworks mulberry silk. Still designated for Sheherazade, soon to be cast on.
  • Black and green on the right: Zitron Trekking XL, Bandit's next pair of socks. I've cast on the toe of one already, but in a contrast yarn (left over from my spring-grass Francies). I really hope that this one ball of yarn will be enough for both socks.

What do you think? Enough stash? Too many projects? Have you ever banished several projects to deep hibernation while casting on a slew of new ones?

7 comments:

  1. Alright seriously those chocolate covered strawberries are making my knees weak! Fantastic.
    Happy Birthday love.
    I got back and forth regarding whether or not I have to many projects on the needles. More often than naught, I settle with the fact that one can never have too many projects on the needles. :)

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  2. There is no such thing as too much stash. And the pile of WIPs just reflects how industrious and creative you are!

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  3. I definitely don't think I need any more stash yarn, but I won't tell anyone else what to do. :)

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  4. You can never have enough stash as far as I am concerned. What if you have to cast on something in the middle of the night, well you must have some yarn options for that. I can only keep up with two or three projects at a time, but I am uch, much older than you so it just might be my age.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  5. Um, that stash. Yeah, don't feel bad. Mine is so much worse. And growing. I put myself on a yarn diet until Boxing Day, but who knows how that will last. And your WIP pile makes me feel so much better about myself. I was down on myself lately for having so many WIPs and yet casted on another this weekend. But who cares? Let's all bond over our giant WIPs piles.

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  6. Never enough stash, and the state of your WIPs is totally acceptable! It's too bad that gradient yarn is bleeding so much b/c I can't wait to see that shawl. I'm currently in a state of casting on new WIPs with abandon, eventually it will catch up with me. I hope you had a wonderful bday, those strawberries look amazing!

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  7. Happy Birthday and congrats on your move! I rather like your pile of WIPs!

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