Stash Diet

No pics today, I keep forgetting to take them during the day to get good light.

I am currently on a stash diet in the true sense of the word. I am not buying anymore yarn until I have lost two stone - which is just a dent in what I have to lose altogether! I have lost four pounds to date so am on the way.

So for the foreseeable future I will be knitting from yarn I already have. I have accumulated quite a lot in the last year but don't have substantial quantities of anything. So look out for lots of hats, scarves, gloves and baby items!

Recently completed but not picture yet are a Branching Out scarf in Posh Yarn Sophia 2ply lace weight in a colourway called 'Thunder'. Its longer than I thought, I got far more pattern repeats than the pattern suggested. It was a really straightforward knit too, basically the same 10 rows repeated for the length of the scarf.

I've also knitted a retro baby bonnet and Mary Jane shoes in Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK in a really soft dusky shade called piglet. I got both the first size hat and shoes from one 50g ball. This is the most wonderful yarn - soft, silky, slight sheen when knitted.

I'm currently knitting a cropped waistcoat for DD in Sirdar Confetti and Supersoft Aran. I originally bought this to make for a friends baby and never got round to it (thanks goodness I didn't tell her I was intending to make it). One 50g ball of the Confetti and one 100g ball of the Aran are enough to knit all the sizes, and it goes up to 5-6 years. So in the interests of not wasting anything I am knitting the biggest size, which should do DD next winter. The main bit of the waistcoat is made in the Confetti which is quite chunky so is knitting up quickly.

So though I'm not buying yarn I can still get patterns and subscribed this week to Interweave Knits through P & M Woolcraft. I subscribe to Simply Knitting and often read Knitting and Knit Today, but though I've only seen a couple of issues of Interweave Knits I find that there's much more inspiration to be had from across the pond. Ooops nearly forgot - I get Yarn Forward too - its a new quarterly magazine. Issue one was sent out in October and I'm still waiting for the next issue but understand that as a new independent publication there's lots of teething problems to work through. The first issue was good though, and I hope the second is worth the wait.

Pictures the next time, hopefully.