Yarn Diet '11 Part 1

It wasn't easy, but I took out all of my yarn and took pictures of it today. I have to say, I was surprised by the number. It's amazing how much yarn you can cram into places around the house. I seem to have it all over, even though I have two specific places to keep it. I guess that's the way it goes.

And the final start count in number of skeins (even counting partial is)... 244.

I've added a count below the Yarn Diet button in the right sidebar for those who want to keep track with me. Each time I use a skein/ball/hank/cake down to the point where I can no longer make anything else with it, I will take it off the counter.

I hope over the next five months to be able to use at least half of it. For details of the yarn diet, please see this post. Despite being able to buy yarn five times during the 5 month diet, I hope to not even do that, but we'll see!

To see pictures of my stash for the yarn diet, please click here to my Flickr page.

I'd love to see pictures of those participating. Just add a link to the Mr Linky below to share your post about your yarn diet. I will keep the Mr Linky open for the full 5 months so we can keep adding links to our new posts to keep a record over time. Please be sure to link directly to the actual yarn diet post and not your blog url. Thank you!

FO Friday 15

As I mentioned in this week's WIPW, I'm out of town so won't be participating in this FO Friday. I wanted to make sure that I got something up for you guys to post your links!

I hope you all have a VERY safe New Year! Here's to a great 2011!

Share your FOs!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 21

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I'm actually writing this last week, since I knew I wouldn't be able to post it this week, so I actually haven't had Christmas yet. LOL, I'm sure it was great. I'll share what I got when I'm back home and have time to blog. :)

This will be short, but I wanted to share something with you. By now, I hope these are finished, but since you wouldn't have been able to see them in their WIP state, I thought I would share.



The colors of both pictures are going to kind of suck. Today is the first day it hasn't rained in a week, but the sun still doesn't want to come out. Anyway, this is a pretty green Sage. My husband is HUGE into tiki, so when I saw this pattern, I knew I had to plop down the money to get the pattern. I hoped to finish it by Christmas, but that probably didn't happen. Anyway, at least I have a start and will be giving it to him in whatever state it is in before completing it. It will go as a set along with the daiquiri one I made. If anyone knows of any other tiki themed knitting or crochet patterns out there, let me know. There aren't that many on Ravelry.



This was a skein of cotton I ordered during Cyber Monday from Joann's. I had no clue what it would look like, but in the picture it looked fun and I was right! I wasn't going to start anything new, but I wanted to knit the other night (actually it was last week) and my husband was home so I couldn't work on the tiki bar cloth. This is the pattern I'm using. It's easy, yet I learned something new, so that's cool. I have no clue what I'll do with it after, probably use it in the kitchen. This is the first project I've used with the nickel plated needles from my Knit Pick's try me pack. I like them, but not a huge fan of how slippery they are. I think, after trying all three of their needles, the Harmony wood ones win out. Each one has a good quality, but I think across the board, the Harmonys have decent slide, grip and have nice points to them.

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Yarn Diet '11 is (Almost) Here!

As I've mentioned a few times leading up to today, I will be partaking in a yarn diet with Alea and whoever would like to join us. We are doing this because over the past six months or so, we've bought yarn on whims (or sometimes with certain projects in mind) and have a lot of it to go around. I think we both realized this needed to happen when each month of Flash Your Stash, our stashes seemed to double.

Without further ad0, the rules and exceptions of our yarn diet:

Length of time: January 1st-June 1st or until over half of your stash is gone. Obviously it's pretty hard to use every single little piece of yarn in each skein/ball/cake/hank, so if it's down to the point you can find much to do with it, then that is considered finished.

What may be purchased in that time: During the yarn diet, the participant is allowed to buy yarn 5 times. At each purchase, you may spend or buy however much you want. This includes LYS, box stores and even online shopping (basically any yarn purchases). You may also still buy as part of a swap and/or gift. Also, if you short less than half the skeins to finish a project (let's say you're making a scarf and you run short of yarn by 1 skein) you are able to purchase JUST that ONE item and it won't count against you.

Punishment: For each time you go past the 5 given times you may purchase yarn during January 1-June 1, you will have another month added to the yarn diet, which will not include another chance to buy yarn for that month.

To participate: Just comment on this post (or the one I will be doing at the beginning of the year) to let us know you're joining us. Then, take pictures of all of your yarn and count how many skeins you have. I know some people have way too much to count it all, so if that's the case, keep track of how many bags/bins etc you have it in and gauge that way. Then, sometime in the first week of January, post on your blog all the pictures. That way, we can document the stash as time goes on. I will have a Mr Linky attached to my yarn diet posts where you can post new links to new pictures as the months go on.

Feel free to use the button (thanks to Alea for making this for us!) at the top of this post for your Yarn Diet posts and/or the one in the sidebar (a smaller version).

This is supposed to be fun, so don't get stressed over it. It will be a breath of fresh air using yarn that has been sitting waiting to be used for months or maybe even years. I know I can't wait to get rid of some of it, and even find unique projects to make. Just think how refreshing it will be come June 1st when you can replace the yarn you used with even more yarn!

If you have any comments or questions, please let me know in the comments section! I'll be happy to answer them.

I look forward to posting my first official yarn diet post in the first week of January, but before then, I'm heading to a LYS!

FO Friday 15

Happy Christmas Eve!!! Soo excited! I hope you all finished the gifts that were last minute. I LOVE Christmas, and love giving presents. I think that's the best part, to watch people open things that I've bought/made for them. It's so rewarding. This year it will be even more so, because of all the hard work I put into each gift, though that makes me a little more nervous!

Next week, I will have WIPW posted, as well as FO Friday, but will only be participating in WIPW. I will be traveling and hope to have a chance to stop at a few yarn stores and have a little time to knit/crochet while I'm away. I will also have a post scheduled with the details of the yarn diet I will partaking in starting January 1st. I will have a follow up post on January 2nd or 3rd with pictures to show my stash as a way to document it at the start. Hope you have a chance to stop by and check it out!

Now onto FO Friday.

I have quite a few projects to share, thankfully! I wasn't able to finish everything of course, due to being sick, but at least everyone who needed a gift on Christmas, had one.


This is the love bug/lady bug I mentioned on Wednesday. I made it for my little niece. My sister loves ladybugs so I think it will be a hit, though I hope they will let her play with it a little. It took me no time at all, as I made it in a few hours. I think the best way to go was I assembled as I went instead of making all the pieces and then having to put it together. I hate that part!

The pattern was this, but instead of the whole kit and kaboodle, I decided to just make one of the bugs. Because of that, I increased the size of the hook to make it a little larger.

Materials used:

5.00 mm (H) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (body- Black)
Red Heart Super Saver (wings- Red)
White felt
Poly Fluff Stuffing
Safety eyes- Brown 9mm
Embroidery floss- Pink
Yarn needle





I've been working on this way too long, but I like how it turned out, despite my little mistake in the stem of the glass. It's funny how this turned out compared to the dragonfly. It's knitted a little looser, so it doesn't curl as much as the dragonfly. On the other than, this pattern, along with the colorway doesn't lend itself to it being very double-sided. Here's a link to the pattern.

Materials used:

Size 7 needles (Knit Picks Harmony interchangeable)
Lily Sugar'n Cream (Potpourri Ombre)
Yarn needle

Last week

Finished. There is a weird bump in it because I have had to fold it up to hide it from my husband!

Last you saw this purse, it was almost finished but needed the final touches, the lining and the ribbon. I wanted to finish it for last FO Friday, but unfortunately with being sick, I just got around to it on Wednesday of this week. I'm pretty happy with it. If I had time, I think I would make the lining inside a little smaller so that there isn't any wrinkling at the top where it's sewn in. I hope my sister likes it, because I worked hard on it and like it myself. I have one more of these purses to make soon, a present for my sister-in-law.

Materials used:
5.00 mm (H) hook
6.00 mm (J) hook
6.50 mm (K) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (purse- Black)
Wooden Bamboo handles- Black
Pink flower fabric (lining)
Sewing Machine
Black thread
Yarn needle
Ribbon (for decoration)

Last week

And finished! The lining looks really saggy in the pic due to the way I had to prop it open to take a picture of the inside.

Share your FOs!