My yarn stash has developed a life of its own and is out of control.  Given the vast amount of unfamiliar yarn I have found in my stash, I’m convinced my yarn has started procreating.  Obviously I have been doing something with my stash as I am uncovering unremembered yarn.  This is part of my attempt at getting my room organized and making it usable again.  I’m moving my yarn out of its honeycomb storage and into plastic, modular drawers that will eventually be located in the closet (I have to dig a path to said closet and then clean it out before the yarn can be relocated).  I have to admit I have been having fun going through my yarn stash.  I found Noro and Koigu!  I found some lovely soft alpaca that will be deliciously soft something-or-other.  I found several skeins of boucle yarn (I don’t like boucle, so I’m not sure why I have it).  I have a lot more Knit Pick yarn than I ever imagined and a lot of it is really nice stuff that has since been discontinued.  I have 50 unique skeins of Opal yarn and that makes me happy.  I have several skeins of Wollmeise that I did not know I had.  I found enough gorgeous Cascade 220 Quatro to make a sweater…but could not remember what sweater.  Still working on that one.

I went through my bookcases and culled out the knitting and sewing books I no longer need or want.  Those have been listed on Half.com and can be viewed HERE.  Half.com dictates the shipping costs and combines shipping on multi-book orders.  I am fastidious about my books and they are all in excellent condition.

Part of my reorganizing is dealing with my fiber stash.  I’m at the point where I’m keeping it in giant RubberMaid bins and putting cushions on top and calling them “additional seating” in my home.  I could not spin everything I have right now and it seems a shame to just let it accumulate.  I canceled my clubs (that was painful) and am listing my destash fiber on its associated Ravelry club forum on the “ISO/Destash” threads.  I would rather the fiber go to people who will spin it than stay here and be neglected by me.

Two of our local Joann’s stores are closing and a new “super” Joann’s is opening in their place.  We’ve been enjoying the liquidation sale that has been running.  Both of us have gotten a lot of stuff in huge quantities at some really great prices.  My biggest complaint has been that the yarn is only marked down by 25% and the yarns that I like are already gone.  Grrrrr!!!  Yeah, like I need more yarn anyway.

I still cannot believe October is half over already!  Where did the time go?!

I have focused on knitting for the past three months and decided that once I finished the last Camp Loopy project  I would start spinning again.  My home is filled with giant Rubbermaid containers filled with fiber and I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to spin.  I actually felt overwhelmed by all of my fiber.  I finally decided to go on a fiber club hiatus until I could get my stash under control. I set a goal of spinning a minimum of four ounces per day and two pounds per week.  I started this on Labor day and as of today (Saturday), I have spun two pounds of fiber.  I’m kind of amazed that I did this and happy with my accomplishments for the first week.  Tomorrow (Sunday) is the beginning of a new week and I plan on continuing to spin a bulk bag of BFL in a luscious blood red color from Spunky Eclectic.  I love the color and I am hoping to have enough to knit an Abalone vest from it.

So, this week I spun Wensleydale, Gotland, Yak/Silk, BFL, Oatmeal BFL and Corriedale:

The photo does not show the eight ounces of BFL from Spunky Eclectic, but it does show what I accomplished in 4 days (1.5 lbs spun).  Proud of myself?  Yes!

When I’m not spinning I have been knitting a sleeveless tank with short-row bust shaping.  Given my chest size, I am long overdue at learning how to do this.  So far the knitting is uneventful and I accomplish a few rows every night as I wind down and prepare myself for bedtime.

This is a wonderful scarf or stole (two size options are given in the pattern) that is dignified and stately enough for the business world and easily transitions into casual weekend wear.  The design suits both male and female wearers.  There isn’t any frilly detail nor is there any heavy masculine detail either.  The design is filled with visual texture and interesting details that work equally well for either sex.

I am knitting the stole sized version (18 repeats) out of lovely Malabrigo Silky Merino in the Aterdecer colourway.  This is a fabulous yarn to knit with and produces a nice fabric without a lot of weight.  I’m looking forward to the chilly weather so I can wear this!

Even if Hypoteneuse had not been a pattern that met my needs, I would still have knit it as I simply could not refuse something called “Hypoteneuse”!  I do not care for algebra, but I actually enjoy geometry and trigonometry.  Go figure…

This project has been great fun to knit as I am using some amazing, beautiful, and just geek-chic straight knitting needles.  The needles are by Signature Needle Arts and are made in Wisconsin.  The needles are perfectly balanced which makes knitting that much easier.  The needles have a long, sharp stiletto point that is smooth as glass and allows one to slip stitches between needles with lightening speed.  The barrel of the needle has micro-ribbing which provides something for the yarn to “grip” yet still smooth enough that yarn does not get “stuck” on the needle.  This ribbing means my needles do not fall out of my knitting!  My knitting speed has drastically improved and it amazes me how much I can get done without hand fatigue with these exquisite tools.

I am one of those people who is a loose knitter and it is not at all uncommon for me to go down several needle sizes to get stitch gauge.  Row gauge has been a joke for me until now.  When I am using my SNA needles, if the pattern calls for a US 6 needle with x number of stitches and rows over 4 inches, I get gauge!  This NEVER happens for me on any of my other needles!  I have been measuring every completed repeat on my Hypoteneuse and my stitch/row gauge is consistent across the board.

Signature Needle Arts also makes exquisite double point needles.  These too are pure joy and delight to knit on and I highly recommend SNA needles to anyone and everyone!

My next project will be another stole and will be knit from Lorna’s Laces Honor in the “Nightmare’s Night Out” colourway. I could not resist this colourway!

I decided to knit two pairs of cabled socks for several reasons:

1. I can knit socks quickly
2. I need practice with cables
3. I’m trying to drive myself frakking insane
4. I have enough yarn to knit until the the sun burns out
5. I’m obsessed with socks

So, my two sock patterns of choice are Cabletini Socks by Wendy A. Johnson (Wendy is one of my favorite designers) and BFF Socks by Cookie A.  I’ve knit several other designs by Wendy and I find her pattern writing style easy to follow and can easily zip through them.  Cookie A is a designer whose patterns have intrigued me but I have never knit any of her designs.  Figured this would be a great time to knit one of Cookie’s patterns as I want the Wollmeise being offered for completion of all three Camp Loopy projects.  The BFF Socks are my official Camp Loopy Project 2 socks.  The Cabletini Socks are my “knit for fun” socks.

I cast on for Cabletini on July 15th and completed them on July 17th.  A simple, easy to remember all-over cable pattern that knit up quickly.  I perfected doing cables without a cable needle which was one of my personal challenges and why I opted for this sock.  I finished the socks in the wee hours of the morning on the 17th and crawled into bed for a couple of hours of sleep.  Later that day I cast on for the BFF Socks.

The pattern is easy to follow and the yarn I’m using is fabulous to knit with.  I’m knitting these on my lovely Blackthorn needles.  My only complaint about these socks is that I am bored to death knitting them.  I finally finished the first sock late Saturday night and immediately cast on for the second sock just to keep the momentum going.  Sunday was devoted to knitting the entire second sock to just get them finished.  If I had not taken that early afternoon nap, the socks would have been done Sunday night.  The nap won out.  Tonight is dedicated to completing the remaining three pattern repeats and then the toe and calling them finished.  The next pair of socks (I need them by mid-August) will be plain, toe-up stockinette socks!

Even though the second pair of socks is boring, I’m still happy that I tried a pattern by a new designer.  If I can knit cables without  a needle when using sock yarn, then cables without a needle in thicker yarn should be no problem at all.  I was able to perfect a new skill (cables sans needle) on Cabletini and I learned how to do the Twisted German Cast-on for the BFF socks.

In other news, Tour de Fleece just wrapped up and I can once again report that I did not spin once during TdF.  I have no idea why I keep signing up for TdF when I never manage to spin during the event.  Hopefully next year I will have the sense to NOT sign up!  I believe I said this last year too though.

I have spent several hours cataloging my yarn stash into my Ravelry stash page.  I still need to add my indie dyer yarns and my Opal yarn collection but I think I might have 75% of my stash listed now.  My yarn stash is just stuffed wherever I can find a space for it.  I may know that I have a certain yarn thanks to the Ravelry stash tool, but I still have no idea where I stashed it in my workroom.  The next step will be to bag and tag it and then catalog it in a database for easy retrieval.  I still need to finesse a few details on how I’m going to do this and then I’ll construct my database.  After the yarn is done, I need to work on my fiber stash.

During this same time I finally corralled my ever-growing needle collection and organized it.  I have Clover straights, double-points and a few circulars.  I have KnitPicks straits, double-points, circular and interchangeable needles (Harmony and nickle-plated).  I have Lantern Moon double-points.  I have a full set of Denise interchangeable needles.  I have three different sets of Addi Clicks in addition to Addi Turbo circulars.  I have a set of exquisite Blackthorn double-points that I love.  I have Signature circulars, double-points and straights.  I have decided it is time to let go of everything except for the Addis, Blackthorns and Signatures.  I will be posting the rest for sale in the very near future.

Amazing what can be accomplished while trying to get out of knitting something!

My hands are getting sore from my manic knitting frenzy and I have fiber to spin but I’m already thinking about what I should knit next.  The next Camp Loopy project will be revealed on July 1st and all I know at the moment is that it involves hiking in the mountains.  I suspect the next project will be socks but it could easily be a knit tent for all I know.  I guess I will find out on July 1st…

I did some serious culling of my Ravelry projects and moved my “am going to knit” projects into my queue where they should have been placed originally.  This is why there is only a single project showing up on the right side of this page.  I was getting bummed out by the huge number of projects that I have not started (therefore making no progress) and I was getting tired of looking at the sweaters and a Forest Canopy shawl that were just stagnating while waiting for me to finish them (those projects have been classified as “hibernating” until I get around to finishing them).  The page looks neater now.

It just dawned on me that after tonight, I will have knit two full-size shawls in 10 days…