A Little Birdy Told Me...

A little birdy told me if I didn’t finish my mittens with the birdy embroidery it would bother me forever… and so, I did what the birdy told me and finished them up.

In my opinion the Birds make the mittens! Aren’t they cute?

A little birdy also told me that it’s about time I showed you a picture of the Plain A$$ socks since they were finished a long time ago.

Pattern: Sock Recipe: A Good Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl McPhee aka "The Yarn Harlot"

Yarn: OnLine Supersocke Cotton Beach Colour in colorway 945

Needles: US 2

Notes: My gauge is looser it seems these days, and the US 2 wasn’t the best of choices. Mental note to self- go down a size for a tighter fit. I knit these so fast I impressed myself! It took me 2.5 days to get both socks off the needles and on the blockers. Impressive!

I love being able to just knit, aimlessly without thinking. This was a great distraction. Even the pattern lines up beautifully- and the anal retentive in me enjoys that everything is asymmetrical and looks the same.

I’ve obeyed the little birdy about showing you the mittens and the socks, but it wanted me to show you something else too. I’m hesitant to do this, scared to be honest with you and myself, but I’ve decided to put it out there publicly.

The little birdy wanted me to show you MOST of my stash.

Sock & Fingering Weight Yarn

DK & Worsted Weight Yarn

(The little birdy was thoughtful enough to not make me show you my acrylic stash and leftovers that sit in the box without a project on the horizon. That’s my “shame” stash that only I am privy too.)

It’s time to admit to myself how much there is and to set some goals in dealing with it.

This is the stash that I’ve collected that needs to get smaller. I’m not suggesting that it needs to disappear overnight- but I will not get a new box for stash. I love this yarn. It is time that I knit with it. Current stash storage is tight. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to fit in that box right now. I chose not to knit hats this year so that I may, instead, focus on stash busting a little more.

If you double click on the photos above, I’ve added some notes that will show up on the flickr page when you hover over stash items. Some plans for the stash are revealed there. My goal is to whittle this down by half. I will show you these pictures again, sometime in the summer with the used yarn blurred out, and again in December, so I can publicly assess what I’ve used up.

If, and when I’ve made room in the boxes, I can add back to the pile**… specifically I will buy the Rowan Lima yarn that I have not stopped obsessing about and make something beautiful with… but only, after there is some stash down progress here.

I’m looking forward to making some beautiful projects this year, with yarn from my stash!

As for that little birdy, he wanted me to show you two other things I’ve gotten around to starting, but I told him to take a hike. Birdies have gotten so demanding! (We’ll discuss on the next blog).

** as always exceptions to the rules will be made. There will and always will be room in my stash for Wollmeise. If I stumble over a Loopy Ewe update, I’m scooping that stuff up! Also- baby blanket yarn won’t count, because there will be a little bit of that too this year.