Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Sock Stash

So this shocks me. More than a little. I went and counted the sock stash today. The results are a bit shocking. In a way that if you've seen my stash might shock you as well.

I have far less than I thought I did. Now I'm pretty sure I haven't forgotten any. Justin came home in the middle of it and helped me make sure.

I have 3 skeins set aside specifically for Amie. Keep in mind that it only takes 50g to knit a pair for Amie. I have 6 set aside for Justin. Then there are 45 that are for me (no I'm not stingy at all!). There are 5 pairs worth that are up for trade. 5 pairs worth that are set aside for a barn raising blanket. 4- 50g balls set aside for mittens. There is 350g that I'm not sure what to do with. I just can't decide if its for Justin or Amie or myself or something else entirely. Then I noticed that I have 27 scrap balls (at least 4 of which are at least 50g).

Counting all the sock yarn in stash (well estimating since not all come in 50 or 100g balls some are slightly less and some slightly more) I have 7700g of sock weight yarn in my stash.

So I declared (before counting how much I have) that I'd not buy more sock yarn for 6 months. I told Justin that and he is totally betting against me. He doesn't think its possible for me to go that long without buying sock yarn. Little does he know that him betting against me only impowers me more. And I've seriously thought about it. There are other yarns to buy and ahem fiber for spinning. I'm positive I can handle no sock yarn for 6 months.

Wish me luck!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Jess's first Handspun

I got my wheel in "August 08". Got it in working order sometime in late September 08. Went to a "fiber festival in early October 08". I have another bobbin of singles that I spun up first (but I'll wait to show those off. Dont worry its coming). Then I got pregnant and morning sickness kept me away from the wheel until recently. And now to share with you some yarn! YAY!

This is a mix I got from "copperpot"
Its 50% Lincoln 35% Mohair 15% Romney. It was a bit sticky to work with and felt like it still had a fair bit of lanolin still on it. I got some other stuff from her. We might talk about my fiber stash in a later post (because trust me its growing. Did you suspect otherwise). Here are three pictures (singles, plying, and yarn!).







Its very uneven. But I'm still learning. And boy did I learn a ton with this batch. I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I spun. so you could see start to finish. But I jumped right in and didn't think of it until it was to late. This is 4.1oz that I managed to spin into a 2ply that ranges from dk to aran. I think its mostly worsted but like I said its not exactly even. Oh there about 68yds of it (very rough guess as my niddy noddy is loaned out at the moment and the stool legs we used to wind with made it difficult to tell).

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Jess's 09 goals

So in 2008 my goals were project oriented. And I loved it. It helped keep me motivated. Pushed me to finish the sweater and kept me excited about the lace. I have something different in mind for 2009. For 2009 my goal is to blog more. not daily... probably not even weekly. But to just blog more. Out of all the things I completed in 2008 I only blogged about half of them (if that many).

So here we go. wish me luck and try to keep me motivated (comments are very welcome and appreciated).

This is 2009's first finished project.


Pattern: "Tulip Baby Cardigan from Dream in Color"
Yarn: Jo-Ann Sensations Tesoro in white, pink, purple, and blue (its discontinued)
needles: US 5 and 7
started: January 1st
finished: January 2nd
Really fast knit. Way faster than I thought it would be. I bought a kit with yarn for the 6-9 month size. But this one is made for Justin's Cousin's little girl Bailey who is about to turn 1. So this is the 12-18month size. I realy hope it fits her.