I used to have a serious yarn buying habit. It was wonderfully therapeutic, and I had a head full of lovely ideas, but I had to accept that I live in a world with limited knitting time, not to mention limited money for such things.

I had to take action!

Two years ago, when I was unemployed, I sold some particularly desirable skeins on Ebay.

Last year, when I was working again, I went on a yarn diet. I knitted from stash and not one single solitary gramme of new yarn came into the house.

But I still have a fair bit of yarn, and I have decided that this year I am going to knit up the oddments. The balls left over from projects, the skeins I wound but didn’t quite get around knitting, and some yarn that I bought for specific small projects.

I went through my knitting baskets at the weekend, I bagged up the yarn in question, and I began to plan.

(The blue tinge is because I only had freezer bags!)

The top row has:

• The yarn recovered from a hat that was too big.
• Two strands of two similar but different shades of Cherry Hill Supersock Merino would together. They used to be a shawl, but I didn’t like the shape.
• A few balls of Debbie Bliss Soho. I bought a pack because I loved the colour, but I realised that the colour was unwearable, the thick and thin single play was less than ideal for knitting. I’ve made a So Called Scarf from some of it and I have to work out what to do with the rest.
• Cardigan leftovers – just about enough for a hat

The middle row has:

• Jumper leftovers that will make another hat.
• The yarn that my mother starter to make a bolero with. She didn’t get on with the pattern, so now I’m thinking that there’s enough to make a little top for her.
• A skein I wound for an Everglade hat and a ball that I don’t remember buying that I think will be well suited to socks.
• Two skeins that I remember winding for a striped shawl, but might become something else, because I’m not really a lightweight shawl person.

And on the bottom row:

• I’ve knitted a hat and mittens from this yarn, and what’s left is destined to become a scarf. Probably this one …..
• Gorgeous Fyberspates Scrumptious DK, enough to make a shawl or a cowl.
• More jumper leftovers that I think will be enough to make yet another hat.
• A few balls of Lang Yarns Mille Colori, that I bought with an entrelac scarf in mind.

I’m not going to say twelve bags in twelve months, because I’d like to make a garment or two, but I have learned that small projects work best for nursing home knitting. They’re portable, and I can show off results and ring the changes before boredom sets in.

So I’ll say I’d like at least six bags to be gone by the end of the year. That’s manageable.

And I must enters projects on Ravelry – I’m horribly behind …..

I’m still knitting, but I haven’t posted for a while because I still lack a decent camera. And what is a knitting post without good pictures?

A better camera is a priority, but first I need a job …

Here’s what I’ve been knitting recently. In each case, the designer’s picture is on the left and mine is on the right.

At the top is Acadia by Carrie Bostick Hodge.

I’d had the yarn for ages – Fyberspates DK that I picked up in a sale – and I just needed the right pattern to come along. This was it. It knitted up very simply and is proving very useful in the damp Cornish autumn.

In the middle is Soay by Gudrun Johnson. I saw it in the colour of some Sublime Merino DK that I’d bought for another project that never quite happened. The yarn was a little heavier than was called for, but it was east to adjust and I love the result. It just needs a little defuzzing and a good pressing.

The pattern taught me how to knit set-in sleeves from the top down by picking up stitches around the armhole. It wasn’t difficult, and I’m glad I’ve done it so I won’t be intimidated by other patterns calling for that technique, but I didn’t really enjoy that bit of the knitting. Interminable short rows!

And at the bottom is Kelly by Anniken Allis, in lovely Sublime Soya Cotton DK. Mine isn’t quite so oversized and I’ve raised the neckline to make a very wearable garment. At least it will be when I pick up the pieces from the back of the sofa and sew them up.

it’s the biggest piece of lace knitting I’ve ever done. For years I though I couldn’t do lace, but a couple of years ago something – I’m not sure what – clicked and I realised that I could.

I have a small project on the go that I’ll write about another day, but on Sunday I decided that I must pick up a long neglected project.

I love Sedgemoor, and I thought I was nearly done when I blogged about it back here. But soon after that post I discovered that I had missed a pattern repeat and that I would have to do a lot of unripping and reknitting. I pushed Sedgemoor to the side and I allowed other projects to distract me.

But I am so glad I picked it up again. The pattern is lovely. The yarn is gorgeous. And I have realised that I am a cable girl at heart. And that I really am more of a process knitter than a project knitter.

Having the right knitting on hand really makes all the difference.

… but a very specific hat.

The Brief

This is what my fiance requested:

• A simple, lightweight hat for the summer.
• It should be plain and unfussy. A classic style.
• It should have a brim that can be turned up.
• It should be loose fitting, but not so loose it could slip off.

The Pattern

With all of that in mind I set out to find a good basic hat pattern in a fine gauge. I found this one. It’s simple and clear and it would be very easy to modify, though all I did was lengthen the ribbing so that it could be turned up – as per the brief!

The Yarn

I dug through my stash looking for something variegated in fingering weight. All of that stocking stitch  would be so boring in a plain colour. I came up with the perfect skein:

• Green – because he’s a gardener
• Blue – because he lives by the sea
• Pale grey – to match his hair!

I bought it on Ebay a very long time ago, and it was handpainted by Misty Yarns. Lovely!

The Hat

After some hours of not very exciting knitting a hat emerged. The knitter in me would like to block it, but the wearer is happy with his new hat as it is.

A very simple hat, but a very satisfied customer.

The View from the Side

The View from Above

I always meant to do knitting posts on a regular basis, but I’m not that organised and I still lack a decent camera. I’ve knitted a tunic and a cardigan that have still to be photographed since my last post, but now I have moved on to a few smaller projects.

The first is both finished and photographed!

When I gave up my job I decided that I would knit as many presents as I could, using yarn that I have in hand.First up was something for my aunt, whose birthday is on April 10th. She’s the perfect person to knit for: she doesn’t knit herself but she loves knitted things and appreciates time and trouble taken to make something nice.

I had a lovely skein with her name on it: Posh Yarn Elinor in fingering weight. The shade, Fireworks, was absolutely gorgeous but it wasn’t the sort of colour I’d wear, so it had been hanging around for quite some time. But it was my aunt’s colour exactly.

Once I had the yarn the pattern quickly picked itself – Calystegia Cowl by Lankakomero.

My aunt is a scarf person, but as I’ve knitted her scarves before a neckwarmer seemed to be the way to go this time.

The pattern is lovely and it was very clearly written. A little bit fiddly but after a few rows I could see how it worked and I only had to check the pattern from time to time to make sure I wasn’t going wrong.

The finished effect was wonderful, and definitely worth the time and trouble – I’m definitely tempted to make another one for me.

I couldn’t get a decent picture of the finished neckwarmer lying flat in the house or the garden. Here’s the best of my attempts, taken on Briar’s beanbag in our bay window.

Then I had the bright idea of using a plantpot. A little better. It makes my neckwarmer look rather long and narrow, but it isn’t. I’ve tried it on and the width is perfect and it’s long enough to pull up over your face without looking too bunched up if you don’t.

Finally I took a close up, and it actually shows the pattern properly. Hooray!

And that was the end of that. It just needed a final pressing, wrapping, and delivery next weekend.

And I needed to work out how to explain to my dog, who had been overseeing proceedings from her armchair in the window,  just what I was doing with her beanbag, and why I was spending so much time in the garden with a piece of knitting and a mobile phone …