January 14, 2011

Yarn diet update - January 14, 2011

I went to the yarn store last week and bought five balls of yarn. They're for the new cardigan I started. I chose a pretty purple color as the main color, but after I cast on, I realized I have only two balls. It's the color I need for the hems and the buttonband. The pattern I'm using has a lot of ribbing on the body and the two balls are probably just enough for that, the ribbing on the sleeves and the buttonband.

yarn

It should be enough for that, but then I thought it might be good to have some of the main color in the stripes as well. So, I went to get some more of that purple. I ended up getting three purple balls and two other colors, a slightly lighter purple and the most gorgeous pastel aqua. At least they're all for this cardigan, so I don't feel so bad about it. And I really like this color combination, so I'll probably make a hat or scarf with the leftover yarn from the cardigan.

I also finished my garter stitch shawl this week, and it used up almost seven balls of yarn. These are all 50 gr balls, so my stash is now 100 gr lighter than it was two weeks ago :) It's not much, but it's a start!

yarn

Την προηγούμενη εβδομάδα αγόρασα πέντε μπάλες νήμα. Είναι για το καινούριο ζακετάκι που ξεκίνησα. Διάλεξα ένα ωραίο μωβ ως το βασικό χρώμα, αλλά αφού είχα ήδη ξεκινήσει το πλέξιμο, συνειδητοποίησα ότι έχω μόνο δύο μπάλες. Είναι το χρώμα που χρειάζομαι για το λάστιχο και εκεί που θα μπουν τα κουμπιά. Το σχέδιο που χρησιμοποιώ έχει πολύ λάστιχο και οι δύο μπάλες μάλλον φτάνουν.

Μετά όμως σκέφτηκα ότι θα ήταν ωραίο να έχω λίγο από το βασικό χρώμα και στις ρίγες. Έτσι, πήγα να πάρω και άλλο μωβ νήμα. Τελικά, πήρα τρεις μπάλες καθώς και ένα μωβ λίγο πιο ανοιχτό και ένα απίστευτα όμορφο γαλάζιο. Τουλάχιστον είναι όλα για αυτό το ζακετάκι και δεν νιώθω τόσο άσχημα που τα πήρα. Επίσης, μου αρέσει πολύ αυτός ο συνδυασμός χρωμάτων, οπότε μάλλον θα φτιάξω κάποιο καπέλο ή κασκόλ με ό,τι περισσέψει.

Τελείωσα αυτή την εβδομάδα και το σάλι μου και χρησιμοποίησα σχεδόν εφτά μπάλες. Είναι όλες των 50 γρ οπότε τώρα έχω πλέον 100 γρ λιγότερα νήμα στο σπίτι :) Δεν είναι πολύ αλλά είναι μια καλή αρχή!

sock yarn

Clockwise from top left: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Hawaii, Claudia Handpainted Fingering in Begonia, Claudia Handpainted Fingering in Tropicana.


I've also been trying to organize my stash on Ravelry and I'm taking pictures of my yarn. It is a process that is exciting (thinking of all the things I want to knit) and scary (how did the stash get out of control like this?). If I continue knitting as much as I did last year (which I honestly think wasn't a lot), I estimate it could take me more than 6 years to knit up all the yarn I have! Scary indeed!

I have sock yarn for over 100 pairs of socks! This does not include sock yarn for shawls, only for socks. If I knit one pair of socks a week (which I can do, but only if I have a lot of knitting time) I would still need two years. I feel dizzy just thinking about it... What is the kind of yarn you have the most of? Do you buy sweater quantities of worsted weight or little skeins of laceweight? And, if I do knit 100 pairs of socks, do you have any ideas about where I could put them?

sock yarn

Laughing Yaffle Sock Tiny Temptations mini skeins


Προσπαθώ επίσης να οργανώσω όλα τα νήματά μου στο Ravelry και βγάζω και φωτογραφίες από ό,τι έχω. Είναι μια διαδικασία συναρπαστική (σκέφτομαι όλα τα πλεκτά που θέλω να φτιάξω) και τρομακτική (πώς κατάφερα να πάρω τόσα πολλά νήματα;) Αν συνεχίσω να πλέκω με τον ρυθμό που έπλεκα πέρυσι (που πραγματικά πιστεύω ότι δεν ήταν πολύ) υπολογίζω ότι θα μου πάρει τουλάχιστον έξι χρόνια να πλέξω όλα τα νήματα που έχω! Πραγματικά τρομακτικό!

Έχω νήμα για πάνω από εκατό ζευγάρια κάλτσες! Αυτό δεν περιλαμβάνει νήμα για κάλτσες που θα χρησιμοποιήσω για άλλα πλεκτά, μόνο αυτό που προορίζεται για κάλτσες. Αν πλέκω ένα ζευγάρι την εβδομάδα (που μπορώ μεν, αλλά μόνο αν έχω πολύ χρόνο), πάλι θα χρειαστώ δύο χρόνια. Ζαλίζομαι μόνο που το σκέφτομαι! Εσείς τι νήματα αγοράζετε σε ποσότητες; Πιο χοντρό για πουλόβερ ή μικρές μπαλίτσες για δαντέλα; Και, αν πράγματι πλέξω εκατό ζευγάρια κάλτσες, έχετε καμιά ιδέα πού μπορώ να τα βάλω;

9 comments:

  1. When I had only started knitting and didn't know anything about yarn weight (didn't know it existed, that is!), I bought a huuuuge amount of fingering weight yarn. It takes up the majority of my stash, and, to be honest, now that I know about yarn weight, I rarely knit in fingering. Or I use it for small projects which don't use up that much, so it's really hard to get rid of this stuff!
    Good luck with the socks!

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  2. Gosh, that is quite a bit of sock yarn.

    if you don't feel you need 100 pairs of wool socks in a mediterranean climate then you might get some ideas from the Sock Yarn Lovers who don't knit socks group?

    http://www.ravelry.com/groups/sock-yarn-lovers-who-dont-make-socks

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  3. Ooh, that's some pretty sock yarn you got there!

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  4. that's beautiful yarn. I need to get some actual sock yarn but seeing how I'm new to knitting socks I'm just in my practice stage. I've tried about 5 times and I've yet to make a successful sock, but I'm not giving up.

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  5. Yaaaaarn!!!
    You can knit 100 pairs of socks and put them in a sock cabinet, give away a few pairs maybe... I'm not sure. All my socks fit easily in my very big sock drawer, so it all depends on the size of the drawer, not the number of pairs, right?
    Philhellene

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  6. That is a lot of sock yarn! I have a huge stash as well. Lots of sock yarn and sweater yarn. What I have the least of would be lace weight.

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  7. Thanks for your honesty! My stash is huge -- and unbalanced, with too much sock yarn and not enough worsted. I figure it's a cheaper habit than cocaine.

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  8. Don't worry... you can always send the finished socks to me. I could frog... I mean, wear them. Because we like need.. warm stuff here in Finland and I wouldn't reuse them to make beautiful shawls. Definitely not. Uh-oh.

    I would like to see pictures of your whole stash. I checked your Ravelry stash and I a m en v i o us.

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  9. I think I might even have more sock yarn than you.... I'm at the point in my knitting life where the stash has passed out of control into the what was I thinking category. So I've been working hard on knitting it down and so far have been doing a great job. Good luck to you on your yarn diet! :)

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