it's a new dawn!

and a new year, and now, a new month - february!


as the new year was approaching i actually took some time and pondered where i wanted my ship to sail this year in regards to my knitting adventures. 


let me make this perfectly clear before i go one step further - i have never encountered a brick and mortar or internet yarn shop that i did not love - hence, over the course of time, i have amassed a rather large stash of a variety of different yarns. this stash has finally reached the point where i have hit the wall - i really need to get a grip on my stash building and begin to consume some of it before i make another purchase. i recently opened several storage places where i have yarn squirreled away and discovered yarn that i had no idea  when or where or why it was purchased!!! i found this to be somewhat frightening!


so... i resolved that 2012 would be the year of the big yarn bust!! i'm most happy to report that i have successfully survived the first month!! here was my mode of operandi: i found a hat pattern that i thought was pretty swell, dug around and found all of the type of yarn called for and went to work - my pattern was "vortex" by lee meredith, and my yarn was noro kureyon, of which i had approximately 4 different skeins. 

with this pattern, you combine two different skeins for one hat so, tada, i was able to complete eight adult hats and two hats for kids. the biggest gain from this knitting experience was that i really solidified my kitchener stitch skills, something that had been lacking from my skill set - win, win, win!


i love this hat which is a good thing since i now have 8 of them - they remind me of dr. seuss and just thinking about that has to make one happy!


as if stash busting wasn't enough of a challenge, i decided to throw caution to the wind and toss a couple of extra caveats into the resolution mix -why not knit a pair of socks and a shawl or scarf each month? well, why not?

here are the scarves: the pattern is "holding hands, feeding ducks", a freebie on ravelry. the yarn i used for the yellow/blue/green number was two skeins of magallanes by araucania yarns - 484 yards total.

the second and third scarves are blue moon fiber arts labrador - 100% australian wool - 200 yards. all were chunky yarns of the thick and thin variety and were knit on size 10.5 needles. the stitch pattern is called the star stitch and was very simple once you get the hang of it!!

as for socks, i knit up a pair of anklets of my own design using knit picks dancing - a cotton, wool, nylon and elastic mix - a perfect summer yarn, nice and light. these were knit on a size 1, 9 inch circular needle which was an interesting experience! was able to use my new gained kitchener stitch knowledge to complete the toe! woo, hoo!

so, it's a new dawn and a new month - i'll let you know what february brings!