Kleks

I started this simple shawl last year. At 56 grams of laceweight but no listed yardage, I hoped to get a nice, quick shawlette out of the mystery purple yarn that's been in my stash for years. I got to the end of the pattern, but still had about half of the yarn cake left! This is one of two skeins of yarn in my stash without yardage. The other one is this much smaller bit of fire-colored laceweight:

These two skeins sans yardage annoy me, but not enough for me to break out my niddy noddy to see how many yards per gram they have. Since they're laceweight, I think it'd be pretty easy to screw that number up anyway. So, they're clogging up my stash space and my stash spreadsheet, but won't count for much of anything when I use them up. Dilemma!

Packing for my week-long research trip, I wanted to take mostly projects that were already in-progress, mostly good travel projects, and ones that didn't take up much space or weight so I could easily pack them in a carry-on and personal item (along with the rest of my necessities). Kleks meets all of the criteria set forth, and just fails on one somewhat important aspect: it doesn't count towards my May yardage goals. It is finishing a WIP. It's an easy pattern I already have memorized and fits in my purse for traveling to and from research sites and waiting around. Based on my internal contrariness and self-defeating subconscious, taking that project will probably mean that's the one I end up working on, missing my goal by a few hundred yards. But what if I run out of yarn in my other projects - this one doesn't take up much space! If I make my goal, I can finish it with a clear conscience! But will I wait to make my goal before picking up the needles for Kleks?

Sigh. I shall take it, since no other WIPs fit the bill so nicely as an emergency I-finished-it-all travel project. I'd say it's 20 to 1 in favor of working on this one before actually making my May goals. Any takers?

Thujas of 2013

The year is not yet half over, but I don't anticipate knitting any more of these in 2013! Longtime readers will know that my preferred gift pattern is Thuja, a simple worsted-weight sock with an excellent ribbed pattern that fits any foot and is very comfortable and warm. I had some people write me some very important letters of recommendation recently, so of course they all got socks:

Pattern: Thuja from Knitty (Ravelry)

Yarn: Purples: Dark Horse Fantasy in 82/purple

Brown: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Mushroom

Blues: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Denim Twist

Needles: US6/4.0mm

Timeframe: Four done in April, one in May, varying timespans

Mods: None.

Problems: None. Love this pattern so, so, so much!

They were all wrapped like this to be gifted

I was also very pleased to note that I only needed one skein of the Denim Twist Wool-Ease for a pair of socks. I originally purchased it to make an estimated Men's size US 12 pair of socks and assumed I'd need more than one skein. I ended up using 87 grams; luckily the first skein was 89 grams instead of the labeled 85. That let me get away with using yarn I already owned without considering some kind of striping or contrasting cuff/toe scheme for the fourth pair. Already have the yarn for a new project when I thought I'd need to go shopping? Major win in my book!

Getting Close

I am up one pair of socks and one sweater, and down nearly that mile that I'm going for!



Down to 79,062.5 yards, 44.92 miles. Only 223 more yards to go to hit the one mile mark and one stockinette sock that will do it! I'm hoping to finish that or another top that's in progress before I leave on a business trip on Sunday. I'd cross my fingers for luck, but then I couldn't knit.

Also, one skein of sock yarn from The Loopy Ewe ordered (437 yards, Skein Merino Cashmere Fingering in Element). I couldn't participate in Camp Loopy last summer due to hiking, so I just can't skip it this summer! The Brandywine Shawl is calling to me for June's prompt: knit something with a single skein of laceweight or fingering weight yarn that is at least 375 yards. Better knit faster, I hope to have a total of one mile of yarn gone even after such purchases and the sweater yarn I'm eyeing may be my downfall.

Rainbow Toe Socks!

I finished those toe socks from February. I'm not quite sure how I feel about them. I love how the toes lined up, but I'm annoyed that I didn't pick up enough stitches from the heel flap. They fit okay but not as well as they could. If I had picked up the correct number, however, the toes probably would not have worked out well, judging by how much yarn I have left. I'm happy with them, but they're not as awesome as they could be.

Pattern: Drops 110-33 (Ravelry, mine)

Yarn: Regia Classic 4-ply

Needles: US1.5/2.5mm

Timeframe: February 27 - May 9, 2013

Mods: Changed how the toes were worked to fit my foot better.

Problems: Heel flap/gusset issue already lamented about.

May: Finish It!

This month I don't have any deadline knitting, so I'm planning to finish as many of the half- and mostly-finished projects I've got. The month started with 25 projects, 10 of which have been started in 2013. Thus far I've finished one project. I've got a lot of reading and a flight to Texas scheduled this month, so I should be able to get a bunch done.

As an incentive, because I know I will not be able to work solely on WIPs this month, I'm allowing myself to get yarn for and knit a t-shirt once I've gone through a mile of yarn. It should be fairly easy since I only count yarn as finished once I can weigh the final product to see how much was used. My starting numbers are 80,599.5 yards or 45.795 miles of yarn, as seen in the previous post. Thus far I've returned one unnecessary skein of yarn, finished a pair of socks, and finished the knitting on a hat, giving me 79,782.5 yards or 45.331 miles of yarn. .464 miles down, almost halfway there!

Truncated chart, showing one year of yarn usage and new! miles under the dates.

I would love to beat last years' June numbers for this June, but that is very unlikely to happen. It was the lowest yardage, the only time I was actually below 40 miles of total yarn. I would have to finish nearly 6 miles in two months, and while that is not actually impossible due to the number of WIPs I have and the way that I count, I just don't think that's going to happen.

Up next: Sock Pictures!