Stash: The Reckoning, Part I

I'm planning on taking an inventory of my stash this month and figuring out exactly what I'm going to do with all the yarn I have. Hopefully, this will help me stay on track with my destashing this year! Since I'm usually a bit pressed for time to take good pictures, I'm started out with the easiest projects first: the sweaters.

The sweaters aren't the easiest projects, but they are the most discrete parts of the stash because I bought specific yarn with a specific project in mind. So it was easiest to pick out the sweater projects and get photos taken.

Unfortunately, the pictures aren't great; I had to take them in the early morning, before the sun really came up. But at least you get the idea.

First up, some tweedy Regia sock yarn for a lightweight sweater for me:


GPG bought this for me while we were in Germany, so although I did acquire this yarn in the New Year, I didn't break my rules because I didn't buy it myself! (Yes, I know it's a technicality . . . so sue me.)

The yarn is a twist of one navy blue strand, one tan strand, and one light blue strand. It's quite pretty, although I know it'll take a lot of stamina to knit because it's meant for US 2 needles.

But it won't take as much stamina as this:


This is gray Regia, also from Germany, intended for a sweater for GPG. I'm not sure if you can tell from pictures of him just how big GPG is, but he is HUGE. At least, in a knitter's eyes. He's 6'4" and around 200 lbs, so it will take a lot of knitting to make him a proper sweater. The Regia sweaters will be the last things I knit from the stash because I know they'll take forever. There won't be a proper destashing this year if I start with the Regia sweaters first--I'd spend the whole year on them.

But, I do really want to knit these sweaters. GPG's mom made him a sweater out of sock yarn years ago, and although he says it took her forever, he still has it and it's the perfect weight for him. So, eventually, I will get around to make another one for him and a new one for myself.

I will also knit these sweaters last because I don't have a specific pattern in mind for them. I will probably do some kind of raglan sweater, cobbled together from Elizabeth Zimmermann's books and maybe Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. But it will probably do me some good to knit a few other sweaters first, just to get my mind properly wrapped around sweater construction.

So, I also have this:


It's some teal-colored Cotton DK to make a Jemima. I've been coveted this sweater for ages; it looks so comfortable. The Cotton DK is not an exact substitute for the Cashsoft DK, but I got it on sale at Little Knits (which has AWESOME sales, by the way), so I hope I can make it work. (Seriously, I think that all in, the cost for this sweater will be about $25. Can't beat that.) There's one lighter blue ball at the top of the bag for the trim.

I guess I was on something of a teal kick, because I also bought a bunch of Artyarns Merino last fall at my LYS:


This is intended for a Sunrise Circle Jacket. I also love this pattern. Of course, it's sort of ridiculous that I'll probably be knitting most of these sweaters in the summer. In Houston. While studying for the bar. Oh, well.

And, last but not least, we have some lovely purple Cash Iroha:


I will actually probably start knitting this stuff up first of all the sweaters. I pulled out the needles to start swatching for an Hourglass sweater, but haven't actually started just yet because there are some last-minute Valentine's Day gifts and two shawl projects that I'm working on (or need to start working on !) first. Pictures of those things will come soon, I hope!

So, there you have it: the sweater stash. The sock stash, lace stash, hat stash, felting stash, and miscellaneous stash will all have their day in the sun, too. Eventually.

Oh, and I've been eating the meatballs all week, and they are fabulous. The sauce leaves a little to be desired, but the meatballs themselves are terrific.