savannahchik knits

Trinidad

I was inspired by Carrie's Trinity Shawl (secret project number 3). I've been looking for a project to match up with my Millefili Fine and that shawl looked like a great fit.

I knit up a swatch and I loved the look, but the pattern was a bit of a pain to knit. Similar to ribbing, the yarn was going in front and behind the needles with just about every stitch, and then the wrong side rows were purled.

So I played with the stitches and came up with a way that was easier for me to knit.

Here's where I am (about 6 inches tall)

I love it! I had a couple of false starts getting the increases right, and then finding a good needle size so it would stay airy.

I want to add beads to the edge, attached with a simple edging (maybe a crochet chain?).

Lemons*

I came across this yarn on Sunday and decided to sell it off in the stash sale. The colors are not me and the extra bulky gauge isn't usually my thing either. Plus, it would piss me off every time I came across it in the stash.

Why?

OK, here's the story. Someone asked me if I could check a few LYSs near my job. She was in desperate need of 3 balls of the yarn and the only store in the area that carried the yarn was all out. Lo and behold, my LYS had it. I emailed her, let her know I was picking it up, and brought it to her the next day.

I take it out of my bag to hand it to her, and what does she say? Oh no, nevermind. The LYS by me just got a new shipment so I don't need it any more.

WTF?

I was so stunned I didn't say anything, but boy was I mad. To make matters worse, I lost the receipt and couldn't return it. So it's been aimlessly sitting in the stash for a good year and a half.

When I took it out on Sunday I just couldn't stop thinking about dyeing it up. By Sunday night no one had offered to buy it so I took out one of the balls, wrapped it around the back of a chair, tied it together, and soaked it in a vinegar water bath. I broke out the food coloring and played with shades of pink until it got what seemed to be dark enough.

After that one was done I did the same thing with another ball, this time dyeing it up purple.

I love the way the colors turned out! The variations in the yarn colors come through even when they're dyed. The purple has more variation in it in person.

I'm mulling over a few ideas for what to make out of it. I think it'll be a scarf of some sort. I still need to dye the third ball and I'm considering orange. What do you think?

* I'm hoping my next post on this subject will be Lemonade. Get it?

Fifty

Joining Stashbusters was just the nudge I needed.

On Sunday, I updated my stash spreadsheet. I haven't touched it much since creating it in the beginning of the year. Avoidance is great for self-deception.

I had yarn to add that I had found around the house (in fact, there's still 9 or 10 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky hiding somewhere), and the "few" purchases I've made this year.

Well folks, after taking into account the yarn I've knitted, I've still increased my stash by almost 50 balls this year. This is even ignoring the "found" yarn that wasn't in the original count. Ugh.

This really feels like a burden to me. I don't think anything of other people having a big stash, but I don't want one. A good 20% of the stash is from old purchases that I should probably donate -- I have no interest in ever knitting with the yarn. But, most of it is nice stuff.

It's just so much more fun to knit with something "new" than something from the stash. And then there are also all those UFOs I have hanging around with 10 balls of this or that waiting to be knit up. And that's why the stash keeps growing.

Avoidance.

So, I decided this weekend to pick a UFO and give it some more love. Even if I couldn't finish it. I worked on Zipo for a bit and finished off another ball. 4 down, 10 to go. I've now knitted as much as I ripped the first go round with this sweater!

Then I took out Clapotis. I knitted. I weighed the yarn. Knowing that Kate needed another hank of this yarn to finish her Clapotis, I thought I might come up short. And sure enough I did. I had to stop 2 straight repeats early. And even with that I didn't quite have enough to finish the corner. But luckily the way it rolls no one will be the wiser.

No, I'm not frogging Clapotis.

oh how i hope my nose really isn't this big

So, one more project off the UFO list, and another 300 yards and .5 balls off the stash spreadsheet.

And can I tell ya -- I just LOVE LOVE LOVE Clapotis! So versatile! The way it twirls and curls is fun! How can you not be happy wearing it? big nose and all