Exhibit A:
This almost-finished shirt for a stuffed sheep. 360 measly stitches short of completing the parts. Maybe another yard to attach the sleeves. It was supposed to be a little thing I could do in an evening or two. I called 5 yarn shops in the area, 4 of them didn't have the color I needed. The fifth didn't answer their phone, so I ordered it online. Now I'm waiting for a new skein to arrive.
Exhibit B:
This half-finished kilt for a stuffed sheep. I clearly underestimated how much yarn I needed for this wee kilt. The pleats really eat up the yardage. I've ordered more yarn for this too.
At least I had enough yarn leftover from my lopi sweater to make the sheep! The pattern called for bulky-weight lopi, but I had plenty of lett-lopi so I used it doubled, which knit up quickly. The assembly was a little tricky, but since the stitches were so nice and big, it was easy to see what I needed to do. I still need to knit the eyes and attach the ears, and once those tasks are done, I think my wee sheep will be pretty cute. While I'm waiting for the new yarn to arrive, I can work on his little belt and sporran. These two pieces will require felting, so I'll have to do a little digging to make sure I've got just the right bits to do these up right.
I addition to the sheep, I've also knit up a couple hats and mittens from the lett-lopi left over from my sweater. The first hat was the Baa-ble Hat, which is a free pattern from the Shetland Wool Week website (oh, how I wish I could go!). I was able to use leftovers in green, blue and black, but I had to stop at my LYS for a ball of cream to make the little sheep and the snow in the sky. I definitely should have gone down a needle size (or maybe two!), as the hat turned out too big to fit even my big head. Luckily I have a cousin who not only has a bigger head than I do, but is fun enough to wear a such a sheepie hat.
The second hat was Helene Magnusson's Brynja hat, and I adapted Vedis Jonsdottir's Handtak mittens to match. Of course, I ran out of the maroon yarn halfway through the hat, so I order another and wait for it. Both projects were quick knits, and I'm happy to have been able to give the set to another cousin (who happens to be a knitter herself!). So I guess I really have four reasons stashbusting projects suck. I've been developing a hypothesis about how yarn quantities work out perfectly when you're a new knitter, then thwart you as you gain experience, but it's still half-baked, so I'll have to think on this some more and see if I can articulate it in a way that makes sense.
Ah, well, I think that's it for tonight, Friends. Until next time.
This almost-finished shirt for a stuffed sheep. 360 measly stitches short of completing the parts. Maybe another yard to attach the sleeves. It was supposed to be a little thing I could do in an evening or two. I called 5 yarn shops in the area, 4 of them didn't have the color I needed. The fifth didn't answer their phone, so I ordered it online. Now I'm waiting for a new skein to arrive.
Exhibit B:
This half-finished kilt for a stuffed sheep. I clearly underestimated how much yarn I needed for this wee kilt. The pleats really eat up the yardage. I've ordered more yarn for this too.
At least I had enough yarn leftover from my lopi sweater to make the sheep! The pattern called for bulky-weight lopi, but I had plenty of lett-lopi so I used it doubled, which knit up quickly. The assembly was a little tricky, but since the stitches were so nice and big, it was easy to see what I needed to do. I still need to knit the eyes and attach the ears, and once those tasks are done, I think my wee sheep will be pretty cute. While I'm waiting for the new yarn to arrive, I can work on his little belt and sporran. These two pieces will require felting, so I'll have to do a little digging to make sure I've got just the right bits to do these up right.
I addition to the sheep, I've also knit up a couple hats and mittens from the lett-lopi left over from my sweater. The first hat was the Baa-ble Hat, which is a free pattern from the Shetland Wool Week website (oh, how I wish I could go!). I was able to use leftovers in green, blue and black, but I had to stop at my LYS for a ball of cream to make the little sheep and the snow in the sky. I definitely should have gone down a needle size (or maybe two!), as the hat turned out too big to fit even my big head. Luckily I have a cousin who not only has a bigger head than I do, but is fun enough to wear a such a sheepie hat.
The second hat was Helene Magnusson's Brynja hat, and I adapted Vedis Jonsdottir's Handtak mittens to match. Of course, I ran out of the maroon yarn halfway through the hat, so I order another and wait for it. Both projects were quick knits, and I'm happy to have been able to give the set to another cousin (who happens to be a knitter herself!). So I guess I really have four reasons stashbusting projects suck. I've been developing a hypothesis about how yarn quantities work out perfectly when you're a new knitter, then thwart you as you gain experience, but it's still half-baked, so I'll have to think on this some more and see if I can articulate it in a way that makes sense.
Ah, well, I think that's it for tonight, Friends. Until next time.
