off the bandwagon, or, what's in my stash?!: the madtosh edition

How about I come back with a bang, and tell you I bought yarn?  Lots, and lots, and lots of yarn.  Enough yarn to negate any stash knitting I've done in the last year.  And I've only been doing stash knitting.

You see, Webs had MadTosh grab bags.  MadTosh!  So much MadTosh, for not very much money!  What person, especially one who hadn't bought yarn in about a year, could resist that?  Not this person, obviously.

I bought two grab bags: one with five skeins of Lace, and the other with five skeins of Vintage.  I wasn't able to request specific colorways, but could request color families.  I asked for blues, greens, greys and purples, and oh boy did I receive!  Honestly, the Lace I got is a bit boring, but it's fabulous stash yarn.  The colorways I received, from left to right, are Moonstone, Logwood, Aura, Celadon, and Cousteau.  The Celadon and Cousteau are my favorites from this bunch.

Cousteau is an easy favorite: those greens and blues!  Most likely it will become a Fairy Mist so that the yarn itself can really be the star.

Celadon is a much more subtle yarn, but it has beautiful sea foam green and grey variations.  Again, I'd like to use a simple pattern for this yarn, maybe Purl Soho's Simple Pleasures hat, but modded so the yarn isn't held double.

I don't have a group shot of the Vintage yarns, but from left to right in the very first photo of this post the colorways are Tannehill, Jade, Margeaux, Ink and Whitewash.  Margeaux has a close-up just above.  She'll become a Magnolia hat.  I believe the Jade will also become a hat, but most likely a Crooked Paths tam.

These next two yarns I feel so unsure about what to do with them, but I also love them.  This is Tannehill.  It's totally not my thing, but so pretty.  I felt so unsure about this yarn that I started knitting with it right away, so it wouldn't just sit.  I've knit a single loop Stockholm Scarf with it.

Whitewash is the other yarn I feel conflicted about.  It's so pretty (just like all MadTosh yarns) but I'm well aware of my own dislike of variegated yarns.  Most likely I'll knit a pair of mittens out of it, because I need mittens more than any other knitted object right now.  Not that I'm really lacking in the knitwear department...

tiny fisherman

I was hoping there would be some cute baby action in this sweater before I put it up on the blog, but no such luck! May I present to you the finished Tiny Fisherman Sweater!  I'm really proud of this sweater, even if my sister and her husband are afraid to put it on Baby J.  The yarn is a washable, soft acrylic, so they better put the baby in this before he grows out of it!

I had to rip out and start over a couple times before I was satisfied with the cable pattern and sleeve decreases.  They look nice, but I'm not sure how they fit yet.  Probably the aspect that I'm most proud of is the open neckline: easy to get on and off of baby!  The neck closes with buttons and a crochet band with button holes.

Pattern: None!  I made up the pattern based off average 3 month sweater sizes in a baby knits book.  The project has a Ravelry page, though I don't think it will be updated with a pattern.

Yarn: Patons Pearl DK.  Sadly discontinued (I got mine from a thrift store).  It's such a soft baby yarn!

wip: sam's stripes

Last week while the world outside was working on this...

I started working on this:

I know the holidays are behind us and my gift is only getting later and later, but it's a striped scarf for my boss.  It may look a bit familiar, because the stripes are leftover yarn from the rest of the holiday knits I've made!  It's another "design" of my own, and hopefully it will be the one I finally write up!

what's in my stash?!: holiday acquisitions

I thought I was done with new fiber acquisition!  I was going to be so good, diligently working through my stash over the coming year!  And then my wonderful siblings both gave me new yarn over the holidays!  So much for making more space!

Along with a couple other little goodies, my sister gave me two big ol' hanks of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool!  I'm already in the middle of a brown sweater, but I think nothing short of a little cabled sweater will do this yarn justice.  I'm not quite sure how the rustic wool-y-ness of this yarn will play with Andi Satterlund's Chuck, but I think I'd be willing to give it a try when I get to this yarn!

My brother (of hat shrinking fame) gave me two hanks of SMC Northern Worsted.  I'm working on another "design," so I see even more stripes in my future!  I'm pretty sure these yarns will be gifted back to my brother in scarf form, though maybe not until the end of this year.

That brother of mine really went all out: he gave me not one, not two, but three yarns!  The third yarn my brother gave me is a silky soft little skein of Jojoland Crown.  This yarn absolutely DID NOT want to have its picture taken!  It's a very springy green in person.  I'll probably do something very simple with it; maybe this Heavenly Cowl or Haze?

Then, to top off these fibery delights, Don's mom also gave me a gift card to the little yarn shop in the town she lives in!  I am so, so lucky to be surrounded by people who care so much about me.  And who encourage me in my bad habit of hoarding yarn.

finished holiday gifts

Finished object... Saturday?  Ok!  Before heading too far into 2014, I wanted to share the gifts that I knit for the holidays.  They aren't anything earth shatteringly exciting, so I'll lump them here together.

The most exciting of the bunch - and that says a lot about the bunch, because this is not the most exciting scarf - is the scarf I knit as a gift for a Yankee Swap.  I added fringe!  Weirdly enough, this is a new technique for me.  Tassels I can do.  Pom-poms are a no brainer.  But I'm just not into fringe on scarves.  However, my cast off end was none-too-pretty so I added the fringe to disguise it!  I have some notes on Ravelry, but there really isn't much to say about such a simple scarf.

Pattern: Scrunchable Scarf (free on Ravelry)  Yarn: Berroco Vintage

Next up, the Brother Hat Part Two!  (See Part One here)  The hat I knit my brother last year was made up in some beautiful Malabrigo Twist; it was so thick and had these wonderful subtle color variations... and then he put it through the wash with his regular laundry.  So this year my brother got the same hat in a washable yarn.  Again, I left some notes on Ravelry, but it's a very simple hat.

Pattern: The Boy Hat (free on Ravelry), with some modifications  Yarn: Berroco Vintage

You may not be able to actually see the hat I made my brother-in-law, but what he's holding is a plant hook he gave me and Don THAT HE MADE!  This is hands down the best hand made gift swap ever.  Who cares about the hat I made, I can't wait to hang some pretty plants in the spring!

Pattern: The Boy Hat (again), one tiny modification Yarn: Berroco Vintage

If only Andi Satterlund had published this new hat pattern before the holidays I could have added some variation to my gift knitting!

2013

Well my friends, 2013 has come to a close.  I spent last night taking care of a sick pup (she had an allergic reaction to a bug she tried to eat), but we were planning on having a quiet evening at home already.

While this year may have been a tough year personally - I don't talk about it here on the blog - it's been a great year knitting-wise!   It's difficult to pick a few favorites, but I've created some categories to narrow it down to five favorites.

My favorite big project of 2013 was, well, my first successful "big project" ever!  I finished my first real sweater, the Shawl Collared Sweater, early in the year.  It definitely isn't without it's problems, but I wear it to this day and still think it came out well.  It has some pretty stiff competition since I finished Miette at the beginning of September, but this sweater was such a labor of love that it comes out on top.

The first of my two smaller size favorites is my Bad Haircut Hat.  Something about the color of the yarn and the feathery lace really makes me glow.  Good choices, self!  It's also a great hat to throw on and instantly feel a bit more put together.

This also reminds me that I haven't gotten a haircut since "the incident."  Still too scared!  Maybe I should make a resolution to get another haircut in 2014?

With my Opaline shawl I took a step outside my comfort zone with my yarn choice.  I don't like yarns with high contrast color variations.  I just don't.  But I couldn't resist the siren call of this Madeline Tosh yarn so I'm proud to have knit a very wearable shawl out of it.  Now I have to figure out what to knit with a couple other variegated yarn choices I've made.  Another 2014 resolution?

There's no way I could put together a list of my favorite knits without including one of my designs.  I may not be publishing them (yet), but I'm very proud of them.  The one I'm most proud of is my Tessa hat.  I'm not satisfied completely with that center cable, but it's a darn nice hat idea and the recipient loved it!

Last, though certainly not least, in the "gift knits" category we have my sister's Wedding Spatterdash mittens.  They turned into birthday/holiday gift mittens (one for each!) because I'd had enough for a while after I finished the first one.  They still need buttons, but I was able to "give" them to my sister when I saw her a couple weeks ago, do a fitting, and take them back to finish them.  I'm proud that I even started the second mitten, let alone finished it!

I haven't posted finished object posts for everything I made in 2013, but if you're interested in the rest of the bounty you can click this 2013 tag and see all there is to see!

The greatest non-knitting highlight of my year was definitely the birth of my nephew, Baby J.  He is so, so sweet, and I can't wait to get to know him as he grows up.  He also gives me an excuse to make all the teeny tiny baby knits I could dream of!

My runner-up non-knitting highlight is starting to learn about dyeing with natural dyes!  I have another batch of black walnut dyed yarns to show off, and am still collecting avocado pits for my next dye experiment.

Here's to a brand new year!  May it be way better than 2013!