August 28, 2012

Knitting From Stash?

So, have any of ya'll ever done a year (or even six months!) of knitting solely from stash?  How did it go? Our family is entering into a time of "We're going to get our finances under control if it kills us" well...now.  Andrew and I haven't specifically discussed it, but my yarn and fiber purchasing will be seriously curtailed.  Granted, these days, I do from time to time get book-related yarn supplied by yarn companies, but it will still be quite a change for me.

Now, all this is not to make you feel sorry for me.  Seriously, people, I have a stash. I have QUITE a stash.  Sure, there are people with larger ones, but that's not the point.  SO, don't take this is a pity party or a plea for yarn and fiber (uh...not that I would turn it down...I'm not stupid!).

With all this in mind, I was thinking it would be interesting to embark on some sort of "stash-only" project. This is still in the initial "light-bulb" stage, so I am open to suggestions.  Got any?

I checked my stash on Ravelry, and my oldest yarn (not counting partial-balls) appears to be the "souvenir yarn" I purchased in Taormina on our Sicily trip back in 2006.  Wendy saw some yarn in a window, we went inside and asked about it and were then led through the back door and up the stairs in what felt like some sort of illicit drug deal or something.  Upstairs? Wow!


06 July Italy - Catania - Day Four 050

06 July Italy - Catania - Day Four 051

I remember feeling so overwhelmed that I didn't have a clue what to buy.  I had been knitting for less than a year, so I really had no sense yet of how much yarn was needed to knit this, that, or the other, so I just bought five balls, each in a different color.  I remember having visions of a mosaic bag (I was, after all, hanging out with Wendy), but that never came to fruition.

SO, here is my oldest yarn. It's a total of 620 yards of DK-weight mercerized cotton:


PA080006a PA080007 PA080008 PA080009a PA080010

You ponder it and think about what I should knit with it.  I'm off to Ravelry to get some ideas...

2 comments:

  1. 620 yards of each color? You could make a couple of summer t-shirts for you, by combining two different colors....I think the top deep yellow would go great with the cream and the green would be nice with the brown.....you don't need to do evenly spaced color changes if you have 620 of each....it would only take maybe 800 for the shirt. Alternately, you could make some great market bags!

    Meanjean

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    1. Jean, I *wish* it were 620 yards of each! That would be easy to figure out. Unfortunately, it's just 124 yards (one ball) of each for a *total* of 620 yards. I may be a lot smaller than I once was, but even I can't get much of a sweater for myself out of that amount! It will most likely become a few smaller items, but we'll see. Thing is, since it's "souvenir" yarn from such a special trip, I *really* want it to be something for MOI.

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