Wednesday 4 March 2015

Ravelry Fun!



I have now stashed 106 yarns on Ravelry and I am so excited! This is a revelation to me - why have I not used this feature before?! As I am adding them to Rav, I am storing them in plastic crates - with labels on them that match where I have 'stored' them in Rav. Genius! Way better than boxes labelled 'wool' and goodness knows what is in them. Now I can look at a photo of the yarn to decide which one I want to use, how much I have, where it is - oh me, oh my, I could rave about this for days!
I know everyone else is nodding, saying 'umm, where have you been all this time? Living under a rock?' so I will stop gushing now. But it it super amazingly useful, wouldn't you agree?
So come and check out my stash! Oh, hang on, or is that just me? Am I being a kind of creepy yarn voyeur by looking at what other people have in their stashes?! 



Must be that I am not a lady then!
It is a bit scary though as I now cannot convince hubby that there isn't really THAT much yarn. Now it is starting to be collected into one spot, I can see that actually, yes, there is 
a ton of yarn there.



I wonder who has the biggest stash on Ravelry?!

On another note, I have a friend who wants to yarn bomb her whole house - pretty sure I can set her up for yarn there!



All I did was send her this cartoon and she is running with it! Not sure yet exactly what form it will take, but I will definitely post some photos.

I have started the Colin Vest. Super easy, no thinking knitting. Great for my Audrey Hepburn movie marathon I have going on! Tonight will be Funny Face.



I am using Jorstad Creek BFL Tweed Sock Yarn, held double throughout. So I started with 2 threads of Chestnut for the garter stitch band, then 1 strand each of Chestnut and Caribbean Sea for 6 rows, then 1 strand each of Chestnut and Vermillion, etc. Until I work my way through all these lovely mini-skeins. 



I love the effect so far; and the yarn is divine! So soft and cuddly. I want to rub it on my cheek all the time as I knit (or is that another weird thing that no one else does?!)
I am hoping I will have enough to complete it as I have been on the internet trying to source some more with no luck. It came in a monthly sock yarn subscription and often the yarns are dyed just for that. 
Fingers crossed!




I haven't actually started any of these books as I just returned home from the library. But I am definitely sensing a theme in my reading here!
I just love those books about other books - boy, that makes no sense, but do you know what I mean?!
For example, The Little Women Letters is about Lulu who finds Grandma Jo's old letters up in the attic and dark family secrets emerge. I'm fascinated to hear what the author thinks Jo March's dark family secrets are!
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen - title pretty much explains it. Same sort of thing; Jane's memoirs are found in an old attic chest, revealing the untold story of a love affair.
Ruth's Journey tells the story of Mammy from Gone With The Wind.

I am looking forward to each of these, and to see some lovely knitting and find some more titles to place on my reading list.

Linking today with Small Things for Yarn Along.







32 comments:

  1. Oh your books look absolutely divine! I am going to have to look for them this weekend on my library trip! And as far as organizing my yarn - yeah, that doesn't happen. But, I have been working really hard to work from my stash, and am just about at the point where I can't make any projects out of what I have left besides a scrap blanket. Maybe that means I need to make a big shopping trip...

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  2. Wow, you will need to go shopping! I am working on reducing the stash, but as it is so big to start with - well, it is a work in progress! I am starting the Little Women book tonight - hope it is as good as I am expecting.

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  3. Love and am laughing my way through your post this morning! :) I will have to revisit Rav's stash feature (I do have a few listed, but like the practicality of it immensely. Of course, it would take forever to add all my yarn... maybe when I run out of things to do?! ha! Love the Maggie Smith pic!

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    1. So happy you enjoyed it! I am doing it a bit at a time so it will take a while! I take about 20 photos a day to upload. I am a bit scared at what the final total will be!

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  4. Your post has me laughing! I have tried to use the stash feature but really I don't have too crazy of a stash. What I really need to get is a food scale so I can add how much of a partial skein I have left to help decide what yarn to use for different projects...

    I love your vest, those colors are gorgeous!
    And I run yarn around on my neck instead of my cheeks; it's a very practical way to read the itch factor since my daughter and I both can't stand any itch and I find I can tell best with my neck! I'm sure it looks quite strange but if it works...

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    1. Happy you liked it! You know, I have read a few posts where people say they weigh a garment and weigh the yarn to see if they have enough to make it. How come I never worked that out before? I just take a guess and hope for the best!
      Definitely nothing worse than itchy wool! Or making something that no one will wear cause it itches!

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  5. stashing on ravelry is quite helpful and I try to remember to use it! love your book pile and your knitting :)

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    1. Thanks - I am finding it really useful too. I started one of the books last night - only read 4 pages though before I fell asleep!

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  6. I started adding my stash to Ravelry about 1.5 years ago and loved it. I haven't used it in a while so I am glad you brought it up.......maybe I will have time in the next while to freshen it up again :) Your Colin Vest looks wonderful.
    x

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    1. Thanks so much! I got a lot knitted last night after I posted - have seven different colours knitted now!

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  7. Oh my goodness I laughed so hard reading this. First off, because I didn't know about the stash on ravelry and now i ALSO want to know who has the biggest stash. (Mine fits in 2 baskets now - normal sized baskets I might add - and has for 2 years since I did my stash busting). So i have major yarn envy.
    I love the subltety of the stripes that you are working with chestnut at the same time. Very distinctly stripes but not in your face. Love that.
    And I so SO want to see a yarn bombed house. How hilarious would that be?

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    1. So happy you enjoyed it! Wow, two baskets - you are good! Lucky I am working on stash busting this year too, as I have just a teensy bit more than that! I have knitted seven different colours into the vest since I posted. I love it so much - the yarn is gorgeous! Maybe, just maybe, it will make the FO Friday post this week!

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  8. I spent one morning a year or so ago and cataloged all of my "stash". A lot of is crappy acrylic yarn that was gifted to me that I use on blankets made for Project Linus!

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    1. It would be great if I could get it all done in one hit - kids tend to intervene with any plan like that! Project Linus is a great cause.

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  9. Great post Jayne, I've really enjoyed reading it. I have to put my hand up as a cheek rubber here, squishing your face into soft yarn is one of life's great pleasures.
    On the subject of stash, have you browsed the Flash your Stash 2015 thread on the Ravelry forums - it is scarey - we stand at the top of a very slippery slope!

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    1. Love doing that with yarn! Have even been known to do it at the shop (after checking no one was looking, of course!)
      Oh my, I will be checking that thread out right now - obviously I am not the only stash stalker out there!!

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  10. I love the idea of the small skeins being used to stripe it!! Can't wait to see it done. I am getting ready to start a vest and stripe it with a Fibonacci sequence. I only have 4 colors though, so it won't be as exciting as yours.

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    1. Cannot wait to see your Fibonacci vest - that sounds fascinating. My yarn subscriptions are my only yarn weakness this year - I really love the mini skein parcel!

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  11. Okay, so I guess I've been living under a rock also. I don't think I have as much yarn as you do in your stash, but then again I haven't photographed and catalogued it. This may be a summer project. Love the knitting and humor.

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    1. So glad you liked it - thanks for visiting! I didn't think I had too much yarn either until I started listing it and the number just kept going up!

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  12. You have a lovely stash! And such a good idea to catalogue it. I joined Ravelry about a year ago but I never get around to using it. I don't know why because it has such clever and useful features and I'm always meaning to. Fun cartoons too - good luck to your friend :)

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    1. Next thing I need to do is catalogue all my patterns and books. I think that will also be super useful to have in one spot.
      I sure hope she pulls off her yarn bombed house. She has already done the big oak in her front yard.

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  13. Mammy from Gone with the Wind was one of my fav characters - I'll check out that book thank you!

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    1. Yes, I'm looking forward to reading it. Maybe time to re-watch the movie as well?!

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  14. Those are gorgeous colors for the vest! And I'm impressed that you've photographed your stash! It's all I can do to put up the FOs! I'd like to though :) Good work!

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  15. Thanks! The vest is coming along nicely. It has taken me a LONG time to get to putting anything on Ravelry at all, so it has become a bit of an obsession now!

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  16. I have used the yarn stash feature to buy some yarn off a fellow raveler (is that a word?) when I had run out, but I don't use it myself as I don't have what you would call a stash. It's just the ends of balls from previous projects, takes up a whole drawer tho' ;)

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    1. That is a handy feature. I was hoping I would be able to find some yarn I need that way. There was heaps in stashes, but no one was selling! Those ends from other projects add up though, don't they? And then you have to think of something to do with them!

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  17. Your vest looks like it's coming along great. I love the colors of the tweed yarn you're using.

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    1. The more I knit, the more I love it! I want one for me now in the same colours!

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  18. I love looking at other people's stash pictures. I finally tried to put my stash all together to take a group picture this year. Well, let's just say they didn't all make it in one place.

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    1. Yes, I haven't dared put it all in one place! That would be way too scary!

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