Destash

Hey folks,

I've never done a destash before, partially because my stash isn't all that big to begin with, and partially because I like all the yarn I have. But the reality is that I do have some stuff that I've been hanging on to for a while with plans for it that never come to fruition. And since I would rather see the yarn go to someone who really will use it (and because The Brain needs new glasses), here goes!

All prices include first class shipping within the U.S. You can contact me at clumsyknitterATgmail.com if you're interested in anything. All payments by PayPal only, please.

Year of Lace - September 2009 Kit - $55
Includes Centrino pattern by Laura Nelkin and two skeins of Shaefer Anne in a limited edition color (a blend of reds)
60% superwash merino / 25% mohair / 15% nylon
560 yds/512 m per 113g skein
Fingering weight






10 balls Plymouth Royal Silk Merino - $40
Full bag!
Lavender - Color 0003, Dyelot 18
51% silk / 49% merino
109 yds per skein (1090 yds total)
Worsted weight








J. Knits Super-Sporty! - 1 skein - $10
Maine colorway: a dark, semi-solid green
100% superwash merino
183 yds
Sport weight









J. Knits Superwash Me! - Light Sock - $20
New Jersey colorway: a variegated blend of purples, from light to dark
100% superwash merino
530 yds
Fingering weight








J. Knits Lace-A-Licious! - $25
Mississippi colorway - light purple
100% superfine alpaca
1200 yds
Lace/Cobweb weight









J. Knits Lace-A-Licious! - $25
Vermont colorway - lime green
100% superfine alpaca
1200 yds
Lace/Cobweb weight









1 skein Rowan Kidsilk Haze - $8
Nightly colorway - midnight blue - Shade 585, Dyelot 635
I have a partial skein (about 1/3) that I will include as well
70% super kid mohair / 30% silk
229 yds / 210m
Lace weight






2 skeins Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light - $8.00 for both
Dark Chocolate colorway - Color 4205, Dyelot 702
50% superfine alpaca / 50% Peruvian wool
144 yds/133 m per skein
Sport weight







Reynolds Soft Linen - $3.50
Chocolate colorway - Color 0413, Dyelot 1410
53% flax / 47% acrylic
94 yds
Worsted weight









Brown Sheep Nature Spun - $4.00
Storm colorway: a dark brown - Color 114, Dyelot 028
100% wool
245 yds
Worsted weight








Valley Yarns Berkshire - $3.00
Coffee Bean colorway - Color 39, Dyelot 94788
85% wool / 15% alpaca
141 yds
Aran weight









Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky - $3.00
Coffee Bean colorway - Color 39, Dyelot 94773
85% wool / 15% alpaca
108 yds
Super Bulky / Bulky weight

Ravelympics Win?

So...remember my last post? Specifically, the part where I said that I had decided to join the Ravelympics because I thought, "What the hell? I might be able to crank out a pair of socks over the next couple of weeks. You never know."

Well, I cranked out those socks. In two and a half days. And while I'm happy to report that I successfully finished my Ravelympics project, I feel like a cheat because it turned out that I had waaaay more time this weekend than I had anticipated and I grossly underestimated the size of project it would take for me to feel "challenged". Instead, I feel like the Little League team who recruits high school students in order to get the advantage. Can I really feel proud that I completed the Ravelympics? Umm...no. (But let's get real here: it's a made-up set of arbitrary restrictions revolving around an activity that none of us would be doing if we didn't enjoy it in the first place, so completing it or not completing it really wouldn't phase me one way or another. And therein lies the reason why I can't get into trends like NaKniSweMoDo or 10 in 2010 and so on. Either you do it or you don't, but no matter how hard I try, I simply can't get myself to feel the pressure OR to feel much of an accomplishment when it's completed. Meh.)

Wow. OK, to counteract my obvious crankiness (I am dying for a candy bar, and I really wish my office had a vending machine right now), here are some bright and sunny photos of finished socks!

Pattern: Skew, by Lana Holden
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in the Spectrum colorway
Verdict: LOVE!!!!! Even though the pattern is mostly stockinette, the bias-knitting kept my simple brain transfixed, and the heel is super duper fun. Plus, they fit like a dream! Sure, they're an eyesore but they're MY eyesore and I am profoundly pleased with them. :)

(Yes, I did sit on the floor and stick my feet into a light box in order to take these photos. Isn't that how it's done?)

Wanna See Something Funny?

I have been itching for a real lace challenge for a while now. I still like knitting shawls and stoles, even though I never wear them, but I've been in the mood for something different and more challenging. I've been thinking about making a Niebling or something from one of Marianne Kinzel's books of modern lace knitting, but have never had the proper materials. Nieblings, if you search on Ravelry, are generally done in either lace weight yarn or very fine crochet cotton and on tiny needles. Lace yarn I have, but I really have no idea how many yards any given project takes, and I really like the pure white used in most of the projects.

Even though I don't have time to start one of these projects at the moment, I want to be prepared for when the time/mood strikes me. You know what this means, right? Shopping trip! Thankfully for my budget, from what I have gathered from others crochet cotton from Michaels is perfectly fine for a project like this.

So I dashed out to Michaels today, on a search for crochet cotton. I'll be honest here--I had no clue what I was looking for. How is "crochet cotton" any different from embroidery thread, or lace weight cotton yarn? Umm...I still don't know. But they had a bunch of it in its own section, and that's the important part of this story, right?

While I was standing there trying to decide what I needed, I was keeping the words of the fabulous Cookie in my head. She had done a Niebling and when I asked her what materials she used, she mentioned getting five skeins of Baroque cotton. Hmm...OK...they had exactly five 400-yd skeins at the shop, all in the same dye lot. But guess what? They also had some different stuff that came in larger balls. And lower down, they had some thicker thread. Hey, I could make an even bigger project with that!

But oooh...what is that? Waaaay down on the bottom shelf, tucked back from the edge so it's hard to see?

Why YES! It's a barrel-sized cone of size 10 crochet cotton! As the wrapper proudly proclaims, it has over 1.5 miles all tidily shrink-wrapped in plastic! That's a 2730-yard ball of mercerized cotton that is almost as big as my head! SCORE! (Regular-sized ball of sock yarn used for scale.)















































In other news, I know I totally said I wasn't going to do the Ravelympics because I really don't see the point. But I got a Ravmail last night from the fabulous Liz of MacKintosh Yarns inviting me to participate in her "unofficial" group (groups had to be formed by January 15 to be official) and...you know what? I'm gonna do it. Just for the fun of it. I have deadline knitting that has to be a priority, but I'm hoping that I can crank out a pair of socks at the same time. I am intrigued by the Skew pattern from the Knitty surprise, so I'm going to make a pair out of ShubuiKnits Sock in the Spectrum colorway. I think they'll make a nice pairing. :)

Blogging? Who, Me?

Man, I have not been the fastidious blogger I hoped to be lately, have I? Does it count if I think in "blog-ese" instead? (You know, when you go about your daily business imagining how you're going to write everything up when you get around to blogging about it?) I think that for me, it's the same thing as imaginarily (sure, it's a word) knitting up my stash. It's no longer stash because I have already knitted it up in my head. Right? Right. (Speaking of stash, I think it's time for me to do a little destashing around these parts. Look for a post about that in a day or two.)

I really and honestly have nothing exciting to show for the past few weeks. Work is keeping me busy (yay!) and I have mostly been working on small projects here and there. I'm waiting on materials/patterns for three different sample sweaters that I was hired to do, so I don't want to start any large projects now. I know that if I do, the sweaters will arrive in the mail and I will have to work on those, therefore losing all steam with my personal project which will be a joyless affair when I finally get back to it. This is one problem with being a monogamous knitter, but it is a burden I shoulder willingly.

In order to keep something on the needles, however, I have kept busy with these:

Pattern: Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf by Anne Kuo Lukito
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Mods: None. I loved this pattern!










Pattern: Men's Fingerless Mitts by Kathy North
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Mods: Lengthened the wrist ribbing to 6.5", lengthened finger portions slightly.



Pattern: Citron by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Purple Mystery
Mods: None















Pattern: Sock Recipe by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett in Storm
Mods: None









Pattern: None - donation for Global Knit
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride leftovers
















Because all of these projects are little ones and only take a couple of days to complete, I continuously find myself in that annoying in-between projects stage. I am constantly wondering what to knit next and it's driving me crazy! I really want to start a big lace project, but again with the sample sweaters. Plus the Evenstar Mystery Shawl KAL starts on Friday, so I will have that to keep me occupied as well. I just need to be patient for a few more days...

Ta Da!

I did it! A pair of slippers in just two days!

I know. It's not that exciting. I'm just trying to raise my own enthusiasm because I don't have much else to offer the blog today. So: you get garter stitch slippers. I get to pat myself on the back for blogging, and we can all live happily ever after.

Pattern: Nola's Slippers
Yarn: O-Wool Classic, color Sumac, 2 skeins
Needle: Size 10

I have also been working on a project for my older sister. She has been trying to find the perfect hooded scarf in stores and can't find one that's just right. Enter the knitter. Over the holidays, we sat down in front of Ravelry and found a pattern (Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf), picked up some yarn (Cascade 220 Heathers) and I started working on it last week. It's going very quickly and to be honest, I was hoping to finish it up this weekend. But...other things took up my time. That's OK though because I'm almost done with the scarf portion and I don't expect the hood to take very long (famous last words).

I am itching to start some new projects for myself. I just have to figure out what. It's been a while since I've done a sweater. Hmmm...

From Foot Failure to Foot Success!

OK, so I took all your kind comments about my charity socks to heart (thank you for them), and decided to finish knitting the pair and see how I felt when I was all finished. Easier said than done. I ran out of yarn halfway down the foot of the second sock. Total. Bummer. I set them aside to rip and re-knit into something more useful. I have several colors of Lamb's Pride lying around, so at the very worst I guess I could stripe them with some other jarring color of which I don't have enough for socks. Bright turquoise and pink, perhaps???

To make myself feel better about having wasted three and a half nights on a failed project, I decided to forge ahead and cast on for some long-awaited slippers for The Brain. Seriously, folks. I've been promising him slippers for about a year now. Oops!

I found a comfy-looking and well-reviewed pattern for men's slippers on Ravelry called Nola's Slipper Pattern (non-Rav link here). It looks like a basic, non-fussy garter stitch slipper with a turtleneck. I had originally been planning on making The Brain some felted clogs, but he decided that his feet would get too hot in something like that and requested something that could breathe. OK. Garter stitch = lots of holes for breathing feet. One thing troubled me about this pattern though: it is knit flat in one piece with a seam running down the center of the sole! Think about that: a seam running the length of your foot. Not too comfy, if you ask me. And yes, I admit that I only glanced through the pattern before casting on so it wasn't until I was nearly done with the darn thing that it occurred to me that the seam is actually grafted from live stitches, which renders the darn thing virtually undetectable in the finished item. Yay!

Oh, and the best part? I finished the first slipper in one evening and it fits!!! It comes off the needles looking a little tiny, but that garter stitch sure knows how to stretch itself out. Perfect slippers: thick, squishy, breathable, warm, fast, and bright red! :D

Good Sock / Bad Sock

Holy cow!

I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone who commented on my last post with well-wishes and encouraging thoughts. I responded to everyone whose email address I could find, so if I wasn't able to get back to you, I apologize. Please know that I appreciate the support that you all so graciously passed on to me on my new endeavor.

In other finishing news, in the past week I have completed two sample knitting projects and a pair of socks for my brother. Unfortunately, the only project I can show you is the socks, and they're not very exciting.

Pattern: Twin Rib Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Black Pearl
Size: OMG gargantuan and sooooo boring!

In keeping with my plan to knit a charity project in between personal projects, I cast on for a pair of child's socks with some leftover Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride I had lying around from ages ago. I followed the Try a Trio pattern by Ruth Garcia as suggested by the Global Knit organizers on Ravelry. I finished the first pink sock last night. Umm...I don't know what to think. I'm not used to knitting socks in worsted weight yarn on size 4 needles, and while the fabric is undoubtedly thick and sturdy, I'm also not sure there is a person alive who would have a foot slim enough to fit inside without cutting off their circulation. I don't think causing Bulgarian children to lose their feet is quite what Global Knit had in mind with this project. It would make a good banana keeper though.

*sigh* My first project for charity and it's a major fail. I don't have enough yarn of this color to make larger socks. Maybe I'll have to do stripes? Maybe, despite all my experience with skinny children of various ages, I really have no idea what will or will not work? I'm just assuming that if the sock is so small and tight that I can hardly get my hand inside without trouble, putting it on a child would be nothing short of torture. Do over!