Mmmmm, stash

More correctly I should title this post as "Lucky me, I have pretties". Since using stash yarn is an aim for the year I thought it would be good to document what I have. I am not doing any kind of yarn diet, it is just about using the pretty yarn. If I buy something new and shiny that is all good too.

The photos are not great, lousy weather!

First the yarn with a planned destiny:

The green is a new purchase, part Christmas present, part sale bargain, all "oooh I like this". It is a sweater quantity and will most likely be a hoody of some sort. I was thinking about the central park hoody when I bought it but I think that may be too cabled, something simpler perhaps.

The red will be  Brandywine shawl when I have done enough Uni work to justify casting it on.

Navy and grey 4 ply is for endpaper mitts.

Navy and Gold DK was going to be two colour brioche mitts, but may be used for colourwork instead.

The yummy teal will be a cowl.

Sock yarn that will be made into socks:

I have pattern designs in mind for the teal Regia and the blue/green noro.

Turquoise, black and hot pink was from the UK sock knitters swap. We are having a KAL to use our swap yarn in February so I will use it then. I think it might stripe so I may just make a plain vanilla sock.

The lovely light blue and purple was a blog prize from the knitting squid. I have not decided what pattern to make yet, but it will be socks. If I cast on some socks before the KAL it will most likely be this yarn.

Three multicolour balls on the left self stripe and sparkle. I tried to make a sideways sock pattern with this but it didn't work. I might try again.

The rainbow will be a slip stitch pattern, something simple that breaks up the pooling.

The purple is amazingly gorgeous, I don't know what pattern it will be.

Year of projects yarn:

Some of the red is already becoming a Mr Greenjeans cardigan. What else I can make from this depends on how much is left after the cardigan. The plan was to see what I could make from 2kg of undyed aran yarn in a year (I have dyed the red).

Stash with no particular destiny:

These small yarn quantities will hopefully used up in the next month or so. They are the supplies for my aim of knitting small things that are done in a weekend.

Scraps, part balls and leftovers:

I want to use these up too. And maybe have a sort through as I suspect there are some tiny lengths in there that are not actually knitable.

Mmmmm, handspun:

Why do I spin, and then not knit with what I have made? I have hardly used any of my handspun to actually make things, it just sits in the stash box.

The blue/grey at the centre top was used this weekend, so that will hopefully appear on Friday as a FO. Looking at it on the table I just decided I should have used it to make a sweater yoke, but too late now, I am not frogging, I will have to spin some more. 

Two matching blue/pink skeins on the right were spun for socks. They will be toe up and maybe have a commercial sock yarn for toes, heels and cuffs.

The rest I am not sure what to make. The yardage is quite low and there are only so many mitts/hats/cowls you can wear. I might try combining skeins or mixing with commercial yarns to get a bigger project. The weights vary somewhat so they do not really work together, although I am thinking of a lengthwise crochet scarf to combine some of the randoms.

Spinning stash:

Actually, there is an entire Suffolk fleece that I hav washed but not carded too, but that is the purchased stuff. Two bags of alapca, 100g each of suri and hucaya and a 100g braid of Shetland. The other bag has the tiny scraps from all my spinning projects. At some point I will card it together and spin some hideous clown barf yarn.

I think the main thing to remember this year with my yarn and fibre purchases is to buy enough to actually make something. The odd balls and small quantities are the hardest to use up so they linger.