Stash Dash 2015: results

This summer, I did a 5km. in knitting, of course.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it and when I had finished the last of my WIPs on Thursday the 13th, I realized I was short about 50 yards. So I pulled a half-ball of acrylic out of stash, estimated its yardage at about 73 yards, and crocheted it into a (rather ugly) baby hat. I forgot how fast crochet is --that was just about an hour and a half for a project. Simple,simple, and with that I hit my goal.

What sorts of things did I finish?

1) The Sweater

This is my first "real" sweater. It's a pretty good fit (I might need to re-do the bindoff) and it turned out almost exactly as I wanted it. I have the ends to weave in (as you can see) and I also need to put buttons on the sleeves (they are the major modification to the project--3/4 length instead of full, fitted instead of loose, knitted on edging, sideways garter instead of downwards garter for a pulled-in rather than belled-out effect, with a button). Finally I think I may do some sort of crochet chain along the neck ribbing--it is a bit open.

The pattern is Harvest, by tin can knits; this is a free easy pattern, part of their Simple Collection, which is designed to guide beginning knitters. I found it easy and informative to follow up until a certain point--after I took the sleeves off, I did pretty much my own thing, but upon reviewing, "my own thing" was basically "instructions" without a few decreases, plus the sleeve thing. I would recommend this pattern for anyone looking to start their first cardigan.

I knit the second-biggest size without huge concern for gauge (I had swatched three or four years back and this fit in the region of "close").

The yarn is by Dragonfly Fibers, their Worsted base, which is discontinued (it's essentially the same as their Traveller base though) in the 'That Ol' Chestnut' colorway. The color is not dyed the same way any more (it's much darker now), but a close color alternative would be 'Copper Cloud' by Leading Men Fiber Arts (though I have not seen this in person to compare). I alternated skeins of That Ol' Chestnut throughout after carefully selecting the 5 balls that were closest matched, and as of yet there appears to be no noticeably different sections.

2) The Blanket
You may remember me knitting this last summer for Stash Dash. Unfortunately after I finished it I just was not as happy with it. It was too small. So I picked up two balls of a close-but-not-identical gray and knit an edging onto it

I was going to take a great picture of it but Sunshine has claimed it as hers. Surprised? no. Anyway, the slightly darker gray border that you see on the top edge extends all the way around and gives it a much more completed look. I need to weave in the ends too and then block it and get a good, cat-free picture.

3) Clapotis
I have tons of fingering yarn that's destined for projects that I haven't touched in years and years. This summer I decided to knit up one of my precious deep stash skeins of Handmaiden Casbah, a merino-cashmere-nylon blend of fingering weight yarn. Casbah is like my kryptonite: the MCN base is exquisitely plush and wonderful, and the colors that Handmaiden dyes up are to die for. I have 5 skeins in my stash yet and I still have no idea what to do with them--I just had to collect them.'

mm. beautiful. This was the Masala colorway and it turned out perfect as a Clapotis.

those are the majority of the things. I also knocked out a pair of socks, a cowl, a hat, a pair of mitts and a pair of mittens, and 16 oz of spinning. and the ugly baby hat

So, now that I finished all that stuff, I've been puttering around from project to project. I pick up yarn and just put it down again. Not sure what I want. I was worried until last night, when I found myself pulling my Baruffa Cashwool out of hibernating and starting my intricate Estonian Lace shawl again. Apparently what I am craving is "fiddly" and "laceweight". We'll see how long this trend lasts

I finished the sweater!

The sweater is done! I may at some point need to: affix buttons; weave in ends; remove life line; re-do the bind off edge if it is too tight. But the knitting is complete so I give it a big fat FINISHED stamp. This with my other FOs and spinning brings me up to 3601 yards

Now, if you have been paying careful attention, you may have noted that Stash Dash 2015 ends on the 14th of August and that I still need to make it to 5469 yards. To you I say, do not fear, for I still have one huge WIP that can turn into a FO of many yardages. The lovely blanket pictured in an earlier entry is in its last stage, gaining a border, and I am into the last ball of worsted weight as I knit that. I also have a pair of mittens that are just an inch or two from being done (an hour or two's worth of work, surely no more). So fear not! with those two combinations I will make it to... drumroll, please... 5417 yards.

crap. yeah. that's right. I'm gonna be short of stash dash by 50 stinking yards.

I'm sure I can crank out a 50 yard something (bulky hat, anyone?) but at this point I'm so bitter I don't think I want to even try any more.

Anyway, I still have 5 days left, so instead of blogging, I'm off to poke this blanket and see if I can't bang it out real quick.