Attempting to Destash

Yarn and fibery goodness has taken over my house.  Behold my stash...

 Please excuse the blurry pictures (my husband took them, haha).

This picture is even after my sister came over and helped me sort through the mounds and mounds of fiber and yarn.  I think I have a problem.  Well, the first step towards solving a problem is admitting you have a problem.  Hello, my name is Mary, and I am a certified fiber hoarder.

 

 

Since I have become a total fiber snob, I gave my sister all my acrylic yarn for her to make ferret toys with.  She makes the toys for ferrets that are at the ferret shelter waiting for forever homes.  I've also decided to attempt to destash any yarn that doesn't "speak to me" anymore.  Destashing is SOOOO much more difficult than I imagined, but here is my start...a total of 9 skeins.

Filatura di Crosa

 Plymouth Yarn Baby Bunny

Tahki Yarns Cotton

Plymouth Yarn Royal Bamboo

In case you are interested in any of the above yarn, my sister is selling them on Ravelry for me.  If I were to "sell" them I'm sure they would some how find their way back to my stash.  I've provided the links above to where they are being sold.

In addition to trying to destash, I've put myself on a fiber fast.  No new fiber until further notice!  Nothing, not even sale yarn!  With the money I'll be saving from new fiber purchases and hopefully any money I get from the destash sale, I'm going to buy rubbermaid containers to organize the existing stash.  I also think I need a new, larger shelf. 

How do you store and organize your stash?  How big is your stash?  How big do you think is too big?

Somewhat Herringboney

I have a new FO!  I recently finished the Men's Mini Herringbone Scarf by Purl Soho.  I knit it for a friend's sister, however, I think she may keep it for herself!  Seriously, it's too gorgeous to giveaway (I secretly have another two skeins of the Freia yarn in Sand for myself, hehe).

 When I began knitting the pattern, I did have a problem with the stitch.  It wasn't turning out very herringboney, it was more cross stitchy.  Since I absolutely abhor cross stitch, I ended up fudging it and making it up as I went.  On the right side of the scarf I knit two together through the back loops, and only slipped one off the needle.  On the wrong side, I purled two together and only slipped one off.  To create the nice finished looking edge, I slipped the first stitch of every row.

Coil Boil - Final Post (I Promise!)

I put the coil boil art yarn I spun on my tree as a garland!

It's difficult to tell in the picture, but the tinsel and firestar in the yarn added a wonderful sparkle to the tree.

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season!

Newest Obsession Cont...

I finished the coil boil.  Here is the second step of the coil boil, after I core spun the yarn, I coiled it...

...and here is the finished yarn..

Holy cow did this yarn take me FOREVER!  I probably spent 10 hours spinning this and the result is only 10 yards!  Whattt!!  I must admit, it is totally worth it!  It's a pretty sweet yarn.  I'll probably use it to decorate my christmas tree, but then I need to find a permanent spot for it in my house.  This yarn is too cool to sit in a box for 11 months out of the year and only be used to decorate the Christmas tree.   Any ideas on where I can use it in my house? 

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

I finished spinning the batt Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater!  I bought the batt from Spin Culture.  Here is a picture of it from the etsy listing...

...and here it is all spun up!

I spun it into a light fingering weight and have 317 yards!  I think I'm going to knit a shawl with it.  I'm thinking Terribly Simple by Caitlin Ffrench.  Something simple to show off the yarn.  Or I could go with something a little more lacey... Seven and Zero or Holes to Make Lace .  As you can see, I LOVE Caitlin Ffrench's patterns!! 

Newest Obsession

I have a new obsession!!  Corespinning!

Sorry about the pic :(, I'll take better photos when I'm done with the yarn.

This corespun is spun out of a "Blizzard of '77" batt I made.  It includes merino, falkland, bamboo, firestar, faux cashmere and tinsel.

My obsession came from Pluckyfluff's video on how to make a coil boil (I can't link directly to it, but the link is on this Spin Artiste page).  OMG, I'm in L-O-V-E with coil boils!  They are made by first spinning a corespun yarn (Pluckyfluff spun a coreless corespun), then coiling that corespun onto another core yarn.  After that, the last step is to navajo ply.  The resulting yarn is a super thick, dense yarn which is more like a rope!  It is awesome! 

Have you ever spun art yarn?  If so, are you completely addicted?! 

Small Business Saturday

Today is Small Business Saturday in New York.  It's New York's attempt to make buyers more aware of shopping at small businesses instead of the big box stores during the holiday season.  For Small Business Saturday, I've decided to offer free shipping at my etsy store, just use the code FREESHIP at checkout.  The free shipping code is good now through the end of Cyber Monday!

~Mary