Fibre Goals for 2017

Last night at knit night one of the women made a suggestion that is really resonating with me. Write down your knitting/fibre goals for 2017, and fill a bin with stash yarn that you'd like to knit by the end of the year, emptying the bin. I like this suggestion  a whole lot. So I've been thinking about what I could put in such a bin from my extensive stash, what do I want to knit in the coming year?

1. Death of the Moon Shawls, for Libby, Carlene, Alexandra, Lisa, Adrienne, Kristen. 
2. Finish Brad's sweater, of which only one panel is done.
3. finish my double sided dragon scarf.
4. Finish the brown sweater I've had on the needles for at least five years.
5. Make a bunch of hats.
6. Make my Icelandic sweater.
7. Scarf for Tom.
8. Learn to use my spinning wheel.

I think this is biting off a bit more than I can chew, since it takes me so long to make the Death of the Moon shawls (Ravelry pattern, by Josh Rykes), and I've got six of them planned. But if I could make one a month, really dedicate myself to knitting, and maybe do something in the months between, that might work out. And there are other things I want to do, like work with some of the Neighborhood Yarn I've picked up over the years from my trips to Pennsylvania and Forever Yarn. I wonder if I could throw in a couple of scarves or shawls using the yarns from that lovely store?

I also want to make a couple of things for myself next year. I don't think I did that at all this year. I really didn't get a whole lot done, and I'm not exactly proud of that. I want to make more time for knitting and for working with fibre. It's not enough to have an amazing stash. I need to use it as well. I have certainly achieved SABLE and I'm not going to live forever, so I really need to start getting all this gorgeous yarn on the needles and made into a finished object, and into someone's hands.

Recently I finished the latest (well, second) iteration of Cthulhu's Unspeakable Hat (free Ravelry pattern by Finlay Logan), using Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in black and emerald green.

The recipient has a large head, and I struggled to make sure the floats were long and the knitted Fair Isle part stretchy enough. I guess I'll know after Christmas when my friend's husband opens his gift.

Yarn Acquisition.

For someone who is intent on not acquiring new yarn, I seem to be inundated with it recently. Some of it was gifted to me, and some of it was purchased by me. Regardless, I am now the proud owner of fourteen new skeins. And, miraculously, two of them are being knit up even as I type. Well, not exactly as I type, but a project using them is on the needles, and may well be finished soon. I'll post that yarn when the hat is done. . . .

In my entry of 31 October, I mentioned my friend Kim went to Rhinebeck  and wrote me, asking if there was anything I needed. After culling my list to one thing, she sent me the most beautiful skeins of yarn from The Periwinkle Sheep. One in elderberry and one in vintage blue.

In November, My friend Sheeri went to the Eastern States Exposition Fiber Festival, and I asked her to get me two skeins of Periwinkle Sheep, so I could make a couple of Death of the Moon shawls (Josh Rykes) with them. She sent me these skeins, in The Witch's Cauldron and Clearing.

My plan is to pair them thus:

Vintage blue with The Witch's Cauldron.

Elderberry and Clearing.












I'm very excited get to knitting these, and am thinking of making a knitting calendar so I can get all my projects done next year in time for whatever delivery date I need for them.

Right before Thanksgiving, my friends Erick and Josh came to New Orleans for a visit. Erick is also a knitter, and a few months after I moved here, one of our favourite stores in Boston had a sale (they were going to strip and re-finish the floors), so all the yarn was half price. Erick got there the second day and said the place was almost completely cleaned out. But he was able to find a couple of things for me, which I'm counting as my Christmas present. I plan on wrapping these and opening them on Christmas day.

Here we see two lovely skeins of Baah La Jolla, in Powder blue. I have no idea what these are going to become, so I'll be perusing Ravelry's patterns when the time comes.

Then there is this single skein of Singin' the Blues. I think this should probably be paired with a very light colour to bring out the variegated shades in the yarn.

I don't have a lot of reds in my stash, and this addition of Garnet pleases me immensely. I'm trying to imagine a pattern for this, and what will pair best with it.

Erick also brought a skein of Sage. Another thing to ponder, what to pair it with and what to make with it. I love Baah yarns. The knit so beautifully and feel so good when they're on the needles.

What would life be like without Madeline Tosh? I can't find it locally, so Erick brought me Dandelion, which is 90% superwash Merino wool and 10% linen. It's a fingering weight, and I can imagine a light shawl made from this.

Erick found a bag of DPNs of all sizes, made in China. I am constantly misplacing my DPNs, so maybe these will help me when one of a set disappears.

I admit to a little retail therapy, Zen Yarn Garden's Serenity Silk. It is 75% superwash Merino, 15% cashmere, and 10% silk. The colourway is Blackberry-viola. Bournside Yarns got some in recently, and I was going to be good and not buy any yarn at all, but my cat, Serious Black, had to be put to sleep the week after Thanksgiving. He had developed a tumour and was not eating, so our vet thought it best to end any discomfort he might be feeling, and we agreed.

Serious Black, the Feline Overlord who is most sincerely missed by his human servants. We only had him for two months, but he really won our hearts. Ave vale atque, Serious Black.