knitting and sewing (confessions of a yarn hoarder)

In January of this year, I admitted to having a serious yarn addiction, totting up ALL yarn lurking in drawers, bags and cupboards around the house, and realising I have a problem (27.538kg of a problem).

Since then, I’ve therefore been concentrating on getting that weight down.

After this sweater in January

500g out

This sweater in February

600g out

Two tortoise memory games in February & March

approx 280g out

That’s 500 + 600 + 280 = 1380g out meaning 26.158kg still to go.  I’ve begun work on another sweater in aran.  Knitting up a pattern I’ve used twice before, the “Shavo” sweater, I’m making a version for myself in a very pretty green, which should make good use of a further 600g..

“Shavo” in progress

This is how it looks so far . . . approx 150g knit up so far,  Knitting at a fairly leisurely pace since I won’t need a snuggly sweater in the coming months, but it feels good to be working towards my yarn weightloss goal.

I’ve also been doing a bit of sewing with stretch fabric.

baby dragons

On the right, a pair of leggings belonging to Toddler Tattoo (brought them home to repair a hole).  And on the left, a pair of baby dragon leggings, made by yours truly.  I’m waiting for Mrs Tattoo to let me know how they are for size, before I cut and sew more.   Since my Juki is all set up with the special “stretch fabric” needle, I also plan on making a few pairs of leggings for myself, for this summer. Not in baby dragon fabric, sadly, because I don’t have enough in my stash,  although that would have been fun lol.

600g out

Having a happy dance here, with a sweater finish.

This is the pattern I was following, and that I’d already knit in dusky pink for myself.  I knitted a second time, in largest size, for the husband.  Added 2 x 2 ribbing to the bottom but kept the curly wurly neck band, rather than a roll neck. Above photo doesn’t show true colour.

Above gives you a much better idea of true colour. Knit using 600g of aran.  My tailor’s dummy doesn’t have broad enough shoulders to make the sweater hang properly . . . sleeves aren’t actually as long as they look.

Unsure what knitting pattern I’ll tackle next . . . in the meantime, I have several crochet projects lined up.

 

 

a bit of this & that

I’ve been flitting from one thing to another in my crafting space recently.  A bit of diamond painting (which had fallen by the wayside since last summer).

Quite a lot of knitting.

making a XL sized version of the sweater I knitted in pink.  Photo doesn’t do the colour justice. It’s a dark denimy blue.  Am knitting this one for the husband, therefore altered the pattern and knit some 2×2 ribbing on the bottom band.  400g of aran used so far.

Have some repairs to do too.  The husband wears braces to keep his trousers up and all his trousers have ugly chew marks from the teeth of braces on the waist band.  I’ve come up with a (not very pretty) solution of adding some denim to the chewed areas.

Didn’t even bother doing it neatly, and have overlocked edges visible, but since the aim is just to keep the trousers going a little longer, for gardening and dog-walking.  There are various other rips and holes on trousers, usually around the pockets, some of which I’m not even trying to mend.

And . . . I’ve started a new crochet project.

This is a DK stash busting project (pattern says to use aran, but I’m going with DK) and making a tortoise memory game.  So far, I’ve made a start on my baby tortoise body shapes – need to make 10 pairs with different coloured centres.

 

a 4″ doll

little Miss 4″

Above is a first for me. My first attempt at knitting a stuffed toy. Usually I crochet because crochet gives for a firmer fabric and crochet toy patterns always give good shaping of body parts. I gave up on the idea of crocheting mini dolls for the dolls’ house because I can’t source the yarn/thread I need.  However, I then came across a cute knitting pattern on etsy and decided to give knitting a try.

pattern by Dollytime

The pattern requires DK yarn and 2.75mm needles. I actually used 2.5mm needles because I don’t have any 2.75mm in my stash. There are lots of different options for clothing, hair styles etc, I kept the first one fairly simple.  I also went maverick on the hair, crocheting a little wig cap and making a pony tail with side wispy bits, rather than following pattern instructions.  My first little doll turned out rather cute, even if I do say so myself.  Being only 4″ tall, it didn’t use much yarn at all, so I’ll be able to use lots of yarn scraps for future dolls.

500g out (confessions of a yarn hoarder)

Earlier this month I made a confession,regarding my yarn hoarding.  Regular readers will know that after a complete inventory, I discovered I had 27.585kg of yarn in the house!!!!

Pleased to be having a happy dance today, and sharing with you the fact that my yarn stash has “lost” 500g.

vintage Sirdar pattern

I bought a vintage Sirdar pattern on etsy and cast on with an Alison & Mae pink aran.  As a child, my mum never dressed me in pink, always blue . . . with age and grey hair, I think this kind of pink quite suits me.

Used 500g of yarn and the sweater is nice and snuggly. Pattern suggested 2 different body lengths: a waist length and a bumwarmer length as well as 2 different neck finishes . . . I went for somewhere inbetween for the body length and the more crew neck collar.

Now to look through my pattern files and decide whether to knit another aran sweater or maybe something in DK.

 

confessions of a yarn hoarder

It’s official!  I’m turning my back on denial, and owning up to the fact that I am a yarn hoarder.  A woman with a morbidly obese yarn stash.  I came to knitting and crochet quite late in life, in my late 40s early 50s, and once I’d picked up needles/hooks, fell into the very bad habit of buying yarn just because . . . Because I loved the colour, because it was a bargain price, because I somehow thought I’d squeeze more yarny crafting into each day than is humanly possible. Most of the time I would buy without having a specific project in mind . . . and over the years, despite plenty of knitting and crochet (see following photos as proof that I do knit and crochet) my stash has got completely out of hand.

most recent knit in under 300g

A thunder of dragons which used more than 1000g of yarn.

Just one pair of the many crocheted slippers I made in 2023.

2 child sized ponchos – another 600g used.

baby cardies

amigurumi sprites

aran sweater, another 400g out.

So, yarn is used . . . but sadly, yarn is coming in faster than it’s being used.

The other day, I went through my entire yarn stash. By stash, I mean every ball or even half ball of yarn in the house. My very large aran stash, which has been growing exponentially because of all the bargain prices in a few local shops. The DK stash, which grew when I began crocheting amigurumi. The sock yarn, the more novelty yarn that I can never leave in the shop.  The yarn cakes because they were too pretty to resist.  And it’s time to own up.

I weighed, and the verdict was: 27.585kg.

Yes, you read right. No error with the decimal point.  That’s how bad it is. Over 27 kilos of yarn !!!!!!!

Therefore, while some people may have started the new year making resolutions about losing that extra weight they put on over xmas, my resolution for the coming year (actually the next 10 years probably) is to do some serious knitting and make a dent in my stash.

My blog, which began as a cross stitch blog, is going to be filled with crochet and knitting projects for the coming year. There will still be xstitch, sewing and diamond painting, but shifting some yarn will be my priority (as well as avoiding the crafting aisles on our future shopping trips).

 

 

 

my Arne & Carlos advent stocking

in time for xmas

Followers know I knitted along with the Arne & Carlos mystery KAL in December. Had lots of fun with my first colourwork project, and enjoyed the short stages each evening with my dpns.  I did finish my stocking on Christmas Eve, and it was hung, ready for Santa. Just didn’t get around to taking a photo to show you.

While I enjoyed the KAL and the learning curve, I can’t say I fell in love with colourwork. It was well worth knitting, and I’m pleased I did, but I can’t see me wanting to knit any nordic sweaters in the future.

finishing off 2023

I’ve been somewhat absent from my blog. Have been having computer trouble of late and relying on my tablet for all things on-line, or borrowing the husband’s laptop. Neither are perfect and both are certainly much less comfortable for organising my photos and blog posting than my trusty (now deceased) desk top . . . but I’m learning to make do.

Anyhoot . . . as 2023 winds down, I’ve been busy finishing off some projects that I don’t want to see dragged over into a new year. I did finish my Arne & Carlos advent stocking on 24th, but haven’t got around to taking a decent photo yet.

Today, I will end this year showing you a summer top I finished the other day.

only 4.50€ for the yarn

This is a pattern I downloaded on ravelry for free. The yarn was a bargain buy in Noz over the summer. They only had 4 x 100g in the shop so I nabbed all 4, then needed to find a pattern. As it turned out, I used less than 300g so it was a very economical knitting project.

not blocked

It’s a bit curly wurly along the bottom because of garter stitches, but I’m sure it’ll calm down once it’s been blocked. The top part is worked in lattice stitch, which was a new one for me. No instructions whatsoever about how many stitches to pick up around neck and armholes so I just winged it.

Not the weather to be wearing such a garment here, but I look forward to wearing this in the spring/summer.

 

Arne and Carlos Advent KAL December 13-19

Dec 6-12

Above is the photo I posted last time of my KAL xmas stocking, knitting along with Arne and Carlos.  I’ve been knitting the newly revealed 6 rounds as they come available each evening.  And enjoying seeing the stocking grow.

up to date, with Dec 19th stage.

Only 5 more stages to knit before this is ready to hang on Christmas Eve.  Hope your preparations for the festive season are going according to plan!

Arne and Carlos Advent KAL December 6-12

Dec 1-5

Above is the start of my xmas stocking, knitting along with the Arne and Carlos Advent KAL.

Since then, I have been waiting impatiently for each new stage to be revealed and having fun every evening with my dpns. The heel part isn’t my neatest heel but for a xmas stocking, it’ll do if no one looks too closely.

Dec 6-12

• This is how it looks tonight. Only 12 more reveals so we’re halfway there!