Yarn & Fabric Shopping Overload + 2 Cardigans in Progress

Don't look at me like that, it was a birthday yarn shopping emergency!

Part 1: A Tale of Two Yarn Sprees

I've been TRYING to be a good little stash-buster. The first two tops I made last month were from the stash, as were my TARDIS socks AND the denim Hummingbird skirt I've almost completed.

And I deliberately chose the Delancey cardigan I'm knitting now to use up some lovely DK-weight merino I'd had lying around for over five years. Here's a progress shot (it is SO fun to knit, you start with two triangles and then join them to get the chevron effect going:)

But last weekend while riding the Bolt Bus to Boston with my husband and daughter, I reached into my purse for the Delancey AND IT WAS GONE (left at the office, thankfully, and not at the bus stop!). That meant two five hour bus rides WASTED and LACKING IN CARDIGANS.

Worst of all, it meant NO KNITTING on my BIRTHDAY, which was the following day. My husband came to the rescue, and gamely agreed to take me yarn shopping as a present.

Which is how, on my 33rd birthday, I ended up desperately pawing through the shelves of the...

Hub Mills yarn store (see photo at top) at the Classic Elite yarns distribution center in Billerica, Massachusetts.

When I was learning to knit in high school, Hub Mills (located in a scenic canal-side factory in downtown Lowell) was my Local Yarn Store, but although the new Billerica location isn't as nice, the yarns are still soft, colorful and yummy, there are lovely samples on display and the staff are super-helpful and knowledgeable. I came away with:

• Yarn, needles and pattern to make a Baby Surprise Jacket for my niece-or-nephew to be. This is Classic Elite Liberty Wool, a super-soft machine washable variegated worsted yarn with lots of colors in each ball, ideal for baby clothes:
  

  I've made a Baby Surprise Jacket before for my daughter, so knew it would be a quick fun bus-ride-worthy project.

• Kim Hargreaves' Hearfelt: The Dark House Collection book of 21 patterns.
  

  The book title is a bit over the top, but the patterns (see Ravelry for all of them) are just stunning (SO MANY PEPLUMS), so I'm not going to get too worked up.

My husband (man knows what I like) also got me a gift certificate to a local yarn store for Mother's Day. So today I went to:

La Casita Yarn Shop Café in Brooklyn.

This tiny little store and café/bar is just blocks from my home. It's jam-packed with all kinds of beautiful yarns from budget to super-fancy-expensive, some of them tucked into cookie jars and little baskets just to find space.

I especially love that they are so kid-friendly and even have kids' knitting classes and a kids' summer knitting camp. (I say this because I've had some unfortunate experiences with staff in another local yarn store that I won't name who were really rude to me and my daughter even though she hadn't touched a single skein).

Anyway, after some deliberation I bought:

• Enough yarn for my NEXT cardigan, Cherry by Anna Bell.

  I decided to make a candy pink Cherry, with a coral for the body and a slightly brighter fuschia for the ribbing and belt. The yarns shown are Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK, a mostly merino superwash wool blend with a hint of cashmere and silk, and Filatura di Crosa Zara, a soft merino superwash. (I'm going to knit it extra-small to combat the growth properties of superwash).

  

Part 2: Mood Print Madness

Oh, and the fabric. Yeah. So I already have quite a bit of knit fabric, but I have a lot of summer tops and dress plans, and I'm getting a little sick of just solids, stripes and polka dots. So last month I went on a printed knit binge at Mood and got:

• A lovely monochrome purple-and-white rose print rayon/lycra jersey:
  
• Pink and purple chevrons! (also rayon/lycra jersey):
  
  The print of pure color chaos... I'm thinking a sleeveless Jalie scarf-collar top (I know, AGAIN).

  

• Not to mention the Hummingbird-esque fabric I used for my second Hummingbird top:
  
• And for slight balance, some soft stretchy double-knit (or ponte?) RPL for a Bonny top:
  

Phew! Confession time over. I think I have a lot of stash-sewing in my future before I can justify setting foot in a yarn or fabric store any time soon...

Cardigan & sock progress + San Francisco yarn shopping

It may not look all that impressive, but somehow in the midst of illustration commissions and traveling and work and a toddler sleep strike, I've been making slow but steady progress on my two knitting projects--switching back and forth between them at random as needed when boredom begins to creep in.

The above is the first two bits of my Georgina cardigan, which should eventually look like the chartreuse view below:

What's actually impressive about this is that I had the patience to knit a stockinette swatch and a lace swatch and block and dry them before diving right in... I have always foolishly skipped this step, which is why the first sweater I knit for myself ended up donated to the Goodwill, and the second sulks in my "to-fix" drawer.

As for the Waving Lace socks, they're more than halfway there, and I'm desperately trying to fend off an attack of Second Sock Syndrome:

As I began to knit I was skeptical of my grad-dying efforts--I used "sock blanks" from Knit Picks and dipped them in a dye pot bit by bit, but the effect seemed more stripey than gradual...

But in real life, the sock top is definitely a very dark turquoise gradually fading to a very light turquoise at the toe--hard to see in photos, but just trust me!

And I wasn't able to fit in any fabric shopping whilst in San Francisco earlier this month, but I happened to be staying a short walk from the lovely Imagiknit yarn shop, which had a fantastic and huge selection of yarns (compared to say, a typical closet-sized New York City yarn shop) ... this is just a tiny glimpse of one room, with natural and locally dyed yarns on display, in true California style:

Most importantly for me, they also had a toy corner to distract my toddler from pulling said yarns off the shelf while I browsed.

Though little Z did help me pick out some nylon-blend darning wool to support my new sock-mending addiction:

In the end, I forced myself to buy yarn ONLY for my next project--a pair of Doctor-Who-inspired Tardis socks (because I am OBSESSED, though perhaps slightly less so than Meg the Grand), which should turn out something like this:

Source: ravelry.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

But all this time away from my sewing machine is beginning to make me itch. As soon as I finish my final sewing-related illustration gig, I am SO making another Jalie scarf top... or a Ginger skirt (the pattern finally arrived after being on back order for ages)... or those high-waisted jeans I've been craving...

What do you wish you could be sewing right now, but can't find the time?

P.S. Due to my hectic life lately I have totally lost control of all my sewing-related RSS feeds and it is bumming me out. I have over 1,000 unread posts, and my attempts to just target even my top top top favorite blogs for catchup have completely failed. I'm thinking it's time for a "Mark All As Read" amnesty here.

My Dashed Yarn Dreams Can Now Be Yours

Someone ELSE can knit a fabulous Central Park Hoodie out of these 7 hanks of Cascade 220 Tweed in lovely Magenta... now selling for 99 cents on eBay. My carpal tunneled hands certainly can't!

It hurt, but I did it! As promised, I instituted a ruthless yarn stash purge, and began listing anything that seemed vaguely salable on Ebay. The proceeds, if any, will offset the cost of the Medela Pump In Style I just bought.

Here are the lots I've put up so far, and the dreams delusions that have died with them.

1. Central Park Hoodie dreams. From the moment I saw the Central Park Hoodie on Ravelry, I had to have one. But I can't. Goodbye, tweedy magenta hoodie!

   

2. Organic yarn blend dreams. I'll blame Interweave Knits again. They did a review of organic yarns (Fall 2007?) so I picked up a couple of skeins of Vermont Organic Fiber Company O-Wool Balance. (As of this writing, going for 99 cents on eBay).

   

   I even handwound them sitting by the fire on a lovely camping trip at Macedonia Brook State Park in Connecticut:

   

   They were going to be a lightweight tweedy striped hat for Masheka. But he only wears black or gray hats. Goodbye manly yet colorful hat!

3. Chanukah and Christmas Scarf Dreams. Before my hands gave out, I bought a LOT of random balls of yarn in different colors to make holiday gifts, mainly from this gorgeous book, Knitting New Scarves:

   

   As you might have noticed from my mini-wardrobe contest plans, I love mixing purple and chartreuse. These three skeins of Morehouse Farm Merino (no bids yet!) would have made a lovely long modern scarf or two. But I can barely knit for myself and Cartoonist Baby, never mind for others. Goodbye scarves!

   

4. Stranded colorwork dreams. I wanted to get beyond making basic striped hats like this one:
   

   ... So I acquired a whole mess of Cascade 220 and 220 Heathers with some vague idea of making super-warm and colorful winter accessories, such as Adrian Bizilia's Entomology Hat & Mittens:

   

   I made some small samples, and had schemes of charting my own patterns after practicing with purchased ones. Oh well! Goodbye Cascade colorwork dreams!

   

   Currently at $1.29 on eBay

   

   Currently at 99 cents on eBay

So those are a few of the dreams I've let go. And here are a few I'm still clinging to--at least for now:

1. Baby sweater dreams. Unlike adult-sized hoodies, baby sweaters are doable even at my glacial pace. Here's the Baby Surprise Jacket I made for Cartoonist Baby this past winter, though I still haven't figured out a baby-safe closing device (maybe giant sew-on snaps?):
   

   And I just started making her another Elizabeth Zimmerman number, the lacy Baby Sweater on Two Needles from Knitter's Almanac, with some superwash yarn I hand-dyed in 2008:

   
2. Endpaper Mitts Dreams. Cascade colorwork I can survive without. But Koigu Premium Merino colorwork? Hmmm... I got these at Purl Soho:
   

   To make Eunny Jang's free Endpaper Mitts pattern:

   
3. Sock dreams, baby and otherwise. Besides the kettle-dyed pink worsted, I also painted a bunch of sock blanks and some blank lace weight on the same day:
   

   ... And really, sock yarn takes up SO little space! And teeny Better than Booties Baby Socks like these are quick and easy:

   

   They were just leftovers from my Monkey socks.

4. Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan dreams. I'm waffling on the bag of eggplant merino I bought to make this lovely pattern by Stephanie Japel from Fitted Knits. But DK-weight sweaters are not really suited for the glacial knitter, no matter how cute or retro looking.

   

5. Malabrigo and Alpaca dreams. Thus far I have not managed to get rid of a single skein of Malabrigo. Don't care how much it pills--I wear my purple Malabrigo hat all the time, and my Malabrigo Fetching Mitts came in handy in today's chilly weather:
   

   I'm also having trouble purging the eight skeins of lovely straight-from-the-farm undyed alpaca I bought at the Windsor County Fair in Maine. I do LOVE alpaca yarn as a rule--the below is my Misti Alpaca Chunky Cherry Garcia neck cowl...

   

   ...which I wear on all cold days--including today. But I don't really do neutral colors like brown or cream, even though I DID meet the adorable alpacas who produced them:

   

   So they should probably go. Maybe? Er...

Whew! Enough yarn talk for now. I need to stop writing about decluttering and get back to actually doing it!

P.S. Thanks to all of your for your wonderful suggestions on what to do with our destashed yarn, fabric art supplies and the like! I'll likely donate a bag of random balls or skeins that I'm not selling (and anything that doesn't sell on eBay) to an organization that makes hats and blankets for preemies, as they were asking for yarn on Freecyle and offered to pick up. Which is ideal, since we are carless Brooklynites and I am SO pregnant and Cartoonist Baby will be here SO soon!

Declutter Overload: How to Say Goodbye to Yarn?

So with Cartoonist Baby scheduled to arrive in just 4-8 weeks, Cartoonist Husband and I have ramped up our mad decluttering frenzy (last mentioned here in the context of ruthless knit and woven fabric executions).

Our 850-square foot 2-bedroom Brooklyn apartment is fabulous, and quite large by New York standards. But like many artistic types, we have a serious clutter problem. Which we've been denying over the years by cramming everything we couldn't fit elsewhere into the guest bedroom closets and drawers--off-season clothes, Masheka's guitar, my college photography and anthropology projects, Masheka's college film reels, holiday decorations, fabric, yarns, camping equipment and travel gear, freelance cartooning files we have to keep for tax purposes, every single diary or sketchbook I've ever kept, old letters and mementos from friends and family, photo albums, art supplies...

And now it ALL has to go somewhere else--or just GO. Once Cartoonist Baby outgrows her bedside bassinet, that's going to be her room -- and my mother's room, since my amazing mom is going to be watching our girl during the week when my 12-week maternity leave is up.

The process has been agonizing, to say the least. Sure, we've made big strides in the following areas:

• Clothing clutter: We've taken at least 10 bags worth to the local Goodwill in the last four months alone. This is made easier by my pregnancy--I can't try things on and go "well, MAYBE that could work if I just..." No, it couldn't. And if something was already too small BEFORE I was pregnant, keeping it is just self-flagellation. I've also sold about 7 pairs of shoes on eBay, and donated 3 or 4 more to Goodwill.
• Furniture clutter. We replaced the HUGE drafting table in our bedroom with a teensy folding one--we do most of our art digitally now anyway. My parents replaced the king-sized guest bed with a comfy folding couch bed. My bedside table has made way for our Arm's Reach Mini Bassinet.
• Random things we haven't used in years clutter: Goodbye, George Foreman grill--the broiler works better anyway.
• Stuff we won't be using for a long time clutter: We've loaned the camping stuff to my parents indefinitely.
• Book clutter: We've gotten rid of over 150 books via Amazon and Goodwill... leaving just 1,600 stacked 2 or 3 deep on a multitude of bookshelves. Progress, right?!

Other areas? Not so much. Art supplies are hard--I find it physically painful to throw away or donate a perfectly nice box of partly-used artist's pastels... even though I haven't drawn with pastels in over 10 years. Sentimental and creative stuff is even harder--some objects can be quickly photographed and then trashed (set lists from punk shows I saw in my teens, weird quilts I made from old T-shirts), but what to do with my boxes of letters and diaries and photos? As for all the paper-based business and other files, we HAVE to keep them for tax and other purposes. But the file cabinet is already full...

So, we're working on it.

Which brings me to the subject I've been avoiding: the yarn stash. As much as it pains me, it has just GOT to go. Cartoonist Husband and I have eight large storage drawers in the giant wall-to-wall bookshelves my father built in the livingroom, and I am currently hogging six: four with fabric, patterns and sewing notions, and two with yarn. Some of which can be seen on my Ravelry stash page...

It's not that I don't knit at all anymore--but since an intense bout with repetitive stress injury two years ago, I am a GLACIAL knitter. In order to preserve my hands and wrists for graphic design and cartooning, I knit maybe 1-2 hours a week, usually just during my weekly knitting group. At that pace, I'll still be working from my existing stash when Cartoonist Baby has gone off to college. (Luckily, machine sewing doesn't bother my hands at all--there are too many different varied movements involved).

So most of the yarn has to go (with the exception of the stuff I handdyed, and the Malabrigo, and the alpaca and...). And I don't really have any experience with yarn destashing--is it worth my time and trouble to try and sell the stuff on eBay or Etsy, or should I just donate it? And if I donate it--where to? I asked my knitting group but most of them are wrestling with stash problems of their own and have different tastes.

Please don't mourn for my knitting--I can always buy yarn for a specific project when I need it. At my pace, there is never a yarn emergency where I could possibly be stuck without something to knit.

Also, renting storage space? NOT an option. We tried that before and it was just a clutter-enabling money suck. If something isn't beautiful or useful enough to fit in the apartment as it is, well--it's just got to go.