SABLE

(Sable: Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.)

Summertime: the weather is fantastic, the sunsets are amazing, and yarn sales are plentiful. What?

Lately, I have been noticing major closeouts from LYS (Local Yarn Shops) and LYS Online. My guess is that the shops are getting ready for fall and selling discontinued yarn lines or colorways.

On Ravelry, knitters have also been putting their yarn up for sale.  The reasons are varied: a moving sale, to fund a vacation, spring/summer cleaning, or just to lessen the stash.  Which makes for a whole lotta destashing going on.  

All so tempting.  Because, let's face it, knitters and fibery folk have a stash.  They love their fiber and yarn.  It's not hoarding (I don't think) it's potential.  Potential that a little bit of fluff can be turned into a pretty scarf or shawl/ette, a pair of cozy socks, or a beautiful sweater.  Some have a small stash, others not so small.

For the past couple of months I have been adding to my own stash.  What makes it different this time is I have been purchasing sweater quantities in addition to my usual single skein amounts.  Behold the yarny goodness:

Madelinetosh Yarns Vintage, 2-mixed bag single skeins (10) from Little Knits.com ~

"One of a kind" colorways

mmmMalabrigo Worsted, 6 skeins plus a bonus wound ball (7), from a Ravelry destash ~

Olive colorway

 Cascade Yarns Venezia, 2-full bags of 5 skeins (10), from Little Knits.com ~

Black Forest and Silver Lavender colorways

I think my stash (in comparison to other knitters on Ravelry) is "small".  I have not reached SABLE . . . yet.

Weaving With Milk

Last summer, I bought Queensland Collection Leché yarn on sale. Leché was priced at 78% off the list price. Little Knits.com was practically giving it away! Although I now have one foot in the SABLE doorway I have no regrets that I bought a whole lotta Leché. Twice.

November's Second Carton of Milk

The Leché yarn has continuously been on a pair of needles as I knit up cozy cowls (neckwarmers) to give away as gifts. The Leché cowls have made great gifts because they are luxurious next to the skin, warm, and the colors are vibrant with the sheen of silk. I can't say enough about the yarn for knitting.

So I wondered if I could weave with Leché? Would it break if I used it as the warp (lengthwise) yarn? Could the fibers handle the repetitive stress of weaving?

And the answers were ~ Yup, Nope, Yup.

I dusted off my 10" Cricket Loom and direct-warped: 98" length, 7" width, using the 8-dent reed (8 slots per inch) which makes for a very open-weave fabric.

I used the Creamy Beige Leché and threw in some SMC Dream (velvety fleece with a strand of mini-boucle) in the colorway Hazelnut. I used the Hazelnut on the edges, in the middle, and warped it off-center on purpose. I wanted asymmetrical, not sure why. Maybe because I didn't have a plan and was just going to weave in the Hazelnut willy-nilly which is what I did.

Fringe Twister (a.k.a. Conair Hair Braider)

After wet blocking the finished size is 6" x 72" with an additional 2.5" fringe on each end.

I used almost 2 balls of Leché and a little more than ½ ball of Dream. I didn't do much stash busting with this scarf but it sure was fun and the results are lovely. The scarf turned out drapey, soft, and extremely cuddly. The Leché is becoming my workhorse workcow yarn.

"Leché" by Queensland Collection is a plied worsted of 40% Extrafine Merino Wool, 30% Microfiber, 20% Milk Protein, and 10% Silk.

Bits and Bobs: Using it All

I've mentioned my yarn stash before.  So now it looks like my stash has a stash ~

• single skeins of yarn (what was I thinking?)
• souvenir yarn ("grab and go")
• small balls of leftover yarn - too little to make anything, too much to throw away.

You get the picture.

And, besides, fiber folk don't won't can't throw anything away.

I thought I would take some of those odds and ends and knit up charity scarves.  I cast on 250 stitches on size US 10 needles that took forever.  It just about put me to sleep.  Then I started knitting long rows of garter stitch.  Again, it just about put me to sleep.  I was shooting for 4" wide by 60" long and ended with 3.75" by 72".  Good enough, I had to stop.

Long Skinny Scrappy Scarf

There had to be another way to use up the scraps.  A quicker less boring way.

I dusted off my 10" Cricket Loom -it's been awhile- and gathered all the bits and bobs of yarn: acrylic, alpaca, cotton, lambs wool, merino wool, mohair (looking at you Souvenir yarn), silk blends, and various other yarn blends.

Scrappy Woven Scarf

Souvenir Yarn Section

I love how the woven scarf turned out and I'm making a wee bit of progress using up the stash, inch by inch.  Good thing too since I just received another box of yarn and I'm embarrassed that it was so heavy and huge.  I mean humongous!  SABLE here I come.

Yikes, more yarn!

Three Bags Full

Baa baa black sheep 

have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

three bags full.

One for the Master, one for the Dame,

and one for the little boy that lives down the lane.

Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,
three bags full.

 

Baa baa white sheep

have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

three needles full.

One to mend a jumper, one to mend a frock,

and one for the little girl with holes in her socks.

Baa baa white sheep have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir, 

three bags full.

Baa baa grey sheep

have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

three bags full.

One for the kitten, one for the cats,

and one for the guinea pig to knit some woolly hats.

Baa baa grey sheep have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

three bags full.

YouTube gank: Baa Baa Black Sheep with Lyrics

Kids Songs and Nursery Rhymes by EFlashApps

Cleaning and Reorganizing Craft Room, August 2016

First, I moved everything out of the Craft Room and yarn closet. (Lets just say it's a good thing we have two spare bedrooms and a spare bathroom.)

I added a chair from downstairs and made a Sit-N-Knit corner and moved the Schacht Cricket 10" and Flip 20" to make a Loom-Along wall.

All the yarn was inspected, inventoried, and - gasp - placed back in the closet.
Yowzer! It's SABLE.

I'm very pleased with the results. Even The Man comes in to sit for a bit.

At the end of the day, it's a nice place to be.

Santa Baby

I must've been an awfully good girl. Looky here:

Very cool sheep breed design canvas tote bag and zippered canvas pouch from Ravelry. It was generously marked down because of a typo - Romeldale - was missing an "L". The misprint items sold out super quick. Crazy knitters. (Psst, it took me a long time to find Romedale/Romeldale.)

 
(Ahem) Yarn. A crazy good deal on Noro Kogarashi - silk and wool blend, bulky-weight yarn, and a few skeins of Cascade Casablanca - a Noro-like worsted wool, silk, and mohair blend.

 

Already started a quick cozy comfy cowl with the bulky-weight Noro.

 

Weaving: Schacht 11" slim Boat Shuttle, Fiber Artist Supply Co. Bobbin winder, and a bunch of plastic bobbins.

Everyone checking out the new weaving loot tools just before The Man stained the unfinished maple wood bobbin winder with danish oil.

 

Santa baby, just slip a Sable under the tree for me;
Been an awful good girl, Santa baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight.  (Javits/Springer, 1953)