The Mongrel Hoard

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes

2005-07-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

It's sturdy. It's solid. It's only $1.79 a skein. And again, it's ORANGE! (Woot!) This was a big leap for me, breaking out of my orange-phobia. But I keep seeing it around, and I keep loving it.Fun, fun stuff.
I'm thinking this needs to become a super quick vest for myself or someone like me. My baby sis, tho, is a little too fair of complexion for orange to be flattering. So it might have to be mine. (Hee.)

Ashford Tekapo

2005-07-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

Love this stuff (it's from New Zeland - how could I not?). I'd started a project with it once before, but I was at a super stressful point in my life and somehow ended up with a sweater for a toddler (!) rather than myself.
Sturdy and unassuming yarn, I'm thinking it will make the perfect modified version of Elsebeth Lavold's Freyja cardigan (waist length, buttons to neckline).

Dale Svale

2005-07-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

This stuff is sooooo soft and delicious. And it's orange(!). Not the craptacular orange of my alma mater's PE uniforms, mind you, but a pretty orange that won't make me look ill.
I've got 1100 yds and not a clue what to do with it. But I just couldn't leave it there in the store.

Stahl Hobby

2005-07-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

So, last Christmas, I got really ambitious and decided I'd make gifts for all of the nieces and nephews. Long story short, I now possess a crapload of sportweight yarn in assorted colors (brown, pink, two very close shades of burgundy, and denim) that needs to become something else. Suggestions?

Shetland Tweed

2005-07-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

A fabulous eBay score. 10 skeins of lovely, vaguely purple-y/heather-y-ness that I think is perfect for Jean Moss' Eriskay Cardigan (Knitter's #60), which needs longer sleeves but is otherwise perfect.

Berroco SensuWool

2005-07-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

13 skeins of this oldie-but-goodie have been marinating for several years, trying to determine what they'd like to be. Finally put two and two together when I realized I had the original pattern book for Tatania. If I ever get gauge on this, it'll be a match made in heaven.

Knit Picks Merino Style

2005-07-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love this yarn and this color, though it's totally not my style. I've only swatched it once, but I have dreams of a cute sleeveless vest from these eight skeins. Soft and cuddly (much like myself).

Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton

2005-07-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

This just recently surfaced from the stash. I believe I'd intended to make a set of decorative dishcloths with it. It's odd, because this yarn (umpteen years old) exactly matches the curtains I bought for our kitchen window. I suppose it was meant to be.

K1C2 Richesse et Soie

2005-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

This lush and beautiful yarn came my way as "payment" for participating in Lily's book The Urban Knitter. I've been meaning to make a lovely cabled tank top with it (Knitter's #61), but haven't quite gotten around to it yet.

Bendigo Woolen Mills - Muscat

2005-07-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

I can only find two of the many skeins I bought of this beautiful, very purple shade of wool - a great sadness to me, as I intended to use it for St. Brigid (there's a lovely one here). Perhaps I'll have to make it in black instead, as I seem to have a boatload of that around here.
The second shot is closer to real life.

Random Purple Boucle

2005-07-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, you know, the thing I was saying about Stitches and how it's like a crack house for yarn lovers? This yarn is evidence of that. I have a pound of this extremely fine 100% wool boucle yarn (I've never made a boucle item in my life) that I've no idea what to do with. I'm hoping that doublestranding it will at least bring it up to DK weight. I saw a lovely pattern by Carla in a recent Winter issue of VK that this would be great for.

Lanaknits Hemp Yarn

2005-07-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what the heck I intended to do with this - I might have purchased a pattern, but all I know is that Stitches makes me crazy. It's like a crack house where everyone else is hooked, too! And Lana was so nice, and I love the idea of a different natural fiber. I've got about 686 yds, which is enough for a lacy scarf or something.

Woolease

2005-07-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I am normally quite the yarn snob, but this was one of the few times in my life I've actually purchased the recommended yarn for a project: one of the Winter VKs had a nice pullover by Melissa Leapman. I've sincerealized that this color looks like crap on me, so it may be repurposed to make a sweater from the VK special Men's Issue for the Hubbo.

Gedifra For Ever

2005-07-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that title seem like it ought to be on a bathroom wall or scratched in an alley somewhere? I bought this a while ago (oh, how I love the eBay) to make a sweater that it turns out was completely unsuitable. I still love the yarn, though, and since I've got 1200 yds of sportweight goodness (40 wool/40 acryl/20 silk) I'm determined to come up with something fun and cozy.

Lion Brand Microspun

2005-07-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

I fell for the super duper softness of the skeins, and bought it when this stuff was first out on the market. Knitted up, it's not as soft, but I still want to use it. I have *just* enough to make a Goddess Tank from the cover of Spring 04 VK, though my swatch for this project felt a bit sleazy...

Cynthia Hélène Merino DK

2005-07-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Hélène was the Debbie Bliss of her day, which was unfortunately brief. I'd just come back from a student teaching jaunt in New Zealand when I fell in love with her yarns and the awesome patterns. It's a shame she is no longer in the yarn business, as I think the new batch of knitters would really have loved her stuff.
Anyway, these 13 balls are destined to become the Viking Turid, from Knitter's Fall 2000 issue.
Elsebeth Lavold, the designer of this gorgeous sweater, is the reason I buy Knitters.
I've really liked everything she's done for them.

Cascade 220

2005-07-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

One of the few yarns I come back to over and over, Cascade 220 is solid, workhouse stuff. The beautiful color range and sturdiness of the wool mean that I can knit-rip-reknit as many times as I need, and this stuff never complains. These six skeins are to make a vest (Spring '05 IK), ostensibly for the Boy-O. However, it is a color I happen to look amazingly good in, so it may just have to become a shared item.

Bendigo Woolen Mills Alpaca

2005-07-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have struggled with this yarn for years, trying to figure out what it wants to be. Everything I tried seemed wrong. But Fall '04 VK featured a gorgeous lace & cable sweater by Michael Kors that I think would be perfect for this stuff - I just have to figure out if I can stand to have another cream colored sweater -- the kool aid colors are so tempting...

Beaverslide Dry Goods

2005-07-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

What the heck is a beaverslide? See here for the answer - and some of the loveliest, hearty wool you'll find on this side of the Aran Isles. I had begun designing for a hacking jacket with this, but I found an old VK with a similar pattern, so I may just modify that instead. This color's called Marsh Sedge - it's much more intense in real life.

Patons Classic Wool

2005-07-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

I bought this yarn last October to make this incredibly handsome sweater featured in the Fall '04 Interweave Knits. Unfortunately, I made the dumb@ss mistake of starting with the sleeves. I *hate* doing both sleeves at once. But, since I do so much knitting for me, I have made a
little deal with myself that the Hubbo gets at least one sweater per year. Since I'm this far in, I probably ought to get back to it. It'll be faster than starting something else, right?

Bendigo Woolen Mills Baby Wool

2005-07-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to take pictures of cream colored wool - it always comes out flat and dull looking. This yarn was bought many, many moons ago for one of my favorite dream projects: Elizabeth I from Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses. Sigh. Someday, I will be woman enough to wear this sweater...

Jo Sharp Aran Tweed

2005-07-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Boy-O, on that same honeymoon, requested a somewhat longer version of the hat I made him. What else could I say? Of course he should have a new hat. He picked out this lovely color of Aran Tweed all by his lonesome. I look forward to knitting this up.

Classic Elite Imagine

2005-07-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of the concept of "souvenir yarn" - it's a nice memento of a trip - far better than useless keychains (which I have bought) or cute, but useless collector spoons (which I was once given). This was acquired on the honeymoon in Portland, Oregon (first time I've ever paid full price for something I *knew* to be on clearance elsewhere -- I was distracted by the shiny new husband and his incredible cuteness).

It is destined to become -- what else? -- Julia's Honeymoon Cami from Knitty.

Jaeger Wool Stretch

2005-07-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist this color - I needed it to come home with me.
A pattern was purchased as well, though that seems safely lost in the mists of time.
10 skeins, 218 yds per. The little dab of lycra give this yarn a pleasant 'sproing-iness'.
It's a bit darker in real life - more of a merlot sort of color than the burgundy of the picture.

Projects and Concepts and One offs, oh my!

2005-07-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

This blog was originally started to make Chelsea feel a bit less like a wool ho, but I think it will also be useful for me to capture the projects that I have in mind for the various skeins in my copious stash. I am notoriously forgetful of why I bought a particular yarn, and this will help me figure out what to do with it all!

Without further ado, here goes!

This is, I believe, the sum total of my sock yarn. (This disclaimer is because I have absolutely no idea if that's true - I sometimes hide things from myself. Like, for example, I am sure I bought some of that self striping yarn in bright colors - I just couldn't tell you where it was if my life depended on it.)

At any rate, there's yarn for St Peter's Port Stripes, from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks, and the other yarn is just stuff I bought because I liked it. The white is Dale's Stork, which may become those cute tennis socks in the Vogue Socks on the Go, and the greens (Catania) are the perfect trim. The red is also Catania, but I don't have a pattern in mind for it, or the JaWool or Sockatta in the back. The lone skein of Cleckheaton Tencel Wool has a partner as well - again, it's floating around the stash.