Adding to my stash - part 2

I haven't decided yet what this is for, but it was on clearance for only $1.79 a skein. Couldn't turn that down. It's Baby Bee Sweet Delight Baby in Ladybug Ombre. It's 60% cotton and 40% polyamide. I kind of think this looks like scarves, but again, I haven't decided.

This is some Vanna's Choice (100% acrylic in Mountain Print) that I bought specifically to go with this hat that I already made for Emily. You can see it behind the yarn. The scarf I'm making is this pattern.

This was especially for me. It's Trekking XXL sock yarn. 75% new wool (as opposed to old?) and 25% nylon. I'm making this scarf with it. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make the hat. I plan to extend the scarf pattern to make it longer.

Adding to my stash - part 1

I was recently chastised (very lightly, but still chastised) for letting my blog go. I was asked why I post nothing new, day after day. Well, it's not that there aren't things to post about. It's just that I usually find myself so tired at the end of the day that doing another thing makes my brain hurt.

However, in an attempt to keep my loyal public happy, here's a post about yarn. Sorry it's not more exciting, but it's what I've got!



This is my purchase for this scarf. It's Crystle Palace Yarns Kid Merino in Berry. 28% kid mohair, 28% merino wool, and 44% micro nylon. It's nearly 5 ounces of laceweight lovliness. It's soft and sqwooshy (phonetic spelling for effect) and I love it. I started working on the scarf at crochet night a couple of weeks ago, but I find that I need to concentrate and really learn the pattern before I can work on this with anyone around. It's not a difficult pattern, but I've never worked with this type of yarn before so it will take some getting used to.


This is Plymouth Yarn Royal Llama Silk. It's 60% fine llama and 40% silk. It's lovely. It's spun in Argentina and is currently being made into a scarf. It feels so nice and I'm afraid that working with specialty yarns may be spoiling me. :)

This stuff is crazy, but I love it. It's Trendsetter Yarns Aura. It's 100% nylon and 100% fun. I originally bought it to make a scarf for the munchkin, but when I was able to pick up three more balls at 40% off, I decided that Emily needed a hat and scarf. I'm hoping that I can get one of the guys going to China to mule it over to her.

This is Filatura Di Crosa Baby for Tahki Stacy Charles Pom Pom. I'm not really sure yet what it's going to be, but it was too cute to leave there. Can you tell I have a problem? :) It's 41% Cotton, 49% Acrylic, and 10% Polyamide. I need to find a pattern for this.

I bought these three skeins of Patons Stretch Socks for, you guessed it, socks. It's 41% cotton, 39% wool, 13% nylon, and 7% elastic. The nylon and elastic should make them nice and stretchy. Now if I can just find my sock pattern book...

Big move in my crochet world

I am taking a huge step tomorrow. I am going to an actual LYS (Local Yarn Store). And I'm going to spend (potentially) lots of money on high-end yarn. I found this pattern in the coolest crochet magazine ever, Interweave Crochet.

I love this scarf. So, I'm going to spend my money and make the scarf. I was talking with Mom about it and telling her that it's quite possibly a 30-40 dollar scarf. She made a very good point...it would cost me three times that in a boutique. Plus, this way I'll be able to say I made it.

Noro

I made the mistake of looking at yarn today. I've been lusting after some Noro for quite some time after I saw it worked up on someone's blog. Did some checking around, and settled on this. Look in the bottom right corner at the 292 Purples/Magenta/Grey/Blues. I think a couple of balls would do me to play around a make a scarf like the one shown in that blog. I know. The price is crazy. But I'm really dying to try it. Is there a magic yarn fairy out there that would like to send it to me anonymously so I wouldn't have to feel guilty?

12 steps

After reading Deb's post on yarn envy, this is what I came up with.

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction to yarny goodness - that our stashes (or desire to add to the stash) had become unmanageable.

Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Either that or the PERFECT yarn management system could hide the bulk of our stash from our significant other. In other words, we don't want them to know the truth!

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God and beg Him for mercy in the fight to list EVERY BIT of the stash on Ravelry.

Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our stash. Posted said inventory on Ravelry.

Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. (Yes, I ordered more yarn for which I have no plan. But I ordered enough of it to make the largest project I've ever planned.)

Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character, but please don't ask me to remove any of the stash.

Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. (Did I buy that horribly scratchy yarn?)

Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all by considering giving away some of the stash. Good yarn karma never hurts.

Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Sale at elann.com? No. I don't know about any sale.

Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. So THAT'S the reason I log on to ravelry at least 3 times a day.

Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and our fibers and the power to carry that out.

Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs, including yarn diets.

What fun

Here's my latest deconstructed sweater. Thanks again, Tara. The yarn is 60% nylon, 30% dehair angora rabbit hair, and 10 percent wool. That's right, more little rabbits. It's soft and snuggly.

To give those of you wondering about the process just a little idea of how it goes, here's what I've got.

First, a couple of snips, and pull. Here's what you get.

Then you can remove individual pieces with the same steps.

This sweater was a little different because once I actually unraveled each piece, I had to separate the yarn into two pieces. Two strands had been plied together (think two-ply toilet paper). So, I unraveled each section of the sweater, un-plied (is that a word?) the two strands, and then wound the individual strands into balls.

I ended up with 5 balls of lovely yarn. In the picture you can see the start of a single crochet scarf. I wanted to see what it would look like once it was worked up. I was also experimenting with hook size.

Guess I better add the scarf to the UFO list in the sidebar.

Dismantling

Can't quite remember how, but I ran across some tutorials telling me how to pull apart old sweaters for the yarn. Since I thought this was a grand idea for trying out making socks without investing the money in sock yarn, I was waiting for my opportunity.

The last time we had stitch and bitch, Tara told us that she had tons of clothes to give away. And boy did she! I didn't score much along the lines of clothes for me, but I did get three sweaters to attempt pulling apart. Want to give it a shot? Check here for some really great instructions. My first attempt (100 % acrylic) took me forever. Note to all others interested in trying this, don't attempt it for the first time with boucle or anything resembling it!

But, here you can see the fruits of my labors. I've included the VHS tape for size comparison. Seven balls of yarn. I'm anxious to try making socks. I've got a book, but I'll admit to being nervous. Not like I can't frog it if it doesn't work.

Now I'm working on another one that is 56% nylon, 40% angora, and 4% lambswool. That's right. Angora. As in bunny. As in approximately $20-25 for a 2.5 oz hank. To give you an idea, that's one piece, about half the length of a football field.

Thank you Tara! Can't wait to play around with this and make something luscious!

elann.com

What a horrible place for me to go and wish! Here's my first desire. 100% cotton. I bet it's very nice.

http://www.elann.com/productdisp.asp?NAME=elann%2Ecom+Sonata&Season=&Company=&Cat=ALLY&ProductType=5&OrderBy=&Count=45

I love these colors (but not together).

Victorian Grape

Peacock Blue

Pecan