In which I consider how to use the stash

In my last post I looked at the issue of inventory.  I spent significant time inventorying my fiber stash as 2017 arrived.

But I also have a yarn stash; many of us do.  Mine is--ahem--largish.  It's not quite as large as my fiber stash, but I justify that because fiber is bulkier and it is business-related.  My yarn is for personal use. Nevertheless, it needs a job.

I should clarify: it needs a lot of jobs, because there is a lot of it, and since I love to spin, I keep making more.  Some of it is commercial yarn, much of it is handspun.  I have "sweater-quantity" amounts separated, and still have at least 5 18 gallon storage containers full of yarn.

There--I said it out loud.  Confession is good for the soul, right? Five-18 gallon storage containers, plus another with sweater-quantities of yarn.

I've been looking at patterns to help me give this yarn some jobs.  Here are a few I have found:

1) I love to knit socks.  In fact, a few years ago I took on the 52 pairs in 52 weeks challenge, to make 52 pairs of socks in one year.  While I didn't quite reach that level of production, I did knit 30+ pairs of socks that year, resulting in a lot of leftover sock yarn.  Hence, the sock yarn blankie:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sock-yarn-blanket

A brilliant way to use up small amounts of sock yarn--modular squares in a big blanket.  Also easy to transport, if you do squares and connect them up later.  Not so easy to transport if you pick up stitches to add new squares as you go.  :-)  I'm considering making the squares separately, and then crocheting them together with a black yarn for a stained glass effect.

If you haven't done a mitered square, check this out:

The Magic of Miters: How to Knit a Modular Square: Get a step-by-step photo tutorial and instructions for knitting a mitered square, joining mitered squares and using mitered squares in your projects.

2) How about a cardigan with different skeins of yarn?  This one gives lots of good information about mixing different colorways of yarn together, when you don't have enough for a whole sweater:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEw12/KSPATTlessismore.php

I love the fact that you can make this in so many different ways, and a cardigan is very practical here in Minnesota.

3) Here's another cardigan in the same vein:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripes-on-thursday

4) If you like shawls, there are tons of options for using up bits of yarn.  This one is a classic type:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/log-cabin-shawl

5) You can always go for small items as well.  Headbands and hats are nice for Minnesota winters.  Here's one of my own:

This pattern will be available soon in my Etsy store, or you can email me if interested.


What patterns have you used to make a dent in your stash?  I'd love to get more ideas to dig out from under mine!

In which I recommit myself to my craft and my business

Long time, no post!

Until I pulled up the blog page and took a look at my prior posts, I had no idea that it had been so long since I visited here.  It's not that I haven't been spinning or creating fiber blends--I've been doing a lot!  But I haven't been sharing my efforts here.  I plan to commit myself to new posts weekly for 2017!

So what I have been up to lately?  Over New Years one of my goals was to complete an inventory of my business and personal fiber stash.  Wow!  That was an herculean effort!  But all of my major unspun fiber is now weighed and inventoried--it's not all in my database yet, but it is on paper.

I chose to use an Excel spreadsheet for tracking my fiber.  I started with the document offered by Jillian Moreno with her Interweave video class, Spin Your Stash.  http://www.interweave.com/store/spin-your-stash-video-download 

I found the video to be very helpful in clarifying my thoughts as I went through my stash.  I didn't classify my fiber in the same way she does, into these five categories:

• keep
• give away
• unusable
• transform
• maybe

I also modified the columns of her suggested spreadsheet, but it gave me a framework to think about the fiber I have.  Sadly, there was really nothing in my stash that I decided to give away, but the good news is, there was nothing hopelessly felted or unusable, either.  Here's the link to my version of the spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8lC-7CkXM-1R01Ec0c3UDhvaWc

My completed spreadsheet got me up to Box 9 for stash storage, and all 9 boxes are quite full.  I have some processing to do!

I'm curious to learn how you keep track of your stash.  Is it utterly random and serendipitous?  Is it weighed and measured to the last ounce, and you know where all of it is?  Do you have a plan for all of it, or do you see pretty and buy it?  There is no good or bad answer, but we all have our own methods.  Let me know about yours!

In Which I Prepare for Shepherd's Harvest

Shepherd's Harvest is this weekend!!  I am so excited. 

This is the wool festival held Mother's Day weekend every year at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.  It is the wool/fiber event of the year if you live in Minnesota or Western Wisconsin. 

This year is the first year that I am sharing a vendor booth with my friend Malla.  We will be selling our hand-carded spinning fiber batts, hand-dyed yarn, project bags, and patterns.  Also, Malla will have some hand-painted silk scarves, perfect for Mother's Day gifts. 

We are also camping on the grounds in my new-to-me travel trailer, the first time I have used it.  That should also be an adventure. 

I'm afraid my packing list is missing some items and I'm not sure how I'm going to get everything done tonight.  But I can't wait!  More to follow, with pictures!!

In Which the Sheep Get Shorn

Yesterday was a lovely day!  Went to sheep shearing day at Woolen Meadows Farm in Delano, and came home with some treasures. 

I was signed up to get one fleece--a white Border Leicester/Corriedale cross fleece grown by Isabelle.  Isabelle's fleece is lovely and I'm thrilled with it.

 During the course of the shearing morning, I also ended up sharing 1/2 silver grey fleece with my friend Malla.  This is Carly's fleece, which I purchased in full last year, and now have half:

You have my permission to drool!

Finally, Barb M. brought her angora goats to be shorn also.  I ended up with half of a mohair fleece as well.  Didn't expect that!  I've never worked with raw mohair before, but I'm looking forward to it.

 I have been busy washing fleece today and spinning on my October Frost shetland wool.  I can't wait to get the spinning done, but there are 13 more ounces to go.  I have 9 bobbins of singles completed so far.  Better get busy...

In Which I Take a Long Weekend...

Last weekend was my reward for losing 125 lbs!  I took Friday off of work and spent the day with my friend Malla.  We made a trip to fiber workers Mecca--Detta's Spindle! 

I love going to Detta's.  I tried out a used wheel--did not buy, but it's hovering in my brain--and dug through boxes and boxes of wonderful fiber.  I ended up buying mostly mill ends, some to dye as roving, much to card into batts and sell.  I also bought some bleached tussah silk for blending into my batts, and some gorgeous BFL/Silk blend as a treat for myself.   We were also able to order some yarn wholesale for dyeing to sell.  It's being drop-shipped to me, hopefully to arrive by Saturday, when we are planning a big dyeing day. 

I finished carding all of the shetland wool for my October Frost sweater!  Here's the remainder of the roving, ready for carding:

Whew, that was a lot to do, but now I just have to spin it up.  I've done 4 bobbins full so far.

I also finished up my Amused sweater.  I liked this pattern a lot, but I think the yarn is a bit bulky.  It's very light, though.  Anyway, I just threw it on over what I was wearing to take a picture (and there was something on my lens):

All in all, a wonderful weekend.  I need more of those...

In Which I Spin and Dye some yarn

Finally! I have gotten back to spinning and dyeing.  It seems like so many things have been interfering with these loves of mine.  Work, home, hockey, exercising, meetings--you know the drill.

Yesterday I spent preparing for the Superbowl Party we are having today--GO PACKERS!!  I was very diligent, however, and had the food prep done by 2pm.  At that point I decided, since the food was done and the kitchen was clean, to mess it up again with dyepots. 

My friend Malla showed me how to spin a lovely fat singles yarn.  It's a bit thick & thin, I'm not really good at regulating the drafting zone yet, but I love it.  The fiber is a two-toned taupe and white BFL--kinda blah and neutral in its natural state.  I decided to dye it with some reds.  I tried a new dye method, at least, new to me.  I wanted a tonal colorway, so I put the skeins in the dyepot and began heating it.  I wanted the skeins to react to dye right away.  Once it was getting steamy, I took squirt bottles and squirted different colors in streams over the skeins: pink and deep magenta in this case.  I let that strike and set for awhile, until the dyepot was pretty exhausted.  Then I used a spoon to move the skeins aside, and poured Fire Red into the sides of the pot to overdye it all.  I really like how they came out, but I would have liked less pink and more magenta. 

Anyway, it is destined to become the "Better Bucket Hat."  I think it will be fun.

I also dyed some Patons Classic Wool yarn that I had leftover from Ben's Christmas sweater.  I used the same method, except that I used more colors:  squirting silver grey, royal blue, caribbean blue and periwinkle over the skeins, then overdyeing with sky blue.  I love these skeins a lot.

I have also been spinning for my October Frost sweater.  I have three bobbins done and a fourth in progress:

Still have about 1 lb of the fiber to card for this sweater, but I'm making progress.  Can't wait to start knitting, but I have a long way to go until then.

In Which I Watch Some Hockey and Spin

High school hockey season is in full swing here in Minnesota.  If you like hockey, high school hockey here is fantastic!  I have two nephews who play varsity hockey for Minnetonka High School, so I am a proud and avid fan.

Hence my frustration tonight when Qwest couldn't figure out how to fix my internet, which has been down for two days.  They can't get a tech out to fix it until Saturday.  In the meantime, the big Minnetonka v. Eden Prairie confrontation was on simulcast over the internet tonight.  What a dilemma!  So here I am, crying over the loss suffered by my poor Tonka Skippers at Caribou Coffee, where I parked myself to use their wifi.  Final score 4-2, but the last goal was a freebie at an empty net in the waning seconds of the game.  It was a fabulous game, just not the outcome I wanted.  :-(

I am working on a basic sock for the next-youngest nephew in that family.  I am happy that those teenage boys like and appreciate hand-knitted socks; the only downside is that they are big boys with big feet--size 13 for all of them except the youngest, and I'm sure he'll get there.  I want to finish this pair for John's birthday on Sunday, but I have the feeling I'm not going to make it.

I've also been spinning for my October Frost sweater.  I have one full bobbin done.   My plan is to keep two bobbins in play--once one is full, let it rest overnight, then take the singles off on the ballwinder.  I'll ply all the fiber at the end to balance out any unevenness.

I've set a goal to card two batts (at least) every night until all the fiber is carded. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of touching the switch on my carder and zapping it with static electricity, so now the switch doesn't work.  This means I have to start and stop my carder by unplugging it, which is awkward, to say the least.  I'm trying to pick out as much VM from this fiber prep as possible in the carding process, and that makes it even harder to do.  It's always something...