Inventory

The size of my yarn stash is still relatively small... for now. It is very likely that I will continue to acquire more yarn in the future, so I might as well start practicing on being more organized.

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, so I went shopping and bought a few containers and some cedar & lavender moth balls fom The Container Store.

So here's almost all of the yarn that I've been accumulating for the past year. They're all spread out on my dining table so I can see exactly what I have. My stash is not large enough that I can't remember what I have, so no need to sort them by weight or anything, just want them to be stored neatly and to protect them from wool damaging pests. All my favorites and the good stuff gets to go inside the containers along with the lavender oil infused cedar balls.

I purposely didn't buy enough containers for all of the yarn, at least not yet. The ones that didn't fit went into ziploc bags. I know it's quite normal :) for a typical obsessed knitter like me to buy more than they can knit, but I should really try to control myself, so having a limited amount of space for yarn can maybe serve as a constant reminder that I should knit up X amount before I go shop for X amount.

Right now I'm creating a detailed itemized list of my stash on a spreadsheet. It'll also be a good way for me to keep track of how much I'm spending on this expensive hobby.

Hourglass? or Cable Sweater?

Haven't been knitting as much as I'd like to, so that explains the lack of blogging material these days. But I did finish all the major pieces of Salina, it still needs cuffs and a collar before I do the seams.

Remeber this swatch? So I blocked it and noticed it got even more soft. Is it just me? This is not my first time using this yarn, and for some reason, it's noticeably softer and also slightly thinner than some of my previously purchased Cascade 220. Maybe this is a better batch?

I like this yarn a lot and I'm thinking of using this for Hourglass from Last Minute Knitted Gifts instead of the cable sweater from Rebecca 30. Until I make up my mind, I should really work on all the other lovely knits that I've been neglecting.

More on my "To Knit List"

Ever since working on Salina for two weeks straight, it seems like I've been nonchalantly adding more projects on my "to knit list". So my "In Progress" list will just naturally get longer and longer. Anyway, can't worry about that now, just look at these! I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday and picked up a copy of the new Interweave Knits. These two are my favorite, I want!!!

"Trellis Scarf"

"Prairie Tunic"

I did swatch for the Rebecca Cable Sweater, I really like this color, normally I wouldn't choose a shade with coral in it, but it's very pretty. I think I'll get close enough to the correct gauge, so I'll go ahead and cast on very soon.

Cascade 220 "baby rose heather"

Look what I made for dinner last night, I love one dish meals, so easy.

Chicken and vegetables stir-fry

Cable Sweater

The husband and I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon walking around Soho and Chinatown. Since Purl was right there, I had to stop by for some of this

to make this.

Cable Sweater from Rebecca 30

The yarn is Cascade 220 in the color "baby rose heather". When I first saw the color on their website, I thought it would be pink, but it's actually a very soft coral and pink. I like these kind of colors that can't be described with just one word.

This squishy yarn (not at all scratchy) comes in a wide range of colors, in 100g hanks. The quantity and the color selection is what makes this yarn such a good value, in my opinion.

This pattern was the reason I bought the Rebecca 30 magazine when it came out last year. No rush to finish this, winter will be over very soon where I am, and I think cables will still be in style next winter.

Lace with Beads

Continental cast-on, with beads

"Hanging Garden Lace Stole" by Sivia Harding

I haven't forgotten about Salina, just taking a break, I miss working on other things, I like having mulitple projects, the variety keeps me happy :)

This was already cast on before the Knitting Olympics, I blogged about it here not too long ago.

There are 107 stitches per row, 48 rows = 1 repeat, I need to make 12 of these repeats. Hmm, sounds like I'll be knitting this for a very long time. And this is lace, I make mistakes with lace, and undoing lace is no fun. My first lace project really tested my patience. There was a lot of undoing going on. Since it was knitted in the round starting from the center, there were 500+ stitches per round towards the end. When I knitted up to that point, it was scary, I had to undo two of those long rounds a few times to correct mistakes, because every other round is just purl, so the "activity" happens every other round. Of course, the ones caught early were not as painful. Not complaining, it came out beautiful. It was my most challenging knit so far. I learned so much from that project.

We'll see how I do with this one. I'll have a picture of it with at least one repeat very soon. So far, it's not much, 9 rows...