Stash Enhancement Saturday

I had an odd shopping attack and ended up at Simply Socks.

The "awesome" thing on the bottom is a tote bag which was a nice surprise.  It is part of Simply Sock's anniversary celebration.  The yarn on the left is some Arne & Carlos.  I wouldn't have picked it up just by the colors in the yarn ball.  When I saw some socks knitted with it, I had to have it.  The crazy Regia was a total impulse buy.  It was on sale.  I had an idea of something I wanted to do with it but have already forgotten.

The big treat was the stitch saver (the two purple caps with the elastic between them).  I got one as a swap gift and use it constantly when I make socks.  My cat loves it.  I can't leave it out on the table when I'm knitting or she'll grab it.  I'm afraid she'll run off and hide it somewhere.  I've been looking for another one and was so happy when I found it on Simply Socks.  I bought two.

Finished Friday

The Name of the Doctor scarf:

I was horrified to find broken yarns in one spot.  It was only on the dark blue layer and it happened after I took a picture last week.  I suspect that little sharp cat claws were the cause.  I managed to sort of darn the holes together.  It isn't obvious except if you were to run your fingers over the spot. 

I'm glad it is done.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

It's another flaky senior moment:  I bought black yarn instead of the dark blue for an upcoming scarf.  It isn't so bad.  I'll surely need fingering weight black yarn at some point.  I had a 10% off discount code that I could apply to the replacement yarn.  As long as I had a code and I could get more yarn for the same shipping cost, I had to buy some extra.

This is Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in the Wild Violet colorway.  I've always wanted to try some Jamieson's yarn.  The next sock project that appears will get it.

Finished!

The mystery squares afghan was mostly a stashbusting project.  There are 45 different patterns in the squares:

This is the Arts & Crafts blanket.  I'm still not where I'd like to be doing colorwork, but I'm mostly satisfied with how this came out:

My knitting mileage for 2015 is now the same as the year-end number for 2014.

WIP Wednesday

One!  Only one WIP currently.  Okay, there's the cross stitch sampler, but it is on hold until I get more floss.  I can hardly believe that I've finished or frogged everything else.  This is the Name of the Doctor scarf.  I first started it as a Ravellenics project in 2014.  I actually forgot that until I looked at the Ravelry project listing.  It is now over 80% complete.

It should be obvious why it has taken so long.  Double knit with laceweight yarn does not lend itself to speedy completion.

Now run along and see what Tammy and friends have been up to.

Love Your Library

I  don't think it is a coincidence that the last time I posted was the last time the sun appeared.  I'm sorry for people who live where they desperately need rain.  You're more than welcome to what's been falling here.  Yuck.

I've been really good about finishing things and not starting new ones.  I have been adding to my pattern library, though.  As soon as Spilly Jane's book showed up on Amazon, I ordered it.  It won't arrive for another week.  I bought Geek Knits at the same time because it saved the postage.  Yes, that's the excuse.  I'm most tempted by the Muggle Artifact Sweater.  It's a fair isle-style vest, modeled in the book by Joel Hodgson (Mystery Science Theater 3000) and Adam Savage (Mythbusters).  I'm also considering the Star Trek uniform sweater for my cat.  She is considering me not doing it.

My November Love Your Library will probably come from Adorn by Knit Picks.  It has mini versions of several Spilly Jane mittens.  It has mini hats with cable designs from Hunter Hammersen.  It's got other stuff, too.  I'm thinking about doing  a whole garland of mini knits.  Berroco had a new set of mini sweaters.  So freaking cute.  Also, they are free.