WIP's



new local yarns

I recently made two yarn purchases for myself. 

The teal is a locally spun and dyed fingering weight from Blackberry Ridge (photos from my tour of the mill are under the photos link on the left).  It is a wool/silk blend in the most stunning deep teal imaginable.

The green, a gorgeous merino/cashmere/nylon blend from Sun Valley Fibers, is purely a stash acquisition - but a smart one.  I got 1600 yards to be certain I have enough for a cardigan or sweater, once I find the right pattern.

Getting those new yarns spurred me to cast on a project for myself.  I picked out current, by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  A lovely fitted cardi, with great trim and button details.  In a lightweight wool/silk I trust it will be a good lightweight sweater when paired with a long sleeve t-shirt.




current

My other work-in-progress is the aforementioned Versa.  The tunic is coming along nicely, but I am letting it sit while I really get into my cardigan.  I hope to finish it up by the end of the month.  The yarns for this top are all from the stash.  The blue worsted wool is left over from knitting up the tiny tea leaves for my 4yo last summer.

versa tunic (from the stash)

After finishing up these two projects it might be time to re-visit my stash and figure out what to keep, what to use up, and what to give away.  It has been well over a year since my stash challenge ended and while I feel I have a good handle on my current and recent yarn purchases, I still have a lot of left over yarn that is not being put to use.  And as my tastes and preferences for knitting evolve, I feel myself pulling farther away from projects that would suit the sitting yarns; the ones that I haven't picked up in a couple years.

I recently had a friend give me some fabric 'scraps'.  But let me say that these are not scraps (at least not to my mind), but lovely pieces of left over fabric from her collection.  And I am happy to have them as inspriation for myself and my future sewing.  And this gesture showed me that while it's admirable to use all that you have, sometimes letting it go to another creative person can be even better.