Drachenfels

Hang On and Knit

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Now that Christmas is really seriously lurking, I’m getting into the groove and trying to just knock some stuff out. One can hope that this knitting spree will be quickly followed by a finishing and blocking spree but I guess that remains to be seen. I still have to finish the blanket for my FIL (about 75% of the knitting is done), block the Color Dipped Hat (I wove the ends in the other day) and then I have two more gifts to make, start to finish. I’m still in planning stages for those but I’m going to try to keep them on the simple side.

The test knitting continues, too. I’ve got a hat on the needles, a spring cardigan that needs ends woven, buttons sewn and blocked, and a raglan pullover that’s probably about 30% done (all child-sized). I have yarn picked out for a Wayfarer Hat test (will match the Passport Mitts) but just haven’t gotten it wound yet. I’ve got a Fair Isle yoked (kids) pullover and a shawl coming up after Christmas that promise to keep me busy. More on those once I get some of them actually completed!

I arbitrarily decided the other day that my Drachenfels is officially finished. I had kept it back because I had this illusion that I would block it. However, I’m not willing to take it off long enough for that to happen! So, I added that to the FOs.

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I’m participating in a mini swap over at Carol E. Herman Designs. I haven’t sent my package off yet so can’t share details here yet, but I can say that it’s been both challenging and fun! The swap packages include a mug or cup, a handcrafted coaster or cozy and whatever treats the sender wants to include. A nice detail is that you aren’t supposed to include more than will fit in the actual cup, in order to keep expenses down. I like that it’s a way to make a fun surprise for someone without having a lot of pressure to spend a ton on it. I have my item made (but classically not completely finished) and have assembled all but one of the other things so, with any luck, I should be able to send it off on Monday. Once my swap partner has received it, I’ll tell you all about the process and some of the stumbling blocks I hit.

I mentioned in a previous post that I won a copy of the pattern e-book The Tea Collection by Clare Devine, right? Well, I did, and the patterns are all really cool. I haven’t actually started any of them yet, even though I was really excited to do so. Why not? Well, I’m having stash issues. Don’t get me wrong–I have plenty of yarn. It’s just that it’s all in the wrong quantities. I either have a skein or a partial skein of something, or I have six skeins of it. In the first case, it’s not quite enough and in the second, it’s too much. I have this idea that I’ll make a larger project out of the bigger quantity of yarn, so I shouldn’t use just a skein or two to make a hat. Also, I seem to have a disproportionately large amount of cotton and cotton blends which aren’t really great for winter hats. So, as soon as I resolve my stash problem–and please don’t ask me how I’m going to do that, as I have no idea–I will get something going from that book.

In the meantime, Sammy says just keep knitting!

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Photo copyright Callandra S. Cook

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Building a Knitting Community

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I had the pleasure of going to a fiber arts group meet up last night. It’s a newly resurrected group of local knitters, crocheters, felters and other fiber artists that meets a couple of times a month. Last night’s theme was show and tell, so I brought a slew of FOs to share. It was really nice both to see what other people had made and to get some lovely feedback on the things I shared. I’m hoping I can go regularly in the future!

I have a few new things to share, starting with one teeny FO. I made an Ear bud pouch to match the River District Toque I made for my SIL. The pattern is free on ravelry and is a great way to use up odds and ends of yarn.

IMG_4288I used about 19 yards of malabrigo Rios. I made a couple of modifications to the pattern, other than using worsted weight yarn. I did one extra decrease row at the bottom and, instead of grafting the bottom edges together with Kitchener stitch, I turned it inside out and did a three needle bind off. It worked really well!

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IMG_4282If I make this out of worsted weight yarn again, I would cast on fewer stitches and add one increase row to make the neck a little snugger.

The increases used in the pattern were new to me. It calls for raised increases (RRI and LRI). See my project notes for explanations. I found them a little tricky at first and couldn’t find much online to help. However, they’re really easy once you get it down.

I think this will be a great addition to my SIL’s present!

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IMG_4285My previous WIPs are coming along well. Lacy Loo is done except for weaving in a couple of ends and blocking it. I had the little try it on and she immediately starting rolling around on the floor, so I couldn’t get a good picture. I’m happy with how it turned out. More on that when it’s blocked and properly photographed!

My Color Dipped Hat is also coming along well. I’m so glad I ripped it out and restarted. It looks just right size-wise now. It’s probably close to halfway done. I haven’t been hurrying on it since it doesn’t need to be done until Christmas.

I’ve cast on two new projects in the past couple of days. One is done and blocking but I can’t share it yet–it’s a test knit for a pattern that’s not released yet. It is a baby hat in super bulky yarn so it went really, really fast. The other is my Pretty Crabby hat for my daughter’s bestie. The pattern is Jumbo Crab Cap from Baby Beasties: Monster mittens, hats & other knits for babies and toddlers, a book the wifey got me from the library. It doesn’t seem to be in ravelry yet. I don’t love the pattern so far so I’m making a lot of modifications. The idea is so cute, though, that I want to make it. Mods so far are doing 2×2 ribbing instead of a rolled stockinette brim and casting on 75% of the called for stitch count, then increasing on the first round after the ribbing. So far I’ve finished the hat portion. It’s washed and is currently blocking/drying. I’m using stash acrylic as I doubt it will get a ton of wear. Also, it was the only yarn I had on hand that was the right weight and color (and it’s a good stash buster).

After looking over the directions for the claws, I think I’m going to make some more modifications. The pattern says to make a total of four claw shapes and then sew two together to make each claw. However, the edges are all rough and uneven in the pictures so I’m going to try to figure out a way to knit them in the round instead. Shouldn’t be too hard. The eyes are designed similarly so I’m going to have to figure something out for those, too.

I have lots of projects in the planning stages. I want to make a car blanket for my FIL for Christmas. I’m going to base it loosely on this pattern, but instead of knitting it in one contiguous piece, I want to do garter squares in alternating directions a la Mason Dixon Knitting. I’m planning on using up as much of my Caron Simply Soft as I can on it. I have black, black tweed and a dark red. I’m going to throw some other random grey acrylic in there too so it will have Ohio colors. I need to start swatching so I have an idea of how to divvy up the colors based on the yardage I have.

Another project that’s percolating is a chevron blanket using two different shades of an acrylic/wool blend I have in my stash. I have enough yardage to make a decent size blanket, I think. Not sure what it will be for, but it’ll be useful to someone at some point. It might actually end up being a car blanket for me.

At some point, I will start working on a Feathery Lace Stole for my mom using the purple Rowan Kidsilk Haze I scored at Goodwill a while ago. The wifey requested a Drachenfels so we’re in the process of selecting yarn for that. I’ll make another shawl for my MIL, but I don’t know what pattern or yarn that one will be. Also, I have a couple more Christmas presents to figure out, but they shouldn’t be anything that’s too huge or time consuming.

Last, but not least, I was lucky enough to win another pattern from the weekly chat giveaway on Melanie Berg’s ravelry group. This time, I chose The Miller’s Daughter. It’s a shawl knit in three colors of lace weight yarn. I have tentatively selected yarns, and I’m super excited about it. I am planning on using The Fibre Company Road to China Lace in Sapphire and Cherry Tree Hill Superlace Ragg in Ocean for the main colors and madelinetosh tosh lace in Edison Bulb for the accent color.

I think it’s going to look AWESOME. I don’t know that I’ll get to it while it’s still cold enough to wear it, but I’ll try! I have my work cut out for me!

Sweater Weather Tag

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I was tagged by Lindsey at Nightowl Knit & Crochet the other day. So, here goes!

  • Favorite candle scent? With a toddler, two cats and a wifey with asthma, I don’t get to light too many candles! But I am partial to the Pacifica line–most of their scents are really lovely.
  • Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? If I have to choose just one, coffee. But I like all three.
  • What is the best fall memory you have? My daughter’s birth almost three years ago.
  • Best fragrance for fall? I don’t think I’m trendy enough to rotate fragrances with the seasons!
  • Favorite Thanksgiving food? Stuffing
  • What is autumn like where you live? I like to call it “that two weeks every year when the temperature is above freezing but there’s little to no humidity”
  • Most worn sweater? A blue, white and grey argyle dealy I got a few years ago.
  • Football games or jumping in leaf piles? Leaf piles. It’s much safer.
  • Favorite type of pie? Blueberry
  • Which makeup trend do you prefer, dark lips or winged liner? In my teenage goth days, I’d have said eyeliner, hands down. Now I’m not so into makeup.
  • What song really gets you into the fall spirit? The rustling leaves
  • Is pumpkin spice worth the hype? No. It’s good and all, but I don’t go overboard.
  • Favorite Fall TV Show? I’m honestly not sure what constitutes a fall TV show. I did just watch the first few episodes of The Daily Show (new host–Trevor Noah). Does that count?
  • Skinny jeans or leggings? I’m more of a baggy and/or boot cut jeans kinda guy. I know–not trendy at all.
  • Combat boots or Uggs? Flip flops for as long as possible, then something easy to slide on quickly.
  • Halloween – Yay or Nay? I think it’s fun, but I don’t go all out (can you tell I’m sort of a moderate person?)
  • Fall mornings or evenings? Evenings. I am not a morning person at any time of year!
  • What do you think about Black Friday? I think it’s a shame people have gotten trampled in the name of shopping.
  • One Fall 2015 Trend You Love: Cool weather, beautiful foliage, prime knitting time! Just to prove it, here’s a sneak peek at my latest WIP:

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So I’m clearly not the most conventional person, but hey…I am what I am 🙂 To go even further against the grain, I am almost always hot so I rarely wear sweaters (although I do like them). I will say that I’ve been wearing my Drachenfels every day since the weather got cooler! Please consider yourself tagged if you feel so inclined!

Gift Knitting Sucks

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Okay, so it doesn’t really suck. I actually really like gift knitting. I love when ideas and yarn and pattern just click, and something cool starts emerging from the needles. I love the anticipation of finishing it and sending it off, hoping that the recipient will love it. The thing that sucks about it is that I have a project going right now that I’m really excited about it but I can’t blog about it without spoiling the surprise. I’m bottling up all my thoughts about it so after all is said and done, I can share all the details here.

In the meantime, I’m slogging away at my Clapotis. If I made this again (which I very well might) I would choose a different yarn for sure. The texture and drape of the Plymouth DK Merino Superwash is nice, and I like the color, but it has very low twist to it which makes it kind of splitty. As a result, the yarn in the dropped stitch columns just doesn’t look quite as neat as I would like. But, overall it’s pretty minor, so I think the finished product will be good. The knitting is getting a little boring but it’s at least going pretty quickly.

I haven’t blocked my Drachenfels yet but I’ve been wearing it anyway. Not surprisingly, I love it! I’ve gotten a handful of compliments on it already. The weather just turned a little cooler a few days ago so it’s been perfect for the chilly mornings. I realized that I never finished weaving in the ends of the wifey’s Quicksilver, so I’ve started working on that. I want to get that finished and blocked soon so that she can get some use out of it! I’m about halfway done. It’s super tedious.

IMG_3953Somebody thinks he’s helping:

IMG_3957 IMG_3956That one is not usually a lap cat, so that was a nice treat. Shockingly, he only chased the yarn once or twice.

Here’s what I have in mind for my next few projects:

image_medium1Fun, right?

3…2…1…CAST OFF!!!

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IMG_3932You are looking at just a snippet of the several miles of I cord bind off I just completed. Completed as in DONE. Except for some weaving of ends, a wash and a block. I am over the moon. I almost want to stay up and start weaving in the ends.

Almost.

Flawsome Sock!

Posted on by alexand knits

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go to a workshop on internalized misogyny (don’t be scared off–this really is about knitting and it has a happy ending). One of the exercises we did was designed to help people of the female persuasion recognize some of the unconscious misogynistic thoughts that are very, very common. I was shocked at how my typical self-talk measured up when I started paying attention to it. I would generalize that many, if not most, women habitually, internally, unintentionally demean themselves in a myriad of tiny ways. When I started thinking about how to blog about my newly completed sock, I found myself automatically including tiny apologies for the things I did wrong or don’t like about it.

Then I remembered that, for realz, I made a freaking sock. And that is awesome, period. So I am borrowing a term from the wonderful and slightly crazy Tyra Banks and dubbing it “flawsome”. Get it? Flawed + awesome = flawsome. It’s awesome, not in spite of its flaws, but because of them. Furthermore, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the phrase “flawsome sock” just makes me think of “awesome sauce”.

So….yeah. I made a sock! And it’s just what it’s supposed to be. It fits, it’s comfy, it’s a cool color and making it helped me up my knitting skills. I won’t bore you with details of any of its less than perfect features because they really don’t matter (and to be honest, I pretty much covered all of them in a previous post).

IMG_3893I even wove in the ends and everything. How’s that for awesome? Check! And just to make sure that I don’t succumb to SSS*, I’ve already cast on and made it halfway down the cuff:

IMG_3892I used (one size smaller) dpns for the ribbing and otherwise will use magic loop for the rest. Hopefully my gauge is the same! It’s just much nicer knitting on my Addi sock rockets than the aforementioned awful dpns I used for half the last sock.

In the meantime, I have more fun stuff on the horizon. I should get my extra skein of Koigu KPM on Saturday so then I can work on getting my Drachenfels finished. I needed something a little easier on my hands than the socks, so a couple of days ago I cast on for my first Clapotis. Those of you who’ve paid attention to the online knitting community for a while will know that I’m over ten years late on riding that trend, but I would argue it’s become timeless at this point! Plus, it really seemed like the best pattern for the project. I’m making a wrap for my mother in law out of this Plymouth DK Merino Superwash:

IMG_3250_mediumI’m hoping I’ll be able to make it a little wider than the pattern calls for, but we’ll see how it goes. I don’t have the best pic yet of my progress but this should give you an idea:

IMG_3889 IMG_3894Other mods I’m making are to follow the advice of (literally) thousands of knitters ahead of me and to RS purl/WS knit the stitches to be dropped instead of using stitch markers to mark them. Also, while the pattern calls to knit the stitch right before and the stitch right after through the back loops, I’m also doing the purl equivalent on the WS. This is supposed to shore those stitches up even more so that when the stitch column between them is dropped, the edges are secure. The setup was a little confusing but once you get going, the pattern is very easy (and very easy to memorize). I hope she will like it!

I got some really exciting news this morning. Carol of Carol E. Herman Designs and knit = joy has released her Passport Mitts pattern early! Check it out! She’s planning to host a KAL starting October 1:

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Copyright Carol E. Herman Designs. Used by permission.

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Copyright Carol E. Herman Designs. Used by permission.

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Copyright Carol E. Herman Designs. Used by permission.

When my mom was visiting, she asked for a pair of fingerless mitts. We looked through some patterns and she really liked this one, so I’m planning to make her a pair. I have had the best yarn picked out for it forever: Classic Elite Yarns Inca Alpaca in navy blue. I got it from the Goodwill windfall so I think that will be great karma for a gift for her. I’ve got to hurry up and get some other projects done so I can start these soon!

Happy knitting!

*Second sock syndrome: the often insurmountable inertia a knitter must overcome when faced with making an object identical to the one just completed.

Welcome, Autumn

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It is breezy and cool here today and I’m enjoying every minute. I spent some time outside with my daughter earlier while she was learning to ride her “new” scooter. I took the opportunity to get some real pics of my Drachenfels in its current state: 

  
  
In case anyone is wondering, I ordered another skein of the grey so I will finish it as planned. While I was at it, I picked up a couple of sets of dpns to replace the splitty ones. I will have socks and a complete, giant Drachenfels to usher in the cooler weather!

Ah Sh*t, I Need More Yarn

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I didn’t think I’d say that any time soon, but I came to a realization this evening: I need more yarn to finish my Drachenfels. At least, I need more to finish it the way I had planned to. I was knitting away happily at the solid grey section that is supposed to come right before the end when I realized that the longer rows are really chewing up the yarn a lot faster than I thought they would. I’m almost halfway into my third and final skein of the grey, and I don’t think the second half is going to get me through to the end.

I’m adapting a three color design to use four colors. The way I eventually envisioned this was to have two background colors and two contrast colors. I started at one tip with charcoal as my first background color and spruce as my first contrast color. As the shawl is knitted, you end up with a four stitch net increase for every six rows knitted so it grows into a triangle. Eventually you bind off along what has turned into a long edge. So, I eventually added the grey and phased out the charcoal, and the grey became my second background color. Then I replaced the spruce with light blue, my second contrast color. I did the transitions as garter ridge stripes. After the stripes, I had intended to knit 21 ridges of grey then do the 15 ridges of edging, approximately half grey and half blue. The bind off would be blue.

This whole plan developed after I had started knitting. I didn’t think yardage would be an issue. If I had, I might have switched the charcoal and the grey since I have four skeins of charcoal and only three of grey. I don’t have a great way to predict exactly how much yarn I’ll need, but it looks like each garter ridge is around 2-3gm. The original plan calls for 11 more ridges solid then 8 more in the edging for 19 total. I would need at least 40 gm and maybe close to 60. I’m down to 28 gm.

So, options. I could end the solid section early and just start on the edging sooner. I could bring the charcoal back in. I could add a fifth color from my stash. I could scout around and try to get another skein of the grey. I could ignore the issue and just keep knitting, knowing that I will lose this round of yarn chicken.

Let me back up a bit and consider the symbolism of this shawl. I’m going through a rough spot, as I’ve mentioned, and found I was having a hard time coping with everything life was throwing at me. I needed more support and wasn’t sure how to get it. I decided that, while it is important to ask for and receive support from people close to me, I need to be my own primary source of love and positivity. My first thought of how to do this was to knit something awesome for myself as a gift. So, this shawl was born of my conscious decision to pour positive energy into myself. This shawl represents my self-love, my self-care and my adamant refusal to accept less (from myself, at any rate) than I deserve. This is knitted defiance. Maybe that sounds overly dramatic, but it really is a pretty big deal to me.

I think I just talked myself into dropping $14 to see this thing through.

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The First Rule of Sock Club

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Well, clearly I’m going to talk about Sock Club, so don’t let the title fool you! We had our first virtual meet up yesterday afternoon/evening (we spanned several time zones). It was awesome to meet some fellow bloggers and fiber aficionados. I had my pattern and yarn all picked out and was all set to start swatching so I dug out my US1 dpns, two sets of 4, new in their packages. I tend to like thinner socks so I figured I would go with typical fingering weight sock yarn and little needles in able to achieve that. Well, the dpns looked a little small so I checked them on my fancy schmancy gauge doohicky. Yep, US0s, not US1s.

Rats. I thought about swatching anyway but I sort of hate to start off with the wrong equipment. I suppose I could have gone up to US2s since I’m typically a bit of a snug knitter, but it just didn’t seem like it was coming together. So, I started to rethink. I wasn’t in love with the pattern I had chosen, really. It just seemed like the clearest first-time sock tutorial I could come up with. Based on my gut and some guidance in the comments of my last post, I picked out another pattern. This one calls for worsted or aran weight yarn and is knit on US3s and 5s. I took a virtual dive into the stash, came up with some lemon yellow Lamb’s Pride Superwash, and started swatching. image_mediumWell, my first swatch didn’t work out on 5s, so I went down to 3s. That was maybe a little tight if anything so I settled on 4s. I cast on for the first cuff and started on the ribbing. As usual, I used Tillybuddy’s very stretchy cast on. Over the course of the evening yesterday, I got through the ribbing and a couple of inches into the leg. IMG_3869The garter stitch panel will be in the center ultimately–it’s just off center here because of how it is on the dpns. Warning: obligatory foot selfie is coming!

IMG_3868I’m pretty pleased with it so far. I’m doing a combination of sizes –L for leg circumference but it will be shorter in the foot to fit me. It’s a little strange because knitting worsted yarn on size 4s makes for a very dense fabric, and it’s also making the wool seem a little coarse. They’re probably not socks I will be thrilled to wear all the time. But really, I don’t think that’s the important thing here. The important thing is that I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, challenging myself, and learning something new. My first pair doesn’t have to be perfect (neither does my 100th pair, for that matter). My goals are really just to get a pair of socks that fit me reasonably well, that resemble each other to a high degree, and are reasonably similar to the pattern I’m using to make them. That’s more than enough to take on, especially for my first real try!

After working on and off on my socks last night, I picked up my Drachenfels to put in some work there. Whew, what a difference!! To explain why, I suppose I need to back up a little. I have accumulated a lot of knitting supplies over the years. I have lots of straight needles and dpns that I got from my mom and from various other knitters who had extra. I’ve bought needles here and there as needed when I didn’t have the right size for a project I wanted to do. I’ve picked up needles on sale when I’ve found them. I have a pretty large assortment of supplies, but they’re not all what I would have chosen if I was building it from the ground up, knowing what I know now. What this means for my sock project is that the only size 4 dpns I happen to have are these random bamboo (?) ones from a “Joy of Sox” knitting kit someone gifted me. They have weird splitty tips, not unlike the Surina ones I blogged about here. They are cheap quality and not very easy to work with. After wrestling with them and rather coarse worsted yarn, I picked up my Drachenfels on my gorgeous Addi sock rockets. The knitting seemed completely frictionless. WordPress is telling me “frictionless” isn’t a word, but that’s the only way I can describe it. The stitches seemed to fly from one needle to the next. Sooooo dreamy!!

What this means, I think, is that I need to slowly let go of some of my borderline hoarder tendencies and gradually replace my less awesome needles with new ones as the opportunities arise. I’m not going to buy a complete set all at once or anything like that–plenty of what I have is still very useful–I’m just going to pay attention when I see sales turn up for needles that are nicer than the weakest links of my collection. I’m going to let my “needle snob” tendencies loose a little more and stop feeling obligated to use tools that I do not like, simply because I have them and they were cheap or free. Sometimes the non-monetary price of a bargain just isn’t worth it.

Drachenfels and the Art of Thrifting Yarn

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Making good progress on my Drachenfels. I chose to make this a four color design instead of three, so mine is shaping up a little different (which I love). The original pattern starts with two colors and about halfway through, the first color is phased out and the third color is added. So, in the sample knitted by Melanie Berg, the shawl is chocolate and light pink on one and and red and light pink on the other. For mine, I chose to start with colors A and B and transition to C and D, so the two ends of my shawl will look very different from each other. I was not sure initially that that was the best choice, but I love it. I really do. I’ve just phased out the second original color so am working only with dark grey and light blue. So so cool. These pics help show the last color transition:

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And this helps show what the different parts of the shawl will look like together:

IMG_3849I’ve mapped out how much bigger I’ll make it. The pattern calls for continued increasing throughout the garter ridge stripes, then a solid color section, then the edging and I cord bind off. I’ve already knitted to the total number of stitches the pattern calls for but I’m going to keep going for a ways. I’m not a petite person and I want to really be able to wrap up in this. So, I’m going to do a 2 color stripe section for 42 rows, a solid color section for 42 rows, then the prescribed 30 rows of edging. At least. That will put me at around 114 rows and 72 stitches over the pattern. If the solid color section looks like it needs to be longer, I will just keep going. Lord knows I might as well use up some yarn!

Speaking of using yarn, I’m sad to report that I’m on something of a yarn diet. While my mom was in town, we got into a rhythm of checking out thrift stores and just poking around. Predictably, I always found the yarn section and my rate of acquisition increased (by a lot). I tried to limit my purchases to yarn with at least some cotton or wool content and with enough yardage to be useful. I think my best find was at our local Goodwill By The Pound, or GWBTP as we’ve dubbed it. The official name is the Goodwill Outlet, I think. We discovered this place about three years ago, shortly after we moved. Have others found similar places? It’s a Goodwill but instead of items being priced individually, everything is sold by weight. Clothes are a certain price per pound, housewares another, etc. etc. Shoes and furniture are sold individually at very low prices. For someone like me who loves to pick through stuff to find bargains, it’s pretty much akin to heaven. I do have to be in the right mood as it’s labor intensive and, frankly, pretty gross. But I’ve found some awesome stuff there for ridiculously low prices.

Anyway, a day or two before my mom left for home, we stopped by the GWBTP for a bit. I almost never find yarn there and, when I do, it’s usually in really poor condition. The wifey once found a ball of nice kitchen cotton there that became flower washcloths, but that’s it. Well, that day I found a bag of yarn with several unmarked balls along with three nearly full skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I would describe the color as electric purple. I love it. That yarn typically retails for around $15 a skein. I don’t know exactly how much that bag of yarn cost me, but it was well under a dollar. Just call me Charlie Sheen!

IMG_3843I also found a big batch of knitting and crochet needles in a fabric case. I sorted them all out the other night and added the hooks and dpns to my inventory. I haven’t gotten to the straight needles yet. Here’s a shot of the bunch:

IMG_3845That doesn’t include the case or the straight needle orphans. That’s 16 pairs of straights, one circ, five complete sets of dpns, three crochet hooks and two stitch holders. The handful of dpns in the upper right corner are orphans. I’ll keep them so I can supplement some of the four needle sets I have. The bag was $7. Some of the things are really interesting. For instance, the set of 5 tiny dpns half wedged under the packet of red needles is a very old set of sock or stocking needles. Those are gauge 0. I have another set just like them except 00. If I ever decide to knit stockings, I’ll be all set. Also, there’s a set of 10″ red aluminum dpns. I love longer dpns–they come in handy if I don’t have the right size circ and they’re easier for me because I have large hands. The two steel crochet hooks are a bit of a mystery to me. I tried doing some online research to determine what sizes they are but didn’t have much luck. I do know that one of them is the smallest crochet hook I’ve ever seen by far. I suppose I could use it to fix dropped stitches when I start knitting my cobweb-weight stockings with my 00 dpns (ha).

After my mom went home, the steady rhythm of thrift store shopping has slowed. That’s probably a good thing as I don’t really need yarn. I still keep an eye on sales online but am limiting myself to only really lovely yarn at equally lovely prices. What? I can’t just stop cold turkey! At least I have projects in mind for lots of it. I intend to keep it moving and, in my mind, that justifies my stash.

Right?

EDIT: I’m posting from a coffee shop with less-than-awesome wifi. The images in this post aren’t showing up when I try to view it. If that’s the case for anyone else, please leave a comment and I will try to fix it when I have a better connection.