Wednesday, July 19, 2006

My Inventory

No blog about knitting is complete without some pictures of yarn. I have decided to show you guys my stash. It's not as big as some of the stashes I've seen that can fill whole rooms. This is mainly due to the fact that I am a poor college student and can't afford to buy the amount of yarn I really wish to have (though deep down inside I am a minialmalist and would one day like to not have more yarn than the projects I'm working on at any given moment). So now without further interruption I present to you my not too big stash.


Sock Yarn



Okay first the sock yarn. Most of it was purchased in the United States. The varigated yarn at the bottom was purchased in a mall near Toronto, Canada and the grey tweed-like yarn was bought in Argentina (more on my travels in South America in another post). The Lorna'a Laces in Rainbow will be some very tall socks.

The pattern can be found here



The purple yarn at the top and the varigated Canadian yarns are destined to be

Jaywalkers

and

Pomatomus

respectively.

The orange yarn to the left and the red yarn to the right will be creations of my own doing. My boyfriend who is also a knitter (more on him later) has the Vogue Dictionary of Stitches and I do plan on using it this summer.


SummerYarn



All of these yarns are Cascade's Pima Tencel which is the perfect summer yarn. I just finished a baby sweater for my new niece with it and it's not too rough on the hands like most cotton yarns because of the tencel. Originally I was planning on making baby sweaters for my other twin nephews but I realized that I only had enough yarn to do 1 sweater. Henceforth I have scraped the idea and am thinking about doing a tank top for me. I've looked at various patterns all over the web but nothing really captures what I'm going for. I guess I'll have to design it myself, which isn't too bad, seeing that I love to make stuff from scratch.


Sweaters



These yarns come from the great land of Argentina. For those of you that don't know where this country is, it is located in South America, south of Brazil and east of Chile. About 2 years ago I went to Argentina to learn spanish and just recently returned there (after being in Brazil for 3 weeks) to visit some friends of mine. While in Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, I stopped by a couple yarn shops (okay more like 10) and picked up these babies. The yellow mohair is going to be a simple sweater pattern I'll find somewhere someday. The red yarn will be either something I design or

this



The blue, purple and beige yarns will be a stripey turtleneck pattern that I got while in Buenos Aires. Sorry I don't have a clear picture of it because I fotocopied the pattern and the picture that came with it however when it is completed a picture will definetely be posted on this blog


Canadian Yarn


My boyfriend is from Canada and wanted me to show of my yarn from there in a separate picture. This yarn is none other than the discontintued White Buffalo yarn. This yarn is just like Reynold's Lopi: hard, scratchy and perfect for felting or knitting up oversized jackets in the winter months. I made a sweater out of the eggplant yarn and soon after finishing realized that I'm going to have to wear a shirt under it if I want to not itch to death. Did I mention it's 100% wool? Meaning I'll only be wearing that sweater if I plan to be outside for a couple hours.

You can find out more about this brand of yarn here



And if you want to buy some of the stuff,

click here




Gift Yarn


Most knitters reading this already know what this yarn is. It is the bread and butter of all yarns. The most basic yarn out there. This is Cascade 220 brought from that crazy WEBS sale back in May. This as well as the Pima Tencel above and some Debbie Bliss Chunky Cashmerino were bought together. I bought all the crazy colors to get a head start on Christmas presents. I was thinking of doing the usual hat and scarf sets when I realized that this yarn is not superwash. I realized if I were to make anything for my family it had to be already felted or something in the machine washable category. Henceforth felted slippers, computer bags, and hats here I come!


Leftovers


Everyone has leftovers. I'm no exception. The good thing about leftover yarn is that if the project you already finished a couple months later decides to fall apart, you have enough yarn to repair it. Also leftover yarn is great for making cute last minute gifts like a hat or a scarf with some intarsia or strips. Sadly, my leftovers don't come all in one gauge which makes my reuse of it more challenging. Either way I won't give them away nor throw them away. I like my leftovers and my leftovers like me.

So there you have it. My stash. It's not very big but it's not very small either and that's how I prefer it.

6 comments:

Sarah said...

Happy knit blogging.

Love the stash. It really is good sized. ;)

altaviese said...

Hey Kelly, welcome to the blog land.

In the left over yarn section, is the multi-caribbean like color yarn Katia?

Al

Nik said...

I'm trying to be somewhat of a minimalist too. Although, it's not working too well. I was trying to only work from yarns in my stash, but I keep buying more.

meg said...

Hi Kelly - what a fun stash you have. I'm starting some skinny scarves for Christmas gifts and am looking for the cascade pima tencel...can i ask where you purchased it? i've found a couple places online but want to make sure its not on sale somewhere.

thanks - happy knitting.

gray la gran said...

of course i'm a yarn-ho, so i enjoy seeing all the stash. and, i'm a lover of south america, so i look forward to further postings about those escapades. about 10 years ago, i spent a solid 6 months bumming around bolivia, peru, chile, argentina, and paraguay ... and ever so briefly, to see the falls at iguazu (sp?) ... brasil.
ps. i think the grass is always greener when it comes to our hair. mine is coarse, dark brown and silver ... with a bit of a wave ... so of course i wouldn't mind it looking like yours! or yours pre-cut. i've been contemplating a cut, but i'm dreadfully afraid someone might confuse me for a mom! and, by the way ... i envy your afro. i am not a woman of your skin color, but, as i said, the grass is always greener .... and here's something else i believe ... that i can wear pretty much any color of yarn or fabric i like as long as i wear good (and the right shade of) lipstick!!! welcome aboard :)

noblinknits said...

I really like the way you separated out your yarns tash into sections. It makes it seem more managable.

On the hair note - a lot of british women feel they have to have their hair straightened to look professional, although granted they do it every morning with irons. I agree that we should be able to wear our hair however it makes us feel most beautiful and empowered.