Surmount The Stash November Update

Some months it's hard to evaluate my progress to Surmount the Stash. This month I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but there is some progress.

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: In October I scooped up 2 balls of red acrylic DK from the clearance room at Mary Maxim for a whopping $1.99 each. Including tax, my total spending was under $5.

A week ago I came across a post on Ravelry about a KAL to make a Barn Raising Quilt for the Canadian Cancer Society. The pattern is not available online, and I wasn't sure I wanted to splash out for the book but I quickly realized that the book was available from the library. That made me feel very thrifty :)

Manage my WIPs: My Smitten Advent calendar is finally done and I'm busy scouting little surprises to fill each of the 24 little stockings. It's pretty fun. I also knit two pairs of socks, I'm a quarter of the way through my secret Christmas knitting, and I'm hoping to show a finished pair of gloves for my Year of Projects post on Sunday. Two years ago I knit a shelf liner for a friend from dishcloth cotton and had planned to knit two more. This morning I can report that the second is done, and the third is well underway.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash: I started the year with 1350 grams of dishcloth cotton and by the end of next week that total should be down to about 350 grams. That's about 75% of that stash knit!  I have some ideas about a new dishcloth design so a portion of the remaining yarn will go to that.

In the next few weeks I also plan to make two squares for the KAL - there are a couple of sock yarns whose variegation have defied all my pattern choices so I think they'll be perfect for this. And once that's done - and once my secret Christmas knitting is done - it's socks and Year of Projects knitting for the rest of the year. Sounds like I can still make inroads into the fingering weight stash!

Surmount the Stash October update

It's that time again; time to evaluate my progress to Surmount the Stash. This month the news is more upbeat!

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: This month I spent $3 for a single pattern and not one red cent on yarn. Much better than last month. Maybe there's hope for me yet?

Manage my WIPs: My Smitten Advent calendar is STILL not done. I'm will finish it this week; promise, cross my heart. Last month I made six hats, a pair of colourwork mittens, one sock and one glove. This month I need to finish the second sock, the second glove, as well as that advent calendar.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash: By focusing on hats I cut my stash of acrylic worsted by more than half. But, even though I didn't buy any yarn last month my sock yarn stash grew. Yesterday a package arrived with three gorgeous skeins of sock yarn from Studio June - a thank you present for designing her Ravelry ads. I know, I'm spoiled. Turns out Dee is right ... it is SOCtoberfest! Now which three patterns to choose?

Surmount the Stash June Update

Double Bump dishcloth in stash-busting stripes!

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: Last month's running deficit of $160.00 kept me on the straight and narrow for most of May, however, I did buy some dishcloth cotton and I did impulsively buy a skein of sock yarn in the last couple of days. Retail therapy I think with all the stress around here, so I'm not beating myself up over it. All in all I spent $34 this month, so the running deficit now stands at $144.00. Not great, but better than it was.

Manage my WIPs: Last month I started and finished a dishcloth for my Just the Postage swap, and I have several more planned over the next week or so. Mindless dishcloth knitting is definitely my speed right now. I also finished one pair of gift socks and am nearly finished a second pair for charitable donation. Oh yes, and three 10x10 squares for a group blanket project. There's also some secret knitting done for a Canada Day swap that can't be revealed until my swap partner receives here package. And I knit through all the yarn I bought in April as well as most of the yarn I received from my swap partner. So not bad. This morning there is only my second of Hermoine's Everyday Socks on my needles - perfect for hospital bedside knitting.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash:  I'd estimate that in May I knit through about 1000 yards of yarn purchased in April, 500 yards of yarn received in an April swap, 300 yards of yarn purchased in May and an additional 500 or so yards of yarn from my stash. All added up like that it sounds quite impressive, doesn't it? Now I feel a bit better about my efforts in May, because until I totalled it, I was pretty much feeling like May was a washout. In June, on the other hand, I predict a great deal of progress. I'll be close to home for the next several weeks, fetching and carrying for the invalid, so expect a parade of dishcloths!

Surmount the Stash May Update

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: I ended last month with a deficit of $35.64, which is bad news considering that I was planning all along to spend, spend, spend at the Knitter's Frolic marketplace.

I splurged when I bought bulky yarn and needles to knit a headband and cowl for a departing coworker to the tune of about $50.00. I spent $7.22 more when I bought black sock yarn for my Tardis socks. And then I really overspent at the Frolic - all in all I probably spent about $110.00 there. Oh yeah and I spent $6.04 for the (w)rapped pattern just yesterday! I don't have all the receipts, but I'll estimate my deficit at $160.00 now. Is a budget of $50 a month is unrealistically low? Or should I put myself on a spending moratorium for the next few months?! I think the latter.

Manage my WIPs: Last month I started and finished a couple of dishcloths, a teddy bear, a small cowl, a large cowl, a headband and a couple of pairs of socks. Here we are on the first day of May and there's just one pair of socks on my needles. That's going to change though, I'm swatching for my (w)rapped pullover this evening.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash:  I'd estimate that in April I knit through about 1500 yards from my stash. I'd hoped to use some stashed DK cotton for the (w)rapped KAL but I've purchased yarn instead because I think it'll need the stretchiness of wool. Two skeins of sock yarn have been destashed  - one in a swap and one I've donated as a Ravelympics prize. Speaking of the Ravelympics I've got my project planned: Clapotis from silk mawatas in my stash.

Surmount the Stash March Update

We're now two months into my year long commitment to Surmount the Stash in 2012, so it's time for another report card. Let's see how I did this month!


Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: I spent $20.00 for the grey wool from Dutch Hollow Acres for Susie Rodgers Reading Mitts + $6.00 for the Windscheif pattern + $4.50 for the Koolhaas pattern + $10.02 mailing costs for a SIBOL square and a chemo cap + $31.08 at the Purple Purl for a retracting measuring tape and a skein of sock yarn + $23.56 at Knit-o-matic for highlighter tape and some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino =$95.16. Remembering that I was $0.98 over last month, I'm now $46.14 over budget. That's not very good, is it? To get back on track I'm pledging not to spent one more cent this month.


Manage my WIPs: Once again I've been disciplined about starting and finishing things. Three hats and one charity square were completed and shipped to charities. Another two baby hats have been knit and are awaiting donation. It felt like I was starting and finishing something about every other day through February and now, on the first day of March, there's one last sock on needles that'll be finished before I leave for work this morning.


Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash: This month there were a few yarn purchases and pattern purchases that weren't strictly necessary. As well, for much of the month my projects were in sock and baby yarn - stash busting goes much more slowly when the yarn is so fine! I didn't make any scrap yarn socks last month and just one dishcloth - I can and will do better this month.


My conclusions? The grades on this month's report card have definitely slipped when compared to last month. Time to recommit and see how what I can accomplish in March.

FO: Baby Koolhaas

This morning I looked around for something appropriate to model this baby hat - knit as written in Brooklyn Tweed's Koolhaus pattern but with baby yarn on 3.75 mm needles. My finished hat is 12 inches in circumference unstretched - it'll stretch comfortably to 15 inches - and 5-1/2 inches high from brim edge to center top. There's no newborn baby handy and I haven't come up with any other ideas to check the size and fit except to compare the measurements to this chart. Seems like the size is about right based on that.

The finished hat weighs 21 grams, leaving me with 57 grams of white acrylic baby yarn. I guess I can make a couple more. Maybe for the next one I knit I'll follow an actual baby hat pattern to see how the size compares. And then go back to the Koolhaas pattern if everything looks copacetic.

Before starting the pattern as a baby hat I reflected about whether the pattern was too "ridge-y", whether it would be uncomfortable against a newborn's skin or leave marks in a lattice pattern. The second picture shows the knitted fabric on the inside of the hat; as you can see the pattern is quite muted on the reverse and the fabric is fairly smooth. I think it'll be okay.

At least I have a definite plan about what to do with these hats. My sister-in-law is a labour and delivery nurse at one of our local hospitals. Mom used to donate hats through her, so I'll do the same with these. Maybe she can let me know how well they fit and work?

Surmount the Stash February Update

With one month down in my year long commitment to Surmount the Stash in 2012 it's time for a report card. I set a number of goals for myself, so let's see how I did.

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: In January I spent $11.68 on dyes for a project planned for next month + $9.81 mailing costs for socks, hats and squares + $4.49 for one ball of yarn for my Wool-Eater blanket + $25 Loopy Ewe gift certificate donated to an online contest = $50.98. Although I'm slightly over my target I feel good about how I did, particularly as I did not buy any yarn except for a specific project and I stuck to the hooks and needles I already have and patterns that I already have.

Manage my WIPs: This month I've been disciplined about starting and finishing things. Four pairs of socks, two hats and one square were completed and shipped to charities. And I've already started knitting a July birthday gift from stashed yarn and have plans for another for a September birthday. I'm determined to stay on top of this to avoid last minute shopping or inflated shipping costs for rush delivery.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash: Here's where I think I've been really successful. I completed three pairs of socks from scraps and two more from full skeins. That's about 350 grams of sock yarns used - about 10-15% of my stash. I completed three dishcloths, using about 10% of my dishcloth cotton stash. The big win is with the wool-eater blanket - by the time I finish it (next week hopefully) I will have used about 60% of the acrylic worsted weight yarns in my stash, leaving just enough to make a few hats and a dozen or so squares.

Definitely a passing grade on this report card! Let's see if I can keep up the hard work for eleven more months!

extended play socks

One more pair of scrappy socks done; all that's left to do is to get them in the mail. Last time I posted a parcel I tried Canada Post's online shipping tools. That worked out pretty well. The rate calculator allowed me to enter different measurements to determine the most cost-effective parcel size and shape. And I could print my own labels and drop them in a mailbox before work rather than lining up at Post Office counter during working hours.

By alternating the red/grey kroy sock yarn with a coordinating solid grey yarn I was able to extend the red all the way through the legs and the feet and use up that yarn entirely. It's been kind of fun to experiment with different strategies to use up oddments of sock yarn. For my next pair of scrappy socks I'm looking at this pattern: Circle Socks. Although the pattern is written for self-striping yarn, I plan to use two colours of yarn instead along the lines of what I did in my Circle Cloth.

This pair is the fourth pair of socks completed this month. Count that as about 300 grams out and 0 grams in - more progress towards my goal to Surmount The Stash in 2012! How are you doing with your goals and resolutions?

Sunny Circle Cloth

Sunflower soap from
Cottage North Soapworks

It won't be just socks on the needles this year; turns out there's a great deal of dishcloth cotton in my stash! 1350 grams or so: that's the equivalent of two dozen or more dishcloths. Most of this yarn was picked up deeply discounted at the annual tent sale in Listowel a couple of years ago. Admittedly, I went a bit overboard.

To work through this part of my stash I need to knit a dishcloth every two weeks or so. This shouldn't be a problem though, because dishcloths are pretty much instant gratification ... just a couple of hours of knitting for each. If I plan this right, I should have something to show and tell almost every week on Finished Object Fridays!

To kick off the year I decided to knit this Circle Cloth which I queued some time ago. It's the perfect use for small amounts of yellow cotton leftover from my Serengeti Sun dishcloths. Looks like I'll have just enough yellow to complete two of this pattern; guess I'll make another this aft. Paired with a handmade soap, like this sunflower from Cottage North Soapworks, this wash cloth makes a nice little all occasion gift, doesn't it?

Surmount the Stash 2012

a good start

Here at row six of the pattern across the wrist and hand you can just start to see the beginning of the cables of this first Glorious Cabled Mitt. It's the beginning of a big section of interlocking cables that make this mitt something special. The deadline for these mitts is this Saturday so there's no time to lose; this project will be my constant companion and I plan to knit these exclusively until they're done.


I have high hopes for this pattern. First I love that they're made from fingering weight yarn. That strikes me as a really practical weight for fingerless mitts. After all, by definition these aren't meant to be the warmest mitts for prolonged exposure to extreme cold, but are instead meant to be warmer than no mitts at all when covered fingers are inconvenient. And with all that ribbing they're certain to fit. Finally, just think of how much gorgeous yarn is available in finger weight! There's plenty of choice in my stash, that's for sure.


Speaking of which, Revelations of a Delusional Knitter has a plan to Surmount the Stash in 2012 and I'm joining in. The real work begins in 2012 but in anticipation I need to come up with a plan.


Inventory my Stash: I'd like to know exactly how much yarn I have in any given weight in order to plan my projects accordingly. I'm betting next year is going to be the year of socks for me! Maybe the Yarn Harlot's idea of bagging yarn together with patterns is a good idea? I'd like to get my stash organized and inventoried through the week after Christmas so that I'm ready to go at the beginning of next year. 


Limit Stash Enhancement: I'd like to stay within a monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: yarn, notions, needles, patterns and so on. Amounts can be borrowed from a coming month. Unused amounts can be carried forward from past months. Truthfully, I'd like to promise not to buy any more needles next year. I have more than one set at each size in straights and a good selection of circs, so this should be possible.


Manage my WIPs: No more than two projects on the needles at a time. No exceptions. I need to be disciplined about starting and finishing projects. And I need to be organized about planning projects in time for their deadlines - whether it be shipping dates for my favourite charities or birthdays for which a handknit is planned. Too often I'm leaving things to the last minute and then shopping instead of knitting.