Ripping Yarns

My excuse is that I was really bored.

I am, by nature, a collector - a hoarder, even. Whether it's physical things like fabric, books and make up, or invisible things like facts about tea, Japanese swordmanship, or obscure British science fiction shows of the past forty years, if I have a thing, I want ALL OF THE THINGS.

This explains why I now own so much yarn. So. Much. Yarn.

This does not explain why, since I own ALL THE YARN, I decided to photograph it (Perhaps I should blame Ravelry?). With my resident horde of stuffed toys (I don't think I can blame Ravelry for that).

Sirdar Big Softie, modelled by Randolph

 I'm over halfway through knitting this into a blanket (which shows how long ago I took these photos!) - it's a lovely fat cabled pattern from The Gentle Art of Knitting. The original pattern called for Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky - Big Softie is a nice alternative, especially at under £3 a ball instead of around £10. I miscalculated slightly, forgetting that the Blue Sky was 100g skeins and Big Softie is 50g balls, but alpaca must be heavy as I don't think I'm going to come up very short (if I come up short at all). It's very interesting knitting with 15mm needles, though! I shall let you know how this works out.

Big Softie Collar, modelled by Randolph

 My first project with the Big Softie, though, was this collar. I like the yarn-over pattern, but it didn't really work out the way the one in the picture did! I think I could have done with much larger needles. If I run out of yarn for the blanket, I may well end up frogging it - if not, it needs a button to be really useful.

Fyberspates Scrumptious DK/Worsted 'Plum', modelled by Tabby

Fyberspates Scrumptious DK/Worsted in Purple, modelled by Moonlight

 This stuff is glorious. Glorious. It's soft without being tickly, smooth, but not slippery, thick and squishy without being bulky. The plum will become a Victoriana ruffly collar, with buttons, the purple I haven't decided yet. I've since also acquired three skeins of Cherry, which is going to become what I've taken to calling my Night Circus scarf

Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Oyster, modelled by Legs

 The wonderful thing about the Scrumptious skeins is that they are quite large - it looks like there's enough yardage on this to make a medium sized lace shawl. I haven't really done any lace knitting yet (Not that I need much help making holes!) so I'm quite excited about this.

Cygnet Superwash Wool, modelled by Tiny

 Sometimes, you just need boring old bog-standard merino Superwash. I'm actually working on something with this (And a few accent colours) for a present, which has lead me to believe that EVERYTHING is better in brioche stitch.

Austermann Merino Lace, modelled by Hitsuji-kun

 In my defence, I had gone in specifically to buy lace weight yarn. I had really wanted red, black, or purple, and all they had was the Oyster above - which I liked, but didn't love. And then there were these babies, all laid out in an old suitcase.

I couldn't decide, so I got one in every colour!

Sirdar Balmoral and King Cole Merino Blend DK, modelled by Durango

 I'm still undecided about this lot. The Balmoral was in the sale, and it's a nice strong (if not terribly soft, not terribly scratchy either) wool blend with alpaca and silk. I have twenty balls - ten black, five grey and five natural/beige/biscuit/whatever you call this - and then I picked up two balls of the pink DK as a contrast with the idea that I would try out the School Colours blanket from The Gentle Art of Knitting. It's a clever design where you knit five scarves, sew them together, and they become a blanket.

The problem with this immediately became you knit five scarves. Do you remember the pink bamboo scarf I started at the end of July? Well, it's now the end of September and I think I'm about three quarters done. If one scarf takes me three months - in quite a simple pattern, and a narrow one at that, the School Colours scarves are wide moss stitch - it will take me years to complete this blanket.

And yet, it's not quite soft enough that I want to knit garments from it. I'm thinking of sitting down with a stitch dictionary and doing sampler squares, which I can finish in a week at most, to sew together instead of the long tedious slog that goes into making a scarf. What do you think?

Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran, modelled by Lucitania

 Readers, this is my favourite yarn ever.

It's being discontinued, and given it's reputation this seems warranted (Like many Debbie Bliss yarns, it seems, it's underspun, easy to knit through, slippery, sheds heavily, is too expensive for the yardage, stretches, and the darker colours are not colour fast) but all the same, it's like knitting with unicorn hair and clouds. Although Lucitania is sat with the pink, aubergine and lilac in the photo, I also have some bright red and some 'sand', which is a pale gold. I couldn't resist stocking up.

I've heard many of the problems can be fixed by washing it before you start, so we'll see how I get on.

Sublime Yarns Chunky Merino Tweed, modelled by Capybara-san 

 The flecks of colour in this are what really drew me to it - that, and it knits up solid unless you use fairly large needles. I have a half-baked plan to make button-up ankle cuffs in a nice dense stitch - something like moss stitch - for winter days when I'm walking to work in pumps and a skirt. But which colour do I use?!

Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, modelled by Alfred and Khan

 (Alfred and Khan are twins, you know, even though I got them eighteen months apart in two different second-hand venues. So peculiar!)

This was a little more of an impulse buy than most of what I have (And that's saying something!) - they had just these six skeins left, it was in the sale, stuff happened, okay, I can't be held responsible for my actions. The six skeins of Apricot not pictured, however, were purchased in cold blood and I take full responsibility for my forthcoming apricot silk lace gloves. The pink? Still not sure!

Sirdar Snuggly Smiley Stripes DK, modelled by Spot

 It's called 'Smiley Stripes', and it's bamboo-wool, and... just look at it, don't you feel happier already?

I also haven't decided what I'm going to make with this, but I'm thinking mittens!

King Cole Bamboo Cotton, modelled by Rabbit

 I have far too much of this. I already mentioned that I want to make the Sea Glass Chevron scarf from The Gentle Art of Knitting - I've since rethought the colours, bought an extra ball of white and the baby pink, so it'll be white with four contrast stripes.

And then I'll still have four three-quarter full balls and a whole extra ball of purple! It's a good thing I love knitting with bamboo. Everyone will be getting pink face cloths for Christmas, I think.

Princess Lamswool/Angora, modelled by Moonlight

 It was bound to happen - vintage yarn!

I found this at the charity shop, and I think I have just about enough here for a bandanna sized lace scarf (Of which I have already found a few patterns!) so - not bad for 50p!

Sirdar Flirt, modelled by Percival

And finally, here is my next project! There's a theme to these colours, although you may not spot it (Here's a hint - they're worn by certain linked organisations, and these colours are sometimes named after them because of it) and I'm going to be knitting Dalek face cloths for two very special people taking a very special journey.

Because obviously what you do to show your unwavering support for someone is knit them a Dalek face cloth. EXFOLIATE!!!

Aside from those I've mentioned as picking up in extra colourways, I've also got some suspicious looking cranberry baby alpaca squirrelled away (I'm knitting a lace detail twinset from Sensuous Knits - or at least that was my plan, before I discovered that wet alpaca smells an awful lot like, well, wet dog. Not sure if want) because it was far too expensive to admit to having bought, and three balls of Rowan Galaxy - a bichrome gradient dye with sequins! I have my eye on the Life On The Open Wave scarf from The Gentle Art of Knitting with this one, so at least I bought it with a project in mind this time.

Well, I bought the second two balls with a project in mind, that's got to count for something, right?