Stash

Most of my knits from the last year have come from my stash (all but my January hat, which I made from yarn I bought because I hadn't purchased enough for whole hats when I was in Ireland, and half of the yarn for E's replacement mitten). Otherwise, I haven't bought any new yarn in a long while! Yet I haven't quite made as much of a dent in my stash as I would like. It takes up the top shelf of my craft cabinet, and had gotten all jubled and tangley after a year of rummaging around for what I was looking for.

So this weekend, I pulled it all out to tidy it up, take stock, and make sure there was no sign of wool moth activity (there wasn't). There's a lot of uninspiring yarn in that pile--single skeins and leftover odds and ends and things I inherited from ex-knitters.

 I decided to choose my next projects based on the yarn I most want to play with and came down to a skein of grey angora I bought at the Fiber Frolic a few years ago, a skein of grey lace-weight cashmere that I got on really good sale somewhere a long time ago (I remember my sister was with me, but I don't remember where we were!), and a skein of Noro Silk Garden. I then had to patterns that use single skeins, are something a little different from the usual, and are a little bit challenging (but still TV-compatible). I settled on a pair of leg warmers with a little lace along the top edge for the angora, a slouchy hat for the cashmere, and a crocheted flower scarf for the Noro. Now I can't wait to get started!