To destash or not to destash

Sometimes I humor the idea of destashing some yarn. I pull out all of my yarn (it's really not that much, just a quarter closet full), I separate the bins, and decide where I am going to put the "destash pile".

First I start with my massive amount of sock yarn. I pull out the skeins that I definitely want to keep, put them back into the bin. Then I pull out the ones that I have ideas for, put them back into the bin. Then I pull out the ones that I am not sure of and put them aside for the destash pile.

I do the same for the rest of my yarn weights. These don't take as much time because I like to knit with heavier-than-sock weights. These are often tagged for sweaters and gifts.

I give my destash pile a once-over and pull out the balls/skeins that still speak to me...crazy colors - SOCKS for my daughter, too-similar color - SHAWL for a gift, too small yardage - DOLL CLOTHES for my niece, you get the idea.

I then take a final look at my destash pile and wonder if people will really pay $5 for even a lot for the yarn I first bought when I started knitting 3+ years ago...

And there you have it...the answer to my post title.

Blocked and ready to be seamed...

I finished knitting Max's sweater a few days ago. It has been washed and blocked. I've started seaming it. It is taking forever. Although I am glad that I learned how to seam (both for the learning experience and the fact that there are so much more patterns for seamed garments) I will probably always try to minimize doing so with the things that I knit.

Goomba Hat

As part of a gift, I made a Goomba Hat, using Fadecrazy's chart. Since I knit the hat in the round (I could not bring myself to knit it flat), I used duplicate stitch to add the face to the hat, with Plymouth Encore in brown and white, and Plymouth Encore Tweed (for the eyebrows). For the actual hat, I used the top-down hat technique from Cathy Carron's Hip Knit Hats. It's a cute hat and I hope that the recipient likes it!

Doll Clothes

My niece has an American Girl Doll. Apparently, she LOVES her doll. I've seen books for these dolls and one of my knitting friends mentioned that some of them relate to different times in American History. I thought this was pretty interesting and humored the possibility of buying one for my daughter. Have you seen the cost of those dolls?!?! They are close to $100 retail. GAH! Plus the fact that my girl is not a girly-girl and isn't really all that interested, I dropped that idea faster than an overpopped popcorn bag. More shocking (to me, anyway) is the cost of the clothes for these dolls. Some of the outfits cost more than clothes that I buy for myself and my kids.

Anyway, my sister-in-law asked in passing if I could make clothes for her daughter's doll. I made a few for her last year and she seemed to like them; she still dresses her doll in those clothes. I figured I would make more for her this year (and practice my seaming - ha!). I made a dress for her in yellow Plymouth Encore and made a top in blue Berocco Comfort DK. I plan on making one more top in a pink color and will probably make some pants for the 2 tops. I also want to make a nightgown as well. If I have time, perhaps I can make matching sweaters...but at the moment that seems like a lot.

Hmmm...I almost wish my daughter was into these dolls. It would give me an(other) excuse to buy yarn and make more doll clothes.

Who knew?

I reknit both the front and back parts of Max's sweater and am now blocking them and the sleeves.

I washed the parts in my washing machine, hoping to get all of them saturated and fully spun out. I am happy to announce that the stitches in the back evened out - I was worried because the bottom portion of it was knit with a size 8 needle and I reknit the rest of it with a size 10 needle. Yippee!! My gamble paid off.

Hopefully I can finish seaming it tomorrow and start on the ribbing. It will be awesome if it can be done by the weekend.

Happy Day!

But I got gauge...

I started to stitch together Max's sweater yesterday...and it looked like this:


Long arms, short body. The ribbing would only add 4 cm. GASP!!

So I frogged the front and totally reknit it yesterday, during my son's playtime at the mall playarea. Last night, I looked at my beautiful Goomba face on the back and decided that I would use a size 10 needle and just frog above the Goomba face. I am hoping (crossing my fingers hard!) that it evens out in the wash...I will block it better this time! I miss my top-down seamless knits :(

No Whining Zone

My house has a No Whining Zone. Actually the only rooms where whining is allowed is in my children's 2 rooms. Respectively. And I am very happy to say that it works.

Today, I took my son to the local mall playpark and he made lots of new friends and had a grand time...so much that he did not want to leave. He cried the whole way car drive to our house that he did not want to go home and he wanted to go back to the playpark.

I reminded him that because we were home, he had to go to his room and finish whining. I closed his door, he opened it, I went into my bedroom to make the bed (better late than never, right?), locked my door and listened to him complain that my door was locked and he wanted to go back to the playpark. When I finished with the bed, I opened the door, asked him if he was done whining. He looked at me and whimpered a bit. I picked him up (mommy hugs always helps the whinies go away), carried him to the kitchen and asked him what he wanted for lunch. He chose Chef Boyardee Raviolis.

Now it is quiet and the whinies have returned to Whiny Land. I know they won't stay there but at least I and my kids know that if they return they are not allowed in the No Whining Zone.