I’ve definitely made progress on this one. I’ve gone from having several boxes and bags of yarn to one shoe organizer and a basket of current projects. I’ve bought yarn for specific projects, but I haven’t “stashed up” or hit sales. I do have some yarn that’s just never going to be anything. I decided to start back in on a project that just needed a little kick in the pants, only to find that I’d knit something six inches too wide. I don’t plan on taking it apart and re-knitting it, so for now that’s still hanging around the house. I also bought too much yarn for a friend’s present (like, double), so I guess I’ll be making an extra for charity. It definitely feels good to have the extra space in my closet. I don’t feel as twitchy about knitting now that I know that there just isn’t as much of it to be done. 2 years ago

For the last few months, I’ve been going after this goal for real. I’m tired of a lot of the things that have just been hanging out in my stash. I’ve gone through a lot of the yarn that was there for a while and I’m down to one box of weird stuff. There are two or three potential blankets in there, but some of the things that I’ve had sitting around are harder to deal with. For instance, I have this skinny, skinny yarn that isn’t useful for most things, so I’m very slowly making a bandage out of it for a leper colony. It’s really not good for much else and it’s pretty slow going.

I did make a ton of things for the last a4A drive—eleven sweater vests! I’m now out of worsted weight wool entirely and working through a bunch of other stuff. I figure it’ll take me a few more months to get everything knit up and out of the house. I don’t know what I’m going to do afterwards, but it was time for a fresh start. 2 years ago

it’s been so long since i’ve had the pleasure :(

it’s getting colder here, time for mittens and a new hat.

i would love a pair of those mittens with the flap over the fingers. i work outside more often now, and i need to keep my hands warm and still have my fingertips free. i am tempted to just go buy a pair, but making something with my own hands again would be such a joy! maybe i will look for a pattern… 3 years ago

You know, this is probably the goal that I worry about the most, even though it’s not, like, world peace or something. I guess that’s a sign that my life is pretty good. I don’t worry about money or health or politics, I worry about something totally easy to deal with.

I did inherit a lot of yarn from our most recent yarn swap, but I also let go of a lot of stuff at the swap and even sent some of the stuff I claimed off to charity later in the week. It’s a wash overall, but I also have a new goal. I want to eventually get my yarn down to one big black box. It may take a while, but whatever… I’m not going to actually get through my stash, but I can get it down to one big box maybe sometime in the next 12-24 months. 3 years ago

so i measured the body of the sweater. it is 66”. that’s 5 and 1/2 FEET circumference. i can’t stop laughing!!

“Gauge is a precision game; there is no room for a relaxed attitude. There are many knitters who, after knitting a couple of gauge swatches, make the classic error of thinking that a measly little inconsequential half a stitch more per inch is no big deal. So it will be a little smaller. That’s okay. For example, how about a sweater that has a bust measuring 40 inches, with a gauge of 4 stitces to 1 inch. You are getting 4 1/2 stitches to the inch and you just ran out of patience for this whole “getting gauge game.” You are planning to go ahead. In the end, you will end up with a sweater that is 35 1/2 inches around. A half stitch in the other direction, and your sweater measures 46 inches long. Gauge is serious business.”

I will remember that not everyone likes knitting to be serious. If I decide to play it fast and loose with gauge, I will make a point of befriending people of various sizes and shapes. It will fit someone.

~from At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee “The Yarn Harlot” p. 138 3 years ago

because i did not have the double pointed needles i needed for the sleeves. i’ve had to be so frugal and i’ve been so busy i just put the whole project aside. this week i scared up a few of those 40% off coupons they put in the sunday paper, and i saved on my purchase of two sets of size seven double pointeds and a set of double pointed needle holders. the weather has suddenly gotten cooler and it makes me want to knit again. so now i am ready. 3 years ago

Afghans for Afghans just announced a new campaign. They want baby blankets under 45 inches… Time to get cracking! 3 years ago

I’m one of those people who packs yarn to go on vacation the way a bookworm packs books. For this trip, I took a whole stack of odd balls and knit up three hats in two days and started a fourth. I feel pretty good about it. I discovered that I have a stack of finished hats where I haven’t sewn in all the trailing yarns. I don’t know when I’m going to get to that, but I need to…

I’m in between on the blankets that I’m working on. I’ve kinda gotten sick of them and have really been dragging my feet lately. I ran out of yarn on the latest one and was really worried about what I was going to do with it. Luckily someone on Ravelry had some in the same dyelot, so I have enough to finish it and I’ll probably work on that sometime this week. I have a bag of blankets sitting out in my living room. Soon I can gather them all up for the wash and drop them off at the hospital. I’m looking forward to that, but I’m still not particularly motivated. 3 years ago

in a slightly different manner: “Use what I have first.” Over the weekend, I went out and bought some supplies to make cards for my friends. I had a bunch of stuff already, but I wanted to make something special and have more thank you/congratulations cards on hand. I didn’t spend a lot but it feels like everything is adding up these days. When I was thinking over my weekend today, I could have just used any of the cards I had in my stationery drawer. It didn’t really matter that much. In fact, when I went through my drawer, I actually used one of the cards I’d bought a while ago. I don’t begrudge the money I spent on making those cards; I’ll need them in the future, they kept me busy for a little bit and I certainly could have done worse things with my money, but it would also be nice to have more in my savings account.

There’s something very satisfying about using up things, even silly household stuff. I’m almost at the end of a bottle of moisturizer! It’s taken me several months! Woo hoo! When I’m out shopping, I’m often more interested in getting shiny new things, but when I’m home, I’d rather be working through something than buying more. I need to remember that more often when I’m not home. I have all sorts of things sitting around waiting for me to watch them or read them or whatever. Use what I have first.

...

I’ve also decided that “worrying” about my stash and chewing over what I’ll make next is actually kind of relaxing in some way. I don’t feel like I’m in a tizzy when I’m thinking about it, even if that’s how I categorize it later. It’s certainly more calming than worrying about world peace or stories from the news. 3 years ago

I’ve eaten through a bunch of Mission Falls 1824 cotton lately and finished of a really lovely green blanket. It’s actually big enough to be a lap blanket and since I pretty much planned the yarn instead of using what I had, it’s actually a really nice piece. I was working on the border last night and thought it’d be lovely to keep it around, but we already have stuff, no need for more… I need to finish off the edging, but it should be ready to go by the end of the week.

I also just bought more pink yarn to make up for the 16 squares I melted last weekend. It’ll be some time before I get them done, but I was happy to find more cheap yarn on ravelry. I spent $14, but I think I bought enough to finish it off.

I’m currently challenging myself to use up more of the mystery yarn that I melted a few days ago. [note to self: no more boiling water…] I have a bunch of big skeins of it and my current plan is to knit each color up in between big projects. I have six colors left, so even if I only play lip service to this idea, it’ll get me started on a blanket using them. It’s kinda demoralizing to use them, frankly. It’s a beautiful yarn, but I know it would just sit in my stash after that disaster… 4 years ago

A4A just finished its last appeal and I’m done with my giant stack of hats, so I’m working on baby blankets for my local hospital. I finished off a cotton baby blanket this week and have started searching around to see what’s next.

I have a pile of squares made out of skinny yarn from those blankets I made up last summer. I matched some of the pink squares up with some pinky skinny yarn that I bought recently for that purpose. While I didn’t quite have enough to finish off a realistically sized blanket, I had enough to get me going. I have a lot of Mission Falls 1824 cotton, but at 9 skeins, it wasn’t enough to really be a blanket on its own. I matched it up with some of JKD’s black yarn and then tottered off to the internet to buy more yarn for both blankets… I know I will probably be annoyed when it all shows up and I don’t have anywhere to put it, but I will have enough to finish off those two blankets without any problems. I also bought some other discontinued yarn to match up with some orangish squares that I made last year. It’s not enough to be a whole blanket, but it’ll get me started. The orange is kind of an odd color at a good price, so I jumped on it when I saw it. I was putting off buying yarn until I used up a bit more of what I had, but I didn’t have enough to finish off the first blanket, much less the second or third.

Other than the pink one I’m working on right now, I’m happy that all of these blankets will be pretty much gender neutral in kid-friendly colors but not traditional pastels. I figure they get a lot of pink and blue things and that’s not to everyone’s taste. These blankets should keep me going for the next couple of months. 4 years ago

With my manic hat-making, I’ve made great strides in stash reduction lately. I did buy a few skeins on sale with a gift certificate, but I’ve knit up yarn like there’s no tomorrow lately and it shows. I have a big old pile of hats, but even better, this weekend I took some time to reorganize things. I took over a new, medium sized box in the living room, but I emptied out a small box and my biggest, trunk sized box. 4 years ago

I decided to tackle the biggest, bulkiest yarn I had over the next few weeks in the hope that I’d free up a box for finished objects. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself! Starting with big yarn turned out to be a good motivator since it was pretty quick to knit up a hat on super thick needles and I quickly worked up a good sized stack of new hats. I’m now back to knitting up things on normal-sized needles, but I’ve made 17 or so hats since I finished off that last afghan. It’s always good to see my odd balls go into finished objects. I made two hats with stripes of the extra yarn from a friend’s Christmas gift and it reminded me of her…

I’ve shuffled around my yarn lately, so I’m not sure if I’ve really gotten rid of a full box of yarn, but I’ve definitely made progress. I think this is my “theme” for spring—I’m going to go through the odd balls and make as many hats as I can until I’m totally sick of them and want something else to do. 4 years ago

I’m nearly, nearly done with the last afghan I’m going to send out to Afghans for Afghans this spring. I bought more yarn yesterday and then promptly ran out again, so I need to go pick some more up. I’m pretty proud of myself, stash-wise. I had a big influx this winter, between a few people [including our own lovely JKD!] giving me their old yarn and my own trip to the Smiley’s Yarn Riot. I even had to buy a new box for it all. Since then I’ve finished off three blankets and a few smaller items. I’ve emptied out a whole box and also made a lot of space in my main boxes. It’s been good progress.

My current plan is to use up all of the yarn in a specific box by making hats and then ship them off. When I’m done, I’ll have a new empty box to keep finished/unshipped objects, which currently just hang out in my closet in an unorganized pile. [I’m not a big fan of unorganized piles, especially since my closet is so dark.] On May 11th, the USPS will raise their prices, so I’m planning on doing a big post office run the weekend before and I’d love to get as many things out as possible. I’ll have the hats and other small things, and I also have two blankets that are too big for a4A’s guidelines. I just contacted Warm Woolies about giving them to them, but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll need to find them a home. I held on to that Project Linus blanket for far too long. These do me no good sitting in my closet. 4 years ago

knitter’s everywhere seek: finishing one skein and joining the next. what a relief! i am making good progress. this next skein will get me through to the underarms, then i will start the sleeves on different needles. the pattern is a raglan cardigan. never tried a raglan before, i like it a lot….so far 4 years ago

i am knitting this sweater on a circular needle, sides and back at once no sideseams. Each row takes forever. I am able to complete two rows in the time it takes me to take my 15 minute break, four rows if I work on it during my one hour lunch. It is slow going but I am glad to be working on it again, and I do enjoy hypnotizing my coworkers with the repetitive movements of the needles. 4 years ago

been working on it again in my free time. its a very simple pattern a nice cotton acrylic blend soft and lightweight. not making it for anyone in particular, thought if i get in done in time i’ll donate it to the holiday gift silent auction fundraiser at work in November. it’s looking like it will end up much too large for me to wear anyway. 4 years ago

I just looked and Afghans for Afghans is doing another shipment once winter breaks. They want blankets [although the two I have finished are too big for the current campaign] and baby things, including hats and socks. They have a rolling deadline and will take things as they come. I like having a goal! 4 years ago

I finished seaming and steaming the second afghan last night. I took the blocks I usually make and turned them sideways, so I have these cool looking diamonds, but my boyfriend asked if I was “just going to leave it that way”. I agreed with him and have decided to make some triangles to fill in the edging a bit. They’re just plain black, but they’ll make the blanket bigger and warmer.

I pulled out some yarn for the next project last night. It’s some pretty yarn that a Ravelry friend bought in Turkey and couldn’t figure out what to make. I’ve started a log cabin quilt pattern with it. I don’t know how big it’s going to get, but I’ll just keep going until I run out, as usual. 4 years ago

I watched 5 movies today and finished off the first of those two afghans. I still need to steam block it. I still want to work on the other tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ll sit there all day and do it. I’m tired of sewing things up and sitting on my couch, frankly. It’s pretty cold out and I was grumbling all the way back from the grocery store when I went out today, but I think I may cap myself at three movies tomorrow and try to do chores around the house or something. 4 years ago

I have two afghans going. One just needs the edging sewn on and some ironing, and I plan on getting it finished off today. The other has a few squares that are hanging out in my bathroom sink that I need to block and dry. I need to lay that one out and start sewing it together. My plan is to get both of them done before “school starts again”—before I have to go back to work. I don’t know when they’ll call me again, but I know I at least have the weekend to goof off and get these done.

After I finish them off, I want to start two new afghans. One will be for a4A in more of my worsted wool and the other will be a cotton baby blanket for the hospital up the road. I bought a book of crochet squares, just to mix things up, and I’d like to find a few things to make in there that I can piece together into a baby blanket. If I get bored of it, I can always make knitted shapes to fill in around them. For a4A, I want to make another mitered square blanket. I’ve accumulated quite a bit of wool lately in blues and greens and black, so I’d like to make something that’s really graphic. I’d like to piece things together so that it makes a zig zag, just to switch things up, but we’ll see what happens when I get there. I figure these two projects will get me through the spring, honestly. I also have a bunch of hats planned out that can go at any time. Rumor has it that there will be a new campaign in March, so I plan on working on the slower, bigger, more time intensive things before then. I have a good bit of this bulky orange crap that I bought on sale that will be perfect for whipping up a bunch of bulky orange warm objects. I think it’s better to save it for that and knit through the worsted weight stuff right now. 4 years ago

This week I sewed together a bunch of the squares in my next afghan. I still have strips to make that go in between the big squares, but a good chunk of the work is done! It’s all laid out on my floor right now, like an odd looking rug… I’m hoping I can get a good chunk of it done before I go off on vacation. 4 years ago

I still have totally too much yarn. I went to a sale, a few friends moved and gave me things… you know how it goes. I even bought a new box to hold more of it. All of these are sure signs of the coming apocalypse, the one where all the string in the house breaks loose and wrecks havoc, like that messy camper scene in the original “The Parent Trap”.

Anyway, I’m working on square #64 of my current set of afghans. Once I hit 72, I’ll start piecing them together and also make the borders and edging to bring them up to a good size. I’m really glad that I’ve been blocking these things as I go. The piles are stacked really high in my bin. 4 years ago

I’ve made three hats in the last few days and have cast on for one more today. We have some train time tomorrow, so I’m thinking I’ll get at least one more in between then and the 15th. My unofficial goal was to get six hats made. I have two chemo caps on hand that could go to this other charity, so with the three I’ve finished off and the one I just cast on, I’m up to six already. I’d like to make new hats for them and eventually send the chemo caps to a cancer charity, but for now, if something horrible comes up [knock on wood] I’ve made my goal. I don’t plan on knitting a big, big stack of hats for them the way I did earlier in the year, but I’d like to squeeze off a few of them before I get back to my never ending pile of afghan squares.

As I was looking through my yarn I realised that I have a lot of odd odd balls. I mean, yes, they’re called odd balls ‘cause they don’t fit in with the rest of them, but now that I have everyone’s odd balls from my yarn swap, the chances that I’ll have things that really don’t fit together have increased rather than decreased. The colors and thicknesses and fibers are all over the place, where when I was just knitting with my extras, I mostly knit with the same handful of yarns and had similar things in my pile. I’m just going to barrel through the obvious ones, but I have a stack going of odd things that I should eventually match to other yarn. I think this is the sort of thing that I worry about in March, frankly, but each time I look through that particular box I wonder about it a bit… 4 years ago

Yesterday, before the relatives arrived, I put together baggies of odd balls yarn for future charity hats and I actually finished a hat while we watched movies at my house. A second is pretty close to done too. The charity I knit for needs many many more hats, so I think between now and the 15th, I’m going to focus my knitting on making hats for them. I have other crap that needs to get done, but it takes me no effort to cast on and knit a hat once I have the yarn separated out and ready to go. I also checked in on my afghan project and I’m up to 50 blocked and washed squares!

My yarn storage area has really exploded between buying yarn for the afghan and getting free yarn after the yarn swap. It’s hard to find things in my closet and move around. I’m looking forward to consolidating the yarn and moving some of it out of there. We need more storage anyway, but in the meantime, the only thing I can do is have less stuff. 4 years ago

I know that I have a bunch of holiday gifts coming up and I’ve started planning them. I need to wash and block and generally finish off and pack up my mom’s gloves and my bf’s hat. I have the yarn for my dad’s hat already and just need to figure out a good pattern, and then my sister has asked for a slouchy beret, so she and I found a pattern and I’m waiting to hear back from her about what type of color she’d like. She said that she felt weird asking for a specific thing, but I love it when my relatives get involved. I’d rather make her something that she’ll use all the time and love to death than make something that I think is awesome but she never uses.

I’m also making another mitered squares afghan for a4A. I have a box of wool for this particular project and I’m about 20 squares in. I got a bunch of yarn at the yarn swap, but I don’t quite know what I have, so I plan on spending some time this weekend going through things and adding them all into Ravelry. I also want to block the squares I’ve finished off. I know that it’s going to take a while for me to finish off enough squares, but I want to get a head start on them. I don’t want to be blocking all 64 of the suckers at once. It’s bad enough when my house kinda smells like wet wool, I don’t need to have the neighbors asking about my sheep grooming business… 4 years ago

I found a similar goal to my real intentions for this one: stop collecting art supplies and start creating art

While I want to keep the size of the collection down, a lot of this goal is about making sure my stash is healthy and that I use the little things I buy. Think of it like turning over the compost heap so everything stays useful. If I didn’t have a stash, if I really ran out of yarn, I’d be buying a specific bit of yarn for every project I started and frankly, that’d be weird… I didn’t even do that when I first started knitting! 4 years ago

A4A has announced an early October deadline for this latest appeal. Thinking about it, I’d really like to send them a second blanket… I have some bulky yarn that I bought to eventually make them more blankets and I think now is a good time to follow through on that one. I’d like to start it this weekend because I have a long car trip coming up. 4 years ago

I found the perfect box for my afghan and then, um, took a nap. Little did I know that the post office here closes at 4… 4 years ago

Last night I finished off my second blanket of the week after a marathon sewing session. It’s all done and ready to go. A friend of mine gave me the number of someone at the local hospital that wants baby things [really local—four blocks away]. I called them this morning and got the woman on the phone easily. She gave me their address but also told me that I could walk over and drop them off. My plan is to get both of these blankets delivered and out the door tomorrow. 4 years ago