2007 - The Year of the Destash

As I reflect on 2007- The Year of the Destash, I have to wonder if maybe it really wasn't a year of stashing.


I have 21 finished objects for the year. 26 if you count each of the Blocks for Greensburg individually. 13 of the 21 projects were from stash.


There are two types of destash projects.


One, truly destashing projects. That's the kind where the yarn you use for a particular project was actually bought, and possibly used, for another project. The Greensburg Blocks are a great example. I had bits and pieces of several different wools leftover from various clog projects. They came together to make the blocks. Another example are Megan's and Emily's baby booties. The yarn I used for those projects was not bought with the intent of making baby booties, but in the end, it was perfect.


Two, I categorize as yarn that is spontaneously purchased and then it sits in "storage" for more than 3 months before it gets cast on. CTH Northern Lights is a perfect example. It doesn't qualify for stash definition #1 because I bought this yarn to make socks. However, since the socks (Mad Weave) didn't get knit until some time after I'd purchased the yarn, the yarn is considered stash.


Yarn also might go into stash mode if a skein that was purchased after the original skein gets knit before the original skein. So the Brooks Farm Acero I bought, pushed any previous purchases into stash the minute I cast it on.


Just a quick run down of my stash projects:

Celeste's Felted Clogs
Brown and Black Random Striped Socks
Walking the Dogs hat
Emily's Mary Jane Booties
Corrugarter hug
Mad Weave Socks
Megan's Mary Jane Booties
Blocks for Greensburg
Yellow Cotton Hat
Blue Cotton Hat
Dr. Suess Scarf
Mad Cow Socks
Koigu Pink Socks


Not too bad. I'm pretty happy.


Now at the beginning, I said maybe this was the Year of the Stash rather than the Destash. I say that because here at the end of the year, I've been piling it on. Wollmeise, Yarntini, Louet Gems I mean, come on, that's three pairs of sock yarn in less than a month and 2008 was supposed to be the Year of Lace. At the same time, when you compare 2007 stash to 2008 stash you have to admit my taste has gotten much better. There is no destash planned for kitchen cotton in 2008 only fine quality wools. Yeah, I can live with that. It was a good destash year.

What's In A Name?

The boys started their Christmas vacation with us Wednesday afternoon and we kicked off the week with Stars Hockey game. It was close at first, but in the end the Stars whooped'em 8-3.



In the program one of the articles talked about how the various hockey teams got their names. For example, in MN the Stars were the the North Stars, they dropped the North when they moved south, but felt the "Stars" still fit since this is the LoneStar state.


This got me to thinking, what's in a name? Does the name of a colorway make you more or less likely to buy it? Does it affect what you'll knit with it? Does the name of a pattern affect the color of yarn you'll use to knit it? If you dye your own, how do you name your colorways?


For me, the name can play a part.


My yarn from the SOWs sock yarn exchange is a fantastic semi-solid light blue. It could be anything it wants to be. The possibilities are endless. This makes choosing a pattern difficult. However, with a name like "Designated Driver" "Drunken Bees" is the perfect pattern.

Then take Pomatomus for example. An excerpt from the description on Knitty "The finished socks are reminiscent of blue-green fish scales hence the name Pomatomus, the genus of the blue fish." I'm thinking my Wollmeise Rittersporn might fit the bill. At the same time, Rittersporn translates to Larkspur, so Cookie A's Twisted Flower might be just the thing.

With so many pattern and yarn colorway choices, one way to narrow down the list is to make a game of matching the pattern name to the colorway name.

Any thoughts?


A note about the hockey game.

The Havoc Fanatics cracked me up. They have to have to worst seats in the house. Section 332, total noise bleed, but they have a great time. After each goal, the annoucer highlights the scoring player's stats and the time of the goal. When it's a Stars goal, the crowd goes wild. When it's a goal for the opposing team the Havoc Fanatics holler, in unison, "Who cares."


When the clock ticks to 1 minute before the end of a period, the announcer says, "1 minute remaining in the 2nd period." The Havoc Fanatics, in unison, say, "Thank you." So funny. They obviously have a really good time.

No Pictures, But It's an Update

I was waiting to get some pictures to put in my update, but that could take forever.

I'm working on a pair of clogs for Celeste, the boys' grandma. They are made completely from stash yarn - that's exciting. And I'm 65% of the way finished with them. That's really exciting.

I'm finished with 2/3 of the leg on both of the Brigit socks. I have about 18 rows more on each sock before I get to the heel. Not too bad.

I have the yarn for Mom's next pair of clogs. Just want to get those done before 1/18 since that's when we are having OK Christmas.

The vine lace shawl is waiting again. I made good progress for a while, but now it's resting while I make clogs and work on socks.

I have a beautiful skein of Wollmeise yarn on the way. It's Rittersporn medium blue and I think it wants to be Pomatomus. Since Cookie A is part of the Janaury sock knitter anonymous challenge, that works out perfect. I'm going to have to buy more needles if I'm going to have more than one pair of socks on the needles at one time.

We are planning to give Eunny Jang's Bayerishe a go with a SOWs KAL in February. I have some stash sock yarn in natural that I think will be perfect.