WIPs II: When Cardigans Attack

As I think about the things I want to share with you, gentle readers of this slowly evolving blog, I'm beginning to see snippets of ideas for regular features.  Obviously, the WIPs are an ongoing theme.  I think it also might be fun to feature an item from my stash in each post.  That way, you can see what sorts of things are coming down the pike, and even amuse yourselves by guessing when I might use a certain item or what it may become.  And since I mentioned to you last post that I was planning a dismount from my cold sheep to make a little purchase, why don't we start there? 

This Week's Stash Peek*

A little background:  Last year I fell victim to discovered a wonderful little yarn company, MinkYarn.com, specifically because of this.  Craig is the proprietor of MinkYarn.com and is a lovely fellow whose customer service is impeccable.  He even includes a handwritten card in almost every purchase.  Long story short, I bought some of the yarn to try and fell in love.  Ultimately, I ended up with at least seven SQs** of Craig's various yarns, which contributed to my decision to cold sheep this year.  However, just as I was making the decision that I did not need any more yarn, Craig announced that he was developing a BRAND NEW YARN*** that was 90% mink and 10% silk and blooms**** more than any yarn he'd ever ever made.  I tried to convince myself that I could live without it, but had to admit that if I didn't buy some, I would be sad.  (Especially since there is no guarantee that he will continue to stock it after this batch is gone.)

So here it is, "Courchevel" mink/silk yarn in Jet Black and Loganberry:

I have many things to knit before I get to these, as you are about to see, but hopefully they will pop up again sooner rather than later.



WIPs 

Continuing with the WIP Parade, let's look at cardigans in progress.  I have been obsessed with cardigans lately, so there is a lot to talk about.

These are in order by those I am most motivated to finish to least:

Grande Plage Cardigan:  Started just a couple of weeks ago, I originally cast this on as my first quarter project for Team Octopurls in the Eat Sleep Knit 2014 Yarnathon.  It would take me too long to explain the Yarnathon, so just go read about it here or here and then come back.  While normally you can only participate in the Yarnathon by buying yarn, this year the store has set up various challenges to allow those of us who are cold sheeping or are otherwise on yarn diets to earn yards and help our teams.  The first quarter challenge is to make something exclusively out of Eat Sleep Knit yarn using a technique that is new to you.  This is my first cardigan constructed from the top down and would have been perfect, but I realized as I was working on it that I want to trim it with black and the black yarn I will be using was not purchased from ESK.  (I have black yarn from ESK, but it is the wrong type of fiber for this project.)  I decided it was more important to make the cardigan I want to wear than to force it to fit the challenge.  Fortunately, I have plenty of other yarn from ESK (I was a Yarnathon finisher last year, which in large part is why I am cold sheeping this year), and I have until the end of March to complete a qualifying project, so I'll figure something out.  But I digress.  Here is the cardigan:

Here is the Ravelry page:  Grande Plage Cardigan (original pattern by Claudia Geiger).  The finished cardigan will be heavily modified from the original pattern, which you can see here.  I used the pattern to learn the top down construction, but I don't plan to change colors at the waist or use the lace portion of the pattern (too similar to the green lacy cardigan featured in my first post).  Currently, this is the project that is getting the most attention because I love the color and can't wait to finish it up and wear it (assuming it fits!).  I even have the perfect jewelry picked out for it.

Mink Cardigan:  This is my second cardigan in mink (the first being the black Swirl pictured in my January 4, 2014 post).  As you now know, it won't be my last.  This is actually tied with the Grand Plage Cardigan for project I most want to finish first.

Ravelry page: Mink Cardigan.  As you can see, this one is constructed in pieces.  It is another one of my "design on the needles" experiments, so I can't wait to finish it up to see if it looks anything like what I am picturing in my head.  Also, because it is a solid neutral color, I should get a lot of wear out of it.

Light Cardigan:  You can almost say that this cardigan was the result of my general stubbornness.  You see, I hate to be told that I can't do something.  Especially if the implication is that I can't do it because it is beyond my skill/patience/etc.  So, back in 2012 when I mentioned to my knitting group that I wanted to make an adult-sized cardigan out of lace weight yarn and they essentially laughed at the suggestion, well, let's just say this cardigan was inevitable.*****

Ravelry page: Light Cardigan.  This is another of my improvised designs.  It was hibernating for quite some time because I was once again foiled by sleeves.  This picture was taken in February 2013.  From time to time I pick it up and work on it.  The other day, I measured it and was thrilled and/or embarrassed to discover that I only have about four inches left on the second sleeve.  So, obviously, I am working on the Grande Plage Cardigan and the Mink Cardigan instead.  I think my hesitation is that I'm not convinced the sleeves will fit once I finish knitting them and sew the seams, so I'm expecting to have to rip them out and redo them.  But I really just need to finish those last four inches and see.  It is made from a wool/silk blend so even though it is light weight, it is still relatively warm.  When it is finally finished, it will make a nice fall sweater.

Thunderstorm Swirl:  This is the previously mentioned third Swirl that I am working on.

Ravelry page:  Thunderstorm Swirl.  The name comes from the colorway of the yarn I am using.  I started this in July 2013 and was working on it steadily until I got distracted.  It is another one I pick up and chip away at from time to time.  I think it will be gorgeous when it is finished, which hopefully will be soon. 

Not pictured:  That green cardigan.  Yeah, yeah, talk to the hand.  All joking aside, I think this is another case where I'm a little worried that the sleeve I knit is going to end up being too small and I'll have to start again.  What I really need to do is block the sleeve to its full size to see whether it works or not.  I'm sure once I do that, I will be motivated to start the second sleeve (or re-knit the first sleeve) and finally get this thing finished.

Odds and Ends

At the request of one of my most loyal readers, a little note about the Knitting Meter on the right hand side of this blog:  I have adopted the practice of one of my cold sheeping support groups to not add yardage to a meter until the item in question is complete.  As a result, while I can add to the Spinning Meter each time I finish a skein of yarn, the Knitting Meter will stay at zero until I finish one of my current projects.  So, though technically between the first two cardigans listed above I have knit at least 1300 yards so far this month, none of it counts until I actually complete a cardigan (the knitting portion at least--I don't feel obligated to wait until all the ends are woven in and the buttons are on).  If you are wondering why it looks as though I haven't done any knitting this year (as of the date of this post), that's why.

I have been down with the flu the past couple of weeks and haven't been up to spinning, so I have nothing to report on the Shetland project.  Fortunately, I am on the mend and expect to get back to it this week.

That's all for now.  I'll be typing at ya soon.  


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*Yes, yes, the name of the feature needs work.
**sweater quantities
***I'm pretending this was an astounding announcement that fully and understandably justified leaping off the sheep, but the truth is that Craig introduces a brand new yarn practically every other month.  (Unfortunately, they are all wonderful.)
****For those not familiar with the term "bloom" as it applies to yarn, think of the fuzziness of angora.  That's blooming. 
*****I have a nearly finished bathrobe that came about for a very similar (i.e., identical) reason.  One day I will take a picture of it.

Why 2014 is Stash Appreciation Year

Gentle readers, today we are going to address a term that will be new to some of you, but all too familiar to others.  The term I speak of is SABLE, which stands for Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.

I suspect this is something that happens to all crafters, but it is quite common in the fiber arts world.  It seems to begin in that moment in your crafting when the stars align and you finally feel that you are GOOD at whatever it is you are doing and it is YOUR THING.  Once that happens, you start feeding your thing.  And sometimes you feed your thing too much and it grows into a monster and devours you.

If any of the below has happened to you, you may have a SABLE:*

• You have to buy yarn/fiber in sweater quantities just in case you decide you want to make a sweater with it, but you don't actually have any plans to make a sweater when you buy it, you just want to make sure you have the option.  When you finally get around to using it, you decide to make a scarf.
• You buy a pound of a fiber you've been really really wanting to try, only to find you had already bought some several months back, hadn't gotten around to spinning it and then forgot you bought it.  Now you have two pounds of the fiber, and you still haven't spun it.
• Your younger friend begins asking you regularly if you've thought about preparing a will and if so, are you leaving her your yarn/fiber stash?  Later, every time you buy new yarn, she gets a very happy, very suspicious smile on her face.
•  You buy yarn/fiber just because it is pretty/on sale/a day that ends in "y" without any plans for what to do with it, other than pet it occasionally.
• You look at your yarn/fiber stash and instead of it making you feel happy, it makes you feel anxious and that there are not enough hours in the day, days in the month, months in the year, years in all of history to use it all.

Eventually, you decide it is time to tame the monster.  For me, 2014 is that time.  Which brings us to another term, which is new to me this year (otherwise I might not have a SABLE).  The term is "cold sheeping."**  Cold sheeping is related to the concept of going "cold turkey."***  People also sometimes refer to it as shopping in your stash.  Essentially, it is a pledge to stop buying yarn/fiber/fabric/patterns, or whatever the item at the heart of your obsession.  By doing so, you invite yourself to take stock of your stash/craft/life and introduce order. 

In taking stock, I have come to realize that I have some very lovely yarn/fiber that needs to be made into beautiful things and that I would be very sad if I did not give myself the opportunity to be the one to do that.  So I am giving myself the opportunity!

What does this all mean?  What is the plan of action?  Well, it's starting to look a little something like this (not in any particular order):

1. Do not purchase any new yarn or fiber this year (except for one planned "dismount" in a few weeks--we'll talk about that when it happens).  Tools, books, patterns, etc. are okay, but I will be watching closely to see if I am just trading one addiction for another and adjust accordingly.  
2. Organize my yarn and fiber stashes.
3. Knit a whole bunch and track it on my meter!
4. Spin a whole bunch and track it on my meter!
5. Commit to finishing my WIPs.  In their own way, they are a stash and starting new projects without finishing the ones in progress is very similar to buying new yarn/fiber without using what you have.
6. Join groups of like-minded stash reducers for added support when temptation strikes.   

Speaking of WIPs, that's a great place to start.  And I do mean start--I have way too many WIPs to cover in one post.  So, without further ado, I bring you the WIP Parade - Part One!

Spinning WIPs

Because I have previously neglected to talk about spinning in a blog that has "spinning" in its title, we'll start with a few ongoing spinning projects:

Shetland coat:  I purchased 5lbs. of natural black and grey Shetland wool with the intention of spinning enough yarn to make a winter coat.  I even bought some black silk fabric for lining.  I spun a little over half a pound of it, saw something shiny and walked away.   Fortunately, one of my cold sheeping support groups is doing a "Spin Something Big" challenge (i.e., spin a lot of one thing, whatever that means to you.)  So it was a natural fit to dive back into the Shetland.  Here's a picture of some of the yarn spun so far:

And here is a link to my project page on Ravelry for additional details: Shetland for coat

Muga silk:  Speaking of something shiny, I am also in the process of spinning some beautiful Muga silk.  Muga silk has a natural gold color, and was previously reserved for royalty in India.  I don't have specific plans for this one yet, but it's sooooo pretty, so it will get some attention this year.

 

Ravelry page: Silk - Muga

Lovely lavender:  I am also working on a blend that is 80% merino wool and 20%  tencel.****  I hand-dyed the fiber with a cool purple acid dye.  Acid dyes work on animal fibers (and nylon for some reason) but do not work on plant fibers like tencel so it creates a very pleasant variegation of shades of purple where the tencel does not take the dye.  I have spun a little less than half so far.  It has not yet told me what it wants to be, other than yarn, at this point.  Unfortunately, my camera does not pick up purple well, so the picture looks blue.  You'll just have to trust me that the yarn is more of a blue-purple than blue:

Ravelry page: Merino/tencel - lavender

That is all for now, mostly because I don't have any other spinning WIPs currently photographed or set up in Ravelry.  Yes, my WIP organization is a WIP in itself.  But the WIP parade will continue in the next post.  See you then!


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*I'm not necessarily admitting whether all of these things have actually happened to me....
**To my knowledge, the term was coined by this wonderful fellow blogger: http://yarnontheside.blogspot.com/
***Sadly, I did not figure out the origin myself, but only caught on after reading the musings of this blogger: http://temptingyarns.blogspot.com/2011/05/knit-swirl-book-and-cold-sheeping.html
****There is a nice description of tencel here: http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/WebLetter/Yarns/Tencel.php

What happened in 2013...

So...you probably noticed that I got very quiet after my initial post last year.  Oops.  Did I mention that both I and this blog are a work in progress ("WIP")? 

I think I figured out where I went wrong.  As I mentioned, I have unfinished projects ("UFOs").*  Several, in fact.  When I started this blog, I had the "clever" idea that I'd do a post featuring each of my UFOs, as I did in my one and only post last year.  Then I would continue to post my progress.  I quickly learned:

1.  It is very challenging (not to mention time consuming) to feature one project per post when you have several projects going at once.
2.  Featuring one project in a post puts a lot of pressure on you to make progress on that particular project, which inhibits you from posting when you are very naughty and spend your time working on other things instead, so you stop blogging because you haven't finished that one thing yet.  Additionally, Startitis should be a recognized medical condition and insurance should cover treatment for it.

As a result, it looks like I didn't do anything last year, when in fact I did a whole bunch of stuff.  And you are going to hear about it right now!

Swirls

2013 was the year that I discovered Sandra McIver's knit, Swirl! book.  That pretty much dominated my year.  I've made 2 so far and am about 2/3 finished with a third.  Here is a picture of my favorite one:

Tank Tops

I decided to take the sleeve issue head on and made a couple of tank tops.  I buy them all the time to wear to work under a cardigan, so why not make them?  I made two last year and plan to make several more.

 

That Darn Cardigan

I did, in fact, knit one sleeve for that green cardigan.  I have no comment as to when the second sleeve might manifest.

Etc.

I also made various scarves as gifts over the holidays, but unfortunately did not take any pictures so you will just have to take my word for it. 

Onward and Upward

That is some of what happened in 2013.  In the next post, I will let you know what is planned for this year.  (I am completely flabbergasted that I let nearly an entire year go by without mentioning any spinning projects whatsoever, so that needs to be remedied quickly.)   In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy, healthy, productive 2014!

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*I will keep trying to remember to define terms at least once for my non-knitting friends.  Fellow knitters, I hope you will bear with me on this.