Stash beat down!

It's almost Thanksgiving and I can't believe it. My knitting bug is in full swing now that the weather has cooled down and I'm settling into my new job.

I started these socks for my friend Jolyne in early September and finished them a week ago. Normally it doesn't take me 2 months to knit socks but time got away from me. Another reason is that I'm a selfish knitter, meaning when I knit for others I'm not as eager to finish as I am for projects I make for myself especially when it involves fingering yarn. This also isn't my favorite color combination which made it even more boring. My friend will like it though.

Then I went on a worsted weight/easy knit project binge. I made the San Pablo cowl with yarn I bought at Stitches West earlier this year. All garter stitch with diagonal stripes. No photos just yet. 

BEFORE FELTING:

Two years ago my friend (the recipient for the socks above) went on amazing month long Down Under trip and brought me back some yarn. In fact all the yarn was bought early in the trip so she ended up lugging it all over Australia/New Zealand/Tasmania and probably cursing my name whenever she tried to find a place to stuff it in her luggage. I used 2 skeins of 100% Pure New Zealand DK Merino Wool to knit up hopsalot slippers. Since I only had 2 skeins I played yarn chicken. I had to shorten the ears (not shown) to be able to get 4 complete bunny ears. 

This is my first felting project and watched a few video tutorials to get started. Man, I got a serious arm workout. It took over 15 minutes to complete the first slipper. I'm a little worried they could be a smidge too big but maybe after conforming them to my feet they'll be ok. 

AFTER FELTING:

    

While these dried I pushed on to the next project: a blanket. Originally I was going to use another endless garter stitch pattern called Garter Squish to use up a bunch of stash. I felt like I didn't have a good combination of yarns to make it look the way I want it to.





































I decided to make the Stash Buster Blanket instead. This involves a giant Tunisian Crochet hook and tons of stash. I pulled out all the yarn accumulated over the years that I didn't have a project in mind for and separated them by color. I could open my own freaking yarn store.


See the plaid blanket that I piled the yarn on? At 1am this morning I had this brilliant idea to come up with that color combination...somehow. 

Did I nail it?

I almost wish I had a ton more of the shiny glowing green Bambusa yarn I bought from Art Fibers but that shit was expensive...which is why I only had one skein. I had the intention of making this into a larger blanket to cover my queen sized bed. With so much yarn getting tangled up and getting used to handling the giant crochet hook I thought I casted on way more stitches but weirdly ended up casting on the exact amount the pattern called for without knowing it until I was 4 passes in. It'll be a good size for a full size bed or a giant throw. Whatever size it'll end up being quite a cushy thick blanket to keep me warm while I work on it.

The color combination of yarns and Tunisian crochet is actually quite addicting. If I can I plan to cast on another pair of socks and another cowl with Plucky Knitter yarn I also bought at Stitches West. The idea behind all this stash busting is being able to buy more quality yarn at next year's Stitches West. February is not too far from now and I look forward to it.

Happy Holidays if I don't post anytime soon!