Fiber Arts 34 | Through The Yarny Curtain

Stashdown

In December 2013, I looked at my shelves of yarn and noticed how they runneth over. My craft supplies, including most of my yarn, are stored on two bookshelves in my bedroom. I originally designated three shelves for animal fiber yarns, one shelf for cotton yarns, one shelf for my knitting books, and one shelf for finished projects waiting to be gifted and UFOs. Here’s what the shelves looked like when I first put my yarn on them:

By the end of 2013, 6 shelves were stuffed with yarn, and I had more yarn that I needed to put away but did not have space. I updated my Rav stash to current, and discovered that I had 93,835 yards (that’s 53.32 miles) of yarn. That is too much. Something needed to change.

Ladder Stitch Dishcloths

SPOILER ALERT: If you are a reader who knows me in person and exchanges Christmas gifts with me, you might want to skip this post.

My friend Stacy taught me to crochet last year with this pattern. I have found it to be a good pattern for learning because it requires you to chain, single, crochet, and double crochet throughout. You also have to be able to recognize and count your stitches. Until May 2014, the entire extent of my crocheting was 3 of these dishcloths, and I the last one was completed in October. Since I was doing the granny squares to increase my crochet skills, I was planning to make only one of these dishcloths in May, as a way of remembering / reinforcing the skills I had learned from it. These dishcloths are so quick and easy for me now that I just couldn’t stop making them and I ended up making seven.

May 2014 Wrap Up

The last few days have been a whirlwind of crafting and posting classes in HPKCHC. Now that the first month of term is over, I thought I would take a moment to see if I had met the goals I set for this month. I have three finished projects that have not yet gotten their own blog posts: the MAPLE LEAF shawl, the Ladderstitch Dishcloths, and some dyeing experiments. I will be writing up detailed posts on those projects and posting them over the next couple days. In the mean time, here’s the overview!

WIP Wednesday: May 28, 2014

Somehow I have no WIPs to share this week. I’ve finished everything I picked up this week, so either there is no progress at all or the project is complete and waiting for me to take pix and write a blog post for it. Nevertheless, I want to keep up the habit of this weekly update so here’s a quick look at the past week in my fiber crafting life.

Sapphire & Scarlet Monsters

I finished two monsters, which I turned in for HPKCHC Quidditch Round 2. Here’s the Official Stats:

Pattern: Hugo the Couch Potato Monster by Rebecca Danger
Yarn: 141 yards Vanna’s Choice in Sapphire / 137 yards Vanna’s Choice in Scarlet
Needles: US 5 /3.75 mm
Finished Dimensions: approximately 12″ tall
Made for: Hartford (Connecticut) Children’s Hospital, pediatric oncology floor
Ravelry Project Page: Sapphire Hugo / Scarlet Hugo