Ramblings of a Knitting Obsessive

Leave it to me to use up stash yarn as soon as I have acquired it, leaving me with practically no stash to speak of whatsoever.

This is what I did with about half of the ball of (absolutely gorgeous) The Knittery Cashmere Merino that Elin sent me. Inspired by the one she made a little while back, I used the Purl Beret pattern from the Purl Bee, and it is now my new favorite hat.
I really love the way the colors made sort of spirally stripes up the body of the hat – not too obvious (I really don’t like when variegated yarns pool) but still there.
Here it is on:

I never thought that anything other than a really basic head-hugging hat wouldn’t look goofy on me, but this evidently proves my theory wrong. The ribbing at the bottom was a little loose when I first finished it, so I ended up putting some elastic thread around the inside just before the stockinette portion starts, and now it stays on a lot better. Another benefit is that it goes perfectly with my new sophisticated wooly black coat, which I already love to pieces. It’s knee-length with a double button placket and belted waist, and I’ve really been enjoying wearing it around in the ever-increasing fall chill. Now just to make some warm winter mittens, and I’ll be set.
Remember the gargantuan hank of sock-weight alpaca I posted about before? Well, I’ve reskeined it as I plan to try my hand at dyeing (probably with Kool-Aid since it seems to be the best beginner medium, plus it’s not toxic like some other dyes).

When I wound it before, I managed to get it into three pretty much equal-size yarn balls, so I thought it would be perfect to get into dyeing hanks. The picture only shows a fraction of them — they turned out really long (probably almost 3 feet) but that’s good since I’ll have more room to put color and the dye can saturate the yarn better since there aren’t as many strands.
I’ve also started on a Cloud Bolero with some Cascade Eco-Wool (also new) in a pretty heathered off-white, and made some green and pink beaded stitch markers to use for it, but seeing as my progress is really not blog-worthy (I’ve only got about six rows done) that’ll have to wait for my next post.
Now just to figure out what I, the non-sock knitter, will ever do with 660 yards of lusciously soft fingering weight yarn. Any suggestions?

For starters, let me just say that I absolutely LOVE getting things in the mail. Maybe that has to do with the fact that nothing much comes for me very often, so when I know that I’m waiting for something to arrive, it’s really fun.
A little while ago, Elin ran a contest on her blog to generously give away some extra yarn from her stash, and my name was randomly drawn out of a hat, so I won. Her package finished its journey across the Pacific Ocean and to my door today:

Yarn (The Knittery Cashmere Merino Sock in Dark Reds, SO pretty. I’m so psyched to work with it since I’ve never knit with cashmere, so even the hint that’s in this is really enticing) and chocolate (Green and Black’s Organic, a bar of Maya Gold, which is super-dark with orange and spices, and a bar of ultra creamy Milk chocolate. I pretty much like all kinds of chocolate, but I think that dark is by far my favorite. Let me tell you, it was hard to wait long enough to take a picture of this stuff before I tried it, and it was delish)! I also love the tissue paper that everything was wrapped in, by the way. Thanks, Elin, for the great package! My rainy Friday was made much happier when I got home and saw it waiting for me.
On Saturday, I decided to rearrange my room after straightening it up, and it now feels at the same time bigger and more cozy.
Here’s what you see when you walk in the door:

This is the other corner, where my dresser and assorted other things are:

All the collages and stuff on the walls are made by me except for the one immediately to the right of the mirror, which Ruthie made for me a couple of years ago. The thing above my bed that’s not really readable in the first picture is the lyrics of “Song for You” by Alexi Murdoch, done as a calligraphy project in one of my classes last year. I used this really cool brown ink that’s made of crushed walnut shells, and the script that I know is called Carolingian.
The bulletin board in the second picture is just an old corkboard that I put some quilt batting and fabric on, and then some crisscrossed ribbons to hold things. It holds little random things that make me happy, such as the awesome flower drawing that Liv didn’t want and I was happy to take.
Under it is my knitting needle caddy, (an old oatmeal can that I collaged with scraps of newspaper), the picnic basket that contains my (comparatively meager) yarn stash, which is made up for the most part by small leftovers from past projects, with a few exceptions, my school bag, and a pretty paper parasol the Liv brought back for me when she went to Japan last year.
There’s also a big bookshelf (that incidentally doesn’t contain that many books) over to the left of the room, but I couldn’t get a good enough picture of it, so you’ll just have to imagine.
I really like the way it looks now, especially with all the floorspace. The way it was before had the bed in the middle and it completely dominated the room, but now it feels so much better.

On the knitting front:
The first Jaywalker sock is nearly done, I’ve decided that I’m going to take my time since they’re going slowly.
Other than that, I made a little beaded clutch bag/wristlet to complement my homecoming dress (for tomorrow night! Huzzah!):

I used some of the Sauder Village Handspun that I mentioned awhile ago, and it was my first time knitting with beads. It was so fun! I can’t wait to use it tomorrow. The pattern was pretty much improvised, though it was originally inspired by the one from Sn’B Nation.

Hope you’re all doing well!

I’ve been ultra busy these past couple of weeks (mostly homework, including one huge chunk of text translated from Ancient Greek in which Socrates and Meno argue for 27 whole pages about the definition and nature of virtue and other adjoining themes, with small interludes in which Anytus and a slave of Meno join the conversation. Yeah..It sucked at first because I didn’t understand any of it, but then
Liv helped me and it was more fun). I’m sorry I’ve neglected you poor readers for so long.
There has been knitting, however.
I finished the Wisp last Wednesday (I know, bad blogger no cookie) and have yet to find good buttons for it, so for now it is worn solely as a lusciously soft scarf.

I love the delicateness of the lace, and it’s surprisingly warm for how many holes it has. I also found that the pink is almost a perfect match to the pinstripes on my dress for the homecoming dance, thus making it a possible shoulder wrap for that fast-approaching night (next Saturday! I’m so psyched).
I’ve also got some socks going:

They’re Jaywalkers on size 1s, knit from the toe up using the middle-eastern cast on and I’m planning to do the toe-up heel flap technique from the Widdershins pattern. They’re very slow-going at the moment, but still nice. I’m liking the wintry colors in the yarn, but not the pooling so much.
I also made this little cutie as a distraction from the above-mentioned socks:

It’s a kitty stuffie from Ysolda’s pattern, and it worked up really quick. I still need a name for it, so suggestions are welcome.
Well, I guess that’s all for now. I hope you’re all having a good weekend!