Two of my stash managements goals for 2017 were to stash down the amount of fingering weight yarn (I defined a skein as approximately 100gr) and to stash up the quality of my yarn overall, treating myself to more indie dyers.
The photo above shows the skeins I’ve received recently. I also purchased 5 balls of workhorse sock yarn on sale that are still coming my way. And another 4 skeins of yarn for my Granito are also still to arrive. The rest I can say is definitely up a notch or several in quality. And I’m expecting more swap packages – yikes! I’ve been knitting up quite a bit of my fingering weight yarn as well. So far this year I can knit up 9 skeins of fingering weight with more on the needles. From a net perspective I’m not doing too badly, but 20 less skeins by the end of the year? I’d better get knitting!
Here come the details:
My friend Eric from the Sticks + Twine podcast acquired this precious skein of Blacker Yarns newest base, Samite for me at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. This colourway is Swallow’s Soar. It’s a light fingering weight with an interesting blend of 40% Shetland, 30% Bluefaced Leicester, 20% Ahimsa silk, 10% from Sue Blacker’s own Gotland sheep. This Ahimsa silk is the only process for harvesting silk that doesn’t kill the silk worms. This is a woolen spun preparation, making the yarn airy and lofty and very squishy. Eric gives his impression in Episode 32 of his podcast. Most interesting to me was his talk about the silk content and why this is the only yarn with silk that he would consider using as a man.
This is a skein from MJ Yarns in their new One Ewe Kettle Dyed line. I won this in a giveaway from the Knit Actually podcast. This is a skein of fingering weight singles in 100% Superwash Merino in the colourway Trillion. The colour is gorgeous. Josh Ryks (swordofaknitter) from GeoKnittrix designs told me on Instagram that he had just finished designing something with this exact colourway. I’m excited to see it. Many thanks to Becky for having the giveaway on the podcast and to MJ Yarns for sponsoring the giveaway.
I was browsing Etsy one night, as you do, and ran across some Sherlock stitch markers at an unbelievably low price and I knew I had to get them to send to my knitty friend Elisa (egonzales74). She and I had recently bonded on Instagram over our recent binge watching of the BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. As it turns out, the Etsy shop was based in the UK so it seemed rather silly to just order the stitch markers, no? So this lovely skein of yarn also fell into my cart. This is Owl About Yarn‘s Happy Owl base of 100% superwash BlueFaced Leicester in the Tainted Love colourway. That name brought me right back to the 80s and my love of music from that era. I’m hoping to use it in a Danzig shawl by one of my favourite designers, Justyna Lorkowska.
This beauty came to me from Sara of YarnLab. We were paired together for the Periscoping Sisters podcast February Birthday swap. She dyed it for me herself. It’s a 75/25 blend in the Tropical Waters colourway. I love this colour family! I don’t remember mentioning it in our correspondence so she must have done a bit of stalking of my Ravelry projects and stash.
I’m really in awe of yarn dyers and the things they are able to achieve. Simply stunning!
This might have been another “Oops, I did it again.” Melissa from Prairie Dye Studio announced on Instagram that she was having a sale on her snagless gemstone stitch markers. I’ve been wanting to try them for awhile as I’d heard great things about them from a friend. You may remember that last year I helped organize knitters in the GTA to make warm items for those in Fort MacMurray who were still displaced from their homes. Melissa joined in on that effort and secured ongoing distribution in addition to our United Way drive. I was really pleased to have joined forces with her and wanted to support her Etsy store as well. I purchased a lot of stitch markers for swap packages and treated myself to some too. And, this skein of yarn jumped in my cart at the same time. It’s an 80/20 blend of BlueFaced Leicester and nylon in the Realgar colourway. I clearly have a thing for BFL at the moment.
This skein of Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in the Fools Gold colourway was a gift from Shaina of Yumi Yarns. She offered it as part of last year’s #getyouryarnwishesgranted craziness that happens around American Thanksgiving. As if gifting a skein of Hedgehog weren’t enough, she also made a set of branded stitch markers and progress keeper for me.
I’m looking for a special way to show off this skein. So far, Batad by Stephen West is a top contender. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I want to be able to show it off with a larger section of fabric rather than something like brioche which wouldn’t feature all the loveliness.
I ordered Shaina’s February Club Yumi kit which included this gorgeous skein of yarn and Shaina’s Wispy Ways shawlette pattern. I kind of lost my mind when I saw the shawl on Instagram. The yarn is from Wee Chickadee Woolery in their Sparkle base in the Dewdrop colourway. It’s a treat for me to be able to make a pattern in the yarn the designer calls for. I rarely do that as I am trying to stash down (I’m doing a great job, can you tell?).
Can’t wait to see how my project turns out.
Lastly for the fingering weight (yes, there was more yarn). This is a skein of The Copper Corgi Fiber Studio hand dyed yarn brought back from a friend’s trip to Savannah in February. Does it count for stash since it is technically souvenir yarn? This is the Savannah Sock base in the Tea for One colourway. It’s definitely out of my colour wheelhouse but it’s good to push myself in that regard.
I’ll finish off this post of yarn-y goodness with this lovely skein from Dana of Unwind Yarn Company. I’ve been wanting to try some more of her yarn since I knit up the mini skein she generously gave me at Rhinebeck last year. The colour was fantastic and the yarn was great to work with. Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscapes designed an accessory set with Dana’s Rendezvous Sport Sock base and I’ve been wanting to make the Wired cowl since the pattern came out. The yardage requirements didn’t match anything I had in my stash and another one of my stash goals was to get more sport and DK weight yarns, so I think I get a pass on this one. This is in the colourway A Bushel and a Peck.
I think that’s enough yarn for now. Yes, there is more. Back to knitting!
that is some gorgeous new stash! I can see why it is going to be a real challenge to reduce the stash by 20 skeins, but these are so lovely!
I may have to rethink the 20 skeins – the group where I posted my 2017 goals gives us a chance to revise four of them in June. Two more fingering weight just may have jumped into my bag at the Frolic. And some of us will be attending the Northbound Knitting Knit Night this Saturday up in Barrie. I already have a pre-order in with her to complete a Christmas project and am hoping to grab some of her OOAK skeins for swaps and gifts. But gifts shouldn’t count as stash right? LOL
Beautiful yarn, excellent stash-enhancement. I have some nice podcasts to try and shops to visit through your links, here. Thanks!
Thanks. I’m trying to get a few blog posts together to release soon. I would like to share about the Toronto Knitters Frolic asap, though I must say I think I was quite restrained there. Quite a few podcasters showed up at the meetup there so you may have a few more to check out!