Stash down preperation.

When my Auntie saw the Party on my needles shawl I made my mum for Christmas, she wanted one. The Party on my needles shawl is a large 3 colour crescent shaped shawl. The shawl took me 3 months to knit. With 12 months warning till Christmas knitting one should be no problem, except two of my cousins want one as well. Well that's 9 months of knitting, plus socks for three of my friends, plus jumpers for my niece and nephews and at some point I would like to knit my self something.

The next problem is finding 9 different colours of yarn in my stash suitable for shawls and machine washable. Solution Shopping spree. You'd think after my pre Christmas spree I would have dozens of skeins to pick from but that would be boring. 

Luckily or unluckily depending on your point of view I have 24 hour access to the internet which enabled me to buy 75 skeins of yarn totalling 12,100 meters in less then an hour.

My first stop was Knit Picks for 5 skeins of fellici for socks and 21 skeins of Dishie for my mini spa sets. I mean it's not as though I already have 30ish skeins of Fellici or 15 Skeins of Dishie in my stash waiting to be knit. My excuse is my friend has adult size feet that need 60-70 grams of yarn for a pair of shortie socks and Fellici only has 50g per skein meaning I need 2 skeins per pair. I like to give wash cloths in matching sets of colours that remind me of the recipient which means I need a large selection of colours to choose from, and most importantly I love gift shopping almost as much as I love Yarn.

Next came the shawl yarns.I picked out 9 colours of drops fabel and 3 colours of drops delight.

The main reason I pick Knit Picks and Drops yarns for gift knitting is they are cost effective.Dishie, Fabel, and Fellici yarns are also machine washable. I aim to buy machine washable yarns so when the recipient puts them in the washing machine the items won't be destroyed and I won't be devastated. 

I may also of brought a variety of yarns to make myself some reward knits. I can't wait to get knitting or see the looks on peoples faces when they open their gifts.

Wish me luck in my year of socks and shawls.

Happy New Year and most importantly Happy crafting.

Me Made Christmas Success

After 3 years of trying I finally managed to make a gift for everyone on my gift list. It took me all year and was worth every second. All gifts have been gratefully received which just leaves one question. What should I make for next year?

This Christmas I have made

• 16 Cowls
• 15 hats
• 1 scarf
• 5 shawls
• 18 bars of soap
• 2 pairs of socks
• 9 pairs of shortie socks
• 30 wash cloths
• 1 cardigan 
• 1 tea cozy

With big plans and an even bigger gift list its not surprising that my stash has grown at a terrifying rate.

In November I purchased 83 skeins of yarn containing 16,293.2 meters of yarn while I used 6,001.5
You'd think I would have more then enough yarn for all my Christmas knitting but oh no in December I brought more. To finish my Gift knitting I purchased 49 More skeins adding 12,293.2 extra meters of yarn to my stash with just 4,958.8 meters leaving the yarn mountain.

As the new year arrives my stash is out of control. I can not go on a yarn diet, if i tell myself not to buy yarn I will buy a metric tonne of yarn. Instead of banning myself from shopping I am challenging myself to use more then I buy on a meter for meter balance. Starting January 1st 2020 I will be keeping track of my progress in the stashdown 20 thread in the torc crafts ravelry group (Link to Ravelry group).

Wish me luck as I dive into my stash, and if I'm not back in a week send help.

Happy new year and Happy crafting.

Rachael